News: The 2017/18 Season Preview, Discussion & Review Thread [R]

Everton v #MUFC will be played at 17:30 GMT on Monday 1 January 2018 while Stoke visit Old Trafford on Monday 15 January (20:00 GMT). pic.twitter.com/Zz7mrHpCR8

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 3, 2017

 

Poor start to this month, and with the CL group stage all but wrapped up, United need to be perfect in the league, with 3 very winnable games. Unlike the previous one, this international break is absolutely welcome...

18 - Newcastle (H) Prem
22 - Basel (A) CL
25 - Brighton (H) Prem
28 - Watford (A) Prem

Need to get the 9pts in the league to keep in touch with City, ahead of December which will be pivotal (and brutal as well).

 

1️⃣ Man City - 31 points

2️⃣ Man United - 23 points pic.twitter.com/3eS5lAOEr2

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) November 6, 2017

 

Mata,Ander,Young and Blind have had their contracts extended one year. I would think one or two of those players will be offloaded in January.

 

Zlatan will help United chase City down this season - Lukaku

www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11123341/romelu-lukaku-says-zlatan-ibrahimovic-will-help-man-utd-chase-man-city

 

‘I’m as good a defender as anyone,’ Chris Smalling tells England manager

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...fender?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

 

United have 4 players who are in the running for the UEFA Team of the Year: David de Gea, Antonio Valencia, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba.

 

Surely you’re joking re Valencia and Miki.

 

United could just go for it in the CL this season.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-utd-fixtures-basel-mourinho-13932381

United are still very much outsiders at best in the CL and a 1/4 final berth would be an acceptable result. But with Jose's style, the team will be in any 2 legged tie with at least a chance. And with a little luck (a prerequisite in cup competitions), who knows what can happen?

 

UNITED SQUAD APPEARANCES AND GOALS 2017/18

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...for-manchester-united-squad-2017-18.aspx?menu

 

We shouldn't persist with the 4-2-3-1 as mentioned in the game thread. It needs to be ditched (for the foreseeable future at least) in favor of a classic 4-3-3.
Playing Pogba at the 10 is not the answer, especially if it means a midfield 2 of Matic and Herrera (who has shown he's simply not as effective in that setup).
Pogba can be just as effective and influential offensively when coming in from his position on the left of a midfield trio.
Also, as mentioned as well, not having a 10 and playing in a conventional 4-3-3 will prevent attacking channels to be congested, not just for Pogba, but Martial and Rashford as well. Martial especially getting more of the ball (as we saw today) is pivotal to the attack in terms of creativity and being an actual threat.
Overall, we know that this team is still a work in progress: the FB situation does need to be addressed but as it stands, Valencia and especially AY are acquitting themselves well enough. We could and should expect better, but imagine for a moment if they weren't there also...
As far as Zlatan is concerned, Jose has to be patient with him and let things develop organically, instead of trying to force things with, especially when he still far from his best (he's still doing remarkably well though considered how far ahead of schedule he returned). But using him in small doses and instead of Lukaku, as opposed to with him, would be the better course of action for now.
Things are nowhere near that bad right now and more than anything else, with the team as constituted, we're looking more at some tweaks, rather than sweeping changes. That is, until we can make some moves in January and especially next summer.

 

Most of our problems are instantly resolved if Lukaku can break out of his funk.

Our team defending is solid, our keeper is second to none on the planet, we dominate possession and we even get the ball into scoring zones but our striker isn't able to create the space needed to take a decent shot. All of us dream of passing the ball through defenses for the walk in goal but more often than not at this level the striker has to rely on beating defenders to the ball or beating defenders with the ball. Lukaku is doing neither, at least not recently.

But even with his poor form we're still eeking out points and remain second in the table. Considering all things, it's remarkable that we're still within reach of City. But if we're going to have any hope of catching them our Belgian Beast has got to not just find his form again but in fact find the next gear up from his previous peak form.

 

Manchester United are the Premier League’s all-time away kings 💪 pic.twitter.com/CLAOmkcivB

— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 28, 2017

 

41% - @ManUtd have scored the highest proportion of goals in the final 15 minutes of games this season of any team in the @PremierLeague. Fergietime.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 29, 2017

 

Only 3 of Sir Alex Ferguson's 13 title winning Manchester United teams had more points after 14 games than José Mourinho's 32 points this season.

Perspective. 🔴 pic.twitter.com/x7HL42AJ5V

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) November 29, 2017

 

Interesting stat.

With the possible exception of The Invincibles, Ferguson never had to chase a squad as strong as City's squad is right now. Ferguson's squads were notoriously slow starters that always finished the season strong, with the notable exception of the 11/12 season.

 

The slate for December:
- 12/2 Arsenal (PL - away)
- 12/5 CSKA (CL - home)
- 12/10 City (PL - home)
- 12/13 Bournemouth (PL - home)
- 12/17 WBA (PL - away)
- 12/.... Bristol (Carabao Cup - away)
- 12/23 Leicester (PL - away)
- 12/26 Burnley (PL - home)
- 12/30 Soton (PL - home)

Congested, as is the case in December, and pivotal as well but if we can get some respite on the injury front, it's not a bad schedule after the City game. That's why if anything can be gained on City after the next 2 games, United can really put some pressure on them.

 

City have offered United a glimmer of hope in the race to the title - Gary Neville

www.skysports.com/football/news/29326/11155778/man-city-have offered-rivals-man-utd-a-ray-of-hope-in-premier-league-title-race-says-gary-neville

Pretty much: as noted earlier, while City have done well to keep winning, they haven't looked as dominant as they've been earlier in doing so. And as much as Pogba is a massive loss for the derby, with the right gameplan, United can beat them (especially with a little respite on the injury front).
The key is still to cut the current 8pt in any way by the turn of the year. Going into 2018 down 6 alone would be a nice boost for United and still put the club in a position to chase City down.

 

Not sure what Gary is talking about. Come from behind 2-1 wins is arguably more impressive than blowing teams away 3-0. City are winning games, lots of them. Some in blowout style, some in grinders. No new hope has been offered lately.

There will be hope if we beat City, however. There are only two clubs with sufficient quality to catch City but if we drop all three points next weekend it's game, set and match.

 

City's remaining Prem games for this month:
United (A), Swansea (A), Spurs (H), Bournemouth (H), Newcastle (A), CP (A)

Only test aside from their visit to OT is their home game vs a tumbling Tottenham. That being said, if United can beat them and be perfect the rest f the way, it will be mission accomplished in terms of cutting into that lead...

 

We need to consider the 352 as our preferred system, we have the converted FBs to make it work.

 

I like the idea of us having it in our locker. But i dont want it to be exclusive.

We needed it to match the other teams using it. But we shouldnt need it vs the bottom half.