If there are young players ready then this is the time to introduce them. What Rashford has done this past 12 months will not go unnoticed, so you can bet your left nut they'll be up for it.
Potential End of Season Fixtures
- Thread starter esmufc07
- Start date
Lot of time to have fun with our team & criticize some players as usual.
Anyway, I hope Mourinho will be aware of that & he will rotate the team to arrive as "fresh" as we can in the last games of the season.
Anyway, I hope Mourinho will be aware of that & he will rotate the team to arrive as "fresh" as we can in the last games of the season.
Not such a big squad right now attacking wise if we play 4-2-3-1. We don't even have enough substitutes for every position (I'm not counting Young as a winger anymore).
I'll be interested to see how often the fixture list became this congested under SAF. I think it wasn't even a talking point because the team just always played twice a week!
EL quarter final first leg and then play Chelsea with only a day in between, that is madness. If we make the EL quarter final and the first leg is away that is going to be extremely difficult to deal with for the players.
Let's just agree with Southampton to count the cup final as our league game too. Would save us both the hassle of playing twice.
games after EL cup, coming always on Sunday
impossible, if we advanced in the quarter final of the f.a. Cup, the game vs Sounthampton will be postponed
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If people remember, in the 2012-13 season, our FA cup replay was rescheduled on a Monday, after both teams had played a PL game on Saturday. Immediately on the Thursday after, Chelsea played Europa. Same can happen with us. If we do progress in all competitions till the very end, the one slot in April and one around Palace match will go to 2 games, say City and Soton. Burnley one may happen on a Monday giving us Saturday-Monday-Thursday to play.
Here's how we've done this season after a Thursday night EL game:
Watford 3 - Manchester United 1 (L)
Manchester United 1 - Stoke City 1 (D)
Chelsea 4 - Manchester United 0 (L)
Swansea City 1 - Manchester United 3 (W)
Manchester United 1 - West Ham 1 (D)
Manchester United 1 - Tottenham Hotspur 0 (W)
Points: 8/18
Too many variables involved to categorically state why we lose points in individual matches, of course. I just think that to find a way through the fixture congestion we should heavily rotate for the FA Cup since playing that many games will probably take its toll towards the end of the season.
Watford 3 - Manchester United 1 (L)
Manchester United 1 - Stoke City 1 (D)
Chelsea 4 - Manchester United 0 (L)
Swansea City 1 - Manchester United 3 (W)
Manchester United 1 - West Ham 1 (D)
Manchester United 1 - Tottenham Hotspur 0 (W)
Points: 8/18
Too many variables involved to categorically state why we lose points in individual matches, of course. I just think that to find a way through the fixture congestion we should heavily rotate for the FA Cup since playing that many games will probably take its toll towards the end of the season.
We turned the corner with the win against Spurs though.
Come on guys.
The league form will inevitably stutter. But if we are into the semi-finals of the Europa League that should be our priority anyway. It would be a trophy and CL qualification.
Chelsea away in FA Cup quarter final. The fixture got worse.
It's a right mess. Unsustainable playing so many games in such a short time. Think we have to 'give up' the FA Cup (obviously not throw in the towel but not prioritise it as high as the other competitions).
In 2012/2013 Chelsea finished 3rd, made it to the semi-finals of the League Cup, semi-finals of the FA Cup (which included two replays), and won the Europa League.
They also had to play the Super Cup final that season due to winning the CL the season prior.
They also had to play the Super Cup final that season due to winning the CL the season prior.
This is what we as fans should want, fixtures against tough opposition and / or competing for all trophies until the end. We should be able to get through this and manage this well with our squad as long as we dont pick up injuries.
The absolutely key thing to succeeding in all the tournaments is taking it one game at a time. I know it's a cliche but it's so important. As soon as the final whistle goes just put all your focus on the next immediate game. Players shouldn't think beyond that, that's the manager's and staff's job.
Just kill the game on Wednesday night. Make it a huge bore-fest, keep the ball and eat up time, even if it's simple passing between the CBs. Full-backs shouldn't bomb forward and go past the half-way line. Nick one late in the game with Rashford on the break. Just make sure we're in the last 16 draw on Friday. Anything's possible in football.
Just kill the game on Wednesday night. Make it a huge bore-fest, keep the ball and eat up time, even if it's simple passing between the CBs. Full-backs shouldn't bomb forward and go past the half-way line. Nick one late in the game with Rashford on the break. Just make sure we're in the last 16 draw on Friday. Anything's possible in football.
Club world cup as well.
Am I right in thinking the most we could play is 66 this year?
Yeah that's correct.
If we have a massive pile uo at the end of the season, I'll be delighted. Chances are that we'll be eliminated from the FA Cup and Europa League as half the teams are at the end of each round. Much better this than being Liverpool who can have have their end of season party already.
no way is jose playing a weak team against his former club....
I'd play Rashford down the middle v St Et straight away, see if he can get a goal scoring run together so we don't suffer on that front when we rest Ibra.
I'd play the side that will play Chelsea and see how they fare, see if we can trust them. We may as well find out what we can and can't do when we have leeway to adapt rather than throwing them in the deep end in a do or die situation
I'd play the side that will play Chelsea and see how they fare, see if we can trust them. We may as well find out what we can and can't do when we have leeway to adapt rather than throwing them in the deep end in a do or die situation
Intentional or not, it will help Jose that mikhi and Martial are reletively fresh having not played as much football as they would have expected.
Martial especially could be cooked and ready to go just as when most of the teams are tiring!
Martial especially could be cooked and ready to go just as when most of the teams are tiring!
I'm loving how many games we have it is great to be able to watch us twice a week(never thought I'd say that after last season) .
Feels like old times. 
I just wish we didn't have the international break. So pointless this time of season.
I just wish we didn't have the international break. So pointless this time of season.
Annoying that the fa cup QF is 6 weeks before the semi final. There aren't even replays anymore. This is why the fa cup sucks
Barring any injury crises we easily have the team to be able to fight on all fronts.
My biggest concern is the next round of the Europa (assuming we get there), as those games are before and after the Chelsea game.
If we get a team which is quite easy on paper, I'll have more confidence of us progressing past Chelsea. Right now though with the Chelsea clash and number of big teams still in the FA cup I'd personally make it our lowest priority. I want us to win the Europa and be a top seed in the CL next season.
Chelsea will play a full strength team because they have so few games in comparison to us. Winning the FA cup this year is a very tall order.
My biggest concern is the next round of the Europa (assuming we get there), as those games are before and after the Chelsea game.
If we get a team which is quite easy on paper, I'll have more confidence of us progressing past Chelsea. Right now though with the Chelsea clash and number of big teams still in the FA cup I'd personally make it our lowest priority. I want us to win the Europa and be a top seed in the CL next season.
Chelsea will play a full strength team because they have so few games in comparison to us. Winning the FA cup this year is a very tall order.
When is the next international break?Feels like old times.
I just wish we didn't have the international break. So pointless this time of season.
It is utterly pointless and complete bullshit, I agree.
End of March
Could be wrong but we don't get top seed for winning the EL?
It's the winner of each league plus the holders of the CL
I believe you're correct. EL winner would be an automatically pot 2 if they can't qualifying for pot 1 (winning their league).
Looking back, that's actually rather impressive. Benitez is a very underrated manager.
People say this all the time, but its the World Cup qualifiers! I don't understand how the biggest and most prestigious football tournament in the world is considered pointless and bullshit. If it's just international friendlies, then yes I completely agree with you on this.
Look at that fixture congestion!
Some awesome football to be had if we go all the way!
And people ITK are still crying out for a winter break – wouldn't that cause even more congestion come the end of the season???
All this, in the hopes of stopping player fatigue and somehow making the British International squads more competitive.
The only way to make even a short break work is to either drop games in the league by reducing the number of teams (love to hear the opinion of the owners of the second or third placed Championship clubs the year they are told there is only one team coming up) and/or eliminate replays in the FA Cup (hardly fair on the likes of Huddersfield, Sutton or Lincoln City who all have/had the chance to progress further or bag a bigger pay-day thanks to the current system this time round) probably the only thing I think that could go is two legged semis in the EFL cup final - although that then becomes even less attractive to sponsors.
Anyway, there is a school of thought that says all these extra fixtures means more squad rotation and therefore more chances for the English players in larger squads to play and prove themselves to managers playing mainly foreign superstars.
Now what was I on about? Oh yeah, look at those fixtures
Some awesome football to be had if we go all the way!
And people ITK are still crying out for a winter break – wouldn't that cause even more congestion come the end of the season???
All this, in the hopes of stopping player fatigue and somehow making the British International squads more competitive
.The only way to make even a short break work is to either drop games in the league by reducing the number of teams (love to hear the opinion of the owners of the second or third placed Championship clubs the year they are told there is only one team coming up) and/or eliminate replays in the FA Cup (hardly fair on the likes of Huddersfield, Sutton or Lincoln City who all have/had the chance to progress further or bag a bigger pay-day thanks to the current system this time round) probably the only thing I think that could go is two legged semis in the EFL cup final - although that then becomes even less attractive to sponsors.
Anyway, there is a school of thought that says all these extra fixtures means more squad rotation and therefore more chances for the English players in larger squads to play and prove themselves to managers playing mainly foreign superstars.
Now
what was I on about? Oh yeah, look at those fixtures The more games, the better!
The international break though much criticized, does help a few players (those not in the national squad) like Zlatan, Carrick and comes at an oppurtune time in-between congested fixtures. I would welcome it. Also, I don't expect United to be as bad in PL games immediately following a thursday-night game as they were before when Mou didn't know his first XI - and had to depend on a select few; his squad this time boasts players who hate being on the fringes and will look to impress.
A big part of our successes in 99 and 08 was due to us being pushed right to the last day in the league. Lots of games, not much recovery time, this is the proper test of character some if our players need.