Why not top six.
There wernt many teams that outplayed us last season, probably Swansea the only team over both home and away, on the whole we looked better than most we came up against and with better finishing would of comfortably ended in the top six. We started strong and fell away towards xmas and never really recovered to the early season form, if we can maintain that for the season this time around, IDK........Autos.
Sky blue tinted glasses as always
I feel it was the lack of squad depth, further compounded by the Covid situation before Christmas that did us in. If those games had gone ahead when they were supposed to, we would probably have got a couple of points more (Godden would have been available for these before Christmas, too). And also, if we hadn't played them in that condensed period in February, we would probably have got a couple more points from the games originally scheduled in Feb, instead of being dead on our feet playing 8 games in a month to catch up the games cancelled before Christmas (plus the extra time at Southampton), at a time when Godden's appendix had gone. It was just too much.
As good as we were last season, our squad depth was light at the best of times, and definitely didn't have enough to handle this additional pressure.
If the games were all played when they were originally scheduled, it isn't much of a stretch to imagine we would have got at least 4/5 more points than we did. And going into the run in with 4 more points would have given us a more realistic, albeit still 'outside', chance of sneaking into the playoffs.
So even with our light squad, we were good enough to potentially sneak into the playoffs in normal circumstances, and I feel Robins and Viveash had maxed out their budget and just about put together a squad capable of doing that. They just didn't have the leeway to account for us having the (5 or so was it?) games rearranged through Covid.
So with a tad more squad depth, and no major disruptions to the arranged schedule (and hopefully slightly better luck with injuries and illnesses), Robins will have assembled a squad capable of making it this time with our style of play, talent, and intensity.
Being optimistic here.