Anyone getting an 06/07 feeling?

Guy Incognito

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It'll be interesting to see how they react to a wobble though.

Drew at Reading (should've won though) and lost to Arsenal in September, but responded brilliantly after that.
 

CG1010

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A lot of people are talking about how this team would work against low block teams etc. In my opinion the team has already demonstrated many times that they can score goals against these kinds of teams. Unlike a season ago, we don't have a systematic problem against any particular type of set up (although every top team finds ultra defensive sides difficult to breakdown). Rather our systematic problems have been:

Conceding against set pieces

Extremely inconsistent form of attacking players and dependence on Bruno's form to get going

Rather poor form in home games (which is quite puzzling)

Sometimes not being upto the game specially at the start

Let's see if we can resolve them. New signings certainly help in the first two points. The second two are more of mentality issues I think which Ole and his team need to look at.
 

cyberman

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Really need to put long win streaks together. Last season City knew they only had to win 3 or 4 in a row to make inroads towards the top of the table and the same logic applies to building a lead when they got there. It allowed them to play a false 9 and focus on their defence because they didn’t feel any pressure to go out and win a game. They’ll be a lot jumpier in front of goal if they have to win to stop themselves going 7 points behind etc. It’s how Liverpool treated them during their league win
 

JuriM

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Staying fit and sharp is gonna define the season. Last year everyone had basically no preseason, this time it's down to international tournaments and such, that makes some teams start slow. So, it's down to have your players fit and fresh through the winter, which City managed last year so well, with big rotation. We have the depth atm to do that also.
 

Phil

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If we could buy a Michael Carrick for £18.6m again, I'd feel a lot more like then.
 

Offside

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It'll be interesting to see how they react to a wobble though.

Drew at Reading (should've won though) and lost to Arsenal in September, but responded brilliantly after that.
United have been pretty good at responding to wobbles under Ole same as they were back then. There’s just been too many wobbles.
 

Reditus

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We have not had a serious challenge since Ferguson, although I sometimes forget we were top in January last season after 16 games. But it was only very briefly wasnt it? I think we were top in 2017 as well but also only for a couple of weeks

I have forgotten what it is like to be top of the league with an actual cushion. Really hope we can go on a really good early run
 

Bestietom

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Yup for sure. I feel like we might be short in midfield balance wise but at the same time, we have a very good team right now, a young team, and a hungry team. Just wish we had a younger Matic to put in there in which case I'd be really confident.

Differs a lot from the last few seasons though. A lot is expected of us this season and we started with a bang, and that goes a long way.
I agree, If we had a young Keano type player we would win a few honours for sure.
 

stu_1992

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There's definitely some parallels to be drawn between that season and this one. Obviously some differences too so. I do think the league is more competitive this year than it was then. City have a world class squad but will they want it enough? Recent winners Liverpool bouncing back. Chelsea are the reigning CL winners and spent big. That's a lot to compete with and this team hasn't won anything yet, unlike that 06/07 team which obviously had Sir Alex and some hugely experienced winners in it.

I do think we've had a better summer transfer window this time than we had that year. Just Carrick if I recall correctly which felt underwhelming at the time eve though he was obviously a great signing in hindsight. Although I take the point that people like Evra and Vidic came into their own after being signed the year before. Hopefully we can get one more in at least this year, and if someone like Van De Beek form the previous season can come along anywhere near the rate Vidic/Evra did, then we'd be in a very healthy position indeed.

Exciting times though for sure.
 

Chairman Steve

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Really early days but the fact that we’re missing players who probably would have started if we wanted to play strongest possible XI is a decent sign to get excited.

Would have been more impressive if we turned over a shithouse bus parking team like Burnley or Wolves as it would have shown we’d have sorted out one of our weaknesses from past seasons, but Leeds are a pretty gung-ho side so there’s a likelihood that we end up winning by a margin with our individual talent.
 

Marwood

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Yeah agree it's a similar feel.

If maybe we had Rashford available and fully firing, then I'd be fully on board.
 

dabeast

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Being a newbie, I couldn't start a new thread but this Twitter thread has made me want to say the following:-

Steve Jobs once appeared in a PBS Documentary called "Triumph of the Nerds," and was brutal in his assessment of Microsoft, Bill Gates and Windows. Jobs said, “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste.” Regardless of where one stands on Windows vs Mac, it is very clear that Ole's greatest quality is that he has, in fact, footballing taste. Upon being appointed manager, almost his first action was to show Marouane Fellaini the door. This wasn't as obvious as it seems now because Fellaini had been bought by Moyes but had been thought valuable enough by van Gaal and Mourinho, 2 world-class managers, to be at United for 5 and a half years with new contracts. He was a very useful weapon to be brought on late in games being chased when long balls could be played up to him and he did win us a few games. However, every thinking United fan knew that he was just not Man United quality and our hearts fell when we saw him on the team sheet. Ole took the hard decision based on his idea of what is good football and that idea dovetailed with the United base.

As time went on, this idea of Ole's footballing taste has become more and more clear in the players he let go. Lukaku is another great example of someone who was a marquee signing and actually had decent stats at United but, similarly to Fellaini, made us depressed because he was clearly not Man United quality. No amount of chest-thumping, pundits talking about how unstoppable he was could make up for every time we watched his second touch becoming a tackle. Ole took a loss on him, one that Inter has financially benefited from, and therefore could have been raked over the coals for it. Herrera was another, very limited player with useful shithousery, who Ole refused to push the boat out for a new contract. He got rid of Young (then club captain), Smalling, Sanchez and is about to get rid of Lingard (and I hope, Lindelof) because none of them were/are Man United quality. He has had the self-belief to trust his own sense of taste and make bets that have created space for the current squad.

Ole was not only a downsizer but also held on to the right players. Pogba was extremely unhappy under the last days of Mourinho and was playing that way. Ole could have sold him then and gotten a large amount of money since he had more than 2 years under contract remaining. Yet, he persevered and let Pogba gain the upper hand in future negotiations by running his contract down to, now, less than one year. Pogba is playing better, thriving in this team and has (finally) gotten a group around him that he can grace. He may or may not stay (I hope very much that he does) but the decision to keep him has, IMHO, already been justified in his performances and the dressing-room influence he has already had. Ole persevered with Luke Shaw, with Rashford, with Martial (who I believe will redeem himself this season but will have to leave because of Greenwood). He even has held onto players who weren't at the club, Sancho and Varane, by refusing to fill their spots with unsuitable replacements and choosing to wait for them even though the absence of those replacements probably hurt the team's chances.

I think most United fans are extremely excited about this season. Not because we have a good team (we do), not because we have suffered for a long time (we have) but because we have a team that oozes excitement. City and Chelsea have expensively accumulated, deep squads that might beat us to the title but United has more players (Greenwood, Sancho, Bruno, Pogba, Varane, Rashford, Cavani, Shaw, AWB's defence, sometimes Martial, with Amad, Elanga, Hannibal, Shoretire and MacNeil yet to come) that can get people off their seat than any other team in world football, including PSG (I wouldn't pay to see anyone there other than their front 3). Ole has restored the buccaneering Attack, Attack, Attack philosophy, the very idea of United not because he knew the future but because he has the same taste that United fans have that allowed him to take tough decisions like the ones outlined here. Ole has made tactical missteps (e.g. leaving Fred on in the 2nd CL group game against PSG) and has an unfortunate absence of silverware thus far but, for his taste and his bravery, the majority of United fans have Ole, and only Ole to thank.

PS. Mods: I couldn't delete this from the Ole contract thread so please put this where you feel is most appropriate.
 
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Godfather

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We played fantastic football in 06/07 almost throughout the season which Ole hasnt been able to produce for us. We are able to play very well on the day but these performances are usually followed by some very bad ones. That's been the pattern under Ole and I don't expext this to change no matter the player material. I've come to terms with it. Zero consistency but some exciting performances throughout a season.
 

sewey89

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:lol: ruling out a title challenge now are we? Based on a game that we dominated for large portions and could’ve easily won. It wasn’t a good performance by our standards, but feck me, it wasn’t nearly as bad as some of you are making out.

We had bad games in 06/07 too. Arsenal at home I remember being particularly awful
 

Sandikan

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And close thread.

Always a ludicrous premise as we had Ronaldo and Rooney then.
 

Sandikan

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:lol: ruling out a title challenge now are we? Based on a game that we dominated for large portions and could’ve easily won. It wasn’t a good performance by our standards, but feck me, it wasn’t nearly as bad as some of you are making out.

We had bad games in 06/07 too. Arsenal at home I remember being particularly awful
A lot of posters seem incapable of understanding that it's two games in, and we haven't even started these 2 new players etc. Ie the improvements!


However, there is a very realistic chance that we could actually improve but still come 4th!
 

largelyworried

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:lol: ruling out a title challenge now are we? Based on a game that we dominated for large portions and could’ve easily won. It wasn’t a good performance by our standards, but feck me, it wasn’t nearly as bad as some of you are making out.

We had bad games in 06/07 too. Arsenal at home I remember being particularly awful
The reason people are unhappy is that it was typical of the inconsistency that has been a problem for several seasons now. A good performance at 100mph one week followed by a mediocre performance where we barely get out of second gear the next. On the other hand, in 06-07 the big question going into the season was how to get the best of Rooney and Ronaldo and whether losing Ruud was a good idea, but it became apparent that going with Saha instead of Ruud allowed our attack to click. So in 06-07 we learned quickly that the big worry of the previous season was resolved. This season, the only evidence we have is that our biggest problem is still there.
 

NinjaZombie

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I just realised what I think is an interesting fact last week. Rashford is older than Rooney and Ronaldo were back in 06/07 when they got the title back. Rashford is also the same age this year as Carlos Tevez was in the year we won the CL. Next year, he'll be turning the same age as Beckham and Scholes was when we won the CL.

You get the feeling that if he is going to step up and really deliver on his promise, it has to be in the next couple of years.

Rooney and Ronaldo eh? What a pair they were. Winning us back the titles before they turned 23. Of course it helped that they were playing in very good teams, not in teams were the starting centre midfielders where regularly misplacing passes out of the touchline.
 

Leftback99

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We dropped points in 10 games that season, many here wouldn't have coped well.
 

Ixion

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I don't think the seasons are comparable, there was definitely a sense of momentum at the end of the 05-06 season that gave reason to be optimistic. The end of last season we had the Europa League Final which showed how this team is a million miles away from being a top side.
 

ayushreddevil9

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And that's why one shouldn't create threads based on 1 good game. New season, same old OGS' inconsistent Utd army.
 

Sandikan

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A 03/04 feeling more like. As in a few years off being competitive :wenger:
 

Brwned

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I swear some of you watch football just to have something else to complain about. The relentless negativity is nuts
 

Crustanoid

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89/90 feeling for me. Just need Michael Knighton to to some keepie ups on the pitch next home game . 13th place beckons
 

marktan

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This team could've probably competed in 06/07, but there's stronger opponents now and more of them. What we're really lacking is attackers that come close to Rooney and Ronaldo, even Saha. A scholes or Carrick wouldn't go a miss either.

We're close but this summer didn't really do anything to make our first XI really competitive. Varane is great but not super needed and I've always had doubts over Sancho.
 

Pogue Mahone

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We dropped points in 10 games that season, many here wouldn't have coped well.
28 wins is pretty damn good. Anyone who’s won that many games over the last 6 years (didn’t bother checking back any further) finished with 90+ points.

Side note. In 06/07 we finished with 89 points. That would have won it last season (covid affected) but the last time 89 points would have won the league before that was when Leicester won the league, 5 years ago. Which is a sobering thought. I remember 06/07 as being absolutely phenomenonal so it’s mad to think we could hit those heights again and still win feck all over the last almost half a decade.
 

croadyman

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28 wins is pretty damn good. Anyone who’s won that many games over the last 6 years (didn’t bother checking back any further) finished with 90+ points.

Side note. In 06/07 we finished with 89 points. That would have won it last season (covid affected) but the last time 89 points would have won the league before that was when Leicester won the league, 5 years ago. Which is a sobering thought. I remember 06/07 as being absolutely phenomenonal so it’s mad to think we could hit those heights again and still win feck all over the last almost half a decade.
Yeah the increase in competition is a point that often gets missed when people say don't panic about dropping silly points
 

Pogue Mahone

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Yeah the increase in competition is a point that often gets missed when people say don't panic about dropping silly points
Yeah, it’s obvious the bar has been raised a lot. And far from ideal that our second place finish which helped ease a lot of concerns came in a season that seems to have freakishly low (by modern standards) points totals.
 

croadyman

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Yeah, it’s obvious the bar has been raised a lot. And far from ideal that our second place finish which helped ease a lot of concerns came in a season that seems to have freakishly low (by modern standards) points totals.
Yeah that second place was down to the scousers losing their leader and Chelsea waiting until mid season to change things
 

Pogue Mahone

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Yeah that second place was down to the scousers losing their leader and Chelsea waiting until mid season to change things
…Spurs sacking their manager halfway through the season, Arsenal hiring Arteta etc etc We definitely had a bit of a free run at second place. Don’t see that happening again any time soon. Nor should we aspiring to second place anyway!
 
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A few key signings in critical positions added to a young and improving team*. Title challengers coming to the end of their cycle. A style of play that blends the old with the new, built around a core that have grown together. A 5-1 win on the first day of the season…

Anyone else get that feeling where all the pieces are just about to fall into place all of a sudden, just like 06/07? I’m pretty excited…

*incl. Vidic and Evra from Jan 2006 as they really got going in 06/07
yes. Im more excited about what we have done. Than hat any rivals has done and is doing
 

UtdAgain08

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I swear some of you watch football just to have something else to complain about. The relentless negativity is nuts
Couldn't agree more, not just on this forum but its a wider issue with online support. They seem more happy when we get beat so they slaughter their own team and have a good moan. The game wasn't that bad, we should have been up a couple of goals in the first half. The reaction is just so over the top.
 

Rojofiam

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Probably 60 games left to go in all comps, but we drew our 2nd of the season, I think it's over guys. Better start a rebuild again