No Sancho, no Top 4... Really?

[AsonUnique]

Our starting XI looks decent but we are one injury away to being useless, if Bruno, Pogba or Martial get injured we are going to struggle big time. I hope VDB can fill the whole in the middle but last season we saw how it went when the full first XI wasnt available and fit.

Throw Maguire on their too. I want Bailly to kick on but we will have a big drop off if Maguire is out. This is also assuming Smalling goes.

I do feel better about Pogba and Bruno because VdB will be able to fill in. Martial out means Igahlo, Mata, James or Lingard are starting on the front line. That is not good with 2 matches a week.

I see us getting 4th with no Sancho but if we have an injury patch could easily be 6th or 7th.

 

[TheRedHearted]

It’s not a bad point. Our defense was third in the league last year was it not, and it midfield is stronger. I would say our midfield Is top three definitely top five in the league. I think what we should do for teams who sit deeper is throw in extra attacking midfielder and have two of martial rashford and greenwood up front. That way we can win more in midfield and attack on the break.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

Top 4 isn't a given or as easy as some are making it out to be. Like a poster pointed out in another thread if you build the team and play for a title it's a certainty you'll get top four. If you play for top 4 it will be hit and miss (like we've been doing in previous seasons).

Secondly, shouldn't we aim to improve on last season? What am I missing? Wouldn't 3rd be stagnation, and 4th regression?

 

[Marcus]

Top 4 is not the objective of the fans. If we need Sancho to achieve Top 4, you can bet that the Glazers will sanction his purchase right away. Same reason why they agreed to buy Maguire and AWB. Because United would otherwise not be able to qualify for the CL. Glazers only agree to do just enough to reach Top 4.

 

[Arka_BleedingRed]

Going by how intense this season is going to be, Sancho or no Sancho, we have to strengthen the attack with a player who can play at either wing without bringing a significant drop in quality from our starting trio, considering the injury /form of Rashford, age of Mason. That is the single most important recruitment we HAVE to make this summer. Then comes the attacking FB for the left side given Shaw's injury records.

I cannot fathom how this is yet to go through the thick skulls of our Board, still lingering over signings. They will have undone the little good achieved by Ole/players last season and will still go on how the purse strings will be undone only for the likes of Varane etc.

 

[Icemav]

I wonder if many watched Sanchos First season at Dortmund ? He was decent but not anywhere near the level Greenwood has hit in his first season . If Greenwood pushes on we are going to have a World class player without buying Sancho. Dont get me wrong I would love Sancho , but I like our team I want to see the youth come through and I would like to add a bit of experience e.g. Thiago . whilst also getting rid of our deadwood that Just wont make the Grade . I think we have made progression under Ole and expect that to continue with or without Sancho . Definitely get top 4 I'm just interested to see how close we can get to the front runners

He's not the messiah, he's just a very naughty boy.

 

[norm87cro]

It could be a blessing in disguise since our front 3 has had an overall great season. A CB that would compliment Maguire and a LB would my pick. I really don't want to imagine the shape of our midfield if Bruo gets injured.

 

[Carl]

We will make top 4 comfortably without a Sancho. But it’s a good job we are signing Sancho!

Incredibly misplaced optimism. I think we have enough to get by in defence and midfield, but our depth across that front line is shocking.

First choice is good (though Rashford's form is alarming) but if just one gets injured or needs rotating we're straight into the likes of Lingard, Mata and James. None of which good enough.

 

[kirk buttercup]

He's not the messiah, he's just a very naughty boy.

Very good .

 

[lewwoo]

100% on the board this season. Ole basically has a free pass as he has been royally shafted.

 

[wolvored]

We were THE top club but are now an also ran. It doesnt matter all the pontificating saying we are Man Utd, and should be winning the title every season. The sad fact is we havent performed good enough for the last 7 years and City and Liverpool have passed us by. Saying that If we can get Sancho or another right sided attacker and are relatively lucky with injuries, I see no reason to not finish at least 3rd again. We had the 3rd best defence last season. We have strength in depth in a really good midfield. We have a fine attack that can only get better. Since Bruno came we were the best performing team last season. We still have a good chance and maybe a surprise can happen. Heres hoping!

 

[francobaresi]

1. We ain't signing Sancho
2. We ain't finishing Top 4

as soon as one of Martial, Bruno, Rashford, Greenwood gets injured, we are fecked

 

[londonredmaniac]

And why should scraping top 4 be our fecking aim??

State of that.

 

[Riz]

1. We ain't signing Sancho
2. We ain't finishing Top 4

as soon as one of Martial, Bruno, Rashford, Greenwood gets injured, we are fecked

This is why I didn't, and still don't, understand some people's opinion that we should be prioritising a center back this summer over attacking reinforcements. We don't have a perfect defence but Maguire and Lindelof have at least shown themselves to be reliable in terms of injuries whilst Smalling as a back up is very solid as well. Contrast that with 1 injury to any of a 19 year old Greenwood (who we're going to be starting every match), or Rashford and Martial who have both had injury issues that continued throughout last season and we're looking at a prolonged period of playing one of James, Lingard, Ighalo in the starting 11 twice a week. I don't see us making the top 4 (comfortably) right now and that will mean we haven't progressed.

 

[Chief123]

Incredibly misplaced optimism. I think we have enough to get by in defence and midfield, but our depth across that front line is shocking.

First choice is good (though Rashford's form is alarming) but if just one gets injured or needs rotating we're straight into the likes of Lingard, Mata and James. None of which good enough.

Same for Spurs or Arsenal. One injury to Kane and they are screwed again. One injury to Aubamayeng and they are screwed.

 

[Carl]

1. We ain't signing Sancho
2. We ain't finishing Top 4

as soon as one of Martial, Bruno, Rashford, Greenwood gets injured, we are fecked

Less concerned about Bruno tbh, because the VDB signing helps depth in midfield. We have no depth across the front line.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Less concerned about Bruno tbh, because the VDB signing helps depth in midfield. We have no depth across the front line.

You also have to take note that Rashford looks off form at the moment and who knows until the season starts what state of mind Mason is in. That is our best forward line at the moment and if that doesn't click again right from the start then we have problems. He needs more options not just for injury or loss of form, but also competition.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

It’s unlikely we get top 4 this season without reinforcements to be honest. If you look at our points total last season, it’s rare that amount gets you top 4. We got pretty lucky with Chelsea, Spurs & Arsenal all having poor seasons. Didn’t we end up with our 2nd lowest points tally in PL history?

 

[CG1010]

I have a bad feeling about Spurs.. Jose's second season has generally been the high point of his three year stint at a club. He could scrap them into the top four.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I have a bad feeling about Spurs.. Jose's second season has generally been the high point of his three year stint at a club. He could scrap them into the top four.

Either that or win the EL again. That's if Sevilla don't land back in there again

 

[CG1010]

Either that or win the EL again. That's if Sevilla don't land back in there again

Hah... football 'eritage!

 

[trafford1980]

I feel let down by the club right now. Gutted about this transfer window. In my opinion our squad overall is at it’s strongest in years, and just needed 3 or 4 of the right type of signings to have us challenging with City & Liverpool. Now we’re kind of like 2018 Liverpool if they hadn’t have brought in Alisson, Fabinho etc. As it stands I wouldn’t bet on United finishing in the Champions League places. I’m not writing us off but it’s feasible that at least two of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Wolves have better seasons.

 

[RU Devil]

If teams around us perform to expectations, then Top 4 will probably be achieved. Arsenal is in year 0.5 of massive rebuild although they seem to be on the right track, while Tottenham has Mou, which probably means some success but I doubt he has the team (or tactics) to pip United to a Top 4 position. Bale will really be a wildcard, but you wonder whether he & Mou will get along. Wolves may be more worrisome, since they don't have any European games to drain them & they are a well-drilled team, while Leicester has that burden this year. Both are on the brink of perennial Top 6 contention, if not already there.

Our current team has a good enough starting core, but the depth is not what we need to really challenge for honors this year. As we don't yet know what CL group we will get, there is no way knowing how far we can progress in that competition. We could get knocked out into the EL, or could get to the quarters with a favorable draw. The domestic cups are what they are, a chance for youth & those on the periphery to get some time, but Ole would be foolish to start more than a third of his Top XI in each fixture, as he'd need their energy for the league (fixture congestion will be a major factor). I hope Ole winds up rotating a lot more, as he really ran down the Top XI after the restart. It made sense since we had a major gap to close to achieve CL status, but if he does that again, we'll be prone to more injuries & lack of continuity when forced to rotate. You really have to appreciate SAF's handling of his team when it came to rotation & tactics, as it really was hard to guess who was playing game in & game out. Yeah, there was a core group, but there was usually 3-4 spots where he'd rotate.

 

[vanderpants]

Lack of ambition shown by the board, yes covid has effected everyone's finances but it also hasn't stopped other clubs spending. I remember when Ed said other clubs can only dream what utd can do in the transfer window, we are supposed to be one of the richest biggest clubs in football yet spent 35m

 

[Eli Zee]

Tottenham and Chelsea appear to be strengthening their squads much more than us. We know city and Liverpool already have a better squad than us even if we remove each of their two best players. Just goes to show how far we are behind them.

We lack depth in attack & defense. Need more

 

[RedStarUnited]

Bruno here for the whole season, Pogba the same and an older Greenwood = like 3 new signings for us.

I think we could surprise a lot of people.

 

[croadyman]

Bruno here for the whole season, Pogba the same and an older Greenwood = like 3 new signings for us.

I think we could surprise a lot of people.

We needed at least another two signings end of story

 

[laughtersassassin]

We might get top 4 but we are really risking it letting every single team around us improve and back their manager more than we are.

We are asking the gap widening, We are risking dropping places in the league and we are risking losing Pogba for a very small fee if we don't show ambition.

 

[croadyman]

Hard to see us getting top 4 with Arsenal looking stronger and don't discount potential threats from Spurs, Everton, Wolves, Leicester, Chelsea at least

 

[Eli Zee]

Bruno here for the whole season, Pogba the same and an older Greenwood = like 3 new signings for us.

I think we could surprise a lot of people.

What happens if any of the starting 3 attacker are out for an extended period of time? We are starting + substituting in any of mata, lingard, Ighalo or James basically... need better attacking players.

Our midfield is good

 

[croadyman]

What happens if any of the starting 3 attacker are out for an extended period of time? We are starting + substituting in any of mata, lingard, Ighalo or James basically... need better attacking players.

Our midfield is good

Yeah and we wonder why Ole is reluctant to make substitutions when they are all he has available

 

[crossy1686]

100% on the board this season. Ole basically has a free pass as he has been royally shafted.

100% on the board this, Ole can't be to blame for anything that happens after this window shuts as long as we don't completely crash and burn.

It's going to be interesting to see which players down tools now, effectively knowing they're wasting the next 12 months of their career on a team that might finish 4th.

 

[crossy1686]

Hard to see us getting top 4 with Arsenal looking stronger and don't discount potential threats from Spurs, Everton, Wolves, Leicester, Chelsea at least

Arsenal are absolutely lightyears off the top 4. Spurs stand a better chance than them but lets not get carried away based on one game.

 

[RedStarUnited]

What happens if any of the starting 3 attacker are out for an extended period of time? We are starting + substituting in any of mata, lingard, Ighalo or James basically... need better attacking players.

Our midfield is good

We need to find out whatever Liverpool are doing fitness wise then because this applies to them too. If Salah or Mane need replacing, whoever comes on is nowhere near the same quality.

 

[Offsideagain]

Forget Sancho, we should be buying a quality Centre Back, Left Back and a Striker/Winger. Agree we are a Bruno injury away from mediocrity.

 

[Tom Cato]

Forget Sancho, we should be buying a quality Centre Back, Left Back and a Striker/Winger. Agree we are a Bruno injury away from mediocrity.

Do we need a upgrade on one of the most important players in the team in Luke Shaw?

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Do we need a upgrade on one of the most important players in the team in Luke Shaw?

We do need cover.

 

[Trophy Room]

I think it's pretty obvious that City and Liverpool will be top 2. It's for the rest of us to fight for the remaining champions league spots. Chelsea will take some time to gel so hope we capitalise - in theory, we have the most settled team out of Chelsea/Arsenal and Spurs. I think Arsenal are a dark horse this season.

Our biggest problem this season will be injuries - there will inevitably be a few to our main players. Squad depth is a major problem and I think Ole knows this - probably why he hasn't rotated as much.

 

[Infra-red]

Do we need a upgrade on one of the most important players in the team in Luke Shaw?

He can't stay fit and he doesn't offer much going forward. With AWB at RB, there is certainly room for someone with a bit of attacking ability at LB.

 

[alexthelion]

That we are in that "rebuild" phase since Fergie left. It's the same excuses over and over again.

How have we been rebuuilding since SAF?

Moyes, LVG and Moaner never planned long-term and bought hungry, younger players. Ole is the only one who appears tp have anything like a plan for the future, not just buying for the now.