Season Review 2021/22

[Hockley Hammer]

Very good season that could and should have been even better.

Exactly how I see it.

[Vienna]

It would have been 10/10 if we didn't do our usual of not building when we should, a few in during the January transfer window and we'd be playing in a major European competition next season, dejavu

[Beavis Danzig]

I suppose it was progress of a sort but I can't help feeling that the last few games have felt like we've gone backwards.
As I said in another thread I think it will have proved to be yet another false dawn.
Actually I'm getting prett ****ed off with these false dawns. There have been sooooo many in the nearly 60 years I have been a Hammer.

it's more than the last few games, our second half of our league season has been nothing better than average. the only team in the top half of the table we beat was wolves and we weren't putting away the also rans with anything like the effectiveness we did last season. it'd look even worse if the season hadn't arranged itself so we got to play norwich and watford twice after christmas.

we did the hard yards in the early months of the season and coasted on it after, with europe (rightly) taking centre stage.

[steps]

Noble scores the penalty against Man Utd. (or he doesn't come on to take it, somebody else does and scores) and we finish 6th.
Small Margins.

That’s like saying if we’d of bought Digne, Cresswell wouldn’t of played the EL semi second leg, we don’t have a man sent off and go on to win the game.

It’s a lot of what if’s.

[Hammer_Time1]

From where we've been most of my life (I'm 31), it's been a great season- 2nd consecutive season we've reached Europe, albeit the conference league this time out. We've had some top class nights in Europe, have a small but very likeable and talented group of players and coaching staff. A season of two halves you could argue. When we've been on it, you could imagine us taking on pretty much any team in the world but there have been some properly awful performances also, where we've looked jaded and devoid of a plan B.

It has definitely been a season of 'what-ifs'. Not just in Europa, where the competition winners beat us deservedly over the 2 legs, but in the PL as well- Brentford winning in the 94th minute at the LS, Lingard scoring a blinder and Noble missing a penalty at home to Man Utd, Man Utd contentiously scoring in the last minute at Old Trafford (boderline offside), a very poor Leeds team tearing us apart in a 3-2 loss at home, a very mediocre Southampton team doing the same on boxing day, Maupay scoring a worldie bicycle kick in the last minute to snatch a draw from the jaws of a rare victory for us, Arsenal jammily doing the double over us (again), Burnley drawing twice against us where it looked certain we would win both, losing in the last minute against Chelsea.. I could go on. We were just 2 points off an underperforming Man Utd side in 6th. Our lack of investment in January, even though it seemed obvious to every man and his dog at the time, has killed our season.

Highlights- (Another!!) positive GD season, Rice taking the captaincy in his stride and will fill a hole now Noble is off (pending Rice staying this summer), Bowen with 10+ goals and assists, improved output from Benrahma, Craig Dawson filling in for Ogbonna admirably, some very fun European nights and getting to the semis, beating Man City and Man Utd in the League cup, beating Liverpool and Chelsea at home in the PL, Yarmo's emotional goals vs Villa and Sevilla, Noble's farewell celebrations.

Low-lights- January transfer window, Ogbonna out early doors for the rest of the season just when we were coming into form, Zouma and cat-gate (I'm not sure if this affected our performances latterly or not, but surely didn't help?), Cresswell getting 2 red cards in crucial Europa games, Antonio forgetting how to score for a large chunk of the season after such a promising start, under-utilising squad players like Vlasic and Kral etc., Moyes' stubbornness with subs and not being able to beat Brighton in the PL.. again.

All in all, a great season but it could've been so much better.. if only we managed to get 2020/2021 Lingard in January, we would probably have found the missing piece of the jigsaw, a creative and direct midfielder/attacker that links midfield with attack, and could quite easily be 6th and Europa winners. Just like my dreams..

[Diogenes]

B+
Young Hammer has potential, however he needs to concentrate more and be more consistent with his effort. Obviously he has the ability to reach an 'A' grade or even 'A+' but will continue to struggle unless he is adopted by very, very rich parents who can afford the very expensive private tutors that are required.