News: The 2018/19 Season Preview, Discussion & Review Thread [R]

Aside from other factors, dont expect the likes of DDG, Martial etc. to sign any contract extensions until it looks like we can at least make CL next season (ie top four).

Which is still looking iffy at the moment.

 

The games for the remainder of the year:
11/24 Crystal Palace (Prem)
11/27 Young Boys (CL)
12/1 @ Southampton (Prem)
12/5 Arsenal (Prem)
12/8 Fulham (Prem)
12/12 @ Valencia (CL)
12/16 @ Pool (Prem)
12/22 @ Cardiff City (Prem)
12/26 Huddersfield Town (Prem)
12/30 Bournemouth (Prem)

Games coming thick and fast, as usual this time of year. Doubt that we can break into the Top 4 by the turn of the year, but if we're going to give us any kind of shot, it's imperative that we start closing the gap with the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham.
A clean sweep of the 24 available points in league games would be a major help towards that endeavour. Can't see that happen, so nothing less than 19-21pts will be acceptable, with the games on offer.

 

All winnable except the Pool and the Arse games.

 

Our top four hopes are almost, but not quite yet, now a distant dream. Or nightmare.

It's hard to see which two of City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal will drop out of the top four to make room for us by season's end.

You'd have to say Spurs and Arsenal but there's no evidence available yet to suggest that either, let alone both, will go into collapse. But then again, we're only 7 points behind the fourth place club, Spurs, and there's still plenty of football to be played, 26 games to be exact. But even if Spurs collapse, Arsenal are well positioned to feast before United.

In short, if we do not beat Arsenal on December 5 our top four dream is truly over. That of course assumes wins over Palace and Southampton.

Perhaps the more interesting question is whether we're better off ending up in the 5 or 6 slots or missing out on the Europa League altogether.

 

You don't thin Arsenal at OT is winnable? Im a pessimist but c'mon now. They're not a very good team. They just haven't been exposed to better teams yet (not that we are). That defense struggles every week.

 

Crunch time!

If you include the game on 2nd Jan, we have 11 games in just over 5 weeks (ie 39 days)

Could do with Juve doing us a favour and beating Valencia so provided we beat YB the pre-'pool game won't matter.

Could also do with Jose waking up on the whole Matic situation, or at least as a minimum not leaving the old-man even more gassed by overplaying him through this period.

Some squad rotation is a must this time of year. Time for the likes of Dalot and Fred to show what they can do. Also a critical time to avoid any long-term injuries to key players (just sayin').

 

Agreed with the above. Pereira needs minutes.

 

This club from the top has no ambition;

- the Glazers just want to bleed the club for personal gain and do just enough to keep us relevant so they can siphon off their %

- Ed just wants to please the Glazers, the only angle he sees when buying players is how fans will react by buying shirts and how sponsors will react by whether they have another face for their posters

- Mou has lost interest, can't be bothered to move to Manchester, since he got his contract renewal isn't really all that invested in our future, just looking for his payoff

We are being taken for granted and cheated plain and simple. Although I won't stop supporting, I haven't bought any merchandise and dont intend to until things change. Likewise haven't been to Old Trafford for a while and also won't until things change. Will shortly ditch MUtv as can't see the point. Fairly soon will stop watching our live games - as also can't see the point.

We should be aiming to compete with 'pool or City - none of the above have that ambition.

Hope more fans stay away from OT - more empty seats please. Don't think we should stand being taken for granted by the Glazers, Ed or Mou.

F**k 'em all.

 

Watching United at home is boring: no wonder the fans are staying away.

www.espn.com/soccer/club/manchester-united/360/blog/post/3709562/watching-manchester-united-home-games-is-boring-no-wonder-fans-stay-away

OT being consistently far from a sellout might be, as noted earlier, the only way to hasten Mourinho's exit.
Would love to believe it could happen, but I also believe that the fact we're playing YB is a factor for the fact that they'll be empty seats. Would not have happened recently granted, but it is what it is.
Rough times...

 

I fully belive that a bad showing tomorrow combined with poor ticket sales and booing supporters would be enough for Woody to take notice.

 

Were not going to fire him because there is no ome worth firing him for. As much as i want him gone Mckenna and Carrick are not viable options.

Who else would take the United job for half a season, with no guarantee of long term security?

 

What makes you think we wouldn't offer a long term contract to someone like Zidane? Nothing would be expected of him for the remainder of this season.

 

Zidane doesnt want us. Im not sure i want him either.

 

He was just an example. I'd prefer someone like Jardim over him, but I do think he's most likely the next manager. He just makes too much sense from a marketing perspective and we know Woody loves a big name signing.

 

Jardim is not an offensive coach. He is similar to Mourinho in his organizational approach even with his formation. Though, he is willing to make drastic changes for example throw in an 18 year old kid and bench Falcao like he did against Nantes earlier this season.

 

Don't remember if you said before but why not ZZ?

As far as making a change di Mateo won as interim coach. I don't think we should be afraid to make changes even if we are not clear who the permanent manager will be. Keeping JM is prolonging an already cancerous situation. Carrick McKenna and or giggs would work for me. Certainly we can get creative and find a way to see out the season. For a big club we are flat static and devoid of ideas and creativity

 

Jardim is not an attacking coach by nature, but I don't think it can be disputed that he is adaptable, based on the players available to him. The season he won Ligue 1 recently, Monaco were one of the most attractive teams in Europe and he made full use of the wealth of talent he had.
From that perspective, it would be intriguing to see what he can do with our players and offensive talent. He's also a very aware coach tactically, and he does have his teams well organized and solid defensively. In that regard, he is sort of an Allegri-lite. He does tick a lot of the right boxes, the same way Allegri or Poch do, but unfortunately those 2 are not available (at this time).

Don't know if Zidane is not interested in the job, but I'd take a chance on him, as he would restore some swagger in the team and I'd be curious to see what he could do with our creative/offensive.
The guy would command immediate respect from of them because of who he is and they would be given license to finally express themselves, which they are craving for at this time, but are reined in by Mourinho's stiff and defensive approach.

 

Sorry Jeff but that's just flat out wrong.

 

You have not watched Monaco. I have watched them over a dozen times the last two years.

 

Have you watched them the year they won the title and made it to the CL semis? Jardim teams have looked different since because the team of that season was gutted and picked apart by Europe's top clubs. And he tried his best to adapt to those circumstances to the best of his ability, with the players he had left (which were not yet at least in the level of that superb team).

 

LOL oh so you know what teams I do and don't watch huh?

 

I'm sure you're right Jeff. Even though his team scored 107 goals one season, they must not be offensive minded.

 

Where have the goals gone for United?

www.bbc.com/sport/football/46332303

With the likes of Sanchez, Lukaku, Rashford and Martial (among others), it's a pretty bad indictment about the team and it's style of play.
Not even saying we should be like City clearly, but our goalscoring record should not be as poor as it's been.
As mentioned yesterday, without Martial right now (and the form he's been in of late), it's scary to think how much worse and inept our attack would be.

 

Hard to score when you don't get players into the box.

 

I agree, it makes sense from Woody's POV. Does it make sense for Zidane? Sure the money and the chance to make us great again..., are good reasons, but there are potentially other jobs opening up in the near future. Bayern, PSG possibly, Juve possibly, etc. Also were a mess. He couldnt handle the mess of a front office at Madrid.

I just think if I was him, I'd wait for a better opporunity, then to just jump into this train wreck.

Also, I never understand why Jardim always gets brought up. He had one good season of note.

I dont have Zidane high up my list because Im not convinced he can rebuild this team, under the current circumstances. He has never been in this situation before, and we dont ahve time to experiment. It reaks of big name, no logic.

Also, Di Matteo had manager experience and relative success in mens soccer. Carrick, Mkenna and Giggs have not. Also Giggs wont leave Wales just for a short term contract.