Top 4 Race 19/20 | duffer: "We [Chelsea] are getting 3rd. Despite what the lunatics in here think, Man United are not all that."

Sandikan

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But it's quite insane that they got 11 points more than us in the other 29 games. It really shows how terrible we've been for so long...
This is the crux of things isn't it.

But the future looks promising. We've had ONE game where Pogba, Martial, Rashford and Bruno have started together. One game all season!

Next season you feel we'll be able to deal better with players being out for long spells. This year when Pogba, Rashy and Martial were out, we were really struggling for anything.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Leicester 2 wins in last 8 league games. Capitulation activated. Lets get at these cnuts. They have Everton, Arsenal, Spurs & us left to play, and they are in rotten form. They are there to be overtaken.
 

edcunited1878

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No. Losses to Burnley, Newcastle, Watford, Bournemouth et al. might cost us Top 4; pre-Bruno we were not good enough or anywhere near.
You can't win the league in August, Sept, Oct, Nov, but you can certainly lose the league. While United weren't going to win the league, they thus far have not been able to overcome that wretched 3 month start of the season while the likes of Leicester, City, and Liverpool were constantly picking up full results. Obviously Chelsea, United, Leicester, and Wolves have plenty more to play for and continue. But from a United POV, that's where you'll point at and know why you ended up where you did at final league table. The struggle has been because of that horrific start and it's not all down to Ole and staff, but just the inability to have the quality players and depth to navigate throughout an entire season.
 

duffer

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I say we go 1 game at a time. Focus on winning our games, stay consistent and hope for a slip up in results for Chelsea. A random draw against those lower teams they're facing while we stay consistent and things are looking tight again.

Sterling and that bottom half City defense did us dirty tonight.
Chelsea will drop points for sure but so will Man United. It's the "shit" teams you've struggled against.
 

Sandikan

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It's not the best side we've had for sure but some on here make out as though we are 07/08 Derby County.
Well that's clearly way too far the other way.
And Frank has done well to probably steer you top 4 when most would have seen you dropping out.

Despite tonight though, I think you'll be miles off City and Liverpool next season, and we'll be closer. But then I probably would say that.
 

Thiagoal

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Leicester still have to go to Everton, Arsenal and Tottenham and of course play is on the last day. Considering our excellent form this season against the big clubs we only took two points from those three away games so can’t see Leicester doing much better! I’m pretty confident we’ll catch them.

With regards to Chelsea they could easily drop points against the likes of West Ham so don’t give up on catching them either
 

Santoryo

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We're 2 results away from catching Leicester or being within a point or 2 from them before playing them on the final day, and they have a ridiculously tough fixtures, especially considering their form.

Even if Chelsea stay consistent and are unable to catch them, we can still pass Leicester.
 

bondsname

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Not feeling optimistic at all. I love how we play now days and we are definitely heading in the right direction, but I don't think we are going to win every remaining game. Our defense WILL commit an error that will lead to a goal, our squad tend to lose confidence if we go a goal behind. If we are going to get top 4 is purely dependent on how Chelsea and Leicester do. Chelsea are a very good team and you have to give Lampard some credit, and Leicester is a wild card, can go either way. I feel there will be another season in the Europa League unfortunately.
 

Irwin99

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Can't really see the pessimism, it's going to be close but this by no means guarantees Chelsea's top 4 hopes although it has done them a lot of good. Obviously the head to heads and the games against the big teams will be important but It's probably going to be the stupid games against relegation fodder that will cost someone big.

Couldn't we have bought bruno in august itself
Feckers penny pinching only to buy him in January.
Agreed. Bruno's been worth every penny.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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It's not the best side we've had for sure but some on here make out as though we are 07/08 Derby County.
We’ve beat you pretty easily 3 times this season so that is probably why.

Obviously you’re a decent side but we’re better & the only reason you’re ahead of us is because we have arguably the worst manager in the league. Half a season without Bruno & Pogba didn’t help either.

If you manage to get 3rd then Lampards done one hell of a job considering he lost your best player & wasn’t able to recruit. You’ll be much better next season too.
 

Untd55

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Leicester still have to go to Everton, Arsenal and Tottenham and of course play is on the last day. Considering our excellent form this season against the big clubs we only took two points from those three away games so can’t see Leicester doing much better! I’m pretty confident we’ll catch them.

With regards to Chelsea they could easily drop points against the likes of West Ham so don’t give up on catching them either
The problem with this is that it is assuming that we win every game. I think if we even lose one game, it will make it ridiculously hard

I think our best bet is Europa League. Possibly City ban.
 

Santoryo

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Chelsea will drop points for sure but so will Man United. It's the "shit" teams you've struggled against.
That's why I'm saying to go one game at a time and focus on not dropping point, if that happens there is always a chance to still close on Chelsea, only in the scenario we stay consistent.

Though even of Chelsea stay consistent in their results(been like 4 games winning run in the league), there is still Leicester ad they are actually the more realistic team to catch and pass. While Chelsea could still maintain their run against this fixture of lower teams, Leicester have a hard schedule ahead and their form is awful. We're 2 results away from catching them or being within a point or 2 from them with us still having to play them.

Chelsea should be aiming for third which they'll get if they stay consistent.
 

kidbob

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We simply have to be winning every game up until we play Leicester and looking at our fixtures we should be expecting to do that. Whatever happens after that is out of our hands.
 

BenitoSTARR

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We still have 3 ways. Win a lot in the league, win europa or CAS having a spine.
 

Thiagoal

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The problem with this is that it is assuming that we win every game. I think if we even lose one game, it will make it ridiculously hard

I think our best bet is Europa League. Possibly City ban.
Well if we can’t beat all of the remaining teams then we probably don’t deserve to make the Champions League anyhow!
 

Sandikan

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We have 3 routes to get into the champions league still, but no reason to give up on the league just yet.
We've come back in good form, and have a favourable set of fixtures.

Give it a real good go, and hope to hear good news from City's court date mid July.

Failing all that we are as well equipped to win the Europa as anyone.
 

marktan

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I think it'll be tight. Leicester have some tricky games, and we play them on the final day. I think its very concievable that we make up 3 points by the final match day.

Also we have Europa so it's not a huge deal, and the teams in the Europa aren't great aside from Wolves and Inter.

I think it'll be tricky to catch Chelsea, they look as good as we do currently.
 

kidbob

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We have 3 routes to get into the champions league still, but no reason to give up on the league just yet.
We've come back in good form, and have a favourable set of fixtures.

Give it a real good go, and hope to hear good news from City's court date mid July.

Failing all that we are as well equipped to win the Europa as anyone.
I think this new format for the Europa has screwed us a bit. Felt like we were clear favourites (we still are) but now one bad performance can put you out. Hope we can hit the ground running when the time comes.
 

ZolaWasMagic

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We still have 3 ways. Win a lot in the league, win europa or CAS having a spine.
I would be well shocked if City won that. The evidence is plain as day against them. I think thats why they were handed 2 years originally, so on appea it'd get reduced to one.
 

Adamsk7

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think we can be optimistic. If we can win all of our remaining games, which is well within the capabilities of this squad, we will easily get top four and we may well even finish third. I think there’s also some leeway for a draw or a loss in there too but only one.
think we need to prioritise the league now. FA Cup needs to be rotation team and as Europa will be played all at once, we don’t need to worry about that until after - hopefully it’s just a chance at silverware and nothing more.

If we don’t make it then we’ve simply not been good enough but make no mistake, it’ll be the start of our season that did the damage - the Manchester Utd that is emerging at the end is a different beast altogether and one with a lot of potential
 

Aki_United

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Terrible result for United. Chelsea seems to be too far away now with 7 games remaining. Terrible year, isn't it? What is worse? Pool winning it or Corona?
 

CM10

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City don't deserve Champions League football after that display
 

Mr Smith

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I just hope Ole doesn't let the team get demoralised and relax. It's unlikely we can get 4th at this point but there's still a chance Leicester collapse. We need to keep our concentration and win our games, especially to keep 5th in the event City's ban is upheld.
 

Shiva87

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Top 4 got a whole lot tougher tonight. Really needed City to win that. Let's see how the rest of the season goes.

I'm just going to enjoy how good we were yesterday. Sign of good things to come. If we make top 4 - it will be because we played some good football (not some boring Jose stuff).

I guess Tottenham and Arsenal are practically out of it now. 9 points would be too much to make up over 7 games (with 4 teams ahead).
 

Adnan

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Chelsea will drop points before they face Liverpool and Wolves in the final two games imo but I still think they'll make top 4 because I think they'll finish above Leicester.

We just have to win all our games which are very winnable with the exception of Leicester. We were struggling to breakdown teams earlier in the season because we didn't have either Pogba or Fernandes. We are well equipped to overcome that now and if we win all our games i'm very confident we can make it. The only worry is fatigue and injury due to the number of games in such a short space of time. So i'm hoping Ole rests a few against Norwich in the FA Cup.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Chelsea was just the candidate we can catch but if there is anything outside our own we should be paying attention more prior today's match for our chance to get top 4 is Leicester's result not Chelsea. I'm not sure why people reacted pessimistic about our chance of getting top 4 after Chelsea won today.

Our next 7 league games are winnable. If our squad really are good players with quality of top PL club & CL club, then I expect to get at least 6 wins out of 7 before we get into our final game against Leicester.

I would rather focus on our games than on Chelsea or even Leicester. Getting 6 wins out of 7 before the final game is to me good & positive results & form. Even if we somehow don't get top 4 after winning 6x + winning our last game against Leicester in our next 8 games, there is positive sign we can take from it for next season.
 

FrankDrebin

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Negligent work in the summer window regarding our lax attitude with regards to our central midfield options has hindered us severely,more so with Pogba being out for the majority of the campaign.