Biggest disappointments of 2017/18 season
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The World Cup has just begun but here at Transfer News Central we are still wrapping up the domestic season, unwinding from a long season with some critical opinions and lingering thoughts.
As always, football has been a beautiful game providing us with surprises, shocks, sadness and excitement, a raft of emotions that only football could bring.
We all loving looking at the good moments, the top goalscorers, the surprises of the season that outdid our expectations. But just as the game itself, there are always two halves to look at it, you cannot get the good without the bad, the ying without the yang. There were high hopes for many players, teams and even managers this season but due to one reason or another they failed to live up to any expectations.
So we will examine what we feel are the biggest letdowns and disappointments of this past season.
Chelsea's Premier League Defence
Oh deary me! Despite winning another FA Cup title, this past season has largely been one of disappointment for Chelsea fans. Echoing the dismal 2015/16 season under Jose Mourinho (finishing 10th), Chelsea looked more like a mid-table side at times rather than defending champions.
Heading into the season, expectations were high for Conte and his men. It seemed like they were the only challengers for the rebuilding Manchester teams. Whilst Manchester City romped to the title, and Manchester United eventually finished as runners-up, Chelsea ended the season in 5th missing out on the Champions League for next season.
Conte’s tactics were repeatedly unravelled by the opposition, the signings made in the summer and January transfer windows failed to make an impact – unlike the previous season where the incoming David Luiz and Marcos Alonso were key cogs in Chelsea’s title win. Another major point to consider was the failure of Alvaro Morata to adequately replace Diego Costa.
In fact the treatment of Costa by Conte led to rumours of disruption within the squad, which were further exacerbated by Conte’s breakdown in relationship with the aforementioned David Luiz.
A complete disaster of a title defence.
Alvaro Morata
Already touched upon briefly in the previous slide but the form of Morata over the season deserves its own inclusion. The £60 million man was meant to hit the ground running and in fact that’s exactly what he did, netting 8 goals in his first 11 league games. These included a spectacular winner against Manchester United, and a hattrick against Stoke City.
But as the season continued, Morata fell of badly. The Spaniard finished the campaign with just 11 league goals, and 15 in all competitions. Eventually losing his place in the team to Oliver Giroud.
Overall Morata did have a few good spells, and he should improve if he remains at Chelsea next season, under a new manager and a much improved team. Despite this, a lot more was expected of the 25-year-old and he failed to live up to these expectations.
Italy's Failure To Qualify For The World Cup
There are a few notable and World Cup regulars missing out this year such as The Netherlands, Chile and USA, but chief among the teams not going to Russia has to be Italy. Whilst the international demise of the Dutch began with the failure to qualify for the 2016 Euros, for Italy missing out on a World Cup for the first time in 60 years is borderline heresy.
Unable to beat a Ibrahimovic-less Sweden side over 2 legs, the Italians seemed toothless and bereft of ideas. The shocking loss sent the media into a meltdown, as no one could believe it, a World Cup without Italy seemed impossible but a poor display in November has made it completely possible.
I could go on about the failure of the Italian FA to stabilise the national team, encourage the use of their new generation of stars and the relationship between Giampiero Ventura and Lorenzo Insigne. But all these are conversations for a different day.
The bottom line here is that Italy – one of the most decorated teams in international football – will be missing out on the World Cup. In a sort of way we could have seen this coming, besides Euro 2012, the Italians have been on a downward spiral since winning the 2006 World Cup. Regardless of this, most people would have expected Italy to be playing in Russia this summer and they simply won’t be, and for us that’s a major disappointment.
PSG In The Champions League
After spending a ridiculous amount of money in the summer, completely changing the transfer market in the process and acquiring two of the best players in the world in Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, a Champions League assault was predicted from the Parisians, instead they felt out with a whimper.
The start was bright, Neymar and Co. were scoring goals for fun, dominating their group which included semi-finalists Bayern Munich. Such impressive performances made PSG favourites with many people to lift the trophy in Kiev. Despite a tough draw in the round of 16 against Real Madrid, most fans believed they would continue their scintillating form against a Madrid side that had been largely poor up to that point of the season.
Alas it wasn’t meant to be, a largely unlucky first leg – where they were the better team for large spells – was undone by a miserable performance in the second leg. A Neymar-less PSG lacked any real urgency, seemed devoid of creating any danger, and limped out of the tournament, albeit to the eventual winners.
For a team that was meant to be lifting the trophy, being eliminated in the round of 16 was a huge disappointment.
Peter Bosz
After he led a youthful Ajax to the Europa League final, it seemed Peter Bosz was the next big European manager. The merger of Dortmund with Bosz seemed like a match-made in heaven, with his pseudo-revolutionary tactics and focus on youth, the Dutchman seemed like the perfect successor to Thomas Tuchel.
Sadly just after 24 games, Bosz was given his marching orders in December. A great start to the season was followed up by a miserable spell where Dortmund only won a single league game between the end of September and December – till Bosz was given the sack.
Not only was their league form dire, they slumped to 3rd place in an understandably difficult but still progress-able Champions League group where they just earned a measly 2 points – both draws with Apoel Nicosia.
Far-removed from the man in charge of Ajax, Bosz looked unable to knuckle down his tactics in Signal Iduna Park and failed to grasp control in a much more competitive league.
Youngsters Under Mourinho
Throughout his managerial career a major criticism of Jose Mourinho has been his inability to put his faith in and nurture young talent, a direct contrast of Manchester United ethos under Sir Alex Ferguson. The criticism has been so large that Mourinho himself argued that he promoted 49 young players to his first teams before he took charge of Manchester United.
Throughout the past season, this complaint has never been more obvious as a host of youngsters have had their growth stunted at Old Trafford due to little or no game time at all. The rise of Scott McTominay being the only exception.
The first name that comes to mind when talking about stunted development is Anthony Martial who just seemed unable to convince Mourinho to start him. Despite strong performances when he did play, Martial wasn’t able to hold a starting position all season – Made even more difficult with the arrival of Alexis Sanchez in January. In total Martial was able to muster just over 1500 minutes of Premier League action, still contributing 9 goals and 5 assists but not enough to warrant a place in the France Squad.
Marcus Rashford was another bit part player for most of the season, largely being used as a substitute throughout the season. When he did start he was effective, proven by his man of the match display against Liverpool but these opportunities were far and few.
Luke Shaw continued his steady decline, unable to reconcile and convince Mourinho of his place in the squad, losing the left back role to a 32-year-old Ashley Young. Shaw played a total of 879 minutes in all competitions this season, the once-bright prospect seems like he’ll never live up to his early potential now.
Axel Tuanzebe was non-existent for Manchester United before being sent out on an equally uninspiring loan to Aston Villa in January. Timothy Fosu-Mensah had a solid season for Crystal Palace, his performances showing the potential he has to be a starter for Manchester United. But instead of being sent out on loan, Fosu-Mensah could have already played a starting role for the Red Devils this term.
Overall it was a disappointing season to be a youngster at Manchester United.
VAR
Not a complete bust by any means, just a system that needs further refining. They were plenty of positive moments showing the potential of VAR to enhance the game, but for a system that took so long to develop and come into existence it was a bit of a disappointment
The main critique involves the implementation of the system itself and how it can be used during matches. The current belief is that at the present moment, VAR seems to interfere with the flow of the game a lot more than it should do with constant breaks for a long period of time, slowing down a sport that relies on its fast pace nature, momentum and consistent flow. Along with this problem, there was also the issue with how accurate the whole system is and in fact should be. In one particular football match, a decision was missed by VAR due to the camera view being obstructed by a flag. In Manchester United’s FA Cup victory over Huddersfield Town, VAR wrongly disallowed Juan Mata’s goal for offside, showing hideously drawn lines in replays. The issue here is that a lot of money has been spent on ensuring VAR works perfectly, and it’s disappointing that further development is still needed.