Opinion: Upcoming Season Is Going To Be Tough

[NewGlory]

Arsenal and Spurs sucked unusually bad last season and Chelsea was in a lot of trouble due to the transfer ban. We should expect that they will all try to fix their problems. Sure, the whole COVID situation is a problem and nobody has enough money, anymore, but we can't expect them to not do much better. Mourinho, Arteta, and Lampard all need to prove themselves at their new clubs. They will give up a fight.

We have clear problems at a whole bunch of positions that will quickly catch up with us if we don't make 3+ major signings and get some bench players in addition.

Chances are we won't do enough, though. And I don't think we can get lucky twice in a row. We did get lucky this year to make it to top 4.

What do you think are the chances that Woodward will actually get Ole the players we need so we can stop being so fragile and inconsistent?

 

[peridigm]

Ed will get Ole someone. Who is the mystery. Will it be enough to improve us to at least keep up with top 4? I don’t see Arsenal or Spurs improving that much. In fact, I expect Spurs to get worse. Chelsea are backing Frank and making up for a lost window. They’ll improve for sure.

 

[Morpheus 7]

This is another frustrated thread about lack of transfers. Could be connected to Ed Woodward, wot no transfers ect...
Do we really need another one to clog up the caf. Close it up

 

[Revan]

Bruno and Pogba will be for the entire season instead of less than half of it, and hopefully Martial and Rashford won’t get injured. I believe we will be better than last season (actually we were since Bruno came).

Of course doing a couple of good signings will improve us but we should be ok regardless.

 

[NewGlory]

Bruno and Pogba will be for the entire season instead of less than half of it, and hopefully Martial and Rashford won’t get injured. I believe we will be better than last season (actually we were since Bruno came).

Of course doing a couple of good signings will improve us but we should be ok regardless.

Bruno and Pogba (even if the latter stays) cannot last us entire season. I pray that they don't get injured, but even without injuries they need some rest. Fred had a month of decent performances, before pandemic, but after reopening was so underwhelming that he doesn't seem like the one who can do it for us. We don't have any depth in the attack, either. Actually, I was very concerned with Rashy's lukewarm performance since coming back. Hopefully it is just him still recovering, but - concerned nevertheless.

 

[AsonUnique]

Our first 11 is pretty good, injuries will cause us to see a huge drop off, we got lucky getting Rashford and Pogba back this year. With this being a condensed season and champions league, I could see us faltering if we have a couple major injuries. We will definitely make a couple signings, even if it isn't Sancho. Hopefully an attacking mid that could possibly help on the wing, Grealish/VdB/Brooks, and a RW, even if it isn't Sancho we need someone there. Rumors also point towards a CB.

If we reinforce with a couple signings that challenge the first 11 and at worst upgrade the bench we should be able to finish 3rd-4th. If we get our top targets Sancho, Grealish/VdB and a CB I could see us finishing 2nd-4th. Again I don't think it will happen but if we made no signings I think we would be battling for 4th-8th.

 

[Jibbs]

Either we sign 3,4 players or be ready to finish 6th or 7th upcoming season. It is as simple as that.

 

[bosnian_red]

Our starting 11 is pretty good with some holes, our depth is non-existent for the most part. Add CL football to a busy league schedule this season, and you have a recipe for a really poor year unless we do something in the transfer market. Can't even blame Ole for it if it doesn't go well. As it stands I don't think we'll get top 4, unless we make some reinforcements.

 

[edcunited1878]

Bruno and Pogba (even if the latter stays) cannot last us entire season. I pray that they don't get injured, but even without injuries they need some rest. Fred had a month of decent performances, before pandemic, but after reopening was so underwhelming that he doesn't seem like the one who can do it for us. We don't have any depth in the attack, either. Actually, I was very concerned with Rashy's lukewarm performance since coming back. Hopefully it is just him still recovering, but - concerned nevertheless.

Fred was one of the most reliable and consistent players throughout the season all before the lockdown. He has a significant place in the squad. If he continues to sustain his level from this season or improves, the team will continue to improve.

The season was always going to be difficult no matter what the other teams do or don't do.

United have to see if their 'breakout' players such as Rashford, Martial, Greenwood, and Bruno can sustain their output, but really be more consistent in their performances and increase their output. If Martial plays like he did since the restart along with Bruno and Greenwood, that's the improvement and quality we're all looking for.

And the young players or players who just completed their first season with United such as Maguire, AWB, James, Williams, Pereira, etc all have to improve, period. Maguire has to cut out some mistakes, but he also needs to be rested way more, and be consistent at a high level. AWB, James, Williams...they have to continue to improve their weaknesses and bring their overall game up a level or two...and hopefully that will come with time and maturity and understanding of what's expected of them now that they completed their first full season.

 

[el3mel]

I don't think anyone thinks it's gonna be easy.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

If we sign Sancho alone I think we’ll be fine & comfortable securing top 4. Our form when Bruno came is the reason why we are still favourite finishing above Arsenal & Spurs. I don’t think we need that many like 3 or more major signings just to get us out of trouble.

 

[Okey]

We're on a good trajectory. A young team that hasnt actually quite peaked, while our main rivals have probably reached theirs. If we keep improving the squad rather than stand still, there's no reason we can't actually improve on last season in my opinion.

 

[edcunited1878]

I don't think anyone thinks it's gonna be easy.

It's not as easy as too many people think or like to believe! United aren't the dominant force like they were in 06-09. Those were the days when the squad just had so much world class quality and depth, thays when we felt we were unstoppable, until it came to arguably the greatest Barca sides ever.

With Leeds back in the PL...that's just another club who will treat our games as their cup final and be game raisers.

 

[Wumminator]

Arsenal are shit and their signings don’t change their fact they’re like the 14th best team in the league.

Chelsea are sorting their defence out by signing a 36 year old defender new to the league.

Liverpool won’t benefit from VAR and will start to break down with injuries.

City have an aging squad with players like Fernandinho, Walker, Aguero and Gundogan coming to the end of their careers.

Tottenham literally have Mourinho as their manager.

 

[edcunited1878]

If we sign Sancho alone I think we’ll be fine & comfortable securing top 4. Our form when Bruno came is the reason why we are still favourite finishing above Arsenal & Spurs. I don’t think we need that many like 3 or more major signings just to get us out of trouble.

I think it's one marquee signing like Sancho, but really need two good depth signings that close the gap from starting XI quality to dependable bench players. Central midfield and CB.

Need to spell Maguire and Lindelof more often and allow Bailly and a 4th CB whether it's a new signing or Tuanzebe to play here and there in the league.

I really hope and it almost has to happen now, with Fred rotating in and out with Matic, alongside Pogba with Bruno ahead. A new CM player would either rotate with Bruno or Pogba. If Bruno doesn't start, Pogba plays advanced in a 3 like he did when Ole was interim manager with Fred and Matic behind or Fred and a new CM.

 

[Bojan11]

Spurs? What have they done?

Mourinho will throw a big strop soon.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I think it's one marquee signing like Sancho, but really need two good depth signings that close the gap from starting XI quality to dependable bench players. Central midfield and CB.

Need to spell Maguire and Lindelof more often and allow Bailly and a 4th CB whether it's a new signing or Tuanzebe to play here and there in the league.

I really hope and it almost has to happen now, with Fred rotating in and out with Matic, alongside Pogba with Bruno ahead. A new CM player would either rotate with Bruno or Pogba. If Bruno doesn't start, Pogba plays advanced in a 3 like he did when Ole was interim manager with Fred and Matic behind or Fred and a new CM.

Do we really need more than Sancho just to secure top 4 comfortably?

I think with our current squad and Sancho, we can achieve between 75 points to 80 points plus. We had 66 points with Pogba being injured more than half season and Bruno wasn't in our squad until late January. I just don't see how can't we get that extra 10-15 points with Bruno plays full season and Sancho comes in. Both Pogba & Bruno aren't injury prone, so it'll need another unfortunate year for both of them to be injured for long period. Defensively we are just fine if we want to secure just for top 4.

3 or more major signings are needed minimum if we are aiming to go for challenging the league title. However, we'll be fine and comfortable in securing top 4 if we can get Sancho alone imo.

 

[P-Nut]

My only concern is the build up of fixtures with a small squad of players that Ole trusts. He's going to have to rotate and unless the lads are match fit we'll struggle badly.

 

[Jibbs]

The situation is such that I won't mind addition of Moussa Dembele, David Brooks, VdB and a defender. Even these somewhat lukewarm signings will significantly improve the squad and make it a lot more competitive for next season.
That's why I seriously think we shouldn't just focus on Sancho, we should look at improving the squad overall.

 

[roonster09]

With ridiculous schedule and our lack of depth it will be very tough season. We are in CL so can't rest players for group stage games also.

 

[TheLord]

If we don’t strengthen, we won’t finish in the top four, which is good, because we will strengthen then.
Recurring theme.

 

[Class of 63]

Even without major investment in the squad I believe we will be the team to beat/watch next season, as long as we can keep Greenwood, Martial and Rashford fit for the majority of it, oh yeah and keep Maguire out of prison.

And no i'm not pissed, or on drugs.

 

[RashyForPM]

Even without major investment in the squad I believe we will be the team to beat/watch next season, as long as we can keep Greenwood, Martial and Rashford fit for the majority of it, oh yeah and keep Maguire out of prison.

And no i'm not pissed, or on drugs.

Hold on, you think we’re favourites?

 

[edcunited1878]

Do we really need more than Sancho just to secure top 4 comfortably?

I think with our current squad and Sancho, we can achieve between 75 points to 80 points plus. We had 66 points with Pogba being injured more than half season and Bruno wasn't in our squad until late January. I just don't see how can't we get that extra 10-15 points with Bruno plays full season and Sancho comes in. Both Pogba & Bruno aren't injury prone, so it'll need another unfortunate year for both of them to be injured for long period. Defensively we are just fine if we want to secure just for top 4.

3 or more major signings are needed minimum if we are aiming to go for challenging the league title. However, we'll be fine and comfortable in securing top 4 if we can get Sancho alone imo.

I don't disagree with 3 major signings, but those are clear out and out signings that will improve our starting XI and move those players into bench/starting rotation places. United aren't in a position to spend that money this window. Sancho yes, but if he's not attainable for whatever reasons this transfer window, need to get in the proper squad players or address another area of need in a big way such as CM/CDM, CB, fullback, or LF/LW.

If United had Bruno and Pogba during the first half of the season, United would be in the 70s easily...but Martial wasn't at his current level, neither was Greenwood, Matic, etc.

The most important think, regardless of the incoming new players, is that the players and squad stay a higher level of consistent performance and output, then improve another level. We don't know if AWB can make those necessary improvements. Same with the players up front like Rashford and Greenwood. Martial has hit this level that we all thought he could reach, and that's his first full season as the center forward with half of it coming with Bruno. McTominay has to improve. James has to improve. Maguire has to improve from his first year like Lindelof has. United need capable fullback cover and they have to improve.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

The fact is even if we sign no one we are miles ahead of Spurs and Arsenal at the moment. I think Chelsea could leapfrog us if we don’t do any business but I still have faith we will get a couple deals over the line and be closer to the top guys than to those below.

 

[flappyjay]

Ed will get Ole someone. Who is the mystery. Will it be enough to improve us to at least keep up with top 4? I don’t see Arsenal or Spurs improving that much. In fact, I expect Spurs to get worse. Chelsea are backing Frank and making up for a lost window. They’ll improve for sure.

A couple of editions would help for us. Our competitors will improve for sure but we will hopefully have Bruno and Pogba all season this time. The 2nd half of the season showed the importance of having a proper 10.

 

[RkkMan]

Arsenal are shit and their signings don’t change their fact they’re like the 14th best team in the league.

Chelsea are sorting their defence out by signing a 36 year old defender new to the league.

Liverpool won’t benefit from VAR and will start to break down with injuries.

City have an aging squad with players like Fernandinho, Walker, Aguero and Gundogan coming to the end of their careers.

Tottenham literally have Mourinho as their manager.

We won`t be as lucky with penalties this season and we are poor at creating open play chances so every chance even we regress

 

[pocco]

The schedule next season is crazy and with the squad we have, I'm fearing a really bad season. Let's face it, the lockdown helped us massively as the other teams came back like they were still on holiday whilst we clawed back serious ground.

I'm predicting that if we don't make a few very good signings then Ole will be out of a job by the end of next season.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I don't disagree with 3 major signings, but those are clear out and out signings that will improve our starting XI and move those players into bench/starting rotation places. United aren't in a position to spend that money this window. Sancho yes, but if he's not attainable for whatever reasons this transfer window, need to get in the proper squad players or address another area of need in a big way such as CM/CDM, CB, fullback, or LF/LW.

If United had Bruno and Pogba during the first half of the season, United would be in the 70s easily...but Martial wasn't at his current level, neither was Greenwood, Matic, etc.

The most important think, regardless of the incoming new players, is that the players and squad stay a higher level of consistent performance and output, then improve another level. We don't know if AWB can make those necessary improvements. Same with the players up front like Rashford and Greenwood. Martial has hit this level that we all thought he could reach, and that's his first full season as the center forward with half of it coming with Bruno. McTominay has to improve. James has to improve. Maguire has to improve from his first year like Lindelof has. United need capable fullback cover and they have to improve.

You are weird mate, I don't know how your point is related to this thread. This thread is about our season going to be tough this upcoming season, tough season is like last season where we are not being comfortable to secure top 4 since we needed to secure it to our last game of the season.

If we sign Sancho alone, we should be fine and secure top 4 comfortably. The rebuilding project was never gonna be 2 years, it was expected to be 3 or 4 years and that was said when we didn't know about the upcoming pandemic year that influenced to club's economy.

 

[redshaw]

It's looking tough. Liverpool City and Chelsea will probably have the top three spots so we're fighting for fourth.

If you look at the points, Mourinho has done well since arriving. Arsenal may be starting to find some direction under Arteta plus others again like Wolves and Leicester, who knows. We can be best of the rest again, but I'm not convinced we have the toughness in the squad to make it easily or challenge higher than fourth and Bruno will need the protection of the refs.

 

[Siorac]

It's probably going to be the same as most seasons after Fergie: we'll be fighting for top 4 all season long, finishing with something around 65-70 points. It's what we are now. We'll probably spend an eternity in footballing purgatory.

I just hope we'll score goals and have some memorable games like beating City home and away last season.

 

[Borys]

We have three competent attacking players in Martial, Rashford and Greenwood (maybe Ighalo but he's pure striker). No chance they will stay fit for entire season. Even if we assume Martial will continue his form (seems likely as he's been quite consistent in second part of the season), Rashford is very inconsistent and should probably be benched based on from from last few games. The gap in quality between those 3 and the rest in James, Mata, Lingard is enormous and it's crucial we get at least one player already on high level.

In midfield we're fine, all of Bruno, Pogba, Matic, Fred and McTominay proved they are good players so I have no issue with that and I doubt it will be easy to upgrade. Same goes for CBs, I am not sure we will be able to upgrade with current financial situation.

New cover full back is a must have, I think Shaw and AWB are ok but again, drop in quality is big with Williams.

Overall, two players (winger and fullback) is minimum this window, but even if we don't get top players and settle for budget options, we should be fine next season. Considering other teams are having the same financial issues that is.

 

[Bondi77]

This thread is just the same as about three other ones in the past month.
Groundhog Day is spreading from the Sancho thread like a Virus.

 

[e.cantona]

Hopefully Pogba and ddg improves, less injuries and we'll be fine. 1 or 2 players in who're at least squad quality and we can rotate a bit more

 

[DRM]

We won`t be as lucky with penalties this season and we are poor at creating open play chances so every chance even we regress

Our form towards the end of the season really worries me. Our last 5 games, we only managed 7 goals (3 of those were penalties). What's worse, Ole did not seem to have any plan B and kept on playing the same starting 11. I think this lack of flexability and tactical nous, coupled with the likes of chelsea, arsenal strengthening will make it harder for us to get into the top 4.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Lack of depth/quality at full backs worries me the most along with James being the first choice replacement for both Rashford and Greenwood. I'm quite confident that we'll get 2-3 players in. Whether they improve us or not is the key question.

We had a good, but not absolutely fantastic, run post the restart. Unbeaten in the league with 21 points from 9. However, we didn't play any of the top clubs in this run except Spurs if you can count them. The only time we did was in the cups where we lost. The team needs to have that underdog spirit again because we've generally let ourselves down whenever more was expected.

 

[dove]

Yet another thread crying about lack of signings and apparently we should expect Spurs and Arsenal to do better for some reason having spend a grand total of £20m. We are signing players, the only question is what type of players. Bruno or James.

 

[r3idy]

This has the look of the Fellaini transfer window all over it. Massive disappointment ahead with no clear plan to address some of the gaping holes in the squad.

RW / Sancho is an absolute bare minimum yes but we also need a player off the bench to pick up from Bruno / Pogba when they need a rest or are injured.

A tough season ahead based on little transfer activity / quality in depth and inevitable injuries as players are over worked and not rotated as we dont have the quality to replace them.

 

[romufc]

Yet another thread crying about lack of signings and apparently we should expect Spurs and Arsenal to do better for some reason having spend a grand total of £20m. We are signing players, the only question is what type of players. Bruno or James.

We should expect Spurs and Arsenal to do better because they hired a manager mid season. They will get the chance to work on their squad and what we say is both teams were improving.

We need to make sure we are not dragged down towards them, when the likes of Chelsea and City are strengthening.

 

[dove]

We should expect Spurs and Arsenal to do better because they hired a manager mid season. They will get the chance to work on their squad and what we say is both teams were improving.

We need to make sure we are not dragged down towards them, when the likes of Chelsea and City are strengthening.

Well then we can also expect to do better even with no signings as Ole will be in his 3rd season and most on this forum would agree that the longer manager stays at the job the better he gets so nothing to worry about.