I agree about finishing there is a good start to things here under Koeman and i think overall the general perception right now is less of an achieving mid frame and more of a rebuilding one. But for a manager to add at leasr 4-5 league places on the last 2 seasons, possibly finish in europe and strip up to 14 players out of a squad who are not good enough then that is a success to me. So many players were not good enough i am sure you will agree and it is nice to see so many of them being moved out of the club so efficiently is a positive sign of the direction we are going in. The integration of putting young players through the under 23s before using them in the match squad is a positive, and could well give us 6-7 players in the first team in 5 years time that way. I can see us with so many potential positives if we can get it all right and we have achieved this by essentially only spending small amounts of money.
This season was never about 'success' to anyone and one year of not winning a trophy can be forgiven for Koeman considering the previous 22 years without one i believe. Creating a system in place with the youth and the first team and integrating the ground work of that this season is a success, and it is working. the young lads are winning their league and we have had at least one of those step up into the first team off the back of it, not all of them will make it here but feeding young lads through there will only be great for the future.
Which all in all makes this first season under Koeman potentially a positive one, with or without a trophy. That is what i believe though.