[Albion] Next season expectations

[Simster]

I still can't believe the season we've just had. I'm not sure it'll ever be topped.

Fa Cup semi at Wembley
The double over Chelsea and Man Utd, beat Liverpool twice
Club legend runs the World Cup final for an hour
Finish top 6, European tour
Literally three world class players starting every game.
And now, Lewis Dunk probably with a well deserved international recall.

I still can't believe it. Yet can it be topped? I mean we expect at least one of our world class players to leave, yet next season could be brilliant also.

What the minimum be to make you proud and happy next season? Here is my take:

Winning a major trophy might still be beyond us, but another cup semi isn't.
Would love to make Dublin, but getting out of our group would be great tbh.
Another top six finish ought to be beyond a club with our resources but I'd be happy with a top half finish if we could somehow make one of the other two.

What do you think?

 

[Alonso Moseley]

The next four seasons could be season defining

 

[Midget]

What the minimum be to make you proud and happy next season?

Watching Brighton & Hove Albion
(Pride of the South Coast)

Just that. Always will be.

Anything else is a bonus.

I'm pretty overwhelmed this year tbh

 

[schmunk]

The way we're going I reckon we could win the World Cup.

 

[brighton_tom]

If we got out the Europa group and stayed top 10 I would be ecstatic...

 

[Seagull27]

We need to understand there's a real possibility we finish lower in the league next year:
- competing in Europe means more squad rotation, so league results may suffer
- for the same reason there could be more injuries to key players
- as good as we've been this year, we've been helped by how dire Chelsea and Spurs have been. That's unlikely again, and other clubs will be challenging as well
- losing Mac and Caicedo. Even if we replace them well, new players probably won't settle at the same level straight away

Personally I'd be happy with top 10, with a pathway towards becoming a team that challenges for Europe consistently and continuing our excellent recruitment of youngsters

Having said all of that, RDZ will probably be aiming for Champions League so what do I know.

 

[beardy gull]

Depends very much on how the summer transfer window plays out. I’ll still be looking for 3 worse teams than us. Force of habit.

 

[Hotchilidog]

I agree that Top Six will be very difficult next season. That said we have a full pre-season of RDZ, we start the season with Ferguson up top with an expanded supporting cast so it will be very interesting to see how we get on. I do expect Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs (if they retain Kane) to provide stiffer competition than they did this season.

I would regard top 8 as successful season considering we are also in European competition. Would be a dream to reach the knockout stages of the EL.

 

[Triggaaar]

What the minimum be to make you proud and happy next season? Here is my take:

Winning a major trophy might still be beyond us, but another cup semi isn't.
Would love to make Dublin, but getting out of our group would be great tbh.
Another top six finish ought to be beyond a club with our resources but I'd be happy with a top half finish if we could somehow make one of the other two.

What do you think?

Not finishing bottom of our group would be good - extra games then regardless.
Top half of the PL would be nice.
Qualifying for Europe again is a possibility and would be amazing.

 

[stewart12]

next season will undoubtedly be tough to balance 4 competitions and we've seen recently how hard it is to cope with games every few days

Personally I'd be happy with a top 10, preferably challenging for European places, get to at least the second round in the Europa League, and quarters in one of the cups. Plus a win at Selhurst Park wouldn't go amiss

 

[HangletonGull]

Love another top 6 finish and think it’s definitely possible , be happy with 3rd in our Europa lge group with a decent run in conference lge, and top 10 epl finish

 

[JJ McClure]

I predict the season will end horribly.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I have one goal next season: trust the tracker.

Anything else is a bonus

 

[Mackenzie]

Expectations I’m not sure but I’m hoping we’ll finish in the top half of the table again and make some progress in Europe. I would forfeit (play the U23s) the FA cup and league cup next season to keep us fresh for the league and European games.

 

[nickbrighton]

Its very easy to get carried away by this season. I think the club have set the expectations already. There stated aim (near as damn it) is : to establish ourselves as a top half club, pushing for (and occasionally qualifying for) Europe, go deep into the domestic cups

While we have seemingly achieved this , by being top half two years in a row, qualifying for Europe, and a cuople of FA Cup semi finals, it can all go very wrong, very quickly.

We will IMO always be looking to get to 40 points first, and while we would hope to achieve that, we must never forget that a bad run at the start of the year can make that quite a task in itself

I firmly believe that the club have a very grounded , realistic view of what is probable, possible, and just dreamland. As soon as we start (as a fanbase, and as a club) to expect to be top six, Europe, then we increase the risk of failing.

WE are punching well above our weight, and as fantastic as it is, we should all be mindful of how much hard work by all at the club it takes to maintain it.

Safety first, has to remain our focus, and that realistically constitutes success. How far we can push on past that each year remains to be seen.

 

[tstanbur]

I still can't believe the season we've just had. I'm not sure it'll ever be topped.

Fa Cup semi at Wembley
The double over Chelsea and Man Utd, beat Liverpool twice
Club legend runs the World Cup final for an hour
Finish top 6, European tour
Literally three world class players starting every game.
And now, Lewis Dunk probably with a well deserved international recall.

I still can't believe it. Yet can it be topped? I mean we expect at least one of our world class players to leave, yet next season could be brilliant also.

What the minimum be to make you proud and happy next season? Here is my take:

Winning a major trophy might still be beyond us, but another cup semi isn't.
Would love to make Dublin, but getting out of our group would be great tbh.
Another top six finish ought to be beyond a club with our resources but I'd be happy with a top half finish if we could somehow make one of the other two.

What do you think?

We beat Arsenal twice too!

Incredible season.

To finish in the top 6 again would be even more mind-blowing - this season was a bit of freak with Chelsea and Spurs really struggling which gave us a chance.

I'd settle for top 10, a couple of memorable Euro results and the FA Cup.

 

[Echo the Seagull]

Quadruple....

or a solid 8-12 league finish, quarters in the domestic cups and a knock out round in Europe (felt good typing that!)

 

[Weststander]

Stretched squad with all those Thursday nights and no Mac.

Would be proud of PL top half and going beyond the group stage of the EL.

 

[Stat Brother]

Relegation.

 

[pb21]

What the minimum be to make you proud and happy next season?

A tricky one to answer as generally we have been improving every year/season recently, which will be difficult next year.

I reckon the minimum to be happy though would be to comfortably avoid relegation.