What are your expectations for the rest of the season?

Shunty

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Looking at how far behind we are I’m just hoping for some good patterns of play and dominating the possession I think anything else is too much to expect from this team at present.

if it were small jumps like going from 20th in pressing and all those vital statistics I would be more confident.

let’s hope wreck it Ralph can sort it.
 

justsomebloke

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4th place in the PL seems a reasonable measure of success. In the FA Cup and CL, everything is still on the table - if Rangnick can get things going before christmas, there's no reason why we couldn't do well in those tournaments.
 

VP89

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I think we can go further than 4th under Rangnick. Good run of fixtures coming up, and there will be a few surprises for some teams during winter periods I'm sure. I do not think we will be in the title conversation but we can touch 3rd or even 2nd at best, who knows.

This is assuming we put Arsenal to the sword, which we should.
 

Ayoba

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VP89 said:
I think we can go further than 4th under Rangnick. Good run of fixtures coming up, and there will be a few surprises for some teams during winter periods I'm sure. I do not think we will be in the title conversation but we can touch 3rd or even 2nd at best, who knows.

This is assuming we put Arsenal to the sword, which we should.
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Not a chance! We're 10 points behind City who are 3rd. For us to catch them, we have to go on an unbelievable winning run AND hope that city drop 11 points more than us. That is simply not going to happen!
 

CM

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Top 4, a much improved style of play and possibly a cup win, or at least a good cup run.
 

VP89

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Ayoba said:
Not a chance! We're 10 points behind City who are 3rd. For us to catch them, we have to go on an unbelievable winning run AND hope that city drop 11 points more than us. That is simply not going to happen!
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There will be a lot of twists and turns yet. City will still have a round of big fixtures versus Chelsea, Liverpool, ourselves, etc. They will also have one or two banana skins. If we beat them and they have 1 or 2 draws then that's suddenly a 3 -4 point gap.

Post Arsenal, our next tough game against one of the top 4 challengers isn't until 5th March (!) We have a great run ahead after Arsenal - when it's so congested on fixtures and the squads are really tested, we are fortunate to play easier sides:

Palace
Norwich
Brentford
Brighton
Newcastle
Burnely
Wolves
Villa
West Ham
Burnley
Southampton
Leeds
Watford

^ Under Ole I see at least 4 banana skins. Under Rangnick I would expect us to be capable of going on a big run. Compare that to other teams, say City in your example - they have a couple of potential banana skins in Chelsea, maybe Leicester. Still more than 50% of the season to go, but if we storm the games and beat the teams we are expected to beat, we can actually be higher than just dangling around in 4th.
 

Siorac

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Hard to say. I just want us to look like a cohesive team at last. The damage Ole's done to this season might be irreparable but hopefully the damage done to the team can be reversed. We still have very good players so by the end of the season we have to be able to approach big games as an equal, not by cowering in our own half for 90 minutes.

But after years of poor management, it's incredibly hard to muster any sort of optimism even though I do have faith in Rangnick. If I'm pressed to name some tangible expectations, I'd say we should at least be a 2.1 points per game team for the rest of the season.
 

smi11ie

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4th place in the league.
A run in the Champion's league would satisfy alot of fans. If Utd mafe it to a semi-final in the CL and got 4th then that's pretty good.
 

kthanksbye

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Any progress in terms of playing style will be hard to build on if we don't get top 4. I know we're manchester united and all that, but say what you want, having CL football does make it easier to attract players and even the next manager. I wouldn't mind if we completely ignore the cup competitions or use them as an opportunity to try tactics and youngsters. But top 4 is an absolute must. Having said that, I don't think we'll get there, the team albeit talented, is far away from being able to execute the style of football Rangnick would want to play (going by what I've read).
Hope he can implement something that's quicker to achieve considering the players we have.
 

Marcus

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OmarUnited4ever said:
Top 4 + CL QF.

good FA Cup run, Maybe SF or Final
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I can go with this as results. But I also want to see general improvement in the way we play the game. No more deer in headlights moments. I want to see a plan and players playing to it.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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Marcus said:
I can go with this as results. But I also want to see general improvement in the way we play the game. No more deer in headlights moments. I want to see a plan and players playing to it.
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100% agree.

IMO, improvements in performance levels are key target for Rangnick in the coming, Carrick managed to get good results from tough away games because he had some sort of plan for the games, so I expect Rangnick to be able to formulate a better plan
 

Crashoutcassius

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5 pts off top four with a squad people said ole had to win the league with means we should get there.

Hopefully the plan for next season takes shape then and we can see that come through. Most important thing is to line up next manager early and line up what needs to happen on summer early
 

Varun

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Good attacking football with visible impact both on and off the ball.
 

largelyworried

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Crashoutcassius said:
5 pts off top four with a squad people said ole had to win the league with means we should get there.

Hopefully the plan for next season takes shape then and we can see that come through. Most important thing is to line up next manager early and line up what needs to happen on summer early
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The real picture could be a bit worse. The Arsenal game will almost certainly be too soon for Rangnick to have any impact, lose that and we’re 8 points off the top four.
 

RUCK4444

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Top four. But even more importantly a squad that has transitioned to a modern pressing style of football ready to hand over to Ten Hag (hopefully!)

That is what I hope for.
 

humdinger

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4th is the absolute best we could hope for now and it’s possibly beyond our reach. A cup run would be fun, and I’ll be happy if we end the season on a good run of form to give us some momentum for next year to push on for a title push.
 

RUCK4444

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I suppose the question is, how equipped is this squad of being able to transition to Ralf’s style of play?

Because if we are largely stocked with players who can’t play the way he wants it ultimately makes a big impact on what he’s able to achieve.
 

Giant Midget

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Honestly, I just want us to play modern football. Even mid-table dross are able to pass the ball out from the back and press better than us, it's been really painful watching United for the last couple of years.
 

ManU_Forever

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Top 4 and win CL, just like Chelsea last season. Our current team is not worse than their team last year in my opinion, so why not.
 

Van Piorsing

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RUCK4444 said:
I suppose the question is, how equipped is this squad of being able to transition to Ralf’s style of play?

Because if we are largely stocked with players who can’t play the way he wants it ultimately makes a big impact on what he’s able to achieve.
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This is why appointing him for literal months as a manager is not enough to fully transform this team. Not sure who could do that in this space of time.

On top of that next summer the board need to make fully correct decision in who comes in as new boss in aligment to Rangnick's football assumptions.
 

Real Name

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Top 4, good run in the CL (final possibly?) and some resemblance of a structure and an idea in the way we play.
 

Real Name

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RUCK4444 said:
I suppose the question is, how equipped is this squad of being able to transition to Ralf’s style of play?

Because if we are largely stocked with players who can’t play the way he wants it ultimately makes a big impact on what he’s able to achieve.
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Remember Klopp and how the poor team really he got when he came there started to play in a certain way in literally few weeks. And RR is his supposed teacher. So I guess our team isnt that bad they cant learn to play in a certain way, if they cant we're in a big trouble. Of course the next manager should be someone who can continue in the way RR sets us up until then.
 

RedSky

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We could realistically be pretty close to the top come March imo. It all falls apart after that with one of the worst run ins that I can remember.

Depends as usual on any signings though, we desperately need a competent midfielder. With Ronaldo, you always have a chance and our attack can do serious damage.
 

The White Pele

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Really not sure what to expect. Although Rangnick seems a great signing for the long term direction of the club, his CV as a manager doesn’t give any guarantees for this season.

We really need to recover a top 4 finish and there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be achievable with the squad we have, even with the position we are currently in.

Thursday will be quite significant from that point of view. Beat Arsenal and we’ll be within 2 points of them and with the fixtures we have over the winter period we should be targeting to emerge at the end of February as strong favourites for 4th.

I think West Ham and Arsenal are the biggest threats so we really can’t afford to lose further ground to them this week.
 

Westerkerk

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More hope than expectation, but there are many winnable games between now and the end of January, where, if we ride a short wave of 'new manager boost' we can thereafter have some kind of foundation to get in the top 4 - that will give whoever takes over in Summer a great starting point for next season.

My minimum expectation is that we play like we know what we are supposed to be doing, and look like a group again - that itself will bring some kind of reward I'm sure.
 

Luffy

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I’m just hoping for top 4, QF in CL this season, a good FA Cup run. And, that the playing style does not make me ralf.
 

RUCK4444

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Van Piorsing said:
This is why appointing him for literal months as a manager is not enough to fully transform this team. Not sure who could do that in this space of time.

On top of that next summer the board need to make fully correct decision in who comes in as new boss in aligment to Rangnick's football assumptions.
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Yeah, I'm excited by what he can do but concerned about the limited time to implement it. I suppose the
Real Name said:
Remember Klopp and how the poor team really he got when he came there started to play in a certain way in literally few weeks. And RR is his supposed teacher. So I guess our team isnt that bad they cant learn to play in a certain way, if they cant we're in a big trouble. Of course the next manager should be someone who can continue in the way RR sets us up until then.
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There's no fixed time frame though and although Klopp has shown he can do it quickly Rodgers was there before Klopp and he also played a high pressing system so the players were already trained in a similar approach. That must have had a big benefit in the turnaround time for Klopp to implement his style surely? In contrast Ralf has a standing start with this mob.
 

MyDevil

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I don't care about the position anymore. I just want to revenge against the teams who beat us since last month, especially Pool and City. The rest is just bonus.
 

Real Name

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RUCK4444 said:
There's no fixed time frame though and although Klopp has shown he can do it quickly Rodgers was there before Klopp and he also played a high pressing system so the players were already trained in a similar approach. That must have had a big benefit in the turnaround time for Klopp to implement his style surely? In contrast Ralf has a standing start with this mob.
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All I'm saying our players are neither daft nor so stuck in they cant be trained to play RR wants them to.
 

yamo123x

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I would love us to go into a game and dominate and dictate the play especially at home, put in great team performances and be ruthless again.
Anyone not on board needs to be shipped out.

Under Ole we were far too reactionary and negative, relying on individual brilliance and counter attacking. We were so predictable, and allowed poor teams to dominate us, this mindset has to change and i hope RR is the man to implement this.
 

kafta

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I just wanna see the team have some structure, and look like a unit. realistically, we should aim for top 4 and good CL / FA Cup runs.

Seems the only way is from here on out. Surely we have to have hit rock bottom already. right? right? ahhh feck.
 

RUCK4444

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Real Name said:
All I'm saying our players are neither daft nor so stuck in they cant be trained to play RR wants them to.
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Yeah well that's the hope. Just not sure how quickly we should expect to see this team go from a defensive counter attacking system (if it even was a system) to a front-foot high pressing system.

I can fully see many posters throwing their toys out of the pram if we don't start playing like the dippers or Citeh within a few weeks. Although I'm expecting to see a big improvement with the consistent/experienced coaching we will be benefitting from.

For me, the minimum return on RR's appointment should be that we as a club draw a line in the sand and say 'right this is the way we are going to play going forward and we are going to commit to it 100% even if it takes a season or two to implement.' Because imo the true failing here would be for us to not stick with this style of play and not commit to it for the long term, even if things don't necessarily improve 100% in these initial 6 months under RR. Because ultimately it's the way the club has to go in order to compete in the modern game, I'm happy the penny has finally dropped with the board/owners.

If we were to drop the style and get Poch and go back to playing like underdogs against our rivals and playing for top four I think I'd be absolutely done.
 
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