Originally Posted by
Eric the Half a Bee
You could equally claim from a raft of reasons.
Failing to win any of our opening 8 games.
Failing to bring in any decent striker of note.
Failing to get anything from Huddersfield and Newcastle early on in the season when they were both down to 10 men.
Not taking our chances against Burnley.
Weird team selection at already relegated Fulham and a bizarre substitution.
Having one of the worst home defensive records in PL history.
Having the worst passing stats in the PL in a decade.
Losing 24 games in a season. No side has ever stayed in the PL having lost so many games, even when there were 22 teams in the PL. Only a few relegated teams lost as many (or lost more).
Do you seriously think that if we were still in with a chance of survival going into the last game of the season, we would have played the same team and given them such freedom? No chance.
Yes, the Chelsea decision was a big one. We don't mention the Sol Bamba offside goal against Brighton in the last seconds, though.
We had a few dodgy decisions go against us. We had dodgy decisions go for us. That's football. To blame relegation on a few refereeing decisions is absolute nonsense. We made our own luck at the end of the day. We simply weren't good enough. I reckon, without Etheridge, our season would have been even worse.
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