Could we have challenged for the title this year?

[Revan]

Top 4 once in the last 5 years. The "we're Man Utd" thing doesn't stack up. Just as it hasn't for Liverpool this last 30 years or so.

This squad was capable of putting up a fight for sure though.

Well, twice in the last 5 years. In two other seasons, we won more trophies (considering the amount and the value of them) than any other team bar the champions.

Despite the doom and gloom, we have been the third best team in England since SAF left (with City and Chelsea being first and second). Hardly great and a big step down from what we were, but not as bad as some people claim.

 

[Revan]

No.

I think we are about 4 quality signings away(RB,CB,RM,and a lingard upgrade)

Let's get the summer targets in ASAP and have a go next season.

Wouldn't Lingard upgrade be the RM considering that Lingard is playing in that position?

 

[red4ever 79]

Absolutely not. Our defence is no where near good enough to sustain a title challenge, in addition we have had poor performers in the final thrid who have contributed next to nothing in Lukaku and Sanchez. That being said there is no way we are the 6th best team in the EPL. I think we are more nearer to the 4th standard with Chelsea. Spurs, City and Pool are all better than us.

 

[BluesJr]

I think we’d be within at least 6 points, so yes. Knew from the start Mourinho would nearly kill our season.

 

[buckooo1978]

we'd easily be 10 points better off I think so yes we'd be within a reasonable distance

put it this way - had we sacked Mourinho the day after the meek FA Cup loss and appointed a decent attacking manager we'd have been able to address issues with the squad and start the season more positively

we dropped some points to Brighton, Palace, West Ham and Southampton who were all in really poor form. Could have beaten Chelsea and Arsenal too. Could we have picked up something against Spurs, Liverpool or City.... perhaps. We went into that Spurs match like some plucky underdog

 

[anant]

We're still in for the title this year. We're effectively 12 points behind Pool (16 points actually, we'll get it to 13 when we beat them and 1 point for GD).
And Pool have had injury concerns. With a bit of luck, 89 might just be enough for us to win the title

 

[Canagel]

Yes.
The question is asking whether we would've been challenging , not if we would win it.
If Tottemham were supposed to be in challenge just few weeks ago then so could we have been. 5-6 points behind is challenging.
Brighton, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Southampton alone have taken 10 points off us. We also got rolled over in big games and surely would've put better fight at Etihad and Anfield .

 

[Feed Me]

We should have been comfortably in the top four and probably where Spurs are.

Maureen and the players are a disgrace for their start to the season.

 

[Canagel]

We should have been comfortably in the top four and probably where Spurs are.

Maureen is a disgrace for the start to the season.

Fixed.

 

[Feed Me]

Fixed.

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to include the players, but they are highly paid professionals and they did throw it in. They didn't like the manager, that much is clear, but it's a shame we have few players who are prepared to put it in for the shirt. They are partly culpable.

 

[AndyJ1985]

No our squad isn't as good as the top two. But we probably would be much closer to first than we currently are.

 

[Green_Red]

yes, in fact I expected us to before the drama of Mourinho kicked in

 

[Canagel]

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to include the players, but they are highly paid professionals and they did throw it in. They didn't like the manager, that much is clear, but it's a shame we have few players who are prepared to put it in for the shirt. They are partly culpable.

The manager is highly paid proffesional and threw it in first. He sets the tone. Why are we supprised? Keep telling the world your players are shit and sooner rather than later they'll start playing like shit. From pre season when he started bitching about our squad and downplaying the expectations we were done.

 

[Feed Me]

The manager is highly paid proffesional and threw it in first. He sets the tone. Why are we supprised? Keep telling the world your players are shit and sooner rather than later they'll start playing like shit. From pre season when he started bitching about our squad and downplaying the expectations we were done.

I don't disagree with what you are saying and absolutely despise Maureen.

That said, a lot of our players have failed under consecutive managers now, consistently failing to cover themselves in glory. They are quite strongly culpable for the ongoing malaise around the club.

 

[Marcus]

Yes it is possible.

 

[AgentP]

I don't think we could have challenged mainly because of how good Liverpool have been. They have hardly dropped any points. If it was a season where the eventual winner got less than 90 points, then we would have had a chance.

 

[Greck]

No. We are top 3 material though. By now we would have been calculating a shot at catching Pool instead of calculating a shot at breaking into top 4. We had a disastrous start and are still breathing down the necks of 3rd and 4th positions

 

[PoTMS]

Reckon we'd easily have 6-9 more points. Don't think we'd have drawn against all of Wolves, Southampton, Arsenal or Palace at home (dropping 8 points) and I'm sure we have been able to at least turn a few of our defeats against the likes of Brighton, West Ham and Spurs into draws.

So do I think we'd be in the title race, technically yes, but whether I think we'd eventually win it, no. We'd be a lot more comfortable in the top four race than we are now anyway.

 

[izec]

No, 3rd place. The defense and fitness levels are all over the place. Ole or a new manager need time for that.

The biggest difference between us and Liverpool squad wise is Van Dijk, fullbacks and a 30 goal a season player (Salah). We are better in midfield though. We are not far off, but another 3-4 quality players in the summer addressing the fullback, RW and CB issue, and we could challenge with a proper pre season and players getting used to our new style til the new season.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

How far back would you want to go for Ole's appointment ?
Straight after the previous season so he could bring in his own players (in the summer) ?

 

[marktan]

No. Squad is good but not that good. Pool spent £160m in the summer improving theirs after spending £70m on Van Djik in Jan.

Think we're a top CB and RW away from consistently challenging, and a top full back + midfield cover away from consistently beating the top teams.

 

[Adisa]

Liverpool have only dropped 9 points all season.
Both Liverpool and City have had 2-3 years for their manager to perfoct their style.
Our best finish would have been third. We our the third best side in the country imo. Said so before a ball was kicked this season.

 

[bosnian_red]

Id say we'd be at Spurs level, not really top 2.
Liverpools side is defonitely better than ours. Their entire back 4 is settled and miles ahead of us in every position. Robertson the best LB in the league, Van Dijk probably the best in the world, TAA a young but ever improving right back and perfect for their system, and the other CBs are pretty much at the level of our best. Would swap that in a heart beat.

Their attack is basically what we can hope for if our young attack reaches its potential. Ours are u23 and inconsistent, they have 3 top class/world class players. The midfield trio is the one place where we beat them (and goalkeeper).

 

[TheGame]

I think we could have been a lot closer. City are still the best teams in terms of squad. Liverpool are doing well this season but they still lack squad quality.

 

[youmeletsfly]

We could've challenged if Jose was backed during the summer with a top notch CB, then sacked 2 months earlier. This way Ole would have a good CB next to Lindelof.

 

[kundalini]

All of the big 6 clubs could have challenged for the title if they figured out, or stumbled across, early on, a line-up that works in terms of getting results, then they enjoyed good fortune with regards to avoiding injuries and suspensions, crucial decisions during matches went their way, kept mistakes to a minimum and timed them so they didn't cost the team points.

Chelsea's title win under Conte is a classic example of this. They got a lot of points with what appeared to be an unspectacular line-up, though clearly Conte's tactics caught out many opponents. Leicester's title win under Ranieri was achieved with far fewer points but the same principles apply, unchanged line-up most matches, players understand their roles, work hard for the team.

Mourinho managed to confuse himself, and more importantly, his players, by bringing in Sanchez then Fred, then forever changing his line-up and formation. There were also issues regarding our lack of work-rate, too many players that don't cover enough ground over 90 mins. The players cost us points too this season with far too many mistakes and immature performances.

Solskjaer has a clear first choice line-up. We don't yet know how well the team will respond to various match situations. I think burn out from the World Cup would have been a danger regardless of who happened to be in charge.

 

[ivaldo]

No.

Could have fought for third.

We can fight for 3rd now. We'd be looking at 2nd.

 

[Ekeke]

Yes. That should have been the expectation. We came 2nd last year and added to the team

 

[Sylar]

Challenging but maybe not winning

Thing is we've lost a lost a lot of stupid points early on which we aren't doing under ole and which city and Liverpool aren't doing.

Brighton away, palace home, Southampton away. 7 points there puts us on 51. 9 points behind top but still in with a challenge

 

[Minimalist]

I think our squad with one or two additions should definitely be finishing no lower than 3rd. No idea if we could have been as consistent as Liverpool though (>80% wins).

 

[sullydnl]

Of course not, assuming the players are the same.

I mean we should have been challenging for the title in Mourinho's third year, sure. But due to a variety of factors this team simply isn't good enough to compete with City & Liverpool, even if Ole (or someone) had been in place at the start of the season. Even when we finished second last year, anyone watching the two teams over the course of the season would have spotted that Liverpool were likely to leap ahead of us this year.

We should certainly have been finishing in the top four though. I mean Spurs aren't real challengers either but they've still managed to do a hell of a lot better than us.

 

[Member 115509]

Top 4 would have been easily attainable, but winning the League might have been a bridge too far with the deficiencies in the back four and CDM meaning that games against the other top sides might have been lost due to leaking goals.
At the same time, the way OGS has got United playing in the forward areas maybe some of these games might have been won by being able to outscore the opposition.

 

[Imran Mamdani]

I really hate these could we, would be threads... we are where we are, we have what we have at this point in time.. let's just get on with it and hope for the best. I mean really what's the point in delving so much into the past (just like this one - no offence to OP)... a more effective question would be something like where do we go from here, or with this squad and managerial style how far can we get next season etc etc. my last post of the day so wont be able to reply (daily limit sucks ).

 

[Foxbatt]

Take a look at the points we dropped. 17 points that was available. With that 17 points we would have been right there with Pool.

 

[Ish]

Considering the amount of points and luck those feckers have, I doubt it. Comfortable third most likely though.

Most likely this.

 

[JMack1234]

No because I don't think Ole would get us into title winning form for 38 games. However, I think we'd be firmly in the top 4.

 

[Kush]

No, good run or not there are still massive holes in our squad. Our entire back four looks suspect, and no I'm not convinced by Shaw either. We lack width on flanks and our players are gassed after an hour. This is besides the fact that there are still structural issues at the club.

Part of the reason we're doing this well is because we were at our absolute lowest and this appointment was made with the intention of rekindling the spirit back rather than about salvaging the season. I assure you pressure would've been completely different if we were starting the season fresh with Ole as our new manager. We would've been probably a place or two higher in the table but scrapping for a CL place rather than challenging for the league.

 

[2cents]

I’m going to be honest, I don’t see much difference in our squad and Liverpools.

Third looking in. I didn’t - and still don’t - think the gulf in quality between our squad and Liverpool’s is much at all, really.

They quite clearly have a better defence and front 3 than us. Pogba is the best midfielder of either squad, but after him they probably edge it there as well.

 

[DWelbz19]

They quite clearly have a better defence and front 3 than us. Pogba is the best midfielder of either squad, but after him they probably edge it there as well.

Their midfield is absolutely not better than ours.

They have the best forward in the league, but our attack has scored the most goals in the league since being unshackled from that freak. As total entities, there’s not much in it.

Mourinho has done a serious number on a lot of people. We possess a very good squad - not without its flaws, sure - but theyre now showing it.

 

[2cents]

Their midfield is absolutely not better than ours.

Because we have Pogba. Take him away and things are more even there. We're very light on quality in that area, although they're nothing special there either.