[Chaky_Best]

Very tough period from this game because of the Europa League and the Chelsea game.

We'll need to use our team again during this run of games (B'mouth, Rostov, Chelski, Rostov, Boro).

So best team against Bournemouth and Chelsea then some changes against Rostov and Boro away.

-------------------------------De Gea-----------------------------
Valencia--------------Bailly-----------Smalling-------------Blind
-----------------------Herrera--------Pogba----------------------
Mata--------------------------Rooney----------------------Martial
---------------------------------Ibra-------------------------------

 

[sincher]

Yeah we should defo use our team. The tea ladies don't look in good shape at all.

 

[CG1010]

Even if the season ends with an FA Cup, Europa League and a top 4 finish I wouldn't class it as a magnificent season tbh

I would be ecstatic, especially with our start of the season. It wouldn't rank with our trebles or doubles, but if it happened, I am sure we will look back fondly at this season where we spectacularly turned our fortunes to be finally back!

 

[Santoryo]

Wow

wow indeed

 

[Will Absolute]

Arsenal play Liverpool, so the good news is if we win this game we're guaranteed to climb one place on the table. After so many months in sixth, moving up to 5th will be like the Hebrews entering the promised land.

 

[charlenefan]

Wow

Put it this way if winning the EFL Cup, FA Cup and Europa League equals a magnificent season what would winning the title of equaled?

 

[Sandikan]

Arsenal play Liverpool, so the good news is if we win this game we're guaranteed to climb one place on the table. After so many months in sixth, moving up to 5th will be like the Hebrews entering the promised land.

are you completely missing that Liverpool play tonight? Liverpool win tonight, arsenal beat Liverpool, and even us winning v Bournemouth doesn't take us off 6th!!

 

[sunama]

A premier league game

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Pool vs Arsenal.

Can we please end this streak of dropping points when our rivals will inevitably drop point?

 

[Handsome Devil]

So might Rostov too. If this run continues for another two weeks I'll be very pleasantly surprised.

Yes, Chelsea is THE potential stumbling block to whatever treble you care to name it. However, every match at this stage of the season is a potential stumbling block, even Bournemouth if we want top 4 ...especially with the number of games we have to play. That might explain why Jose wasn't exactly in a jubilant mood yesterday.

 

[2 man midfield]

Put it this way if winning the EFL Cup, FA Cup and Europa League equals a magnificent season what would winning the title of equaled?

An also magnificent season?

 

[devil in me]

Bournemouth are so bad defemsively, ive got a feeling that this could, if we sort our finishing out, be a battering. I expect us to create a lot of chances, would be nice to start taking them.

 

[charlenefan]

An also magnificent season?

So the achievements are equal in terms of impressiveness then?

I disagree

 

[sunama]

are you completely missing that Liverpool play tonight? Liverpool win tonight, arsenal beat Liverpool, and even us winning v Bournemouth doesn't take us off 6th!!

 

[2 man midfield]

So the achievements are equal in terms of impressiveness then?

I disagree

I just don't see how you can't class both of those as great seasons.

 

[Shark]

I'll be flying over from Ireland for this one, can't wait

 

[Will Absolute]

are you completely missing that Liverpool play tonight? Liverpool win tonight, arsenal beat Liverpool, and even us winning v Bournemouth doesn't take us off 6th!!

I should have known it was too good to be true. United are paying for the sins of a previous life - probably committed by Fergie - by being condemned to 6th place forever. It's like one of those sci fi shows where whichever door you choose, you always find yourself back in the same room.

 

[Sandikan]

I should have known it was too good to be true. United are paying for the sins of a previous life - probably committed by Fergie - by being condemned to 6th place forever. It's like one of those sci fi shows where whichever door you choose, you always find yourself back in the same room.

Better that Liverpool are playing Leicester now, then under Ranieri though! It'll be some sort of contest now!

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

DDG
Valencia, Bailly, Smalling, Blind
Carrick, Herrera, Pogba
Lingard, Martial
Zlatan

SUBS - Fellaini (Carrick), Mata (Lingard), Rooney (Martial)

I can see a struggle of a 1st half, ending 0-0 with us coming out half-asleep and not kicking into second gear until just before half time. Second half, we break away and win comfortably.

Man United 3 - 0 AFC Bournemouth
Zlatan (penalty), Mata, Pogba

 

[charlenefan]

Win this and we finally go into the top 4, even if it's only for a few hours

 

[royboy16]

We could make up ground on poo and Arse as surely Klopp will get a reaction from his team after this defeat.

 

[Raoul]

Next 5 league fixtures :

United: Bournemouth, Boro, West Brom, Everton, and Sunderland.

City: Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea

Spurs: Everton, Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Swansea

Arsenal: Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, West Ham, Palace

Liverpool: Arsenal, Burnley, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth

Chelsea: West Ham, Stoke, Palace, Man City, Bournemouth

Both us and Chelsea should have a game in hand i believe....

 

[Brightonian]

Next 5 league fixtures :

United: Bournemouth, Boro, West Brom, Everton, and Sunderland.

City: Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea

Spurs: Everton, Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Swansea

Arsenal: Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, West Ham, Palace

Liverpool: Arsenal, Burnley, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth

Chelsea: West Ham, Stoke, Palace, Man City, Bournemouth

Both us and Chelsea should have a game in hand i believe....

This shows how crucial it is that we keep two eyes firmly on the prize in the PL despite all the other games we'll be playing. Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and City are all playing at least one game against each other, while we have a comparatively friendly run. If we're not firmly back in the top four after these five games, we've fecked up.

Because the chickens come home to roost for us in the run-in: Chelsea, Arsenal (away) and Spurs (away) all in our last six games. And our game against City will probably end up being played in there somewhere too. We need to have made up plenty of ground before then.

 

[RedStarUnited]

Next 5 league fixtures :

United: Bournemouth, Boro, West Brom, Everton, and Sunderland.

City: Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea

Spurs: Everton, Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Swansea

Arsenal: Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, West Ham, Palace

Liverpool: Arsenal, Burnley, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth

Chelsea: West Ham, Stoke, Palace, Man City, Bournemouth

Both us and Chelsea should have a game in hand i believe....

Isnt it City and Arsenal? The 2 other teams who should have played sunday.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Arsenal play Liverpool, so the good news is if we win this game we're guaranteed to climb one place on the table. After so many months in sixth, moving up to 5th will be like the Hebrews entering the promised land.

You were wrong then, but you are right now

 

[charlenefan]

Next 5 league fixtures :

United: Bournemouth, Boro, West Brom, Everton, and Sunderland.

City: Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea

Spurs: Everton, Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Swansea

Arsenal: Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, West Ham, Palace

Liverpool: Arsenal, Burnley, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth

Chelsea: West Ham, Stoke, Palace, Man City, Bournemouth

Both us and Chelsea should have a game in hand i believe....

Hoping for some favours from Everton and West Brom (ironically 2 sides we also play)

 

[WPMUFC]

Bournemouth haven't won a game since end of december and they are conceding 2.85 goals per game.

So i guess that means a 0-0 against MUFC?

 

[tentan]

A premier league game

Don't think we have another one for ages after this one.

 

[HeckneyNoodo]

Bournemouth haven't won a game since end of december and they are conceding 2.85 goals per game.

So i guess that means a 0-0 against MUFC?

You monster

 

[MadMike]

Bournemouth haven't won a game since end of december and they are conceding 2.85 goals per game.

So i guess that means a 0-0 against MUFC?

Their goalie will morph into an 8-handed Buffon stopping everything. Pogba will hit the post....twice.

 

[ChaddyP]

must win.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Bournemouth haven't won a game since end of december and they are conceding 2.85 goals per game.

So i guess that means a 0-0 against MUFC?

Yep, despite this they've only scored 2 less than us. More goals than any team bar the Top 7 in fact. BTTS + United Win wouldn't be a bad bet on this game tbh.

Our defence isn't quite there yet, it's so important that we take our chances against them.

 

[Jaybomb]

De Gea
Valencia Bailly Rojo Blind
Carrick
Herrera Pogba
Mata Ibra Martial

For me.

 

[Ferguson]

Next 5 league fixtures :

United: Bournemouth, Boro, West Brom, Everton, and Sunderland.

City: Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea

Spurs: Everton, Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Swansea

Arsenal: Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, West Ham, Palace

Liverpool: Arsenal, Burnley, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth

Chelsea: West Ham, Stoke, Palace, Man City, Bournemouth

Both us and Chelsea should have a game in hand i believe....

Slightly deceptive because we still have to face Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City before the end of the season. Overall I think our run-in is the toughest at this point.

You could put a positive spin on it by saying that we have a lot of 6 pointers that enable the team lower on the table to force their way higher. But the fact remains that a tougher set of opponents will mean more dropped points before the end. Plus, of course, we have the Europa and FA Cup to worry about unlike some others.

So we need to be ruthless in our next five matches to put pressure on those above us, and then we need to get it right against the big teams and hope for our key players to stay healthy.

 

[Raoul]

Slightly deceptive because we still have to face Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City before the end of the season. Overall I think our run-in is the toughest at this point.

You could put a positive spin on it by saying that we have a lot of 6 pointers that enable the team lower on the table to force their way higher. But the fact remains that a tougher set of opponents will mean more dropped points before the end. Plus, of course, we have the Europa and FA Cup to worry about unlike some others.

So we need to be ruthless in our next five matches to put pressure on those above us, and then we need to get it right against the big teams and hope for our key players to stay healthy.

Its just a way to track our next 5-6 fixtures. We did this before earlier this year - https://www.redcafe.net/threads/fixtures-over-the-next-30-days.424487/

 

[432JuanMata]

Yep, despite this they've only scored 2 less than us. More goals than any team bar the Top 7 in fact. BTTS + United Win wouldn't be a bad bet on this game tbh.

Our defence isn't quite there yet, it's so important that we take our chances against them.

Would love to see when are defense is there then considering we have kept 6 clean sheets in the last 8. Though we gave Southampton millions of chances I would love to see Jones back with Rojo in CB. Hate seeing Rojo at LB

 

[Vaibhav Raj]

Even if the season ends with an FA Cup, Europa League and a top 4 finish I wouldn't class it as a magnificent season tbh

Then maybe you should stop looking at the trophy value and look at the kind of consistency and quality it would take for a team to win three knock-out competitions in the current footballing scenarios where nearly every team is capable of knocking off the giants. We have to look back at our performances in past few seasons, including a few under Ferguson's, where we simply weren't good enough and got knocked out of competitions even when we were in easy groups in CL and up against not so strong teams in other competitions. The quality in United team has been gradually declining and we had become frustratingly inconsistent up until this run we have embarked on. It will make this feat indeed quite magnificent and we can look forward to having one of the best seasons come the next year.

Frankly, if I were presented a choice between United winning PL and United winning League Cup (we already have so I included it), FA Cup and Europa, I would take the latter (plus the added bonus of a top four finish like you mentioned). I really do think the latter is a much more of a test of our squad's ability right now and something that will assure me more of our team strength as the season comes to a close. Premier league is a mess with teams dropping points all the time. Teams are being pushed up the table by crap performances by other teams rather than their own consistency. Even then several giants keep dropping points and the table isn't actually decided until the last month. We could win PL this year and go down out of top four the next if we're not strong enough (and drop out of CL without putting up a fight). Happened with Chelsea, happened with Us, Happened to Liverpool (they came close), happened to City. But we won't win the trio of trophies if we're not strong enough. I personally feel it will indeed be a magnificent feat for a team in United's position and if it indeed happens, I will be so much more assured of our quality and will have much higher hopes of us doing well in CL and PL the next season.

 

[AgentP]

De Gea
Valencia Bailly Rojo Blind
Carrick
Herrera Pogba
Mata Ibra Martial

For me.

If Mkhi's fit, then he gets in instead of Carrick. Otherwise, this will be my expected team too.

 

[AgentP]

I just don't see how you can't class both of those as great seasons.

Agree. Winning three trophies in a season is brilliant however you look at it! There is no denying that EPL and CL are THE main trophies that everyone covets, but winning three cup competitions is no easy feat either. And EL is a trophy that we have never won before with the added bonus of CL qualification.

 

[surf]

Win this and we're up into the top 4.