Are we actually that far away?

[Andy_Cole]

From Madrid that is. We are yes. But the point I'm making is do we need a new team to get near them? A season of playing well brings things into new perspectives. This time last year everyone was writing off half the Chelsea squad for example.

We do have loads of potential. We can't predict anything, but we can't write off our kids.

This time next year the following could be getting into the Madrid team if that thread came about again:

DDG
Bailey
Pogba
Herrera
Martial
Mki
Rashford
New signings?

Also this time next year Madrid could have had a horror season.

You never know in football.

 

[SouthPredators4]

Lol. We are so bloody far away that only DDG can walk into their starting 11. Pogba probably will make the bench though. Lets not be unrealistic cos in terms of quality, we are not even top 10 in Europe.

 

[Igor Drefljak]

From Madrid...Yes
From the league...No

 

[Mr Anderson]

Football is funny, but practicality wise we are a good bit off Real, in various departments. In style, in confidence, in performance/skill level, and majorly in depth. When you can afford to have the likes of Bale, Morata, James (kinda) and a talent like Asensio on the bench, you know there is superior quality there. Kroos, Modric, Ronnie, Benzema and Isco would walk into our team as it stands - etc

We need players, and we need to gel. We are still quite a bit off that consistent and deadly level. Be lucky if we only a season or 2 away.

 

[Klopp_De_Klown]

Our spine needs that level of player we dont have, or that player who will help the others step up that bit extra.

VVD + Fabinho + Hamez + Sanchez

This is only an example, i know people will pick different players and some or all of these wont come. But its the concept of the 4 players straight down the middle that i think that we need.

Mhiki and Rash might be more productive this season but no getting away from the fact that Blind is our only footballing centre half and Carrick is not getting up there now. And what an addition to the squad this would be. Its easy go full muppet and say if we signed Messi for 10 and Ronaldo for 9 we'd blitz teams out of it. Hard argue with it too TBF. But thats only kicking the can down the road. A problem we'd still need to fix.

 

[balaks]

I think generally that every team in the premiership at the moment is a million miles away from Madrid but also from the likes of Juventus. This could change over the coming year with a big transfer window coming up but I think generally we (as in Premiership teams) are quite a bit behind.

 

[Revan]

I think generally that every team in the premiership at the moment is a million miles away from Madrid but also from the likes of Juventus. This could change over the coming year with a big transfer window coming up but I think generally we (as in Premiership teams) are quite a bit behind.

Impossible to argue with this.

EPL teams need a very good transfer window. Not necessarily big names, but definitely good players. So far, City seems to be going in the right tract, let's see what the others will do.

 

[breakout67]

No we are not.

Ronaldo is the X-factor in that team, and I would say that Bayern Munich and Juventus are on a similar level to them. They were gifted the game against Bayern and needed 2 deflections to penetrate the Juventus defence which forced Juventus to take more risks. When Ronaldo retires that team will be a shadow of itself...he has bailed them out so many times.

 

[Wade3]

You're not gonna receive an objective response shortly after Real Madrid has won its second UCL in a row. You do, of course, have a point, but not a lot of people are gonna see it right now.

 

[2 man midfield]

Only De Gea and Bailly at a push would make their first XI. Pogba would get on the bench. We're so far away from them it's not even funny.

I could see us challenging for the league next season with the right signings, but the CL is at least 2 seasons and a declining Ronaldo away.

 

[hellohello]

No we are not.

Ronaldo is the X-factor in that team, and I would say that Bayern Munich and Juventus are on a similar level to them. They were gifted the game against Bayern and needed 2 deflections to penetrate the Juventus defence which forced Juventus to take more risks. When Ronaldo retires that team will be a shadow of itself...he has bailed them out so many times.

If you're not then the same can be said for a good number of teams. Having said that, with the age of the core group at Real I do suspect this to be the peak for their team, they might be just as good next year, but I think they will need need to freshen up soon.

 

[Adisa]

From Chelsea...no
From Madrid...

 

[Von Mistelroum]

We have one player who would make their first 11, and even then, they don't really need that player at all (but they'll probably get him anway, so then we won't even have that). Most of their bench would be starters for us on the other hand.

They have a player in Ronaldo who is better than our entire attack put together and then some. We're a long, long way away and we're not looking likely to improve either looking at the players we're apparently targeting. By next year, with the addition of De Gea and possibly Mbappe, they'll be even further ahead of us.

 

[Massive Spanner]

I'm struggling to see the point of this thread when the op already answered the question on the first line.

 

[buckooo1978]

we are miles away

only De Gea would get in their first 11.... Pogba at a push if Kroos/Modric had a niggle

 

[An Irish Red]

The idea of Rashford getting into their team is so laughable it's absurd.

 

[ThomasEmil]

imagine seeing this thread on an Arsenal forum. We'd be laughing our asses off. And they even managed to qualify for CL the last three seasons.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

MILES away right now. We are behind the likes of Bayern, Juventus, Barcelona by some distance aswell. Before we can even think about matching these teams again we need to get our own ship in order and build with quality. If the players we are being linked with are anything to go by, it will be some time yet. That is why the Griezmann transfer would of been a game changer for us in more ways than one. Only Pogba and De Gea would get into pretty much any team in the world. The rest we massively overrate or just nowhere near good enough and arguably shouldn't even be at this club. I honestly think we are about 5-6 top class players away from Real, and when you consider what calibre of player is on the market this Summer it just shows that it is a huge distance.

 

[AltiUn]

We are quite a bit away but worth remembering it took Madrid about 10 years to build that core. We've only been struggling and trying to rebuild for 4.

 

[An Irish Red]

MILES away right now. We are behind the likes of Bayern, Juventus, Barcelona by some distance aswell.

When you have Fellaini, Lingard and Rashford all as important players in your front six you aren't an elite side. That's the reality.

 

[Von Mistelroum]

Just watching the James Robson Q&A about our summer plans and the names mentioned that they believe are our top targets are: Keane, Perisic, Matic. If this is true then we're in for a depressing summer and a struggle to retain top 6 position, never mind catching up to Chelsea or Madrid. Even if we were to get a replacement for Zlatan I don't think we're moving forwards. I get the idea, that Mourinho needs to make the team his and shore up what we have, but I think it's a mistake that will leave us pretty far behind the pack.

Potentially we'll end up with:

Romero
Valencia Bailly Keane darmian
Matic
Herrera Pogba
Mkhitaryan (striker) Perisic
​

Which has the right structure to be more solid, but won't address our lack of goals and won't give us that creative spark we need to break down defences. With City going for broke with the top players and others around us strengthening, I can't see us catching up to anyone besides maybe Arsenal.

 

[minoo-utd]

Yes we are far from them now like they were far from us before we gave them Ronaldo year 2008-2009 it happens in football, no need to create thread after thread and telling how we are so shit right now, I wonder if Jose beat them in the super cup lots need to shut up a bit and trust our team.

 

[beedoubleyou]

It only takes a few signings and the continuing development of some of our younger players to make a real difference. I was growing tired of Mourinho's tactics by the Celta Vigo second leg, but in the cold light of day, this team is a Frankenstein of three or four mangers. I expect more this coming season, but I suspect we will struggle to be at the top again. We either persist with Jose or go the director of football route, the chopping and changing has been a disaster.

 

[izec]

Yes, thats why signing someone like Griezmann was a priority. Unfortunately, not many players of that class available

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Its in attack where were are light years behind.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

When you have Fellaini, Lingard and Rashford all as important players in your front six you aren't an elite side. That's the reality.

Totally agree. And when you look at who we are being linked with (or lack of) seems they will play alot next season to. What a Summer hey.

 

[ROFLUTION]

24 points off 1st place in the league.
31 goals from scoring as much as #1 and #2
4 starting players at least under-performing in our squad (Martial, Shaw, Mkhi, Rooney)

 

[Salient]

We're miles behind Real Madrid, but a seriously good transfer window might make a difference and shorten the distance. So this summer is key. We should considerably strengthen in basically everything, if we want to have a decent campaign in Europe and not just in the PL.

 

[ilovethisgameahahah]

Just watching the James Robson Q&A about our summer plans and the names mentioned that they believe are our top targets are: Keane, Perisic, Matic. If this is true then we're in for a depressing summer and a struggle to retain top 6 position, never mind catching up to Chelsea or Madrid. Even if we were to get a replacement for Zlatan I don't think we're moving forwards. I get the idea, that Mourinho needs to make the team his and shore up what we have, but I think it's a mistake that will leave us pretty far behind the pack.

Potentially we'll end up with:

Romero
Valencia Bailly Keane darmian
Matic
Herrera Pogba
Mkhitaryan (striker) Perisic
​

Which has the right structure to be more solid, but won't address our lack of goals and won't give us that creative spark we need to break down defences. With City going for broke with the top players and others around us strengthening, I can't see us catching up to anyone besides maybe Arsenal.

Now that's a depressing lineup and a half. Thankfully, the journo's at the MEN know feck all

To answer the original question, yes we are light years away. Apart from De Gea and Pogba there's not much quality to shout about at all in our team with most players struggling to even nail down a starting spot. We need to make a statement this Summer if we want to make top 4 and a massive statement of we want to think about challenging.

 

[Successful]

From Madrid that is. We are yes. But the point I'm making is do we need a new team to get near them? A season of playing well brings things into new perspectives. This time last year everyone was writing off half the Chelsea squad for example.

We do have loads of potential. We can't predict anything, but we can't write off our kids.

This time next year the following could be getting into the Madrid team if that thread came about again:

DDG
Bailey
Pogba
Herrera
Martial
Mki
Rashford
New signings?

Also this time next year Madrid could have had a horror season.

You never know in football.

I would say you're not totally off the target with this thread. Those players are obviously not enough to win something really big with, however it's a good start. Most of them should not be 1st choice. A smaller team who sometimes accidentally end up with some of those players cannot build on. For them it would be to sell Pogba and replace him with another version and hope it works out. For a team like Man United we keep those players and BUILD ON with more competition. If you look at RM and their bench in that CL final. Gareth Bale coming on as a sub. Morata coming on as a sub. That's quality. So to compete with that we obviously need to get those who are last in line out of the club and make some of those who are in the first 11 to step down or at least compete for their spots. There's no other way to reach the highest top. People criticize RM for being an outlet club, but they're just emptying their trashcan and filling it up with even better players.

 

[Gonçalo Motta]

Even with a good transfer window we would still be miles away from them. They have one of the top 3 players in the world of each position in their starter 11 bar Benzema that would be in the top 5 of his position if I stretch a bit. I'm not even gonna talk about their bench since its ridiculous aswell.

We would have to go into a shopping spree to even have the slight chance to compete with them and that would mean getting guys like Verratti, Griezmann, Mbappe, etc.
First priority should be to have a team that can challenge for the EPL and then in the summer of 2018 reinforce the team in the roles we need to challenge for the CL. I don't believe we can get the players we need to proper challenge the CL in this transfer window anyway.

On a bright side, RM's and Barcelona's core players are hitting 30+ (bar a few key players), so their cycle will come to an end soon unless they go big on the market aswell in the next few years. Unluckly for them, guys like Ronaldo or Messi are irreplaceable so the balance between the top european teams should come back in the next few years.

 

[kthanksbye]

From Madrid that is. We are yes. But the point I'm making is do we need a new team to get near them? A season of playing well brings things into new perspectives. This time last year everyone was writing off half the Chelsea squad for example.

We do have loads of potential. We can't predict anything, but we can't write off our kids.

This time next year the following could be getting into the Madrid team if that thread came about again:

DDG
Bailey
Pogba
Herrera
Martial
Mki
Rashford
New signings?

Also this time next year Madrid could have had a horror season.

You never know in football.

I'd want to see another season of Eric Bailly* to conclude that he can replace Varane. Pogba is going to be one of the best midfielders in the world, that I'm sure of. Mikhi isn't going to get any better than what he was in his final season at Dortmund, hell we don't even know if he's going to reach that height again. Herrera IMO, lacks the technical skill to be a player as good as Modric or Kroos. Martial and Rashford have a really long way to go before they cement a place in our starting 11, let alone a team that has won back to back Champions leagues.

About Madrid's horror season, on the contrary, it's hard to see who can stop them from winning the UCL 3 seasons running. Bayern have been finding it difficult to elevate their performances for Europe, Barca will have to buy and buy really well. There's no other team that goes into a game against Madrid being even money.

 

[stepic]

We're not going to be able to catch up with this current Madrid side. We will have to imcremently improve and rely on them coming back to the field. For now we have to focus on winning the league, let alone the CL.

 

[pcaming]

We currently have no attack, a decentish midfield and a hit and miss defence. Yes we are far away.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

We weren't far away all season apparently the only issue was we weren't scoring our chances. Now suddenly we need a new 11?

We are far from madrid but if anyone thinks you close that gap in 1 summer then get real, if it was that easy then city would just spend another billion and do it

 

[Raees]

Based on our current squad, we are miles off. Of course with our money, one successful transfer window and you can make giant strides towards the elite.

Just going to have to wait and see what the side looks like by the start of the season.

 

[AgentP]

If you're not then the same can be said for a good number of teams. Having said that, with the age of the core group at Real I do suspect this to be the peak for their team, they might be just as good next year, but I think they will need need to freshen up soon.

Yes, we don't know for how long Ronaldo, Modric and Ramos can maintain their high standards as they are all in their 30s. The rest of the squad are quite young. But these three are massive players and it would be near impossible to replace them without a deterioration in quality. Benzema is also in his 30s but he'll probably be the easiest to replace.

 

[Beachryan]

Main issue for me is actually what Mourinho can get out of the existing group. The reality of the situation is that there just aren't a good number of genuinely class players available in positions we need this summer, so we're going to have to rely on our apparently world class coach to get more out of this group than he did last year.

The good news is that players like Mhiki, Pogba and Bailly all should improve having settled in. The bad news is that once we lost our attacking 'leader' in Ibra, that side of the pitch basically fell apart.

Sadly, there's very little in the last decade of Mourinho's management career to suggest he's the kind of coach who can get an attacking unit to gel - which isn't: keep it tight defensively and give it to the world class player(s) to do a bit of magic despite being outnumbered.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Miles off. Let's not delude ourselves here, we were nowhere near good enough to mount a serious challenge for 4th this season - so in terms of title contention or CL success, we're a country mile off.

I'm just not seeing this excellent team that's suddenly gonna 'click' and explode into life. As it stands, we're a top 6 team with a big wage-bill. Of course, that can all change.

 

[harms]

De Gea and Pogba are good enough to start for a CL-competing side. Valencia and Herrera in this season's form won't look out of place if they'll have a working team around them; one of Micky/Mata/Martial/Rashford, in their best form (which the former 3 haven't showed this season), can be competing for one starting spot; Zlatan - possibly, although if we'll have a CL-competing team, we'll need to have at least 1 world-class attacker and it's possible that he won't work with Zlatan...

Valencia's age is also of concern - since we're not going to become a CL contenders next season, when we (potentially) will reach that level, he'll probably be too old and not good enough anymore. Bailly, on the other hand, can grow into a world-class center back by that time if all goes well.

LB, CB, DM, and possibly 2 attackers, and all have to be great/closing in on world class status... Yeah, we're actually that far away.