SO FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW WE
FINISHED THE SEASON WITH A 4-0 WIN OVER ASTON VILLA.
But while last year it saw us lift
the FA Cup at Wembley for the second year in a row, this time it
merely secured second-place in the Premier League.
The difference between second and third
is negligible. Both qualify directly for the group stage of the
Champions League. But when the difference is finishing above or below
your greatest rivals it means so much more.
This season more than any other, Spurs
really believed this was their year. Until just over a week before
the end of the season they still harbored ambitions of winning the title.
So finishing above us for the first time in 21 years was a given,
especially with us in apparent crisis. So much so that they had
already been celebrating for the previous two months.
But we have been here before. When
Spurs fall it is usually spectacularly. With four games to go they
were five points above us. They had a comfortable looking run in as
well with home games against mid-table WBA and Southampton, coupled
with trips to Chelsea and Newcastle.
With a far superior goal difference
they only needed six points to guarantee them the holy grail of
finishing above us, and that was assuming we won all our games, which
I didn't expect that we would.
But after drawing with WBA and Chelsea,
and then losing at home to Southampton; Spurs having led in all three
games, we managed to close the gap to just two points going into the
final day. We faced already-relegated Aston Villa while they
travelled to already-relegated Newcastle.
In a repeat of 2006, Spurs only needed
a draw. That was the day of Lasagne-gate at West Ham, although in
reality it was simply a bug that had ravaged the squad. They lost 2-1 and
we pinched fourth place by beating Wigan in the final game at
Highbury.
Then three years ago we were at St.
James's Park on the final day needing to equal Spurs' result at home
to Sunderland to pip them to the final Champions League spot. We won 1-0. It had
happened again. Third time lucky? To be honest I fully
expected Spurs to get the point they needed and had long resigned
myself to the fact that we would finish third.
But to lose 5-1 against a side that
was already relegated and were reduced to ten men with more than half
an hour still to play, that is taking bottling to a whole new level.
To be honest we were less than
impressive against Villa, hanging on to an early 1-0 lead for long spells.
You wouldn't have been surprised if we'd conceded a late equaliser, like we had recently against Palace,
and let Spurs off the hook. But once the news began to filter through
that it was 3-1 to Newcastle, then 4-1 and 5-1, we could relax and
the goals flowed. 4-0. Again. Lovely.
Many fans still feel it has been a
disappointing season and in many ways it has been. But back in August
we would have been more than happy finishing above City, Chelsea,
United, Liverpool and Spurs. But Leicester had the season of a
lifetime and no one could compete with that. In the end we came the
closest.
The biggest disappointment, for me,
was the FA Cup. With a very average United side beating a very poor
Palace side in the final this was a real opportunity to create history.
Three in a row.
The quarter final defeat at the hands
of Watford was easily the worst result of the season, especially as
it was so avoidable. Even after going 2-0 down we had more than
enough chances to have turned it around.
So in the end our season came down a
Danny Welbeck miss in stoppage time. If that had gone in we would have
won the replay, beaten Palace in the semis and you'd have had to fancy our
chances against United in the final.
The League Cup was once again a source
of frustration. With a half decent side out against Sheffield
Wednesday instead of the bunch of kids selected, we would have won
and who knows where it may have taken us? I would have
certainly backed us to beat either City or Liverpool so that was
another opportunity missed.
I'm not even going to talk about the
Champions League. English clubs are not on the same level as the big
four in Europe at the moment so we were never going to win it. At
least we could take heart from two decent performances against Barca
where poor only defending let us down.
But in the end we finished with a ten
match unbeaten run in the league. In fact since getting thumped 4-0
at Southampton on Boxing Day we lost just three times in the league.
No one except Leicester lost fewer matches over the same period.
With some transfer business conducted
early I am optimistic that we can go one better next season. We
need a striker and a centre back to complement our new midfield
dynamo and then we'll be set.
City have Pep and United, Jose.
Liverpool will be stronger now Klopp has settled in and Spurs will be
a force again. But we have nothing to fear. We are not far away. If
it is set to be Wenger's last season then it would be fitting that he goes out in style? A fourth Premier League title in a third
different decade would be a hell of a way to go.
So instead of spending the season
wishing for Wenger to leave lets get behind him one last time.
Leicester have shown you can live the dream if you believe in it enough. So do
you believe enough? Do you???
