Some positivity for the international break

OleBoiii

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We can expect some miserable weeks in here now, so let's have a thread with some positivity. I'll start us off:

1. We are still improving
We didn't win a single trophy last season and we barely made top 4. Granted, finishing top 4 under those circumstances was quite an achievement, but it was still marginal. We're doing significantly better in the league this year, and that despite not signing a single starter last summer. If we finish top 4 this season, then it will be the first time in the post Fergie era that we finish top 4 twice in a row. It's a minor positive for a club like ours, but a positive nonetheless. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Oh, and we're still in the Europa League, so our hope of decorating the season with a minor trophy is still not completely lost.

2. This is the "healthiest" squad since Fergie
No, I'm not talking about injuries. I'm talking about a combination of 'quality' and 'age'. Our squad is incredibly young and the first XI isn't half bad either. Whereas LVG's rebuild was a complete failure and Mourinho's rebuild was more short-term, we finally have a solid set of players that we can expect to improve naturally over time. While we obviously still need to sign players, it's comforting that so many of our starting XI players are younger than 25. Even our ace, Bruno, is only 26.

3. Low levels of toxicity surrounding the club
This is not news. There's generally been positive vibes ever since Ole arrived. Maybe not in here, but the players seem happy and motivated. And no matter how hard journalists and pundits try to poke him, Ole is simply unbreakable. Fergie talked about the importance of dealing with the media and how it's the toughest part of the job. Well, Ole aces that part, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Especially not after Moyes, LVG and Mourinho(the latter being an absolute disaster in this respect).
 

UnofficialDevil

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I'm not anti Scottish, I just wanted Moyes out.
We will probably finish top 4 next season too. Probably 4th though as Chelsea and Liverpool will be back. But so what? We will still be playing the same bad football, definitely not the United way. Double pivot, 4231, 6 at the back scraping 1 goal wins. That's not going to change.
 

Rightnr

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I didn't see the white text saying 'Brought to you by your local Glazer propaganda branch', so I'll assume this is actually serious.

You people have no standards.
 

Paul_Scholes18

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Positive Ole might get fired soon and a top manager brought in.

If he gets a new contract just end me though. Another crap season awaits then I guess unless we get Haaland and individual brilliance can save us.
 

hobbers

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Don't see much positive. Finishing in the top four by virtue of other clubs around us collapsing. Playing god awful football 3 games in every 4. Very little chance of any decent transfer activity in the summer. Probably losing one of our only 2 world class players as well.

We're supposed to be reaching the zenith under Ole next season. That's when the "rebuilding job" is supposed to be finished and when we're finally "allowed" to say we're in this league to try to win the title and not just scrap it out for CL money.

But we won't be, we'll be struggling to even finish top four because we're currently going backwards at an alarming rate, and you can bet at least a couple of the clubs below us will improve over the summer.
 

big rons sovereign

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We can expect some miserable weeks in here now, so let's have a thread with some positivity. I'll start us off:

1. We are still improving
We didn't win a single trophy last season and we barely made top 4. Granted, finishing top 4 under those circumstances was quite an achievement, but it was still marginal. We're doing significantly better in the league this year, and that despite not signing a single starter last summer. If we finish top 4 this season, then it will be the first time in the post Fergie era that we finish top 4 twice in a row. It's a minor positive for a club like ours, but a positive nonetheless. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Oh, and we're still in the Europa League, so our hope of decorating the season with a minor trophy is still not completely lost.

2. This is the "healthiest" squad since Fergie
No, I'm not talking about injuries. I'm talking about a combination of 'quality' and 'age'. Our squad is incredibly young and the first XI isn't half bad either. Whereas LVG's rebuild was a complete failure and Mourinho's rebuild was more short-term, we finally have a solid set of players that we can expect to improve naturally over time. While we obviously still need to sign players, it's comforting that so many of our starting XI players are younger than 25. Even our ace, Bruno, is only 26.

3. Low levels of toxicity surrounding the club
This is not news. There's generally been positive vibes ever since Ole arrived. Maybe not in here, but the players seem happy and motivated. And no matter how hard journalists and pundits try to poke him, Ole is simply unbreakable. Fergie talked about the importance of dealing with the media and how it's the toughest part of the job. Well, Ole aces that part, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Especially not after Moyes, LVG and Mourinho(the latter being an absolute disaster in this respect).
Uh oh, brace yourself.
Sizeable group of waah waahs heading your way.
 

UnofficialDevil

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I'm not anti Scottish, I just wanted Moyes out.
Don't see much positive. Finishing in the top four by virtue of other clubs around us collapsing. Playing god awful football 3 games in every 4. Very little chance of any decent transfer activity in the summer. Probably losing one of our only 2 world class players as well.

We're supposed to be reaching the zenith under Ole next season. That's when the "rebuilding job" is supposed to be finished and when we're finally "allowed" to say we're in this league to try to win the title and not just scrap it out for CL money.

But we won't be, we'll be struggling to even finish top four because we're currently going backwards at an alarming rate, and you can bet at least a couple of the clubs below us will improve over the summer.
Couldn't agree more. If someone can't see this it's because they can't see past Ole the ex United player.
 

Irwin99

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Without dwelling on the more negative aspects (and there are a few to be honest) 2nd place and a Europa League win are very doable. Even without a Europa win a successive top 4 finish- which looks nailed on- does represent progress. Maybe you could argue LVG and Jose won trophies in less time in their stints as manager but neither got successive top 4 spots. The mentality and expectation must change to a proper title challenge next year though.

Regarding this season, those wins against West Ham and City were massive results. I wouldn't be surprised if we drop some points in the remaining games but an 8 point cushion with a good goal difference is a very good place to be.
 

Cast5

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We’re all upset about the result tonight but the Ole out brigade were upset that we beat city, tiny minority of this forum will have a go at you for this post, ignore these ABU jokers. Worse than scousers imo.
 

Matthew84!

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Not much to be positive about really, if we miss out on the europa league I think the majority of fans will turn on Ole,
You don't get anything for Finishing top 4,
The squad needs major departures and big investment, which won't happen so next season will again but a complete let down,
 

Reapersoul20

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We can expect some miserable weeks in here now, so let's have a thread with some positivity. I'll start us off:

1. We are still improving
We didn't win a single trophy last season and we barely made top 4. Granted, finishing top 4 under those circumstances was quite an achievement, but it was still marginal. We're doing significantly better in the league this year, and that despite not signing a single starter last summer. If we finish top 4 this season, then it will be the first time in the post Fergie era that we finish top 4 twice in a row. It's a minor positive for a club like ours, but a positive nonetheless. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Oh, and we're still in the Europa League, so our hope of decorating the season with a minor trophy is still not completely lost.

2. This is the "healthiest" squad since Fergie
No, I'm not talking about injuries. I'm talking about a combination of 'quality' and 'age'. Our squad is incredibly young and the first XI isn't half bad either. Whereas LVG's rebuild was a complete failure and Mourinho's rebuild was more short-term, we finally have a solid set of players that we can expect to improve naturally over time. While we obviously still need to sign players, it's comforting that so many of our starting XI players are younger than 25. Even our ace, Bruno, is only 26.

3. Low levels of toxicity surrounding the club
This is not news. There's generally been positive vibes ever since Ole arrived. Maybe not in here, but the players seem happy and motivated. And no matter how hard journalists and pundits try to poke him, Ole is simply unbreakable. Fergie talked about the importance of dealing with the media and how it's the toughest part of the job. Well, Ole aces that part, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Especially not after Moyes, LVG and Mourinho(the latter being an absolute disaster in this respect).
Good post. Sorry for all the replies you're about to receive :lol:
 

OleBoiii

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Wait a minute... Did my positivity thread immediately get filled with negativity?
 

Berbasbullet

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Any chance we can genuinely have this as a space for positivity? We have 5000 other threads for the rest of it.
 

Chairman Steve

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One thing I don’t get is Rashford wasn’t in the squad for Leicester yet he’s in the England squad? :houllier: Not like Southgate needs him when he’s got Foden, Sterling, Sancho and Saka to choose from for left forward
 

LoneStar

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I agree with your summary that we have made progress from LVG and Jose, at least in the league. Barring a massive collapse, we should comfortably make top 4.

But I think this is how far Ole can take us. If getting too 4 is all we want, then that's all well and good. If we want to win things, different story then.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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It's the third time in 5 years where we've got a tough away draw in the FA Cup quarter-finals instead of an easy home draw for example. We're about 50-50 with Leicester at the moment, so it's hardly a massive surprise that 3rd in the league beats 2nd in the league at home.

Need to win the Europa League to get a trophy on the board. 2nd and Europa League would be a sign of clear improvement and be the best season since Ferguson.
 

Eplel

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If you wanted positivity, perhaps you should start by trying to find common ground with the people you disagree, not start pushing buttons.
 

Stacks

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It's the third time in 5 years where we've got a tough away draw in the FA Cup quarter-finals instead of an easy home draw for example. We're about 50-50 with Leicester at the moment, so it's hardly a massive surprise that 3rd in the league beats 2nd in the league at home.

Need to win the Europa League to get a trophy on the board. 2nd and Europa League would be a sign of clear improvement and be the best season since Ferguson.
Its the manner. we got bossed
 

OleBoiii

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If you wanted positivity, perhaps you should start by trying to find common ground with the people you disagree, not start pushing buttons.
First of all, I didn't start by 'pushing buttons'. I listed 3 obviously positive things that shouldn't be taken for granted.

There are a million threads where people "try" to find common ground. This is the one thread for some positivity :)
 

GazTheLegend

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"bad news is immediate, good news is so incremental you don't even notice it sometimes". The lack of disharmony around our team is hopefully a good thing.

Some other positives, Mason Greenwood had a great game yesterday. His range of passing is surprisingly great and a few times he switched the ball unerringly. Rashford will hopefully have a break and be back fit for us. It's clear to everyone where the problems in our squad are and Ole has evidentially highlighted them so we have to keep the faith, we are going in the right direction.. I hope.
 

sokol11

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We can expect some miserable weeks in here now, so let's have a thread with some positivity. I'll start us off:

1. We are still improving
We didn't win a single trophy last season and we barely made top 4. Granted, finishing top 4 under those circumstances was quite an achievement, but it was still marginal. We're doing significantly better in the league this year, and that despite not signing a single starter last summer. If we finish top 4 this season, then it will be the first time in the post Fergie era that we finish top 4 twice in a row. It's a minor positive for a club like ours, but a positive nonetheless. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Oh, and we're still in the Europa League, so our hope of decorating the season with a minor trophy is still not completely lost.

2. This is the "healthiest" squad since Fergie
No, I'm not talking about injuries. I'm talking about a combination of 'quality' and 'age'. Our squad is incredibly young and the first XI isn't half bad either. Whereas LVG's rebuild was a complete failure and Mourinho's rebuild was more short-term, we finally have a solid set of players that we can expect to improve naturally over time. While we obviously still need to sign players, it's comforting that so many of our starting XI players are younger than 25. Even our ace, Bruno, is only 26.

3. Low levels of toxicity surrounding the club
This is not news. There's generally been positive vibes ever since Ole arrived. Maybe not in here, but the players seem happy and motivated. And no matter how hard journalists and pundits try to poke him, Ole is simply unbreakable. Fergie talked about the importance of dealing with the media and how it's the toughest part of the job. Well, Ole aces that part, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Especially not after Moyes, LVG and Mourinho(the latter being an absolute disaster in this respect).
Who is improving? Martial? Fred? AWB? or maybe Telles, VDB sitting on the sidelines for months then getting one game? Improving on sideways passing? Slow tempo? Keep the ball for the sake of it?
Healtiest squad? Debatable. Youngest but without right mentality. Not hungry enough. Happy with collecting paycheck oher than that they don't give a feck.
Low levels of toxicity? Sure nothing toxic. Everyone accepted that good enough for top 4-6ish is ok. Will just play for the sake of it to get games out of the way and not play to win.

How the standards have fallen. Throw the kids on the pitch they can't be worse.
 
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Founder of IhateMakeleles.org and Gourcufffanboysa
We can expect some miserable weeks in here now, so let's have a thread with some positivity. I'll start us off:

1. We are still improving
We didn't win a single trophy last season and we barely made top 4. Granted, finishing top 4 under those circumstances was quite an achievement, but it was still marginal. We're doing significantly better in the league this year, and that despite not signing a single starter last summer. If we finish top 4 this season, then it will be the first time in the post Fergie era that we finish top 4 twice in a row. It's a minor positive for a club like ours, but a positive nonetheless. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Oh, and we're still in the Europa League, so our hope of decorating the season with a minor trophy is still not completely lost.

2. This is the "healthiest" squad since Fergie
No, I'm not talking about injuries. I'm talking about a combination of 'quality' and 'age'. Our squad is incredibly young and the first XI isn't half bad either. Whereas LVG's rebuild was a complete failure and Mourinho's rebuild was more short-term, we finally have a solid set of players that we can expect to improve naturally over time. While we obviously still need to sign players, it's comforting that so many of our starting XI players are younger than 25. Even our ace, Bruno, is only 26.

3. Low levels of toxicity surrounding the club
This is not news. There's generally been positive vibes ever since Ole arrived. Maybe not in here, but the players seem happy and motivated. And no matter how hard journalists and pundits try to poke him, Ole is simply unbreakable. Fergie talked about the importance of dealing with the media and how it's the toughest part of the job. Well, Ole aces that part, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Especially not after Moyes, LVG and Mourinho(the latter being an absolute disaster in this respect).
Amen
 

AgentSmith

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One thing I don’t get is Rashford wasn’t in the squad for Leicester yet he’s in the England squad? :houllier: Not like Southgate needs him when he’s got Foden, Sterling, Sancho and Saka to choose from for left forward
Yeah this is insane.

Rashford clearly needs an extended break and it’s not like he’s in good form anyways.
 

bsCallout

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Positive Ole might get fired soon and a top manager brought in.

If he gets a new contract just end me though. Another crap season awaits then I guess unless we get Haaland and individual brilliance can save us.
You really think he might go after getting us QF in FA cup, probably second in the league and who knows where in Europe.
 

bsCallout

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One thing I don’t get is Rashford wasn’t in the squad for Leicester yet he’s in the England squad? :houllier: Not like Southgate needs him when he’s got Foden, Sterling, Sancho and Saka to choose from for left forward
Rashford has been playing through injury so he can play for England this summer. He's not going to risk that by sitting out games for them, especially with such competition for his spot.
 

AgentSmith

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Rashford has been playing through injury so he can play for England this summer. He's not going to risk that by sitting out games for them, especially with such competition for his spot.
If he’s not fit enough to last more than 45 minutes against Milan and not make the squad at all against Leicester he can’t be fit enough to play for England.

Rashford is a shoe in for the squad for the summer but he won’t make the starting XI atm based on form. Continuing to turn in tired and disjointed performances because of an underlying injury won’t help that.
 

Marwood

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Without dwelling on the more negative aspects (and there are a few to be honest) 2nd place and a Europa League win are very doable. Even without a Europa win a successive top 4 finish- which looks nailed on- does represent progress. Maybe you could argue LVG and Jose won trophies in less time in their stints as manager but neither got successive top 4 spots. The mentality and expectation must change to a proper title challenge next year though.

Regarding this season, those wins against West Ham and City were massive results. I wouldn't be surprised if we drop some points in the remaining games but an 8 point cushion with a good goal difference is a very good place to be.
I think there are different ways of winning a trophy as well. Sometimes its more meaningful.

Yeah Jose won the Europa but we had an incredibly easy run and still made hard work of it. I think the equivalent fixture that year to the Milan game was against Zorya. We sneaked through 2-1 on aggregate.

I'm looking forward to getting back from the break with a few players rested and a few with more match sharpness. Could be just what we need for a final push.

2nd place(albeit a distant 2nd) and Europa would be a decent season. Especially when we've barely had a striker all season.
 

Desert Eagle

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We can expect some miserable weeks in here now, so let's have a thread with some positivity. I'll start us off:

1. We are still improving
We didn't win a single trophy last season and we barely made top 4. Granted, finishing top 4 under those circumstances was quite an achievement, but it was still marginal. We're doing significantly better in the league this year, and that despite not signing a single starter last summer. If we finish top 4 this season, then it will be the first time in the post Fergie era that we finish top 4 twice in a row. It's a minor positive for a club like ours, but a positive nonetheless. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Oh, and we're still in the Europa League, so our hope of decorating the season with a minor trophy is still not completely lost.

2. This is the "healthiest" squad since Fergie
No, I'm not talking about injuries. I'm talking about a combination of 'quality' and 'age'. Our squad is incredibly young and the first XI isn't half bad either. Whereas LVG's rebuild was a complete failure and Mourinho's rebuild was more short-term, we finally have a solid set of players that we can expect to improve naturally over time. While we obviously still need to sign players, it's comforting that so many of our starting XI players are younger than 25. Even our ace, Bruno, is only 26.

3. Low levels of toxicity surrounding the club
This is not news. There's generally been positive vibes ever since Ole arrived. Maybe not in here, but the players seem happy and motivated. And no matter how hard journalists and pundits try to poke him, Ole is simply unbreakable. Fergie talked about the importance of dealing with the media and how it's the toughest part of the job. Well, Ole aces that part, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Especially not after Moyes, LVG and Mourinho(the latter being an absolute disaster in this respect).
Appreciate the attempt. We could all do with some positivity after yesterday.

regarding your points though

1) I guess we are but it's about rate and amount of progress. We are still crawling when we should be jogging if not sprinting.

2) Overall i would tend to agree but again its about margins. We have given jones, mata and matic new long term deals.

3) Compared to Mourinhos end yes but i'd say the fan reaction is getting close to van gaal by the day.
 

Eplel

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You really think he might go after getting us QF in FA cup, probably second in the league and who knows where in Europe.
QF in FA cup is hardly a feat, second in the league is not written in stone yet, and it wouldn't be a thing had Liverpool not imploded, and getting knocked out of CL is a failure for a club like United.
He should go at the end of the season.
 

MU655

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It's the third time in 5 years where we've got a tough away draw in the FA Cup quarter-finals instead of an easy home draw for example. We're about 50-50 with Leicester at the moment, so it's hardly a massive surprise that 3rd in the league beats 2nd in the league at home.

Need to win the Europa League to get a trophy on the board. 2nd and Europa League would be a sign of clear improvement and be the best season since Ferguson.
The Leicester bit is a part I find issue with. How have we allowed them to catch up to us?

Rodgers and Solskjaer took over their teams at about the same time. In the season they took charge, Leicester finished with 52 points whilst Manutd finished with 66. A 14 point gap.

Now they are on course to finish on 73 points whilst Manutd are on for 74 points. Whilst we will see an 8 point improvement, they will see a 21 point one in the same time period. Not only have they closed the 14 point gap, but they have pretty much matched our improvement on top of that.

For me, Leicester is proof that so much more can be done in the same period. I think Solskjaer has got a very marginal improvement over two seasons. And I mean over the season Mourinho got sacked. I think it is questionable to say we have even matched 17\18 yet.

It is still possible for them to finish above us, which I think will be a pretty horrific failure considering the disparity in expenditure.
 

rotherham_red

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Positive Ole might get fired soon and a top manager brought in.

If he gets a new contract just end me though. Another crap season awaits then I guess unless we get Haaland and individual brilliance can save us.
I'll give a call to Dignitas and tell them you're en route.
 

Siorac

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The biggest positive is no United game for two weeks. Our mental health needs this break.