My god this thread is depressing. The lunatics (idiots) really are taking over the asylum (forum)
Are we the 6th best team in the league?
- Thread starter ManchesterYoda
- Start date
I agree. People need to get a grip. Liverpool and Man City and are still miles ahead, not exactly a surprise is it.
I still fancy our chances against the rest, we been unlucky in a couple of games where we were miles better than the opposition. A good win at Southampton and it all looks very different again.
Why is it depressing? You could only find it depressing if you believe what most (as you call them, idiots) are saying.
The club was 6th last season and weaker as a midfield and attacking force this one. Not a huge stretch to be fair.
Squad wise we are comparable to Chelsea and Arsenal and clearly better than Leicester and Everton. But the pressure on this team is so huge that it might drop out of the top 6. If Leicester finish 6th, they will be heroes. If we finish 6th, we'll be idiots: motivation and atmosphere at both clubs is completely different and this might play a significant role.
It's depressing because:
So far this season we've looked better than most of last season
Our direct competitors all also have significant squad problems and none of them have looked better than us so far
Despite the above, our 'fans' are still all too willing to stick the boot in and predict the worst for the team. It's toxic
We have once again struggled to get shots on target, we have made costly defensive/keeping errors and to be fair rode our luck v Chelsea before we took control. I would personally say it is very much on par with last season. Yes we buggered up two penalties, our own players fault and had a shocking ref performance v Palace.
I would say 6th is very much a possibility and the position I think we will finish. Chelsea losing Hazard and having an inexperienced manager like ourselves might also struggle but I still see both them and Arsenal finishing above us.
My biggest worry is we are a major injury to Pogba away from really struggling.
I just avoid threads I do not want to read or ignore people I don't want to read posts from (feel free to put me on ignore
). Overall it is better for your sanity especially if you are of a positive frame of mind.I can guarantee that Loftus-Cheek, Mount, and Reece James are part of our best 11. Most league fans will figure that out during this season.
Considering we have a bare bones squad, and are heavily dependent on our strikers and Pogba not getting injured throughout the season, I think we'll finish 5th or 6th depending on how shite Chelsea are. Probably be worse if one of them have a long term injury (god forbid)
Ole doesn't exactly fill me with confidence with his tactics or subs. I can see teams letting us have the ball and countering us a lot this season.
While our defence looks good, at least on paper, our attack and midfield are clearly the worst among the top 6. Only Chelsea might have a weaker attack than us.
Ole doesn't exactly fill me with confidence with his tactics or subs. I can see teams letting us have the ball and countering us a lot this season.
While our defence looks good, at least on paper, our attack and midfield are clearly the worst among the top 6. Only Chelsea might have a weaker attack than us.
Can you give me a reason why you think we'll improve from our position from the previous year?
We have strengthened our defence, while arguably weakening our midfield and attack. Arsenal have looked stronger. The other 3 (especially the top 2) are far better.
We look to be set up as a counter attacking team. We struggle when we have the majority of the possession, and we'll face the latter far more often than the former.
We are one injury in midfield (Pogba) or attack (Rashford or Martial) away from having a serious crisis.
I will gladly have a bet with you that they will finish above United. They have a superior squad and it will show imo. Any team can beat another on any given day. I dont think Crystal Palace are better than us because they beat us.
Chelsea thumped us 5-0 in 1999/2000 but finished 20+ points behind us. Just because we beat a team doesn't mean we are a better team - we've just lost to Crystal Palace but we're still a better team than they are.
I think it's not because rivals are struggling or that our starting is not good enough to challenge for the 4th, but that our squad is so thin that an injury to first-teamer and we have to field the likes of Young, Greenwood, Matic, etc. It's that some of them are just not good or too old and others are too young without any experience. And we already have few injuries. Who do we fill in for Martial if he doesn't recover? If you factor in these, then it simply realistic to expect we would finish 6th or lower. And we have seen just 3 matches in that how fragile some of the players the squad are, heads just drop when we concede. And we finished 6th with more depth and stronger characters like Herrera. Sometimes you just have to be a realist.
We shall see I guess. I'm very confident that they'll be a mess defensively all season but be fun to watch with the youngsters. They'll be decent in the middle of the park but then fail to be efficient in the most important parts of the pitch, the 2 boxes. And in terms of squad build up, their starting 11 looks incredibly ordinary, especially the attack. So we'll see.
Thank you. I like your username and may steal it
They still have Rudiger to return also. Forgot about him.
I'm a big Loftus Cheek fan but surely it's him or Mount unless you think Mount will be a better wide player than all of Hudson-Odoi, Pedro, William and Barkley, though that's possible. Also can't rule out a Jorginho-Kovacic-Kante trio and Pulisic and a single attacking mid competing the midfield.
I've literally never seen James but apparently he was great last year and all your other fullbacks are average either going forward or defensively so if he can be useful both ways, could see it.
Are Palace better than us now?
I think both Chelsea and United look like 65ish point teams this year. It might just come down to which of Pogba or Kante misses fewer games, as our midfield can't pass without him and theirs can't run or defend.
6 would do. 2 ready to start so Martial and Rashford can fight for the 9 job (Sancho and Chiesa) , a 3rd to back them up (Fraser on the cheap) with James as the other wide option, a 4th we can play centrally behind the striker (Ziyech or Maddison), 5th converted into a CM like Schweinsteiger to fight with Mctominay and backup Pogba (tougher one here, maybe Raphael Guerrero, Emil Forsberg or Iwobi has a certain Moussa Dembele like strength on the ball and lack of threat in the final 3rd, though he's a bit lacking in hunger to get involved), and a left footed 6th who can defend a bit to push Shaw at LB and give us a more attacking choice there (presumably Sessegnon, though Solly March isn't bad and would be cheaper).
Currently the 5th best team in the league. Might change after next weekend's results.
Arsenal have strengthened significantly and more importantly they have a style and pattern of play. Vs Liverpool they played well and lost to a far superior team with superior players. If arsenal play like that week in week out they will beat most teams they play.
This.
We are in relegation form over the last 15 games. I would say we are around 10th at best.
This is the worst United team in a generation.