So what can we realistically achieve this season in the Prem with our current squad and manager?

[The White Pele]

We should have enough to accumulate more points than last season. Whether that will be good enough to match or beat last seasons 3rd place is less certain due to Spurs and Chelsea strengthening.

What concerns me is that we will fall below what this squad should be capable of. The frustration of the transfer window is not just that we haven’t strengthened the areas that we needed to, it’s also that we have again conducted our business in such shambolic fashion that there is another wave of negativity at the club which seems to always transmit onto the pitch.

If we had ruled ourselves out of spending £100m+ on Sancho back in August and had then signed Cavani, VDB and Telles and a couple of promising wingers ahead of the start of the season things would be much more positive. There would still be concerns in certain positions for sure. But it’s the constant sense that United is a complete circus which deflates the team and supporters time and time again.

Cavani was a free agent and would have been raring to go from the start.

Moreover, if we had ruled ourselves out of Sancho in August we would probably have then landed better targets and in areas where we really needed the investment.

When you then also consider that we had the lockdown period to pause and plan transfer activity, it really is unforgivable. Grealish was allegedly one of our prime targets but barely entered the conversation as we spent 3 months wasting our time on a Sancho deal which was doable but ultimately not done.

 

[Offside]

There is absolutely no reason we can’t push the top 2 closer and win a cup. We were relegation form for 3 months last season and still ended up 3rd.

Unfortunately I don’t think we have done enough or started the season in a way that makes me think we will be anywhere near the title again. There is always the potential the current implosion will go on and on to the point we’re miles behind 4th again and this time the teams above us won’t be able to be caught.

Serious changes needed at the club.

 

[suhaylah]

A new experienced manager can maybe motivate the players and also get the best out of this squad.

 

[Kaos]

Top 6 if I'm being realistic. The manager isn't good enough, and we haven't really improved our starting 11, with the back four still being a frightening concern. We also have to pray that we get lucky with injuries.

 

[gingamanc]

Bottom half by the end of november, ole gets sacked, poch comes in gets us up to 6th-7th.

Given 150 mil to spend, sells pogba so not really cost the club anything, gets cl spot,

Following summer no backing by board all goes tits up poch sacked by christmas.
Rinse and repeat

 

[Gwhizz]

What we can realistically achieve given everything remains the same is top 6. Those crazy results on Sunday I anticpate won't be the last for any of the teams involved. It's going to be a weird season and with Covid there's a real chance of teams missing key players throughout which could work for or against us. The expectation however should be much higher and anything less than a trophy and be in a title race is a poor season but with each passing year our standards have dropped. We don't have the personnel or coaching available to be anything better than our rivals, we simply need to be able to outlast them

 

[Zen86]

The management clearly aren’t bothered about challenging for the title, that much is obvious. The 6-1 drubbing probably set alarm bells off that our top 4 position was under threat, hence the panic buys last night.

We’ll probably be in the mix for top 4 again this season, and expect a January buying spree if we’re struggling on that.

 

[Sunny Jim]

I go for 6th.

 

[lewwoo]

Top four would be a big achievement looking at how everybody around us has strengthened except us. Realistic target top 6 though.

 

[Siorac]

What the club has done to try to address the issue is irrelevant if it still remains. If I get a flu and I take loads of ibuprofen, if I still have a flu afterwards I still have to deal with that. I can't just bemoan the fact I've already taken lots of ibuprofen.

Jose was right about our problems, even if he failed to fix them, even if Ole has failed to fix them. The problems Jose saw two years ago are still problems now. If we are going to make anything of this season we have to find a way to deal with those problems that doesn't involve buying new players.

As I said, we will need to sacrifice attack for defence or else teams with pace and aggression will keep opening us up.

I kind of disagree that Mourinho spotted a problem. He always plays as if his teams had a soft underbelly; protecting the back four is always his number one priority.

Sacrificing attack is the number one way to make sure we won't achieve anything. We don't create or score enough as it is. If we deliberately sacrifice some of our threat for the sake of perceived defensive stability, we're fecked. We'd be looking at a season where we fail to score even 60 league goals, like under Van Gaal.

Last season we conceded far fewer goals after Bruno's arrival than before (29 in 24 before, 7 in 14 after). The majority of those widely considered to be our best players are attackers. Sacrificing some of them means 1) sacrificing a large amount of goal threat, 2) packing the team with inferior footballers, 3) boring us to death without achieving anything. What's the point? Playing defensive football makes sense if defence is your strongest area. Playing to your own weaknesses isn't pragmatic, it's stupid.

 

[Deery]

Premier league and Champions League winners...

 

[Focusmate]

Biggest change from last season is that Arsenal Chelsea Spurs and Everton were all below par last year but have all strengthened and are looking much better. Could be a wide open season with City in decline in Peps last season but with so many improvers top 4 will be tough. Would take 4th and a trophy for sure

 

[tombombadil]

Just hoping for a bit of luck with injuries and make it to top 4. And if we're really lucky, maybe a side trophy.

 

[Deery]

I kind of disagree that Mourinho spotted a problem. He always plays as if his teams had a soft underbelly; protecting the back four is always his number one priority.

Sacrificing attack is the number one way to make sure we won't achieve anything. We don't create or score enough as it is. If we deliberately sacrifice some of our threat for the sake of perceived defensive stability, we're fecked. We'd be looking at a season where we fail to score even 60 league goals, like under Van Gaal.

Last season we conceded far fewer goals after Bruno's arrival than before (29 in 24 before, 7 in 14 after). The majority of those widely considered to be our best players are attackers. Sacrificing some of them means 1) sacrificing a large amount of goal threat, 2) packing the team with inferior footballers, 3) boring us to death without achieving anything. What's the point? Playing defensive football makes sense if defence is your strongest area. Playing to your own weaknesses isn't pragmatic, it's stupid.

Just like Brazil you score 3 we’ll score 4, I like it..

 

[Ish]

Top 4 should be the target, anything more a bonus (a title challenge, a cup win etc.).

 

[Fluctuation0161]

The underwhelming transfer window has left us short of a serious challenge for the title I think, but I don't believe we're in the kind of serious mess we were in this time last year, and yet we still managed to grab an unlikely 3rd place finish.
This time last year we had to pin our hopes on a midfield consisting of Pereira, McTominay, Fred, Matic, Lingard, Pogba, and Mata, and hope that Pogba didn't get injured, which he did. However, since then we've added Fernandes and Van De Beek.
Whatever people think of Maguire's recent performances, he was pretty decent last season, and can be again. Wan-bissaka was our best player last season. The defence definitely needs to get back to basics and get some confidence back. We've also added Telles.
Our attack has been strengthened with Cavani, and although he was a panic buy, he does give everything when he's fit, and leads the line better than Martial.
I honestly think the squad is good enough to challenge for top 4, and the big unknown is whether Ole has the leadership and coaching qualities to get the best out of what we have. He needs to fix the defensive issue, and start getting some consistency out of Pogba, Martial, and Rashford.
If we fail to reach top 4, Ole will be sacked, because I think we have a squad that's easily capable of it.

Where I think we should finish - 2nd or 3rd
Where I think we will finish - 4th. A trophy could save Ole for another season, but hanging by a thread.

You are not calculating just how much other teams have improved. Football does not stand still and watch United. Other teams vying for top 4 have strengthened much more effectively than us.

I think we could scrape 4th if we are lucky. But I'm not convinced.

 

[Bilbo]

What can we achieve realistically? Who knows. This is a season where clubs have had little to no pre-season preparations, where Everton look the best side so far and United and Liverpool conceded 13 goals in the same evening. We could realistically finish anywhere between 1st and 10th at this point, but obviously things will settle down and the cream will rise to the top.

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

With Ole we will be top 6. With a better manger 3rd.

 

[MUFC OK]

Top 4. We had momentum after the break but that's been destroyed by to board failing to land our primary targets.

I actually think that if we can redescover that, we can get 3rd. The problem is the cloud of negativity that now surrounds the club, pushed by fan channels like the United Stand and other idiots who have thrown their toys out entirely because we didnt sign Sancho. Players see this and social media - this ironically makes what we have worse.

With confidence and momentum, this could still be a great season for us but I fail to see how we build that, especially with no fans inside OT.

 

[siw2007]

4th at best. With COVID hurting our start to the season, the improvements of other teams around us and our own troubles in the market, we will probably finish outside the top 4 this year. Really big opportunity missed from the club this year, could see the manger lose his job, Woodward is rightly going to get a lot of stick for this shambles.

 

[gajender]

Top 3 If we can keep our key players injury free ,yes teams around us have improved but level of their progress is being exaggerated at the moment let's wait atleast till Christmas that would give us much clearer picture.

 

[Adamsk7]

We’ve not really strengthened, other teams have. That’ll be the difference between finishing third and finishing sixth, which is where I reckon we’ll end up.
I fully expect the board to sack Ole by the end of November and for Poch to come in. He’ll get one decent player in January and we COULD potentially ride the bounce up to fourth but I think we’ll just come up short.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Liverpool will probably win the league again but not as dominantly.

City will sort themselves out as Pep is a good coach and they will finish easily top four

After that, it’s an almighty scrap for 3rd and 4th between Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Wolves, Everton, Leicester and ourselves. I honestly can’t call this so we could finish anywhere between 3rd and 9th.

To add to this, and this is just my hunch, I think that Spurs will do very well - they’ve made some excellent additions and Jose has them playing in a very José way. If Bale can largely stay fit I could even see a title challenge from them.

 

[lsd]

I expect us to finish around 8th miles behind the top four

 

[DevilRed]

Top four easily IF we can get the players performing to their best and keep them out of the physio room for most of the season.

I don't get why people write us off when several months ago we had just gone unbeaten in something like 15 consecutive premier league matches.

Now that we have the depth to cover all but the most severe of injury crises, I believe we are well equipped to grind out this crazy compact season.

 

[pauldyson1uk]

Dont think we have improved squad quality, just depth.
Still think we are no better than 4th and that's in a fight with, Chelsea , Spurs, Arsenal and Everton.
If we can keep everybody, reasonable injury free.
My heart says 3rd or 4th, my head says we are going to struggle for top 6.

 

[Wheato]

We are really going to struggle if we cannot address the wing areas. If Telles is our only attacking option, then we will have another season of being unbalanced. AWB needs to pull his finger out and start crossing the halfway line. Mason needs to support him when he comes forward. We need to move the ball quicker. Our passages of play are so predictable and slow that we are very easy to play against. We rarely get round the back of teams, but we should be focusing on doing that every time we go forward, instead of passing sideways and backwards constantly.

 

[TrueRed1999]

The underwhelming transfer window has left us short of a serious challenge for the title I think, but I don't believe we're in the kind of serious mess we were in this time last year, and yet we still managed to grab an unlikely 3rd place finish.
This time last year we had to pin our hopes on a midfield consisting of Pereira, McTominay, Fred, Matic, Lingard, Pogba, and Mata, and hope that Pogba didn't get injured, which he did. However, since then we've added Fernandes and Van De Beek.
Whatever people think of Maguire's recent performances, he was pretty decent last season, and can be again. Wan-bissaka was our best player last season. The defence definitely needs to get back to basics and get some confidence back. We've also added Telles.
Our attack has been strengthened with Cavani, and although he was a panic buy, he does give everything when he's fit, and leads the line better than Martial.
I honestly think the squad is good enough to challenge for top 4, and the big unknown is whether Ole has the leadership and coaching qualities to get the best out of what we have. He needs to fix the defensive issue, and start getting some consistency out of Pogba, Martial, and Rashford.
If we fail to reach top 4, Ole will be sacked, because I think we have a squad that's easily capable of it.

Where I think we should finish - 2nd or 3rd
Where I think we will finish - 4th. A trophy could save Ole for another season, but hanging by a thread.

We will finish between 7th and 10th, be knocked out of Europe in the Group stages and get knocked out of both cup competitions early due to the Toxic Atmosphere at the club, these new signings ain't changing that its not. All this Poch talk and Ole being odds on to be next manager to walk pretty much sums up he will last until December and either walk or be pushed out the door. I hate to be the most pessimistic person in the world but the world's attention is now on us, how badly its being run and the players performance and no preseason too has even them questioning whats going on.

 

[Jezpeza]

Liverpool and City were already 20 or 30 points better and are stronger. Chelsea have spent 250 mil. If Lampard gets them playing they finish above us this year. Leicester are about where they were. Tottenham have a great squad now. Arsenal arent mugs anymore. Everton have an amazing manager and have given him what he wants. Wolves have strengthened and have an astute manager.

Bar leicester all the above have done better than us in the market. Add tidy looking teams like Leeds and Villa who look like they can give anyone a game, very competitive league this year. Can see us being anywhere between 3rd and 9th.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Teams know how to play against us now. Press or stay compact centrally. Force the ball out wide. Take advantage of the space behind our fullbacks and our central defenders issues with 1v1/2v2 defending.

And we are still not able to play as a cohesive unit.

There is a small chance of top 4 if by some miracle something clicks or we get even more penalties.

While Telles will help us with and be seen as good business, we are far to incompetent in possession to give him space/oppertunities in the final third as most teams will rather have AWB on the ball and with space on the other side.

 

[remo]

With current team and manager - top 6
With current team and Poch - top 4

 

[Deery]

Teams know how to play against us now. Press or stay compact centrally. Force the ball out wide. Take advantage of the space behind our fullbacks and our central defenders issues with 1v1/2v2 defending.

And we are still not able to play as a cohesive unit.

There is a small chance of top 4 if by some miracle something clicks or we get even more penalties.

While Telles will help us with and be seen as good business, we are far to incompetent in possession to give him space/oppertunities in the final third as most teams will rather have AWB on the ball and with space on the other side.

Good analysis that, it’s exactly were we get out done midfield and defence.

It’s why I thought Partey would have been ideal but apparently whoever thought that was a spoilt child according to some.

 

[FrenchRed]

Looking at how the teams around us invested, and our shambles of a transfer window... my maximum expectation is 6th. I am thinking really thinking we'll finish about 8th. Anything more is a bonus.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Good analysis that, it’s exactly were we get out done midfield and defence.

It’s why I thought Partey would have been ideal but apparently whoever thought that was a spoilt child according to some.

Partey would have helped simply because he is a much better player than Matic and would have served our team better than DvdB.
Not that this would have been enough as our problems are so fundamental in how to have a mutual understanding on how to pass and progress the ball without resorting to high risk actions like dribbling or difficult line breaking passes. When we do get the ball into the final third we usually rely on overloading with numbers, small chance shooting or individual actions to create chances... And the squad is terribly composed to attempt any style of football that has shown to be succesfull over the last couple of years. People thing we have progressed under OGS, but it could be argued that we are just where we were under Mourinho at the start of the 2018 season with the only real difference of having a manager that does not complain publicy.

So, our only chances of coming back to the glory of our past are:
1. Waiting for the club to continue its spiral down to becoming less profitable and the Glazers are willing to sell.
or
2. The Glazers decreasing the amount the club is allowed to spend to ensure its profitability/raising ticket prices causing the fans to unite and revolt against the owners --> new owners
3. The youngsters turn good and we get a manager that actually understand how to coach cohesive passing, pressing, attacking...

 

[King Eric 7]

I think that compared to our rivals we haven't strengthened enough, so this season I'd expect us to just about scrape a place in the Europa League. There are at least four teams who finished below us last season who could realistically finish above us, even Arsenal.

 

[K Stand Knut]

I genuinely have no idea.

Between 3rd and 8th.

Think CL qualification keeps Ole in a job but wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gone by December anyway

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I genuinely have no idea.

Between 3rd and 8th.

Think CL qualification keeps Ole in a job but wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gone by December anyway

Sounds about right.

Every chance of us having the same diabolical start we did last season. You’d surely think that would be enough of a reason to get in a new manager but I have zero faith in Woodward et al getting any big decisions correct.

 

[Deery]

Partey would have helped simply because he is a much better player than Matic and would have served our team better than DvdB.
Not that this would have been enough as our problems are so fundamental in how to have a mutual understanding on how to pass and progress the ball without resorting to high risk actions like dribbling or difficult line breaking passes. When we do get the ball into the final third we usually rely on overloading with numbers, small chance shooting or individual actions to create chances... And the squad is terribly composed to attempt any style of football that has shown to be succesfull over the last couple of years. People thing we have progressed under OGS, but it could be argued that we are just where we were under Mourinho at the start of the 2018 season with the only real difference of having a manager that does not complain publicy.

So, our only chances of coming back to the glory of our past are:
1. Waiting for the club to continue its spiral down to becoming less profitable and the Glazers are willing to sell.
or
2. The Glazers decreasing the amount the club is allowed to spend to ensure its profitability/raising ticket prices causing the fans to unite and revolt against the owners --> new owners
3. The youngsters turn good and we get a manager that actually understand how to coach cohesive passing, pressing, attacking...

3)Pochettino is looking like a more likely candidate day by day.

 

[MissKatie]

I think we'll finish in a European cup place. Which one? Either one.

We aren't anywhere near as bad as our first three games

 

[r3idy]

Top 4 again but with a better points tally.

We got experience in El Matador and that can take a bit of pressure off Rashford when he goes on one of his slumps. I dont see any issue with us creating chances, scoring goals. Key to our success will be how we can cut out some of the stupid brain fart goals. Hoping Telles can give us another dimension on the left hand side. Not seen too much of the lad but he has to be an upgrade on Shaw from Attacking, Defending, positional sense.

Champions league will be a tough ask to qualify out of this group but lets see.