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

United's creativity issue.

www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11178654/manchester-united-have-struggled-to-create-premier-league-chances-but-why

 

Every cup or title should be a priority now. It will create a need to win attitude which is seriously lacking here. Moreover, Jose had said he wants to win everything when he came here. So go ahead and prove it.

 

Unless we're extremely lucky, we're not going to win the Prem or the CL this season. It does not mean they should not give it everything and hope for the best (or some type of miracle for that matter) but the fact remains that the most realistic hope for a trophy this year remains the FA Cup. If United can win that, along with securing a top 3 league finish and a 1/4 final or better CL berth, it will have been a pretty successful season, result wise at least.
And being just Year 2 as far as Jose is concerned, he will still be on track for hopefully even better things in Year 3, after the final pieces of the puzzle have been added in the next 2 windows.

 

The will be no further action from the FA on the post match incidents following the Manchester Derby. Case closed apparently.

www.bbc.com/sport/football/42447675

 

At least for me, the league cup is a "been there, done that" cup. We won it last year and there really isn't a lot of glory in winning it back to back, especially if it meant us losing crucial matches in the EPL and the CL at about the same time.

We've got another cup, a far more prestigious one, that's in sight and I'd much rather see us win the FA Cup and that Caribou Cup or whatever it's now called.

It's reasonable to fear to that we won't win any cups this season and if/when that happens we'll have good cause to ask Jose to do some 'splainin. But for now we're in a good place in the EPL and in a great place in the CL. And we haven't been dumped out of the FA Cup yet.

We should expect, or at least pray that, we see better overall performances in the second half of the season than we have in the first half of the season. Lukaku may have now turned a corner. Bailly will be back in 2 months to upgrade on an inconsistent Rojo. Ibra will be fitter in 2018 than he was in 2017. And if we're lucky, Shaw will have returned to his pre-Moreno form. We've done to get to this point (apart from yesterday) but everyone who watches United acknowledges there's room for improvement in our performances and, at least historically, United have done better in the second half of the season than in the first half. And I think that's true for Jose's sides as well going back to Porto.

 

Does United have the more packed holiday schedule?

www.bbc.com/sport/football/42448493

 

Fixture change:

The @PremierLeague has confirmed two fixture changes for #MUFC in February - details: https://t.co/yMMYfe4juc pic.twitter.com/hqG8Zc2LiY

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 22, 2017

 

Except we won it last season....?

 

Each team in the Prem is assessed as we've reached the season's halfway mark.

www.bbc.com/sport/football/42394030

 

January games coming up. Hoping for a much more successful month than December.

Jan 1 - Everton (A)
Jan 5 - Derby (FA Cup, H)
Jan 15 - Stoke City (H)
Jan 20 - Burnley (A)
Jan 31 - Spurs (A)

 

Apparently this belongs here.

Has anyone read this
http://kwese.espn.com/football/club...-foul-mood-is-clubs-mangled-transfer-strategy

 

Time for United to wake up - Pogba

www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11190583/paul-pogba-urges-manchester-united-to-wake-up-after-southampton-draw

 

Lukaku's absence (assume 2-3 weeks) may prove to be a blessing in disguise. The Belgian had hit a wall before beginning to suffer from fatigue he desperately needed a rest anyway. Having missed so many glorious chances his teammates were starting to play around, not through, him. Whether it's Rashford or Martial or even Pogba, we need someone to step up with his finishing over the next 4-5 games. It's just that simple.

Once our finishing improves confidence will return. The win over Arsenal was fantastic and could have led to a great run had we not had to face City right after that in the prem. Confidence has taken a serious hit and what needs to happen is a win, sparked by someone (Pogba?) who can put on attacking display worthy of the shirt to bring confidence back to the squad.

No doubt we have serious work to do within the squad itself but for the immediate future it's all about finishing. And better set piece defending would help too.

 

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

When your back hurts and you’re tired from carrying your average team mates. pic.twitter.com/cSAwroTY1y

— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) December 31, 2017

 

United are headed to Dubai.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-utd-fixtures-dubai-mourinho-14121951

Short of an actual winter break, this is the next best thing.

 

#MUFC have been drawn away to Yeovil Town in the @EmiratesFACup fourth round. The tie will be played between Friday 26 and Monday 29 January. pic.twitter.com/g696cDj9cD

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 8, 2018

 

Interesting. I haven't checked in on Yeovil Town for a while, but apparently are in a relegation dogfight in League Two.

 

Mourinho will work specifically on tactics in United's Dubai trip.

www.football365.com/news/mourinho-to-use-week-long-break-to-finally-work-on-tactics

 

United now charging Sevilla fans an additional £35 for their away trip to OT.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-fans-EXTRA-35.html?__twitter_impression=true

 

In case anyone is lazy and doesnt click the link, this real headline.

Manchester United hit back in Sevilla ticket row: English club set to charge away fans EXTRA £35... and use money to help their fans afford trip to Spain

 

Best to read the email from United to Sevilla ticket holders:

Further to our recent confirmation that you were successful for the Sevilla away game, we wanted to inform you of a change in what you will be charged for this game.

In this instance we believe that our travelling supporters are unfairly being subjected to increased/excessive ticket prices from the host club. This view is shared generally amongst travelling supporters, and we have received lots of requests from individuals and supporter groups to intervene in this matter.

This has been raised with Sevilla, and internally, but ultimately Sevilla have not agreed to significantly lower the price of tickets for our fans to what we view as a reasonable level. Therefore we have taken the difficult decision to charge Sevilla fans for the return leg at Old Trafford the same amount as our fans have been charged for the away fixture.

We have decided to increase the ticket prices for Sevilla fans for the game at Old Trafford, and use this increase to subsidise our fans, as we want this to act as a deterrent to future opponents who look to increase ticket prices for our travelling supporters.

We will subsidise our travelling support by refunding the difference between the price charged (£89) and the price that was paid by Liverpool supporters in the Group Stage of this year's competition (£54). The £35 difference will be refunded prior to the game taking place.

As a result of the changes to ticket prices for away fans, should we gain any additional revenue after having refunded our supporters, we will donate this to the Manchester United Foundation.

I hope you are looking forward to the game, and we will follow-up shortly with details of ticket collections.

Many thanks for your continued, loyal support.​

 

Day one of training in Dubai ✅ pic.twitter.com/JeaDAKsM2s

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 9, 2018

 

The date for our FA Cup 4th round tie has been confirmed.

Jan 1 - Everton (A)
Jan 5 - Derby (FA Cup, H)
Jan 15 - Stoke City (H)
Jan 20 - Burnley (A)
Jan 26 - Yeovil Town (FA Cup, A)
Jan 31 - Spurs (A)

 

Fukkin hell. I’m traveling that day.

 

Leeds canceled his loan and CBJ has returned to United.

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has returned to #MUFC following his loan spell at Leeds United. pic.twitter.com/qIzIS1In1M

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 16, 2018