Can Solskjaer get this team within 5 points of the champion of England?

Dr Pavel

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Because that's what it would take for me to be convinced that we have what it takes to win it next year.

Even a 10 point gap imo would be too much to make up for.

Remember that next year Cavani will most likely be gone. Pogba might feck off. Ronaldo will be a year older. There's a real chance that we start next summer being much worse than we are this year.

The worst thing that can happen to this team is to plod along "improving" at a snail's pace. This is the closest we've gotten to a title challenging team in almost a decade. Not only that, one of the best managers in the world in Zidane is available. Whoever is in charge needs to blow his nose and smell the opportunity that is opening up. If we feck this up, who knows when another chance might come again.

It is best that Solskjaer either do really well or really shit and gets fired immediately. Anything in between would be a disaster.
 

Robbie Boy

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I think even 7 points off top, while still challenging coming into the final 2 months would be ok. Do I think he can do it? Probably not, no. Coming into the season I certainly thought he could, but our performances haven't been remotely convincing so far. I guess, he has a chance to show he has it in his locker, over the next 8 to 10 weeks.
 

hobbers

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On current evidence we'll struggle to be within 5 points of the top four and thats no exaggeration.
 

adexkola

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To be honest I have massive doubts about Tuchel's ability to have Chelsea within 5-10 points of the champions this season... So yeah if this is the standard by which Ole is being judged then best to let him go now.
 

iHicksy

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No probably not. Conte or allegri couldn't either. Nor could tuchel btw
What are you basing that on? All evidence points to the opposite. Conte just won the italian league and previously won the PL with vastly inferior squads to ours and Tuchel just won the CL and Chelsea are sitting top of the league. Of course they could. Our squad talent/depth wise is the best in the league with Chelsea's. Only Liverpool have a superior attack on paper and that's arguable. But they are better/more effective because of the coach and the fact they've been playing every game together for the past 4 seasons or so.
 

MUFC OK

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Yes, I believe we can not only get within 5 points of the leader but I also think we can win the title this season as long as the confidence and self belief is there.
Madness. Seems that you really only as good as your last game, or half of football.
 

Stacks

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Yes, I believe we can not only get within 5 points of the leader but I also think we can win the title this season as long as the confidence and self belief is there.


Our progress has been evident and it's thanks to the current set-up.
we had 74 pts last season so will probably need another 20 pts or 7 wins to win it.
 

Offsideagain

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Jam tomorrow with Ole. Trouble is, tomorrow never comes with him. How long does he need to keep improving? City, Liverpool and Chelsea will also improve. FFS, we are below Brighton in the league and could be below a few more in a fortnight. Obviously, I hope we are not, but nothing points to us being six points better off in two weeks time.
 

justsomebloke

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What are you basing that on? All evidence points to the opposite. Conte just won the italian league and previously won the PL with vastly inferior squads to ours and Tuchel just won the CL and Chelsea are sitting top of the league. Of course they could. Our squad talent/depth wise is the best in the league with Chelsea's. Only Liverpool have a superior attack on paper and that's arguable. But they are better/more effective because of the coach and the fact they've been playing every game together for the past 4 seasons or so.
Think you forgot City in there....

I'd say our first XI (in terms of player quality, not current performance) is better than Chelsea's, but not as good as City or Liverpool. And our squad depth is better than Liverpool, but not as good as City and Chelsea.
 

tomaldinho1

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I think he'd struggle but I think that's where our squad should be aiming - essentially you are in the title race until game week 36/37

This season should be decided by the head to heads, the bigger teams barring injury crises just aren't really dropping points so far apart from against each other. We have to beat Pool this weekend.
 

largelyworried

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We'll know a lot more in 5 games time, so its not all that long to wait. By then we'll have played Liverpool, City & Chelsea, among others. Ignoring our head to heads, I expect City to win all their games and Chelsea to win 3 and maybe draw 1 (Leicester away). Liverpool is harder to judge, they have a couple of trickier games during that time.

Those City and Chelsea games in particular are real 6 pointers. Lose to City and we're 6 points behind them, even if we win all the others. Lose to Chelsea and we're probably 6 points behind them, even if we win all the others. Lose to both, and we're probably 9 points behind the pair of them before November is out. And that's even if we beat Liverpool, Spurs and Watford. If that happens, I don't see us being 5 points off the top by the end of the season. I also don't think we can really claim we're in a title race if we're that far behind, which in a way is the more important target.

We need to beat City, Chelsea and Liverpool to avoid that happening. Spurs and Watford, sure, we ideally need to win those too, but draws would at least keep us close. Its the head to heads that are the real challenge for us. When you're 3 or 4 points behind a team, the implications for a win vs a loss are pretty huge.
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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With points the team have already left on the table against Southampton, Villa & Everton I’d say No. We lack the consistency to get close.
 

imanshole

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To be honest I have massive doubts about Tuchel's ability to have Chelsea within 5-10 points of the champions this season... So yeah if this is the standard by which Ole is being judged then best to let him go now.
What makes you think he can't?
And I am sure you think Ole or United have better chance of achieving that.
 

adexkola

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What makes you think he can't?
And I am sure you think Ole or United have better chance of achieving that.
Moreso the fact that he hasn't, yet. Plus the way he has Chelsea play, is more susceptible to dropping points along the way.

How are you sure? I think the exact opposite regarding Ole and this United team.

We need to remember the insane standards City and Liverpool have set in the last 3-4 years. We have more evidence that Ole is incapable of drilling a team to such levels. With Tuchel, it's more of an open question for me.
 

Alfie092

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A better manager and a top quality number 6 is needed before we can even think about challenging for the league, as much as I believe this squad is talented, it's not balanced enough to give our attacking players the platform to shine.
 

sullydnl

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Probably not.

However, that really isn't how I'd judge the manager. Performances matter, a lot.

Take Liverpool in the 17/18 season, for example. They finished 4th, 25 points behind City. But they were second to City in terms of both xG and xA, which screamed that improvements were coming. And sure enough they finished 2nd in 18/19 (losing out by 1 point) and won the league the year after that.

I'd rather finish miles behind whoever wins the league this season but have all those underlying performances & stats point to how close we are than finish four points behind but with all the performances & stats screaming that we had massively overperformed and would fall back next year. Even right now, it's the performances that are the problem, not the league position.

Also the OP ignores the CL, which would be a factor as well.
 

NZT-One

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Yes, I believe we can not only get within 5 points of the leader but I also think we can win the title this season as long as the confidence and self belief is there.


Our progress has been evident and it's thanks to the current set-up.
How can people complain about toxic negativity if there is so much optimism in here as well?

But I think, it needs more than just a bit of confidence to get stuff right. I fear though, that Ole sees it like you and is therefor waiting for something to happen without taking action himself...
 

Roboc7

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No chance, I don’t think we’ll be anywhere near whoever wins the league. The five point gap we currently have may be as close as we get now.
 

wolvored

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We have the squad to challenge this season, but not the management team to implement the tactics, training, formation, in game plan and everything else. We will have comebacks, but we shouldn't be in those positions in the first place.
So in my opinion no. We will flirt with 4th place, way off 1st.
Next season with Newcastle also involved, if Ole hasnt been sacked, there will be another excuse why we cant win it next season as well.
 

NZT-One

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We have the squad to challenge this season, but not the management team to implement the tactics, training, formation, in game plan and everything else. We will have comebacks, but we shouldn't be in those positions in the first place.
So in my opinion no. We will flirt with 4th place, way off 1st.
Next season with Newcastle also involved, if Ole hasnt been sacked, there will be another excuse why we cant win it next season as well.
Why do you think that? There might be a chance, that Newcastle won't even be in the league next year and the more money you got the more difficult it is to select the right players to buy. Any team and his dog will be ready to offer their deadwood for great prices to Newcastle, even if they go on a spree, not every transfer will come good. Look at City, it took a while and the rocket didn't even really start before were able to plan long-term.
 

FootballHQ

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Think Chelsea and Man. City look capable of 90 + points. Liverpool look good but they'll drop silly points like v Brentford imo.

Can Ole get Man. United into 85-90 range. On evidence so far it looks pretty unlikely. Only got 74 points last season which surprised me, though you got around 80.
 
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It’s funny how those who think Ole should still be our manager clearly hasn’t watched us for 2 years.
For me its their long term memory loss & how each year they think 1 player is the missing link… yet when a puzzle only has one piece missing you can pretty much see the full picture but with Ole he doesn’t even know he’s best 11, yet alone style of play.

Last year… “Ole was let down by the board, if he got Sancho he’d challenge”. Now he has Sancho, no mention of how Sancho barely plays or is being misused but now it’s “if he gets a cdm he’ll challenge “ it’s really almost delusional, almost sad like seeing gambling addicts.
 

wolvored

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Why do you think that? There might be a chance, that Newcastle won't even be in the league next year and the more money you got the more difficult it is to select the right players to buy. Any team and his dog will be ready to offer their deadwood for great prices to Newcastle, even if they go on a spree, not every transfer will come good. Look at City, it took a while and the rocket didn't even really start before were able to plan long-term.
Money talks. Look at City, look at Chelsea. Do you think the same Newcastle side tomorrow will even be the same on 1st Feb?
 

NZT-One

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Money talks. Look at City, look at Chelsea. Do you think the same Newcastle side tomorrow will even be the same on 1st Feb?
Who knows. Probably not. It isn't like I don't think there is something coming from Newcastle in the future but thinking it will be next season already seems pretty far fetched to me. If you think about City, before it was Silva, Aguro and Toure, it was Robinho and Santa Cruz. Before they become some sort of challenger to us, they'll must take the Wolves/Westham level first.

Plus it seems like the PL clubs are pretty clear in that they don't want a pure gold rush happen again.
 

Foxbatt

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Its getting funny now, that the Ole in lot have lost the plot completely.
It is a never ending Saga. Every year this position or that position needs a new player. You could give him 11 new players and still something is missing. Other managers do not get to buy so many new players to win something. Klopp did with the crunch of the team left behind. I mean James F Milner and Jordan Henderson? Would anyone believe that before they went there and started playing like that? Ole has now got a WC winning CB and England's CB. A WC winning midfield player. One of the world's best players who has won every individual honours around. All internationals playing for good footballing countries. Yet something is missing. By the time next year they will say now Ronaldo is too old.
We have players who are good enough to beat any team. Even City and Liverpool. If we get things right. Sometimes we do get it right. Most times we don't. That is the problem. And too many excuses.