Potential End of Season Fixtures

[esmufc07]

Starting from our League Cup Final. I genuinely struggle to see where we are going to fit games if we keep progressing in all competitions.

This list doesn't even include the City game at the Etihad. Reach the semi finals of the FAC and the Southampton and Burnley games would have to be rearranged.

Would make sense for me to reschedule the City game for midweek straight after the final. Otherwise we could genuinely have a clusterfeck of fixtures.

Look at April!

26/03/17: Manchester United v Southampton
04/03/17: Manchester United v Bournemouth
09/03/17: EL Round of 16, first leg
11/03/17: FA Cup 1/4 Final
12/03/17: Manchester United v Southampton
16/03/17: EL Round of 16, second leg
19/03/17: Middlesbrough v Manchester United

INTERNATIONAL BREAK

01/04/17: Manchester United v WBA
05/04/17: Manchester United v Everton
08/04/17: Sunderland v Manchester United
13/04/17: EL Quarter-finals, first leg
15/04/17: Manchester United v Chelsea
20/04/17: EL Quarter-finals, second leg
22/04/17: Burnley v Manchester United
22/04/17: FA Cup Semi Finals
29/04/17: Manchester United v Swansea
04/05/17: EL Semi-finals, first leg
06/05/17: Arsenal v Manchester United
11/05/17: EL Semi-finals, second leg
13/05/17: Spurs v Manchester United
21/05/17: Manchester United v Crystal Palace
24/05/17: EL Final (Friends Arena, Solna)
27/05/17: FA Cup Final

 

[Floyd]

Love it!

 

[The Man Himself]

City match and if we beat Blackburn, the Southampton away on 12th March, both will happen in May.
Chelsea had a similar crazy congestion in 2012-13. They ended up doing well at end of it. Managed finishing 3rd (although their point total that year may not give even 4th this season) with a good league run late-on. Europa they won and FA cup lost in semis to City. They of course didn't have postponement of league cup final matchweek so that 1 less they had to adjust but their QF in FA cup, vs us, had gone to replay.

They played 6 in March, 9 in April and 6 in May. We are hypothesizing about 1 match longer run in FA cup than them and have league cup final reschedule too though so if we go the distance in each competition, our May will be crazier.

It should be noted though that over course of season, Chelsea ended up playing 69 games(thanks to UEFA super cup and FIFA world cup). The maximum we will be playing this season (assuming no FA cup replays) will be 65. If Blackburn AND FA cup QF go to replay then it will be 67.

 

[VP89]

We will need to prioritise competitions if we keep advancing in all of them.

 

[NYAS]

I said in another thread that if we get to the final of every competition, there are only 3 midweek slots free all season. One of them is the midweek straight after the League Cup final at the end of this month, which won't be utilised because it's too close and too soon to hastily arrange a fixture then. It's already too late, but the FA couldn't have done anything because that's also FA Cup 5th round replay midweek that we still might have to be involved in, so they couldn't arrange the City league game at that time.

The other two midweeks are around the 26th of April and the midweek before the Palace game in May. The City game has to be played in one of those slots, and assuming we progress to the quarter-finals of the cup, the Southampton game will have to be played in the other. If we get to the semi-final, I have no idea how we're going to play Burnley away. There will be no slots free, and we'll probably have to play 4 games in a week to make it up (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday).

That's all not even taking into accounts possible FA Cup replays, if that happens the FA are fecked.

Wouldn't have it any other way. I just wish the midweek after the League Cup final could have been used for something.

 

[NYAS]

By the way, if we beat Blackburn, and then draw the quarter-final and have to replay it, it'll have to be replayed before the 22nd of April. That's basically impossible if we progress in the Europa League.

 

[sewey89]

I hope that the Burnley game is a lunch time kick off and the semi final of the FA Cup is an evening kick off, otherwise we're fecked.

 

[Dennis Viollet]

Love it!

 

[roonster09]

We will need to prioritise competitions if we keep advancing in all of them.

Instead of that we can drop out of competition by playing weakest team rather than prioritising later.

Hopefully we don't do that. We have big enough squad and very few injuries.

 

[Crustanoid]

International break could also cock things up for us in terms of games played and injuries to the players involved

 

[Annihilate Now!]

By the way, if we beat Blackburn, and then draw the quarter-final and have to replay it, it'll have to be replayed before the 22nd of April. That's basically impossible if we progress in the Europa League.

There aren't any quarter final replays anymore. FA scrapped them.

 

[royboy16]

Well have played 67 games if we reach the EL and FA cup final.

I miss champions league but I am enjoying watching us play twice a week

 

[Siorac]

There aren't any quarter final replays anymore. FA scrapped them.

And it seems like a good decision, precisely for these reasons.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

We have a big squad, and can feesibly deploy a whole second team that is pretty decent on paper. For that reason - with a bit of mixing involved - we should be able to remain competitive on all fronts. It just falls on Jose to manage his squad properly.

 

[VP89]

Instead of that we can drop out of competition by playing weakest team rather than prioritising later.

Hopefully we don't do that. We have big enough squad and very few injuries.

Yeah we could field mostly a second string XI from now in a couple of games. I'd actually rather see us field an entire different XI in the FA Cup and away to St Etienne:

Romero

TFM Rojo Blind Shaw

Fellaini Schweinstiger Carrick/Herrera

Lingard Martial Rashford

^^ something like that. We can really do that for a couple cup games at least.

 

[ti vu]

Starting from our League Cup Final. I genuinely struggle to see where we are going to fit games if we keep progressing in all competitions.

This list doesn't even include the City game at the Etihad. Reach the semi finals of the FAC and the Southampton and Burnley games would have to be rearranged.

Would make sense for me to reschedule the City game for midweek straight after the final. Otherwise we could genuinely have a clusterfeck of fixtures.

Look at April!

26/03/17: Manchester United v Southampton
04/03/17: Manchester United v Bournemouth
09/03/17: EL Round of 16, first leg
11/03/17: FA Cup 1/4 Final
12/03/17: Manchester United v Southampton
16/03/17: EL Round of 16, second leg
19/03/17: Middlesbrough v Manchester United

INTERNATIONAL BREAK

01/04/17: WBA v Manchester United
05/04/17: Manchester United v Everton
08/04/17: Sunderland v Manchester United
13/04/17: EL Quarter-finals, first leg
15/04/17: Manchester United v Chelsea
20/04/17: EL Quarter-finals, second leg
22/04/17: Burnley v Manchester United
22/04/17: FA Cup Semi Finals
29/04/17: Manchester United v Swansea
04/05/17: EL Semi-finals, first leg
06/05/17: Arsenal v Manchester United
11/05/17: EL Semi-finals, second leg
13/05/17: Spurs v Manchester United
21/05/17: Manchester United v Crystal Palace
24/05/17: EL Final (Friends Arena, Solna)
27/05/17: FA Cup Final

Shouldn't the bolded one a home game? Pretty sure we beat them away with Zlatan's brace

 

[esmufc07]

Shouldn't the bolded one a home game? Pretty sure we beat them away with Zlatan's brace

You are indeed right.

 

[buckooo1978]

only issue I see is the squad size

with Memphis and Schneiderlein away we actually have a small squad

a few injuries and we are in a bit of trouble and you woudn't want to be relying on Rooney or Fellaini for goals or creativity

on the bright side we might see Fosu-Mensah get a few games or sub appearances and Rashford at 9 which I think is well overdue

 

[Trizy]

With lucky draws in EL and FA cup we should be able to play a second string team. We've good depth.

 

[Ixion]

The most likely scenario is we won't progress to the final of both the FA Cup and Europa League so thing's will likely clear up.

But if we do it's a good thing and we'll deal with it. In 99 we were playing games every few days, including Quarter-final and Semi-final replays.

 

[The Man Himself]

There aren't any quarter final replays anymore. FA scrapped them.

Didn't know about this one. Nice. Must be from this season as last season only we played West Ham in replay in QF?

 

[Chaky_Best]

I just hope that we'll get luck in draw in EL and FA Cup next rounds.

There're still a lot of "weak" teams that we can beat easily by resting players and rotating the team.

I'd love to play Leicester, Boro, in the next round of FA Cup hopefully and we may have also the luck to play the likes of Genk, Astra, Copenhaguen, Gent, Anderlecht, Schalke, Ajax etc in the next rounds avoiding tricky trips to Bilbao, Roma, Firenze, Besiktas or Spurs

So hopefully we'll get 'easy' draw until semi finals

 

[TakeMeHome]

I love it to be honest!
I hope we at least get to the semi final of the FA cup. I want another trip to Wembley

 

[Neil67]

I'm loving it as well but the Wife and wallet ain't to happy with all these games!

 

[Nickosaur]

I understand the concerns about fatigue but ffs I can't get enough of United. Seeing that list of fixtures is

 

[Hellboy]

Imagine if we have a couple of FA Cup replays

 

[Revan]

Well have played 67 games if we reach the EL and FA cup final.

I miss champions league but I am enjoying watching us play twice a week

There is not much difference between Europa and UCL in the number of matches played. Europa has just 2 extra matches, but you get those 2 qualifiers for UCL if you finish fourth anyway.

The number of matches being this high is because at the same time we reached the final of Carling Cup, while we have a good chance of doing well in FA Cup too. Hoping for no draws in FA Cup, and that we get another canon fodder in the last 16 of Europa. That would allow us a bit easier to manage the schedule.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Imagine if we have a couple of FA Cup replays

Not possible

 

[Luke Parker]

09/03/17: EL Round of 16, first leg
11/03/17: FA Cup 1/4 Final
12/03/17: Manchester United v Southampton

Three games in four days, has this ever happened before?

Seems completely insane and can only have a detrimental impact on our performances.

Want to stay in all comps but at the same time don't see how that is possible under the circumstances. Would be an incredible feat by the squad if they succeed.

Surely the FA is going to have to consider extending the season by a couple of weeks to account for this?

 

[esmufc07]

Three games in four days, has this ever happened before?

Seems completely insane and can only have a detrimental impact on our performances.

Want to stay in all comps but at the same time don't see how that is possible under the circumstances. Would be an incredible feat by the squad if they succeed.

Surely the FA is going to have to consider extending the season by a couple of weeks to account for this?

If we reach the 1/4 final the game v Southampton would be postponed

 

[top1whoisman]

Kind of love it, it's a fan's dream to see the team every few days. Even if we didn't make it to EL and/or FA Cup final, the season ends quite late. Add two matches after the Palace game and we're almost in June. Influences the pre-season a little, would probably mean the players coming back pretty late, too. Is there some stupid Confederations Cup thingy this summer? If so, do we have any players going?

 

[Smores]

And Ibra will likely play all of them

Seriously hopes he rotates Rashford into the mix. i think our squad is largely big enough to deal with it, there's only really Ibra and Pogba that are positions we might struggle with.

 

[Catt]

Shouldn't Southampton on March the 12th be away?

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Not possible

Is it not? How come?

Genuinely asking as I don't know. I thought any draw was a replay

 

[Ixion]

Is it not? How come?

Genuinely asking as I don't know. I thought any draw was a replay

No more quarter-final or semi-final replays so Blackburn is the last one we could replay.

 

[zeekey]

Luckily we're not traveling to Russia or somewhere next Wednesday and hopefully we'll get a bit of luck in upcoming draws.

 

[marjen]

Said it before: I think we should play the kids and the fringe players in the FA Cup. The fixture congestion is crazy.

 

[cyberman]

We have a big enough squad to rotate though, it's not that bad. With Pogba playing deeper it allows us to rotate him easier with Carrick coming in. That position change opens up more possibilites in that regard since we don't have a replacement for him in a 3.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Said it before: I think we should play the kids and the fringe players in the FA Cup. The fixture congestion is crazy.

Why kids though?

We have 2 first team players for every position.

 

[Nickosaur]

Why kids though?

We have 2 first team players for every position.

Kids are better than Darmian.