Europa League quarter final draw:- QF1: Shakhtar Donetsk / Wolfsburg v Eintracht Frankfurt / FC Basel QF2: LASK / Manchester United v Copenhagen / Istanbul Basaksehir QF3: Inter / Getafe v Rangers/Leverkusen QF4: Olympiacos / Wolves v Sevilla / Roma Semi-finals:- Winner QF4 v Winner QF2 Winner QF3 v Winner QF1 So we are up against Olympiacos, Wolves, Sevilla or Roma if we make it to the semis. Bloody happy with that.
QF4: Olympiacos / Wolves v Sevilla / Roma Thats a hard fought set of games for whoever comes through.
Various places reporting that we lose £25m from Adidas contract if we don't qualify for the Champions League. If we miss out by 2 points, not defending that corner properly against Southampton in the last minute could prove very costly ...
As much as I would love to win the FA Cup, it's really not the priority right now and Ole will have to do some serious rotating for Sunday's game. Don't see how he can expect some of the players to go again Sunday after today's game and again vs WH in the middle of next week. I get that we're already close to the end of the season, but that's a lot of games in the legs and we can't afford to mess Top 4 up at this juncture. We've got another trophy in the EL that we can pursue if we fall in the FA Cup. But at this time, the next 2 league games are what matter above all else.
Realistic? #BREAKING: The return of football with fans is getting closer 🙏#OptusSport | #PL pic.twitter.com/LVwWUihCfh— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) July 17, 2020
I hadn't considered one thing about the FA Cup. If we beat Chelsea for a 4th time and then pass them in the table and somehow LC finish 4th and we keep them out of Europe it'd be pretty damn amusing.
It would be without a doubt and given their final 2 league opponents, it's not impossible at all. That 3 way dance this coming week sure looks to be very interesting. Fingers crossed we don't end up being the ones without a chair when the music stops...
Rashford and Martial are only the fourth pair to score at least 17 Premier League goals each in the same season for Man United. pic.twitter.com/JOinVdg2jb— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) July 17, 2020
The Premier League table since Bruno Fernandes joined Man United 👀 pic.twitter.com/gNIW3ZhzRl— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) July 17, 2020
yep this is what i memtioned in the other thread. as down as we might have been about a draw (a draw!) with Southampton. overall our run of form is quite good over a few months now. as long as the legs don't get cut out from under the team we should kick on
Crazy noticeable how improved the spirit is in the team nowadays. Everything coming out of Carrington is laughs, camaraderie, good vibes and positivity. How nice.
Leicester continued to slump with a 3-0 loss at Tottenham. We're tied with them on points and goal differential, and they are ahead with 4 more goals scored, but we have a game in hand hosting West Ham before we end at Leicester. I saw on Wikipedia, which cites the Handbook at https://resources.premierleague.com...1-9a4ecf405e0e/2019-20-PL-Handbook-230620.pdf that there is something unusual about the tiebreakers that has a small match of mattering. If points, goal differential, and goals scored are tied, clubs are considered tied unless the tie has to be broken to determine the champions, qualifiers for UEFA competitions, or relegation. The Handbook doesn't directly say that the clubs can be declared tied, but that's what happens if tiebreakers stop before a tie is broken. If tiebreakers are needed for that, it is head-to-head points and then head-to-head away goals without head-to-head goals in between. We won 1-0 hosting Leicester, so if they beat us 3-1, they will have more head-to-head goals 3-2, but that won't matter and we would win the head-to-head away goals tiebreaker 1-0. Here are the rare scores that would make that tiebreaker be needed: 6-2 4-1 Currently: Leicester 62 points, +28, 67 goals scored, 39 goals allowed, 1 game left Us: 62 points, +28, 63 goals scored, 35 goals allowed, 2 games left If we win 6-2 hosting West Ham: Us: 65 points, +32, 69 goals scored, 37 goals allowed, 1 game left Leicester 62 points, +28, 67 goals scored, 39 goals allowed, 1 game left If they beat us 3-1: Us: 65 points, +30, 70 goals scored, 40 goals allowed, 3 head-to-head points, -1 head-to-head goal differential doesn't matter, 1 head-to-head away goal Leicester: 65 points, +30, 70 goals scored, 40 goals allowed, 3 head-to-head points, +1 head-to-head goal differential doesn't matter, 0 head-to-head away goals Chelsea has 63 points and 2 games left. They go to Liverpool on Wednesday and end hosting Wolves. Their +15 goal differential is much worse than us and Leicester, so in order for the above tiebreakers to be used, Chelsea would need at least 3 points to reach 66. If Chelsea has 65 or fewer, us and Leicester would both make the CL, and we would finish tied for third. Leicester probably won't beat us 3-1, but it's possible. Sometimes clubs are so far apart on goal differential and/or goals scored that with 5 games left you know which club will win the tiebreaker without it being clinched because nothing with goals can be clinched before a club finishes their last game. Edit: I said Leicester continued to slump before checking anything other than the score. A 6th minute own goal and goals by Kane in the 37th and 40th minutes put Tottenham up 3-0 with no goals after that. Leicester had 70 percent of the possession, more shot at 24 to 7 (77.4 percent for Leicester), more shots on goal at 6 to 3 (2/3rds for Leicester), more corner kicks at 13 to 4 (76.5 percent for Leicester), more free kicks at 19 to 10 (65.5 percent for Leicester), more combined corner kicks and free kicks which is a statistic I made up up 32 to 14 (69.6 percent for Leicester), more total passes at 677 to 285 (70.4 percent for Leicester), more attacks at 145 to 75 (65.9 percent for Leicester), a much higher percentage of attacks that were dangerous which is a statistics I made up at 52.4 percent to 18.7 percent, and more dangerous attacks at 76 to 14 (84.4 percent for Leicester). That's at least 65.5 percent for Leicester of eight statistics, and if I did 52.4/(52.4+18.7) for the percentage of attacks that are dangerous, Leicester had 73.7 percent. I wonder if when the last time a club lost by 3 while dominating the statistics that much was.
Hmm... It's almost like Woodward loves trolling the press and the fans with this. Exclusive: Manchester United have director of football on agenda | @mcgrathmikehttps://t.co/Q2bgQhns4P— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) July 23, 2020
United win their 14th penalty of the season—more than any team in Premier League history. pic.twitter.com/XpukWYzuqt— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 26, 2020
This is a weird season to gauge, and not just because of the stop/start from Covid. We finished in 3rd which is about as good as we could have expected. But 66 pts is not impressive at all. Then you look at our finish. Absolutely horrible the last 4 or 5 games which overshadowed a really impressive run since the restart. As long as we have a good summer recruiting, the next season will be made or broken by Ole. Can he figure out how to rotate? Can he get the most out of guys like Pogba? Can he show he has a plan B in games that aren't going our way? The positives are obviously we're back in Europe and we saw some of the best football we've played since SAF left. We have a young start with some potentially elite talent. We're favorites for one of the best young players in Europe in Sancho. Negatives are obviously Woody is still in charge. Still no DOF. And still a lot of dead wood on the books. All in all we're finally moving in the right direction.
Ole makes a great point in his post-match - CL football midweek means you cant switch in kids like you can in the Europa League. We will need some high-class depth especially for our creative players and attackers. This means investment - over to you Ed.
As for @ManUtd, hierarchy made the right call to bring OGS in when so many were dubious. He has created a way of playing that is more like the club are used to. Arrival of Bruno a game changer and still lots to do but they deserve credit for pulling club into position it is now.— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) July 26, 2020 Agree with Stone here. Had my moments of doubt about Ole when we collapsed at the end of last season and after the poor start this term. To be fair, there were mitigating circumstances as far as this season is concerned. But once we got Bruno in, the turnaround has been amazing and our strong finish has been rewarded in the end. On top of that, when you look at what Ole has done in terms of starting the process of refreshing the squad (which was and still is needed), plus having us play at times more in line with the United way, he has earned some credit. Whether he's the guy to take us back all the way (to the big trophies) remains to be seen. But at least, he's bringing hope back again and when he'll leave, the club will probably be in a much better state than when he's found it. The most important thing though is to build on the league finish. Short term goals: definitely must go for an EL win and bring in at least 3 quality signings (headlined by Sancho). If we can move 4-5 players out the club minimum and manage to get Pogba to sign a new contract, it will be a superb summer for the club. That should provide a great springboard for Ole and the team going into next season.
This has been our best season post-SAF. I said this before the restart and I mean it even more now. We've finished shakily over the last few games but since we signed Bruno we've got more points than anyone else in the league and we caught up 18 points on Leicester, 6 on Chelsea. We've been excellent. We still have a lot of work to do but nobody can deny that we've already achieved a huge amount. We may be Man Utd but we were a gigantic, extremely slow turning ship facing entirely the wrong direction, and our low points total is a demonstration of us managing a 180 within a season. We now finally have momentum going into a summer, we have a clear plan to ensure we sign big and sign well, and we have so many young players who are only going to get better. This season has been the clearest example of why a manager with the right vision needs patience. A lot of our weaknesses at the moment in terms of building from the back or not being able to make impactful substitutions are limitations of the squad, just as it took Bruno to fundamentally shift our tempo and positivity with the ball, and Pogba's return to make us an effective side in possession. Ole may need to be upgraded when he hits his limit but that day hasn't come yet. And by the time it does, we shouldn't be looking at Poch to replace him, but the next Poch.
we're also a much more attractive prospect for potential signings as opposed to this time roughly 1 year ago. worse the dark times under José. but, you know