Because of course being in the bottom 6 now they are not really trying because they are not that desperate just yet .. or maybe that is what people like to reel out whilst the truth is these teams are giving it everything they've got week in week out regardless but are in fact just not that good.
Top 4 race 2016/17
- Thread starter Yorkeontop
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
It's not 12 points. We aren't going to go on and win every game so over the course of the remaining season it'll be more like 15-20 point swing needed.
Anyone seen Arsenal's fixture list after this month?
They aren't getting anywhere near top four.
They aren't getting anywhere near top four.
Arsenal and City look most likely to drop out at this point, if we continue doing well.
But Wenger is having the luckiest season ever in terms of sheer luck and reffing decisions going his way.
LOl. They were under the illusion, we were in some sort of title race. That result was bad for us.
We will probably finish fifth with City sixth. Who saw that one coming?
Our next 4 games are against Stoke, Hull, Leicester and Watford. In that time, we'll see City v Spurs, Chelsea v Arsenal, Liverpool v Chelsea & Liverpool v Spurs. If we keep playing the way we have been for the past couple of months, the gap will disappear pretty quickly.
The problem is that after such a good run a draw feels like a punch in the face.
Have you seen OUR run-in of fixtures?
Everybody has tough spells left.
And then most likely open again when we play Chelsea at home and go away to Arsenal, Spurs and City.
Well, the plan is obviously to get in range for the crunch games. Spurs and Arsenal away in the last 3 games of the season will probably be crucial for all 3 teams.
Stoke away is never easy. We haven't won there in what seems like centuries. Drop points there and it curtains imo. But I've said that like 5 times this season.
We've won 1 game against the teams above us this season, having played all but 1 of them at home. I don't see how people can think that today's result is anything but terrible for us. We absolutely have to beat at least one of them away from home now. Don't think we have any chance at WHL or Anfield so Arsenal or City are our best bets.
Ditto, to every single part of your post. I've dangled between unfounded optimism coupled with obnoxious confidence, and groundless pessimism far too many times this season. I hope our players have a more stable mentality
We got that one out of the way a while back. We "only" have the three others you mentioned left, plus Chelsea at home. I think we'll have to win at least against Chelsea at home, one of the three away games and then draw the last two if we want to get fourth. That might not even be enough if we waste points elsewhere.
Completely forgot about that match.Aye, but quite simply I think we're better than them.
Teams battle more when they're down there and the finishing line is in sight, that's why theyre horrible places to go.
Play Watford tomorrow and its an easy enough game, play them late April if theyre in a dog fight and see the difference.
How many late runs ala Sunderland do we need to see for it to be true? How many times has a 5/6/7 way possible relegation scrap been narrowed down to a couple who are in serious trouble? Did those sides who pull away pull those extra points out from thin air?
Lets see the form Palace are in then v now, feck Hull seem to he picking up form already
Feel like this is more the race for 4th for us now. Chelsea are gone, we won't catch them. Not sure we will catch 1, or even 2 of the other 4 teams above us, so i think 4th is where we can realistically hope to come.
Can not see us doing better than Arsenal, City, Liverpool and Spurs for the rest of the season.
Can not see us doing better than Arsenal, City, Liverpool and Spurs for the rest of the season.
It's true that we need to be better against the top teams. May I suggest, for the umpteenth time, that we start Mata in all big games? He is a proven big game player, he creates chances, and most importantly, he is an awesome finisher. He provides more end-product than either Mhkitaryan or Martial and certainly more than Rooney.
We will beat Spurs, Arsenal and City (home) away. I'm more than confident. Chelsea away could go in either direction.
Liverpool started the season with a bang.. Lets see whether they can keep that up towards the end of the season.
We can and should aim for 2nd. I am still convinced we will get it. Arsenal, city dont look convincing and i think liverpool will not sustain their form and i frankly after rewatching the game think they were very lucky to get a point. Tottenham are the only ones which i think may be untouchable but i am banking on them being tottenham and feck it up later.
All except Spurs are winnable imo. Don't know if you've been watching Spurs lately but they look several levels above us.
Liverpool Exposé (LFCExpose)
Manchester Utd have scored 7 offside goals in there last 5 Old Trafford games. They would be in the bottom half of the table without them.
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— Twitter API (@user) date
It's also a bit of a disingenuous thing to say "12 points" because it's not like if you swing a 4 game differential with Chelsea, which is hard in its own right as Chelsea may not even lose 4 games for the rest of the year. You're also in the worst position for ties as your GD is so poor and honestly doesn't look like changing as even in your best run you're not burying teams the way Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, and Liverpool do.
Then the other thing is that even if you made that 4 game swing with Chelsea you're in the worst position to capitalize on their mistakes. You somehow need the entire top 5 to capitulate. If Chelsea went on a losing run it would probably be Liverpool, Spurs, or Arsenal who gain from it.
I think this cold shower is actually good in the long term, you can focus on a top 4 attainable target & the cups instead of chasing a dream well beyond your actual means. Top 4 sounds easy but two top teams will miss it.
Clearly fake, you numpty
It is almost impossible to recover from 3 wins in 11 games, its about 30% of the entire season. The run we have to go on to get on par with everyone again is ridiculous. I think as long as we stay competitive and near the top 4 I'll be pretty confident about next season. Focus on the Europa.
That twitter account is certainly the most unbiased source! I would love to see how they get to these 7 goals. Plus wonder if they also account for a large number of decisions that went against us, including cases where we actually put the ball into the net but wrongly disallowed.
i know it is going to be difficult but i think we can make top 4 with this team. They only need encouragement and they can do wonders. Zlatan, u genius! keep up the support guys. Cheers!!
It could all change by the time we play them again. They could be in bad form, Kane or Alli could be injured or suspended. It's impossible to predict anything with any degree of certainty so far in advance.
5 points between the second and the sixth, seems to be very very interesting. Everything can happen literally. Each of these teams can drop from the top 4 at the end. Unfortunately we couldn't win yesterday to give the other teams a little bit more pressure but that's ok. United's playing well, we are very hard to be beaten at the moment and we have a great fixture ahead of us unlike the other top teams. We were 9-10 points behind them, now we're just a few and generally we did a good job in the previous matches. Keep patience everyone, United is 6th but we're so close. Pogba was awful yesterday, but I saw his eyes after the match. He was so upset and disappointed from his performance and I am sure that he will just smash Stoke in the next match. Just wait for it. 
Just read an interesting stat....
Liverpool have led in 18 out of 21 league matches played this season, and drew two out of the other three 0 - 0.......
Odd team out.......Burnley
Liverpool have led in 18 out of 21 league matches played this season, and drew two out of the other three 0 - 0.......
Odd team out.......Burnley
People were saying the same when they came to Old Trafford. I'm always confident against Spurs and Arsenal.
Spurs at the Lane is very different from them on your own ground though.
Chelsea were confident too as were City before them.
12 points behind is massive at this stage. United would need to gain 13 more points than Chelsea, 4 more wins wouldn't be enough at the end of the day.
United won't win every game of the season. Yesterday they showed that they're anything but a solid team. Martial, Jones and others easily make mistakes and because of Mourinho's tactics (don't create many chances) it's gonna end costly in most cases. So no, title race for United is effectively over now! Finishing within the top 4 has again dark clouds all over it thanks to yesterday's game. We have to start again, so disappointing.
Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool look comfortably better with the ball at their feet, these days they're all winning their games with ease, IMO. Arsenal have still an 4 points advantage on their hands and won't drop many points against lower teams either. City have already shown during this season that they can put away team after team, they will recover and people shouldn't forget that they're still ahead of United in the table.
Player for player United have talent wise probably the best squad in the league. A good amount of world class players (Ibra, Pogba, De Gea, Mkhitaryan), tons of depth with variety. They can go big, go fast, and they can go with experience. Very disappointing that Jose Mourinho put us in this position. He's underachieving big time.
Newspapers have a point questioning what went wrong at United. Yesterday should have been won, simple as.
No we weren't. That was your cup final & players were fatigued. I thought we'd scrape a draw at best. It was one of those games we could afford to lose.
Yeah, didn't understand that one at all.