It was on a knife edge when we all woke up today. Now suddenly it was all safe and sound then 😅

We cannot let this become the standard of a season to be celebrated though. For this yeam, this squad, this group as a one off yes celebrate bit don't let it be a regular thing that we celebrate making top 4 like we won a trophy.

That was, and still is, Arsenal, and we don't want to become them.

I must admit I had my doubts after the Ipswich draw considering which teams we still had to play in the league.

But we did it.

Some of the performances were painful to watch but I thought today showed maturity from the boys.

Lots of things to work on of course (pretty much covered in the Maresca thread), but not playing well and grinding out a win is a mentality thing that any team that wants to be successful has to learn and we've done that for most the last few games since that Ipswich draw.

A sensible summer transfer with the obvious improvements (e.g. a top class striker and a quality right footed winger for starters) and a couple of interesting players coming back from loans in Santos and Estevao and getting rid of most of our deadwood to finance some of this and we should be a better more dangerous team next season, even if we are stuck with Maresca for the moment.

Anyway, roll on Wednesday and lets hope we can make history by winning every single trophy available.

I'm actually looking forward to next season now - we've had rock bottom so surely the only way is up now??

Was a tight game but we defended well and took our chance. We ended up with the 3rd best defensive record in the league which is quite a turnaround from last season.

The players should feel upbeat going into the Conf League final having qualified for the Champs league.

It’s a great outcome to have secured Champions League football. The playing squad will be excited and it will make it easier to attract any future signings.

Cannot be emphasised enough how important the financial windfall is as well.

I wrote us off weeks ago, but fair play to everyone for grinding out results and getting 4th spot. Hopefully it’s a platform we can build from.

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

We cannot let this become the standard of a season to be celebrated though. For this yeam, this squad, this group as a one off yes celebrate bit don't let it be a regular thing that we celebrate making top 4 like we won a trophy.

That was, and still is, Arsenal, and we don't want to become them.

Spot on - I posted on the maresca thread that I was disgusted by Chelsea stooping to arsenal level by celebrating failure in this way. They should have been fuming that they only had 1 shot on goal, 1xg, and if it wasn't for chris woods poor finishing, we would have lost. We also have a cup final in a few days - want to see the plays hyped up and locked in/focused to win that....instead they were dancing around and celebrating finishing above newcastle and villa..... embarrassing.

2 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Spot on - I posted on the maresca thread that I was disgusted by Chelsea stooping to arsenal level by celebrating failure in this way. They should have been fuming that they only had 1 shot on goal, 1xg, and if it wasn't for chris woods poor finishing, we would have lost. We also have a cup final in a few days - want to see the plays hyped up and locked in/focused to win that....instead they were dancing around and celebrating finishing above newcastle and villa..... embarrassing.

To me the celebrations were slightly cringeworthy, but I didn't expect them to walk around looking all laser-focused 🙂

6 hours ago, Jezz said:

It’s a great outcome to have secured Champions League football. The playing squad will be excited and it will make it easier to attract any future signings.

Cannot be emphasised enough how important the financial windfall is as well.

I wrote us off weeks ago, but fair play to everyone for grinding out results and getting 4th spot. Hopefully it’s a platform we can build from.

All the pundits did too. I remember when we drew with Ipswich, Carragher, Shearer, Merson and a lot of pundits thought we were doomed. I mean it is not as if they made outrageous statements. We had the most difficult run in hence why pundits thought that. So to come through a difficult period and get 4th spot is brilliant. Especially considering the Newcastle game and losing our striker for rest of season due to stupidity, the team showed maturity and resilience. Looking forward to summer transfer window.

SANCHO!!!!!!!

1 hour ago, El regreso said:

SANCHO!!!!!!!

Wrong match mate.