If we get top 4, and that’s a big if, should Ole get to keep his job? Think we should be going after Poch regardless but curious what others think.
4th place is there to play for: what will the board do?
- Thread starter Fortitude
- Start date
The problem is that we look unprepared for every transfer window. A new manager can only do so much when he's being handicapped by the clowns making transfer decisions.
Chelsea have some pretty tricky fixtures in the run in. They have
Leichester(A)
Man Utd (H)
Spurs (H)
Everton (H)
Villa (A)
City (H)
West Ham (A)
Watford (A)
Palace (A)
Sheff U (A)
Norwich (H)
Liverpool (A)
Wolves (H)
Meanwhile, we have
Burnley(H)
Wolves(H)
Chelsea(A)
Watford(H)
Everton (A)
City (H)
Spurs (A)
Sheffield (H)
Brighton (A)
Villa (A)
Soton (H)
Palace (A)
West Ham(H)
Leichester(A)
Not predicting results here just my view on the difficulty of the fixtures. IF we win vs Bunley and Wolves at home and Chelsea lose to Leichester away, we will be on equal points and ahead on GD when we face them on the Bridge. Get a draw there and i honestly think our chances of top 4 are as good as theirs
Leichester(A)
Man Utd (H)
Spurs (H)
Everton (H)
Villa (A)
City (H)
West Ham (A)
Watford (A)
Palace (A)
Sheff U (A)
Norwich (H)
Liverpool (A)
Wolves (H)
Meanwhile, we have
Burnley(H)
Wolves(H)
Chelsea(A)
Watford(H)
Everton (A)
City (H)
Spurs (A)
Sheffield (H)
Brighton (A)
Villa (A)
Soton (H)
Palace (A)
West Ham(H)
Leichester(A)
Not predicting results here just my view on the difficulty of the fixtures. IF we win vs Bunley and Wolves at home and Chelsea lose to Leichester away, we will be on equal points and ahead on GD when we face them on the Bridge. Get a draw there and i honestly think our chances of top 4 are as good as theirs
He should have been gone after the season ended last year, this season just reinforced that.
I'm at the point of not caring about top-4, with Woodward and Judge we won't be signing anyone special in the summer anyway.
There'll be a saga in which we try to sign Grealish for £25m and he'll arrive on the final day of the window. In the meantime the shareholders will pocket the champions league cash and the magic money tree will be rinsed again.
There'll be a saga in which we try to sign Grealish for £25m and he'll arrive on the final day of the window. In the meantime the shareholders will pocket the champions league cash and the magic money tree will be rinsed again.
People going on about short term loans are hilarious. We scrambled to replace Lukaku in the summer and never got it done. They have had since August to identify targets up front/never mind negotiate. They are clearly not willing to spend the money under this manager or in general anymore. United should have the money to bring players in. This is desperate times and somehow with a chance of top 4, you pay up. The sooner we start getting the players in, the sooner we improve and secure more points.
This players don't like to move in January is absolute bullock's, you pay up and they move. If we have targets for the Summer you forward them now, even it means adding on a bit on. Securing CL football would make the difference, we won't get fourth without investment. It's simply bad business to not strengthen now. If your not learning from negotiating mistakes now then you never will.
We will have loads to do in the summer again, that Pogba move will take ages to sort out with these clowns in charge. The best transfer we could make, is selling the club to owners that actually knew what they were doing.
This players don't like to move in January is absolute bullock's, you pay up and they move. If we have targets for the Summer you forward them now, even it means adding on a bit on. Securing CL football would make the difference, we won't get fourth without investment. It's simply bad business to not strengthen now. If your not learning from negotiating mistakes now then you never will.
We will have loads to do in the summer again, that Pogba move will take ages to sort out with these clowns in charge. The best transfer we could make, is selling the club to owners that actually knew what they were doing.
Thread title changed, as it was intended to ask how the board will react.
Reckon we'll get one in before the end of the window, but that will be it in terms of the board acting. Maybe a new sponsorship deal if we're lucky.
Top 4 is genuinely attainable this season, but I can't see us not burning out in similar fashion to last season. By April we'll be dropping silly points and unable to see out 90 minutes at a high intensity. Also Martial will get another injury at some point, which will be disastrous.
Top 4 is genuinely attainable this season, but I can't see us not burning out in similar fashion to last season. By April we'll be dropping silly points and unable to see out 90 minutes at a high intensity. Also Martial will get another injury at some point, which will be disastrous.
On paper I’d fancy our chances but when you add in our total lack of squad depth and number of injuries we’re picking up it’s going to be a struggle! A couple of attacking players would change that though’
I actually think Leicester will drop off a cliff so third and fourth could be up for grabs
Why do we want CL?
Klopps first full season was without any european football.
We arent going to do anything in the CL, so why does it matter?
Klopps first full season was without any european football.
We arent going to do anything in the CL, so why does it matter?
Everytime a door opens for us to get into the Fabled 4th place our specialty is not to walk in but to walk into the door. I don't see anything different this time we will draw today and no chance of any points in the next 4 games...so might as well make peace with it now.
But what might help is if we pay Glazers some dividend as they haven't taken enough money out of the club yet.
But what might help is if we pay Glazers some dividend as they haven't taken enough money out of the club yet.
They've got a pretty able squad though. If they can pull their fingers out, they've got more of a chance than us.
We are a Martial injury away from disaster.
6 points seems impossible for us to make up, even if we win tonight.
They have literally no striker.
The problem is not just ability wise with these players, we've seen this a few times where we've been in a fight for 4th and we've blown it every time, there's proven winners then there's proven losers - Unfortunately we're the latter.
How these players can inspire confidence to get top 4 with any supporter is baffling to me, I have no doubt that one day we'll be a great side again, but that's about a decade away
How these players can inspire confidence to get top 4 with any supporter is baffling to me, I have no doubt that one day we'll be a great side again, but that's about a decade away
On some level this does make a lot of sense ....yet, not enough sense
He should be fired regardless.
It's obvious by now he's not a top class manager.
We could win the FA Cup, Europa League and finish 3rd and most of this forum would still think we should appoint someone for the next level.
If we somehow finished 3rd(considering the gap between us and Leicester in points) and won 2 cups, I'd probably back Ole for another season.
But the chances of that happening are close to zero.
Its really important to get at least two new signings this January.
Not only for injury cover and the push for CL qualification but also because we don’t want to leave ourselves needing 5-6 in the summer again.
If we could get Bruno and another winger or central midfielder then it leaves less to do in a summer with the Euros.
Not only for injury cover and the push for CL qualification but also because we don’t want to leave ourselves needing 5-6 in the summer again.
If we could get Bruno and another winger or central midfielder then it leaves less to do in a summer with the Euros.
I assume they'll cave and get Bruno in before the end of the month. I don't think it will be enough for top 4, though.
Until Rashford got injured I'd have said even Leicester are catchable if Pogba returns and gives three good months. However now you have to hope someone like Martial or Mata make a star turn and that is when you start escaping the realm of possibilities.
Yeah it's just not happening. There aren't enough goals in the team, there is no creativity whatsoever and we still can't defend, despite spending £130m on the defence last summer.
We will drop points tonight, no doubt about it.
But I can see Chelsea and Leicester dropping more points, so the 3rd and 4th places are definitely up for grabs - but with our injuries and inconsistency, it's going to be a challenge.
We need to make the investment now to have the best chance of securing the UCL.
Ole's mentioned a few times now this "short term fix", maybe a loan - but who? Who've we been solidly linked with?
No credible journalist has mentioned anyone in regards to loan deals. Cavani would be an obvious one but you only see his name in the Express, etc.
But I can see Chelsea and Leicester dropping more points, so the 3rd and 4th places are definitely up for grabs - but with our injuries and inconsistency, it's going to be a challenge.
We need to make the investment now to have the best chance of securing the UCL.
Ole's mentioned a few times now this "short term fix", maybe a loan - but who? Who've we been solidly linked with?
No credible journalist has mentioned anyone in regards to loan deals. Cavani would be an obvious one but you only see his name in the Express, etc.
He would but he is also on 360k a week at PSG. Makes it hard to get him here.
Yeah to be fair, he also apparently wants an 18-month contract. Not really ideal to sign a 33 year old back up striker on daft wages for 18 months.
At this point I'd take Chris Wood!
What should the board do?
Add 3 or 4 new players that they've been actively pursuing (and unsettling) over the last 6-12 months, so the club has enough senior players to cope with the number of games for the rest of the season.
What will the board do?
Go for 3 or 4 players that they've never even spoken to, bid way over the odds and still sign nobody. Then put out some press briefings as to why it was everyone else's fault.
Add 3 or 4 new players that they've been actively pursuing (and unsettling) over the last 6-12 months, so the club has enough senior players to cope with the number of games for the rest of the season.
What will the board do?
Go for 3 or 4 players that they've never even spoken to, bid way over the odds and still sign nobody. Then put out some press briefings as to why it was everyone else's fault.
Just shows how far we have fallen, we are ready to accept any forward this Jan.
Its more about numbers now. Surely, the club have to know that we cannot go into FA cup, Europa, PL with 1 striker?
It is becoming a joke how the club is run.
People keep saying the odds are stacked against us for 4th like our closest rivals haven't been perpetually slipping on banana skins since the day that Ole was appointed. Even after last seasons post-PSG slump, we had ample opportunity to finish 4th by winning a couple of favourable fixtures against relegation fodder but we bottled it every god damn time.
Naturally Solskjaer blamed the players lack of fitness for our inability to secure Champions League football and claimed we'd do much better after a full preseason under him and yet here we are again limping our way through the season with arguably more long term injuries to more important players than ever before along with a thinner squad to boot and we're still within touching distance of 4th. It's fecking mental.
At this point any other top level manager would be counting his lucky stars and hammering the press about his need for reinforcements but Ole just seems happy to still have the job.
Naturally Solskjaer blamed the players lack of fitness for our inability to secure Champions League football and claimed we'd do much better after a full preseason under him and yet here we are again limping our way through the season with arguably more long term injuries to more important players than ever before along with a thinner squad to boot and we're still within touching distance of 4th. It's fecking mental.
At this point any other top level manager would be counting his lucky stars and hammering the press about his need for reinforcements but Ole just seems happy to still have the job.
Ok. I'm playing devils advocate. So give me a reason why we want top 4?
Failing to secure the CL this year will trigger a clause in our deal with adidas significantly reducing the amount they're obligated to pay us per season. Usually this wouldn't bother me too much but it's going to be the same year Liverpool start their record breaking deal with Nike and the optics would be terrible.
Reports today that MFUC have upped their offer for Fernandes and the deal will close today or tomorrow. Nothing from Stoney yet so I'll take it with a bucket of grains of salt, but its something to pin a hope on.
This January window is crucial. Bruno + a striker (maybe Cavani, but whoever) would be the bare minimum required to keep us in with a shout. Realistically a CM too. Unfortunately I don't see it happening - either there is no money to spend, or they don't trust Ole. If we're not spending money; don't expect us to be spending great deals in the summer.
Like you said, this season is there for the taking.
Bring Bale in on loan. Forget everything else.
CL football will ensure the sponsor money doesn't drop, it will also help attract better players in the window. We lost out on DeLigt, and Haaland recently - i think if we had CL football we'd have probably snared both. Same is true for Sancho. Players of that quality is what we need to win the league - they'll never join us if we don't have CL football, it's the bare minimum they expect.
Arsenal have been miles away from winning the league for years, but in that time they signed Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette, Aubamayeng, Carzola, Podolski - all players who could have played for top clubs (and did). London obviously is a big part of that draw, but so was CL football.
Manchester isn't London, but it's not Birmingham either. We offer the best wages, in the best league, but right now we don't offer the best club competition (CL) and we don't offer a shot at titles. We need to change that.
Arsenal have been miles away from winning the league for years, but in that time they signed Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette, Aubamayeng, Carzola, Podolski - all players who could have played for top clubs (and did). London obviously is a big part of that draw, but so was CL football.
Manchester isn't London, but it's not Birmingham either. We offer the best wages, in the best league, but right now we don't offer the best club competition (CL) and we don't offer a shot at titles. We need to change that.
Even our board can't be idiotic enough to think we can survive for 3months with Martial, who has a history of a lot of missed games with little notice, and an 18 year old fallow kid.
There has to be some sort of striker coming in.
I think they'll try and blag it in midfield though, and hope Pereira, Matic and Fred can carry us through until McTom and Pogba are back.
There has to be some sort of striker coming in.
I think they'll try and blag it in midfield though, and hope Pereira, Matic and Fred can carry us through until McTom and Pogba are back.
We are very lucky everybody else is so shit this year.
I think we will get past Chelsea, but i think Wolves and Spurs will do the same. So keep them behind us and we have 4th place imo. There is even a chance of Leicester falling apart.
What the club will do to get there? Probably buy Bruno and pray that noone else get injured.
I think we will get past Chelsea, but i think Wolves and Spurs will do the same. So keep them behind us and we have 4th place imo. There is even a chance of Leicester falling apart.
What the club will do to get there? Probably buy Bruno and pray that noone else get injured.
I dont think the board actually care. The board is not in tune with football which is worrying.
We cannot expect a 18 year old to start big PL games for us, if he doesn't score goals it will affect his confidence. We need to get quality footballers.
We had the chance over the summer to get Ben Yedder in, look how well he is doing at Monaco now.
Hey, whats wrong with Birmingham
Always the slight hope of a Leicester free-fall.