To me, it's really very simple right now. The way the team has been playing as of late, our top 4 chances are closer to zero, if we're going to be entirely honest. We've lucked out in the EFL final, been mediocre overall and that will not get it done in the league, much less in either of the cup competitions we currently are in. If the team gets it's act together and starts performing at a level more commensurate of their true quality, I have no doubt that our top 4 chances will be around 70-75% at least. The team needs to get somes wins without fail in the league for the next few games and hopefully, that will serve as a nice springboard for the killer run in to come, the team can deal with, provided they show good form by then. Not to mention, I still expect both Pool and Arsenal to falter this year. United just needs to be ready to fully pounce. If they can't pick it up, it's going to be a long limp towards the finish.
ok brah. we can't beat 10 man Bournemouth at home and you think were gonna beat those top 5 teams?? lmao man you are delusional
You can "brah" me and call me delusional all you want, but of course, it's not as if things can not change from one week to the next in the Prem and surprising results tend to happen more often than in other leagues. The bottom line is that things are so close right now, with other teams just as inconsistent as we are that it's actually, as a matter of fact, far from over. You ********ing moron...
I suppose I'm somewhere in between you and Ashur on this one, although I did at once point state (who knows on which thread) that our chances of a top four finish were up in smoke or some words to that effect. You can look at it the way Ashur looks at -- and I'm not being facetious here -- that we're only 3 points off the fourth place team with 12 games left for us (11 for Liverpool). And in that light we actually have a decent chance of pulling it off. Or you can look at it the way you're looking at it, Gilma, which is that our form this season hardly suggests any kind of ability to beat the teams we would need to beat to land a top four finish. JamesA (and his sidekick, "benni") will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong about this, but you're both right. I personally believe we will fall short of a fourth place finish, but that doesn't mean that I believe it's impossible for us to finish fourth. All we have to do is to win 10 of our next 12 games and we're on 79 points and that would be enough to land T4, especially if one of those wins is over Arsenal. But based on form, there's no obvious reason to believe that we can rise above out 50% win rate* so far this season, especially with all the brutal fixtures that await us. *We've played 26 games so far and have won 13, drawn 10 and lost 3. If we persist with a PPG of 1.9 that takes gives us another 22 points for a total of 71 points. City secured 4th last season on 66 points, but I doubt 66 points will be enough to get us there this time...unless both Arsenal and Liverpool stay mired in this poor run of form they've suffered of late. Here's the bottom line: If we can pick up our form and win games that we've otherwise been managing only draws of late (Bournemouth, etc.) we'll scrape fourth. But if we drop points to either Middlesbrough or West Brom I just don't see it happening. Ashur hates it when I agree with him, but I'll agree with him in part but I'll also agree with you in part. We shall see how events unfold. For me, the main objective of this season was to strengthen the roster, improve our performances on the pitch and return go the Champions League. Nothing else really mattered and we've ticked the first two boxes and we shall see whether Jose ticks the last box. Last point...it would be prudent for us to remain in the EL cup for as long as possible until we know we've landed top four.
Wherever you work, I hope you're getting paid by the word count. Masterful job stretching a simple statement "our chances for top 4 will improve if we play better" into 7 sentences and 184 words.
I'm not high on "declarative" type statements. If you don't care about me explaining my position, you don't have to read it really. Appears simple enough to me...
Despite the never-ending doom'n'gloom from those who really should know better i'm still quietly confident we'll finish in the top four, and with a bit to spare, and win at least one more trophy this season, so there No drink, or drugs were taken coming to this conclusion.
"One more trophy" is very doable, but it's a heavy lift to land in the top four at season's end. Very briefly, our fixture list at the end of the season is brutal. But if we virtually run the table over the next 12 league games we will indeed have that "bit to spare".
To me, it's more a factor of how much other teams screw up. I thought I read somewhere in this post that someone estimated 10 of 12 games need to be won for the fourth place. We are not going to do that. Period. You look at this team, the amount of games we have left, the somewhat lack of rotation, and our usual problems with dropping points. Not gonna happen. Whether Arsenal or Liverpool drop out is the factor.
The bottom line remains that it's not just what United does the rest of the way that will be the deciding factor in the team's fate, but also how teams like Arsenal and Pool (as the one more likely to fall out of the top 4 at this juncture) will perform the rest of the way as well. They both have proven very likely to drop a bunch of points in unlikely games as well, so there's no telling how many points United will actually need in order to secure a top 4 finish. That being said, there is no doubt that the team needs to pick it up, as their recent form simply will not do.
Out of the top 6 only us and city are having more games and still occupied in 3 competitions.Rest can concentrate on league now. Maybe dropping out of one may not be a bad idea if it means getting into top 4.
The fixture list is brutal, and when we beat Rostov, and the Village People on Monday it'll get much worse, but we've got the squad, though not sure we've got the Manager to use it properly, but we've definitely got the players to cope, in fact compared to all the teams above us we've got an unfair advantage re. squad depth. Plus come the business end of the season i'd imagine the players would prefer to play every 3 or 4 days rather than just sitting around and waiting with just training for a week to worry, and they will worry about their next fixture. Do as well as Liverpool, and gain one point(over 12 games) on Arsenal in the League and we're laughing, if we don't it's all David Moyes and Louis van Gaal's fault
Anyone who thinks we will make top 4 after losing to 10 man Bournemouth at home is clearly delusional.
Definitely agree with the fact that the squad is much deeper than it is given credit for. And Jose making full of it, is the only way we'd have a real chance of not only cracking the top 4, but also winning the EL or the FA Cup (perhaps even both with just a little luck). Rotation is absolutely going to be key in the upcoming weeks.
Providing we get past Chelsea on Monday i'd play: De Gea-Valencia-Bailly-Rojo-Shaw-Herrera-Carrick-Pogba-Mkhitaryan-Martial-Ibrahimovic for any future FA Cup ties, and 7 of the 12 remaining League games. And then: Romero-Darmian-Jones-Smalling-Young-Fellaini-Schweinsteiger-Blind-Lingard-Rashford-Rooney in the 1st leg of the Europa League games. Sorted, Mata first reserve
Felt like a loss indeed. Whether it's two or three points dropped, it's still points dropped against a club we should have hammered. You can credit the opposing keeper yet again, but we really did make a mess out a gobs of great chances, including a pk.