Has it become obvious now that we can’t challenge for the league?

JG3001

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Honestly gobsmacked there are people on this thread who are still finding excuses to keep him on board. This ain’t Ole FC, stop pretending he’s your mate who you’re willing to give a bit more leeway for underperforming.
 

Garethw

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Honestly gobsmacked there are people on this thread who are still finding excuses to keep him on board. This ain’t Ole FC, stop pretending he’s your mate who you’re willing to give a bit more leeway for underperforming.
Exactly. If it was Roy Hodgson in charge and he had exactly the same record, tactics etc as Ole 100% of the fan base would be calling for his head. Sentimentality goes a long way it seems.
 

Sandikan

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We all suspected a title challenge wouldn't happen and that we needed to maximise the run of games up to now, and then be say no more than 6 points off the pace the other end of our tough spell.

It's pretty clear we'll probably be 10-12 off by then and we're battling for 4th or if someone melts down maybe 3rd tops.
 

Magical Manchester United

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We will be no more than 3 points off top regardless of how City V Liverpool goes but hey let's write off the season!

City had less points at this stage last season wonder what happened to them in the end.
 

Madridista2000

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I watched games against Newcastle, Villarreal, Aston Vila, Everton, West Ham and Young Boys. The team struggled against all these teams. These are mid table teams. If United want to be challenging they have to be winning these games comfortably. You can understand 1 or 2 games against these kind of team being a nailbiter, but you can't be chasing a score every game like United have been.

Falls back on the manager IMO. OLE is Malmo level coach and not top PL manager.
 

Mickeza

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No. We’re in the opening act of the Disney sports movie where everyone is playing like an individual. Ole will take them all out for an ice cream, they’ll realise there’s no i in team and that they’ll win feck all unless they come together as a collective. We’ll win the league and the movie will end with lead protagonists Ronaldo and Greenwood hugging and calling the other brother. Patience.
 

tjb

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I actually thought we could challenge to start the season. I knew we would struggle for goals, since we generally have under Ole but I thought the rock solid defensive unit with Varane would lead to 1-0's. Unfortunately, I didn't estimate how terrible the shape of the team and the midfield would be. The truth is, Ole can't afford to take his time here. It's make or break. We have the team to challenge, midfield or not. Most managers would do anything to be in his spot. And what is so scary here is that we aren't ready creating clear cut chances even with our talent overload, which suggests that part of our lack of creativity in the past was Ole related, not just the players. We can't afford to lose a season of Cristiano and Pogba. This isn't the growing team he had last season. He now has the best United team since 2009 imo. For him not to challenge with this team would be a massive failure. My fear is that we are to sentimental at the club and may let this run through until we are conclusively out of the competitions we want to win.
 

U99ted

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You mean except for last year under Ole when I seem to remember we were very poor and limped over the line
And the 18/19 season where we bombed out of both cups to Barcelona and Wolverhampton and fell short of the 3 London teams to finish 6th.
 

dove

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We will be no more than 3 points off top regardless of how City V Liverpool goes but hey let's write off the season!

City had less points at this stage last season wonder what happened to them in the end.
Some of our fans after matchday 5: we are still joint top of the league!
After matchday 7: only 3 points off top, still doing great!
After matchday 10: 7 points off top but it's all good, still only October, lot's of time to recover.
Matchday 20: next year is surely our year. With a new midfielder this team will be flying with Ole in charge!

Rinse and repeat.
 

sunama

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No, but we’ll finally be able to give CR7 that EL trophy he lacks
If we end up in the EL, I don't believe we can win the EL.
The EL is notoriously difficult to win and there are many fans on here who feel that we can win it easily.
We've won it once and that was a Jose special.
I don't believe Ole is capable of winning trophies at this level.
 

Foxbatt

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It's bloody obvious. We may win some battles against the top teams because we have the talent to do so but not the war.
 

DOTA

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As people keep pointing out we're generally better in the big games, so to be only two points off the top after a run of games we usually slip up in is a good position.
 

Dominos

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United always finish the season strongly and with such a rich squad, anything can happen.
This is a myth. No evidence we're consistently and reliably better in 2nd half of the season than the 1st, it varies year to year, as you'd expect.
 

Foxbatt

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As people keep pointing out we're generally better in the big games, so to be only two points off the top after a run of games we usually slip up in is a good position.
We are better in big games because we actually have a more than decent defence and a keeper. Especially when we are under the cosh. Our Fbs do not go wandering upfield and leave space open behind. Our midfield does not need to pass as they are only defending and we have two quick wingers in Rashford and Greenwood. So when they all push and we get a turnover Rashford and Greenwood are unstoppable and they have either created or scored. But we can only play if other teams leave space behind their defence. Other teams have found that out and now they do not leave those space behind their defence. This is why we struggle. We do not how to break down teams who do not leave space.
On their day the talents of Bruno, Pogba and now Ronaldo can win any game. DeGea is on top of his game and Varane is a top class defender. Greenwood can score if given half a chance. But is is chancing to luck to get those days.
 

Flytan

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As people keep pointing out we're generally better in the big games, so to be only two points off the top after a run of games we usually slip up in is a good position.
Again, look at the mini-table of top 6 playing each other to debunk this myth.
 

Tyrion

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Some of our fans after matchday 5: we are still joint top of the league!
After matchday 7: only 3 points off top, still doing great!
After matchday 10: 7 points off top but it's all good, still only October, lot's of time to recover.
Matchday 20: next year is surely our year. With a new midfielder this team will be flying with Ole in charge!

Rinse and repeat.
And after every season, they'll argue we should start from scratch and dismiss every criticism at the start of the season as being "too early".
 

Dargonk

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For me, I don't think we were ever realistically challenging for the title. We are to inconsistent and still haven't addressed our problem of not being able to break teams down. More so when you look at the consistency/point hauls that have been needed to win the league the last few seasons.

With our fixture list in the next 10 games, we are going to see far better where we are at in comparison to the other title challengers.
 

Bestietom

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We have played easy opposition.

Next 7 games

Leicester
Liverpool
Spurs
Man City
Watford
Chelsea
Arsenal
This list of fixtures with Champions League in between will decide if we are still there with a challenge by Christmas. If we get good results and we are still there, we need to address the midfield area for the second half challenge or we will be fighting for 4th place.
 

romufc

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It has been obvious for a while. When you cannot teams regularly in the PL, there is no chance you even challenge.

There is no way we are challenging, 2 draws and 1 defeat against teams that you should be putting away with ease.

We haven't even played a decent team yet. I suspect we will be doing what we have under Ole this season, fighting top 4, trying to win Europa.
 

Siorac

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Backing Brighton to pip us to top 4. We’ll fight for Europa League places with Spurs Arsenal Leicester and Brentford.
Oh come on now. Brighton aren't going to finish ahead of us. If they do, it's pretty much time to just disband the club and give up on this football thingie. But they won't because this Potter isn't a fecking wizard, just a good manager.
 

Offside

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Not after 7 games. It’s a better start than last season, where I thought the idea of us making top 4 was delusion then we found ourselves top in January. Things change quickly and with the players we have we can go on a big run.

However, the same problems from last season which saw us nowhere near the top in May are persistent. Our rivals look very strong too. I’ve been disappointed with how this newly assembled team is playing.
 

zaafi

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We are simply going to win the majority of the matches because our players are individually much better than the opposite team most of the time. However, facing teams that are working together as a unit are always going to be a problem to us unless we start doing the same. We really can not rely on individual brilliance to bail us out every single game, and getting our players to play like a team is on Ole. As a Norwegian myself I would really love for him to be a success but he really isn't a good tactician.
He has visions for how he wants United to play, but he simply isn't good enough. "Go do what you do best", "Enjoy the game" and "Work hard" is what he will say before matches.
 

Smores

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With the players we have it really only takes a few to suddenly have outstanding form to create a title winning run . Our poor performances haven't cost us too badly so far.

Our squad is good enough that there's a chance of teams slipping and us winning irrespective of improvements from Ole.
 

Rash Decision

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Is this a joke?
Oh come on now. Brighton aren't going to finish ahead of us. If they do, it's pretty much time to just disband the club and give up on this football thingie. But they won't because this Potter isn't a fecking wizard, just a good manager.
Nah I wasn’t being entirely serious. But I don’t think top 4 is a certainty for us at all, even though so far I don’t particularly see any strong challengers for the position either.

That being said, I’m quoting myself if Brighton do beat us to 4th place…
 

Flexdegea

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Reading this thread and others, I'm getting massive doses of DeJa Vú of last season after 7 games.

Only last season they had more legit reasons for it think we might have been 14th at the time.


Where is wumminator, he could maybe pull out posts from the same folk at the same stage of last season how how that worked out for them.
 

iHicksy

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I'm still baffled by the use of Mckenna and Carrick as the main coaches of the team.

It's been known for a while now that Ole does little to no coaching and leaves the coaching of attacking and defensive plays to his coaches. Obviously it's still the managers fault as this is the choice he's made. He's copying exactly what Ferguson did in every facet of his own coaching style. Whilst this works fantastically well for his media interviews (e.g protecting players no matter what) and his man management of players and instilling a team atmosphere.
It will eventually cost him his job. Under SAF we had some of the best coaches in world football and who were often at the cutting edge of training procedures.
With Carrick we have an ex player, who is learning on the job - which is frankly unacceptable at a club our size trying to get back to the top, Mckenna who is nothing more than a promising youth coach and Mike phelan, who oversaw some of our worst football in the final years of SAF and who wasn't exactly having his door knocked down as sporting director of central coast marriners (who? exactly).
People like to say "whos' to say these guys aren't great coaches?" but i think we have the proof with every passing game. We more often than not look like a team of individuals waiting for something to happen rather than an expertly coached attacking unit. We will never, ever challenge for the title with this coaching setup. I'm convinced now more than ever.
 

elmo

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I'm still baffled by the use of Mckenna and Carrick as the main coaches of the team.

It's been known for a while now that Ole does little to no coaching and leaves the coaching of attacking and defensive plays to his coaches. Obviously it's still the managers fault as this is the choice he's made. He's copying exactly what Ferguson did in every facet of his own coaching style. Whilst this works fantastically well for his media interviews (e.g protecting players no matter what) and his man management of players and instilling a team atmosphere.
It will eventually cost him his job. Under SAF we had some of the best coaches in world football and who were often at the cutting edge of training procedures.
With Carrick we have an ex player, who is learning on the job - which is frankly unacceptable at a club our size trying to get back to the top, Mckenna who is nothing more than a promising youth coach and Mike phelan, who oversaw some of our worst football in the final years of SAF and who wasn't exactly having his door knocked down as sporting director of central coast marriners (who? exactly).
People like to say "whos' to say these guys aren't great coaches?" but i think we have the proof with every passing game. We more often than not look like a team of individuals waiting for something to happen rather than an expertly coached attacking unit. We will never, ever challenge for the title with this coaching setup. I'm convinced now more than ever.
Nah, him not being good enough is what will get him fired.
 

Buster15

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With the players we have it really only takes a few to suddenly have outstanding form to create a title winning run . Our poor performances haven't cost us too badly so far.

Our squad is good enough that there's a chance of teams slipping and us winning irrespective of improvements from Ole.
I agree with that. We may not have the best starting 11, but we do have a squad with enough match winners to seriously challenge for the PL.

But we do have a number of deficiencies, especially midfield. And I would have to include the manager and his coaching team amongst those.
There is a big difference between being almost there and actually getting over the line.