Chelsea keep trying to outdo us by being even shiter, otherwise they’d ease past us.
The looming spectre of.....The Conference League
- Thread starter Shane88
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Why is this in general considered harder than Wednesday and Saturday? Is there a specific reason for that?
Not trying to be a smart-ass, asking a genuine question.
Is it really about being harder? I always understood that people just dislike having to watch on Sunday?
Oh, okay. Understandable then. Otherwise I don't see much difference in difficulty between Wed-Sat and Thur-Sun in terms of schedule.
What makes a slight difference is that sometimes going to far rung places in Eastern Europe and playing on shitty pitches in difficult weather can be tougher.
They still could, I guess. If they win their game in hand, it would only take an additional net gain of 3 points on us. Not likely, but also not impossible.
I'd honestly prefer either keeping 6th or dropping to 8th. Even if 7th is where we end up , the Conference League is not our level, and it would just be a distraction from the league. It would also mean Thursday night games and Sunday games basically all of the fall. The Europa League would be more fitting for our level, espeically if we manage to improve the squad over summer and have better luck with injuries next season.
I think people just prefer Saturday's but also with the CL you get Tuesday/Saturday's sometimes.
Conference League is our level then.
I think it's better than no European football. It will give the manager more matches, to implement the tactic. And hopefully the opportunity for some youngsters to gain valuable European experience. So we are ready for the Champions League the following season..
And it's a trophy we haven't won. Yet..
I think it's better than no European football. It will give the manager more matches, to implement the tactic. And hopefully the opportunity for some youngsters to gain valuable European experience. So we are ready for the Champions League the following season..
And it's a trophy we haven't won. Yet..
Bring on the Conference League I say, assuming we don't beat city.
Would be quit cool to be the first team to win all European trophies and there's the potential for some great away trips.
The early rounds would also give us an opportunity to play a few younger players.
More importantly, the competition will have two group games less than the Europa League next season. In this new era of being concerned about player welfare, that could be quite important
Would be quit cool to be the first team to win all European trophies and there's the potential for some great away trips.
The early rounds would also give us an opportunity to play a few younger players.
More importantly, the competition will have two group games less than the Europa League next season. In this new era of being concerned about player welfare, that could be quite important
Yeah, completely agree.
We're nowhere near the level needed to compete for the PL / CL at the moment. So I won't be turning up my nose at the chance to win the only realistic chances of silverware - either the domestic cups, or the EL / Conference League.
Those kind of tournaments are all that we've been capable of competing for in the last decade - they're not "beneath us' as some say - it's the PL and CL that's become beyond us (for now).
And, as you say, it's a good opportunity to help blood some of the youngsters at times and for the team to, hopefully, get to the later stages and compete for a trophy.
Like it or not this is our level. We have been a poor UCL team for over a decade now. We have no business being in the elite competitions currently
I'm trying to motivate the troops in here and you just had to come with a heavy handed dose of objectivity, factual correctness and plain old teutonic common sense. Please tell me, how can I get the lads fired up for Heidenheim?
No problem. Their manager Frank Schmidt took them over 16 years ago, which makes him the longest serving manager in any of the top leagues. In this time he lead them from the 5th tier of German football into the Bundesliga and possibly (assuming they indeed qualify) into Europe. Which is a stellar job and a longevity that essentially makes him the closest thing to a modern day SAF you can find. Every United fan should love to meet that guy, who in his own way is an echo of the glory days of United.
Brilliant! I'll almost want them to win if they play us after that explanation. If the beer is any good down there, let's gooo!
Probably. I was never in their stadium but I just checked and there you get a beer from a local brewery I never heard about
Considering that Heidenheim is in South Germany (Baden-Württemberg, just on the border to Bayern) I will assume that you will get good stuff there.
The fact United are even the frame for the Conference just shows how low this club has sunk.
If Utd do end up in this awful competition, I don’t want to see any first team players being used ….kids and reserves only!
If Utd do end up in this awful competition, I don’t want to see any first team players being used ….kids and reserves only!
Would you rather go Conference or no Europe at all? I would rather just have the full weeks to train.
Until now i've been of the opinion no Europe at all. But this team deserves to go through one season in the lesser venues in Europe. And we'd hopefully give the younglings a change. So I've kinda changed my opinion.
Not harder, just more of a hindrance personally with work etc.
Plus the PL have started bringing in later kick off times on a Sunday because of the new TV deal.
We'd have to get past a qualifying round first, which I think is played a couple of days before the new Premier League
I don't want to watch us play these boring teams, but we're better in Europe than out of it. We need the money for FFP.
Don’t underestimate Chelsea.
They’re finally starting to play a lot better after a disastrous season,.
They should have beaten City in the FA Cup semi-final, if it hadn’t been for poor finishing and wasting clear cut opportunities.
Their fight back against Villa the other night, being denied an injury time winning goal by VAR, showed them to be coming together as a team.
Chelsea are 6 points behind us with a game in hand.
They’ll play 2 games before Utd face Palace next Monday night and they play another game before our following fixture against Arsenal.
If we lose at Palace, they’ve got every chance of overtaking us.
Out of Chelsea’s 5 remaining fixtures, I could see them winning 3.
What chance of Utd getting more than 1 win and 1 draw out of our last 4 games?
They might be doing us a favour, if we end up 8th.
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Same here. Spend more time on training ground to get the players to actually play as a team rather than a bunch of individuals.
Yeah, I agree. The only thing I'd add is that Chelsea are about as unreliable as we are, so three points on the board is a lot better than a game in hand. If they do pip us to 7th spot, I wouldn't mind.
I hope the manager (whoever it is) plays kids in this. Our first team can barely stay fit and the focus should be on the league next year to regain CL football.
With the possibility of 5th getting CL, and the likelihood of City winning the cup and an extra league spot for EL, I've lost a bit of track as regards what finishing 7th and 8th would mean.
If City win the FA Cup, would it mean 7th then get EL spot and 8th Conference League? Or would it be 6th and 7th and 8th would miss out on Europe altogether?
If City win the FA Cup, would it mean 7th then get EL spot and 8th Conference League? Or would it be 6th and 7th and 8th would miss out on Europe altogether?
The Europa League is grim. The Conference League is worse.
Let's play the kids ..
And see how they do
And see how they do
I really don't get "the Europa League is grim" type attitude. There's plenty of perfectly good teams that reach the later stages every year - often knocking us out in them!
I don't really see it as grim when every year it's got some of the biggest teams from the biggest leagues in the later stages - just not the one or two strongest teams from each who are usually battling it out in the CL. But we're just not in that equation in the last decade, and for me it's more embarrassing how far behind the PL leaders we are than that we're in a European competition later stages with the likes of Milan, Roma, Sevilla, etc.
The Conference League is another level below that, yeah. But, sadly, so are we at this stage! So I'd still say we only have a realistic shot at winning it, rather than it's some easy joke of a competition that we only have to turn up to win. So I'm not turning my nose up at that competition either.
Don't think our players have it in them to handle the pressures of the Conference league.
What positions qualify for what comp?
6th Europa?
7th conf?
What If we win the fa cup?
6th Europa?
7th conf?
What If we win the fa cup?
FA Cup winner goes directly into the EL so in general 5th is EL, 6th ECL. Except the FA Cup winner is a top 6 team, that it will be 7th in the ECL)
United 54
Newcastle 53
Chelsea 51
Remaining fixtures.
United: Palace (A) Arsenal (H) Newcastle (H) Brighton (A)
Newcastle: Burnley (A) Brighton (H) United (A) Brentford (A)
Chelsea: West Ham (H) Forest (A) Brighton (A) Bournemouth (H)
I see us getting 4 or 5 points from those remaining games. Maybe 6 for Newcastle and 7 or possibly 9 for Chelsea. Their home games are very soft.
Newcastle 53
Chelsea 51
Remaining fixtures.
United: Palace (A) Arsenal (H) Newcastle (H) Brighton (A)
Newcastle: Burnley (A) Brighton (H) United (A) Brentford (A)
Chelsea: West Ham (H) Forest (A) Brighton (A) Bournemouth (H)
I see us getting 4 or 5 points from those remaining games. Maybe 6 for Newcastle and 7 or possibly 9 for Chelsea. Their home games are very soft.
So either result in the F.A. Cup final essentially helps us get into the Europa League, right?
If we win, we're straight in, if City win, the EPL gets an extra Europa League spot, which we're currently sitting in as things stand now.
If we win, we're straight in, if City win, the EPL gets an extra Europa League spot, which we're currently sitting in as things stand now.
it means you’re always playing catch up, so if by some miracle we challenge next season we’d always be playing after everyone else, which has its own struggles mentally.
Have some faith in Chelsea FFS
If ten Hag's still here he'll go for it with the first eleven. His vanity couldn't resist.
Honestly I've always dreamt of seeing us win this trophy, a proper european competition.
Don’t worry we’ll come 8th, pretty confident now and this chapter with ETH will all be over very shortly.
I'd say we could get anywhere from 0 to 7 points, but definitely most likely to be in the lower end of that. I feel certain we will lose to Arsenal, and our away record is so poor, but this team could also potentially fluke two wins. But I also think 4 points is probably the most likely - 1 win, 1 draw, 2 losses. With our shitty goal difference, I actually see us finish 8th now. Chelsea are getting results here and there, and have a very manageable schedule, and Newcastle only need to gain 1 point on us over four games.