Better than last season?

[topcorner]

So assuming we finish the season strong and end up <10 points behind Celtic and >20 ahead of 3rd place. Quite an impressive season i'd say. Has it been better than last season though?

 

For me, we have undoubtedly improved and now have a much better level of consistency to our performances compared to last season. To still be in with a chance of winning the league at this stage is a fantastic achievement.

 

However - no trophy. Does that make this season more disappointing than last? For me, yes.

[Stupie82]

For me this season has been better. The Euphoria around winning the cup was immense, but it was a one off game and we went into a downward slide after it. For me, and taking the entire season into account, its been better. Celtic has been our biggest hurdle all season, but their budget is 6 times ours, so im not overly surprised. I never thought we would EVER be this close to the top of the league again in my lifetime, so to achieve that and be consistent over the course of a season, is a bigger achievement than winning a cup which is only over a handful of games. You could counteract that opinion with "football is about trophies", but we have never looked more likely in a long time and IMO we are better this season than we were last, by a country mile. With improvements in the summer, next season could be very interesting.

[BobbyBiscuit]

Football is about winning things. We hadn't won anything for 19 years. It wasn't a one off game either, we had to win a handful of games to win it.

 

The team has been more impressive than last season and DM has shown a tad more flexibility in team selection of late which has also been pleasing, but we'll be walking away from this season empty handed, regardless of how impressive we've been.

 

While we never expected to be in the hunt for the league, we are allowed to expect a better showing in the cups. Aberdeen should be a very good cup side, but we're not, unfortunately.

 

You could file this season under "What could have been" alongside 88-89, 90-91, 92-93, 93-94 etc.

 

 

[thestooge]

For me, there is little point comparing this season and last, it's best to see them as a continuation of our development.

 

Winning the cup was a huge monkey off our back and it's a shame we we're able to be more competitive in the cups this year, though I still blame the ref for our semi final exit more than individuals in our own ranks.

 

The league progress is also positive, however, it too also shows just how important it is to get things right off the field.  With our debt shed, we are in a position to flex our financial strength, comparatively, and that's now giving us a huge advantage. 

 

The signing of McLean and Shinnie are huge steps in the right direction, it's been a long time since we've been so aggressive in the transfer market.  Again, that shows the value in getting it right off the park and emphasises how expectations will rise.

 

We've just got to keep moving in the right direction again next season.  The league may well be considerably more competitive so we can't ease off there, we'll obviously want to progress in the cups beyond this years relative disappointments and we're back in Europe with aspirations of getting to the Group Stage.  It's exciting times for sure.

[Tyrant]

I read the OP and had a think about it. I think a lot depends on how we finish the season. It's far from over. Not winning anything has been a bitter disappointment whereas before last season it would've been an inevitable disappointment.

 

If we were to get another cuffing from Celtic and lose any of the other games it's going to leave us in a very negative place. Then you'd have to say that last season was better because we won a trophy. If we manage to carry on consistently winning games and beat Celtic and run them as close as we can in the league it'll shine a more positive light on the season.

[Guest SouthStandRed]

Think it's ultimately been a good season.  A cup would have been nice but it's great that we are still in with a chance of winning the league with only 5 games remaining.  Although it is very unlikely, to still be in this position is positive in my eyes. 

 

The run we had in between the two celtic defeats in November - March was unbelievable.  Ultimately not being able to take anything off Celtic this season has been our downfall - annoying that we could taken something in any of the 3 including the 4-0 defeat.

 

It was disappointing not to get a Scottish Cup run going and to have a horrendous refereeing decision in League Cup Semi as well can be seen as 'failure' but we can't win them all I suppose.

 

2nd is ours to lose now, European football in the bag, 21 points in front of Barelo Dundee Utd makes this season better than last to me.

 

Next season with Shinne and hopefully a more settled in Mclean...  Not going to jinx us but I can't wait!

[manc_don]

Good question TC.  On face value, the season has been a disappointment, if only for the Celtic games, the last one in particular. We've made massive leaps and bounds on and off the field but we've very little to show for it and still seem to consistently bottle it against them.  The cup games, well I think everyone has already mentioned these so I won't go over old ground.

 

But then you take a step back. Massive progress has been achieved off the field, the club is debt free and signed a player from a fellow league team for substantial cash.  We've signed a fantastic player in Shinnie who I cannot wait to see tearing down the wing next season.  We've also consolidated our best players on long term deals.

 

This all goes hand in hand with the fact that we have been within touching distance of the horrible dhims up until recently. We've been more resilient on the park too and had an incredible amount of shut outs.  The goal of the season thread alone fills me with excitement for next season.

 

I do think i'll always wonder what if though. What if they hadn't bottled it against the arabs, what if we'd actually taken some points off the dhims earlier in the season?  Let's hope the team get right up for it and finish with as many points as we can.  The future is potentially looking quite rosey

[hilton]

aye been  further improvement fae last year so its all good, we are closer the tims than we are with the rest.  to still have a sniff of the title with May round the corner is amazing.  Even not hitting top gear in games we have dominated the majority pretty easy and that says a lot about the side.  With shinnie coming its only going get better.    finishing second in the style we are deserves heaps praise to mcinnies and the players, hopefully the final game against St Johnstone is a sell out and  give them the send off for the summer. My season ticket will be renewed  straight away . 

[manc_don]

finishing second in the style we are deserves heaps praise to mcinnies and the players, hopefully the final game against St Johnstone is a sell out and  give them the send off for the summer. My season ticket will be renewed  straight away . 

 

This bit especially, a full house, a healthy points tally and making the team feel appreciated will only help us retain and recruit!  Need to keep the buzz going. 

 

 

[Goldie03]

I think I'm different to most of you guys in that I would always rather see us win a trophy than finish high up in the league (with the obvious exception of us actually winning the premiership)

 

So for me more disappointing than last season but mostly cause I was at every cup game bar one and we played some cracking cup ties last year, also winning at Tannadice last May was a terrific night out 

 

This season unfortunately I have never managed to be at a game where the dons actually won - I have seen us lose to St Johnstone, Hamilton, Dundee, Dundee Utd, go out both cups and my only result has been a 3 all draw at Pittodie against Dundee in the league - I witnessed our incredible run in December & most of January on telly then the first game I went to we dopped points!!

 

But to have paid off our debt and mounted a challenge to the tims is fantastic and I'm looking foward to winning some games at Tynecastle & hopefully Easter Road soon 

[Madbadteacher]

I think I'm different to most of you guys in that I would always rather see us win a trophy than finish high up in the league (with the obvious exception of us actually winning the premiership)

 

So for me more disappointing than last season but mostly cause I was at every cup game bar one and we played some cracking cup ties last year, also winning at Tannadice last May was a terrific night out 

 

This season unfortunately I have never managed to be at a game where the dons actually won - I have seen us lose to St Johnstone, Hamilton, Dundee, Dundee Utd, go out both cups and my only result has been a 3 all draw at Pittodie against Dundee in the league - I witnessed our incredible run in December & most of January on telly then the first game I went to we dopped points!!

 

But to have paid off our debt and mounted a challenge to the tims is fantastic and I'm looking foward to winning some games at Tynecastle & hopefully Easter Road soon 

 

Jinx! 

[Tubilay]

I'd say that last season will be more memorable in five, six, ten years' time. In that sense, it was better.

 

But we, as a team, are miles and miles better than we were last season.

[Reidzer 1314]

For myself I think this season has been better than last, especially for the club as a whole.

 

We have tied down most of the 1st team squad to long term deals so should any teams come knocking for any of them then they will have to cough up some cash in order to get them.

 

The clubs debt has been cleared which probably led us to spending the rumoured £300k On Kenny McLean, I mean when the last time Aberdeen forked out that sort of money on a player?!?

 

On the park I personally feel we have played better than we did last season, I mean last season it came down to the final day to secure second spot and this season we are currently sitting 19 points clear of Inverness Caley in third place.

 

Yes last season will be more memorable due to the League Cup win but this season has AFC build on that and it certainly looks like we will continue to keep building on going forward into next season.