We are 2nd in the league and deserve to be there. Agree?

[Deery]

I don’t think that Ancelloti, Mourinho, Klopp or Rodgers would swap their squads for ours. So the fact that we are second is bloody impressive. To be honest I am not sure how we are. We have strikers who don’t score (or run all the much), midfielders who can’t pass, defenders that either can’t head or can’t run and a dodgy goalie. I think Shaw has to be the only player who performs well in every match.

I think that’s a bit harsh, I was thinking about it last night and convinced myself if Fergie was in charge of this team he’d win the league I truly believe that.

 

[Nicoseth]

I don’t think that Ancelloti, Mourinho, Klopp or Rodgers would swap their squads for ours. So the fact that we are second is bloody impressive. To be honest I am not sure how we are. We have strikers who don’t score (or run all the much), midfielders who can’t pass, defenders that either can’t head or can’t run and a dodgy goalie. I think Shaw has to be the only player who performs well in every match.

You seriously think that Everton, Spurs and Leicester have better squads that us? That's just mental. Banter.

 

[Hellboy]

For the first time in ages I feel our players are performing at a level that justifies 2nd place. We are the 2nd best team in the PL right now and we deserve to be where we are.
Anyone feel the same?

No offense but this thread feels a bit insecure and one of those that get bumped in May for the wrong reasons

 

[Nicoseth]

I think it says a lot that on this one page, we have some people saying that we're lucky to be second because it's a weak league, then others saying that our squad is shit and that other managers have better squads. Which is it? Shit league or strong league but we've just got a crap team?

 

[SER19]

That could just as easily be attributed to the strength of the league though. Europe might be a better barometer.

I see your point but think pretty much all of those teams, maybe bar us, have been a better team in the last 18 months

 

[SER19]

Based on results in international matches, I´d say the English PL is pretty strong - at least compared to anybody else.

As I said to ivaldo, I'd be surprised if any fan of any top club outside City thought they were a strong version of themselves this year. Many traditionally big continental teams looking shocking too so not sure even that can be judged. I'd be shocked if city don't win at least 3, probably 4

 

[Eire Red United]

We've been less shit than the rest but they've the excuse of having injuries.

We’re missing two of our 3 best players and have been for a brave chunk of the season. Also our best CB is made of glass.

 

[Zlatans Knee]

You seriously think that Everton, Spurs and Leicester have better squads that us? That's just mental. Banter.

It is really not that mental at all. Without Pogba (and he is far from perfect) our central midfielders are pretty average at best. We spent £35 million on a player who doesn’t get a game. We don’t have a main striker who scores goals. Our right back is still very much work in progress. We basically have no right wing. Our goalie is glued to his line and at least once a match passes it to an opposition striker. Not sure what to say about our central defenders but I don’t consider them to be our biggest problem.
As I said, I don’t actually know how we are second because we have so many areas of the pitch that we need to improve on.

 

[El Jefe]

We've been less shit than the rest but they've the excuse of having injuries.

Pretty much this. We're on course for 73 points having our strongest lineup fit for most of the season barring Pogba.

I mean we finished with 66 points last season and didn't get Bruno until January, while Pogba, Shaw, Rashford and Martial were out for a month or two at least.

Our situation isn't too different from last season. Liverpool with just two of their four regular centre backs available would easily be above us.

It is really not that mental at all. Without Pogba (and he is far from perfect) our central midfielders are pretty average at best. We spent £35 million on a player who doesn’t get a game. We don’t have a main striker who scores goals. Our right back is still very much work in progress. We basically have no right wing. Our goalie is glued to his line and at least once a match passes it to an opposition striker. Not sure what to say about our cen\tral defenders but I don’t consider them to be our biggest problem.
As I said, I don’t actually know how we are second because we have so many areas of the pitch that we need to improve on.

While that may or may not be true, there is no world where Ancelotti wouldn't swap his team for ours. Rodgers and Mourinho certainly would too, our squad is much better.

Seems like you're underselling our team to make our position in the league look much better than it really is.

 

[Dve]

As I said to ivaldo, I'd be surprised if any fan of any top club outside City thought they were a strong version of themselves this year. Many traditionally big continental teams looking shocking too so not sure even that can be judged. I'd be shocked if city don't win at least 3, probably 4

City will win the league, but at some point of what remains of the season, they could get into a bad period as well, just like Liverpool did last season. Not every game they have played lately have been comfortable wins.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

over the course of the whole season, certainly. performances lately have been worse than average.

 

[el3mel]

I don’t think that Ancelloti, Mourinho, Klopp or Rodgers would swap their squads for ours. So the fact that we are second is bloody impressive. To be honest I am not sure how we are. We have strikers who don’t score (or run all the much), midfielders who can’t pass, defenders that either can’t head or can’t run and a dodgy goalie. I think Shaw has to be the only player who performs well in every match.

I can't believe people think Spurs have better squad than us just because they have Harry Kane and Son. What else they have better than us ? Their defense is rubbish and their midfield is underwhelming.

Everton have James, Richarlison, DCL, Sigurdsson...and what else ? They barely have any squad depth to cover for injuries.

People are massively under-evaluating our squad.

 

[Eire Red United]

I think that’s a bit harsh, I was thinking about it last night and convinced myself if Fergie was in charge of this team he’d win the league I truly believe that.

Yeah I reckon he would be close to City anyway. Not to knock Ole or anything.

 

[SER19]

City will win the league, but at some point of what remains of the season, they could get into a bad period as well, just like Liverpool did last season. Not every game they have played lately have been comfortable wins.

Just think they can rotate way too strongly when other teams are tiring. Liverpool were running on fumes. City will Coast from here

 

[reddev3]

Of course we belong there , what ever the season there should only be Chelsea, City and Liverpool that should have a chance of being better than us given our resources and with Chelsea having Frank and Liverpool having a disaster that paved the way for us to be comfortably second best. I still don't see it as much of an achievement though for the reasons listed above. If we were second and pushing City like we had the chance to a month or so back before choking against sheff Utd I would think differently but we didn't.

Hopefully we can get those signings we needed this year and be second or first this time next year when things will be back to normal and then for me that would be real progress.

 

[croadyman]

Yes, we are the second best side in the league currently. We have the fewest positions of priority to strengthen in (discounting City obviously) which makes us the safest bet on paper to finish second.

Blimey I could make a case for 4 positions of priority we need to strengthen in during the summer which would be CB, DM, RW & ST and if Pogba went then you can also add CM to that list as well but maybe that is still considered low

 

[croadyman]

When is the trophy presentation?

This is about standards. Who gives a shit if we finish 2nd? It’s the same as finishing 3rd & 4th. If you’re not champions you’re battling for top 4, the order doesn't matter. Give me 4th & an FA Cup over 2nd & feck all any day of the week.

United fans bragging about being 2nd,feck sake. We’re 12 points away from where we need to be. Up your fecking standards.

Too right mate these bloody yankee leeches are allowing our expectations and standards to drop so low

 

[Matt851]

This is a very negative way of looking at it. In that case, Liverpool are behind both the teams you mentioned - are they now shit? Did anybody think we would win the league this year? No. Did most people - me included - think we'd be second at this stage? No. But we are, and have improved from last year. The squad is getting better, the deadwood is largely gone. We are on the right track.

How do you determine that we have improved from last year. I would judge by whether we have gotten closer to challenging for the title and we havent. We have improved in some ways and got worse in others, for example last season it looked like martial was going to turn into a world class striker now he looks like dead weight. Last summer we completely failed to properly strengthen our supposed priorith right wing position so i dont have a great deal of confidence in us getting it right this summer

 

[Matt851]

I don’t think that Ancelloti, Mourinho, Klopp or Rodgers would swap their squads for ours. So the fact that we are second is bloody impressive. To be honest I am not sure how we are. We have strikers who don’t score (or run all the much), midfielders who can’t pass, defenders that either can’t head or can’t run and a dodgy goalie. I think Shaw has to be the only player who performs well in every match.

Ancelloti wouldnt swap the everton for ours. Come off it

 

[Drz]

Well it's not over yet...
I very much enjoyed the short while we were on top, but given my pre-season assessment of the squad I was expecting the inconsistency to return.
If we finish the season second, we would have relatively deserved to be there, the difference with the last time we finished 2nd for me is that I see some effort being made in trying to develop a more expansive style of play, but I also believe more quality players are needed for it to work and until then the inconsistency will continue.
Need to be smart this summer.

 

[Tyrion]

We finished 3rd last season and could potentially finish 2nd this season so progress has been made but next season Ole has to deliver and by that I mean a serious, sustained title challenge and a trophy in at least one cup competition. Simple as, no if, buts or maybes.

I'm not sure if progress has actually been made. Liverpool are significantly worse and Chelsea stalled. I think we've been a little better and others fell causing us to go up the table.

 

[croadyman]

Absolutely, it’s an improvement points and position wise on last season. Despite that, some results have been disappointing recently where we’ve dropped needless points.

Over the course of the season though I think we’re closest to City than the rest.

Further improvement next year will depend on summer signings obviously, but I’m optimistic for next season already.

I would feel much more optimistic about next season if we didn't have a board who are all about making money and actually cared about success on the field, could also throw in having someone who actually understands how to get transfers done rather than a pair of bankers who haven't a scooby on football matters.

 

[shaky]

How do you determine that we have improved from last year. I would judge by whether we have gotten closer to challenging for the title and we havent.

That seems like a daft way to judge improvement. Improvement should be judged only relative to our own performances and results from last year. Having said that, this time last year we were 38 points off the top, yet this year we are only 12 off the top, so I guess even by your metric, we have actually improved significantly.

 

[Tarrou]

I don't think there is much between us and these other teams around us in the table. Progress has been made but still a long way to go.

I'm glad we're 2nd as opposed to 3rd, 4th or 5th - but nothing more than that. It's good that we're looking up and talking about what needs to be done to get there, as opposed to languishing in 4th to 6th like in recent years and 30-odd points off.

 

[DOTA]

Yeah, I've been saying for a while there's only one team better than us in this league and our job should be to make sure if they lose their way we win the league instead of anyone else. They look invincible though, so it's gonna be the runners up spot we're targeting for this campaign, unless we see a dramatic collapse from them.

 

[PoTMS]

On balance, from the season we've had so far, we deserve to be second. If we bottle it from here though, then I guess we deserve to be third/fourth/whatever as we should be comfortably second right now and we're not. The league table doesn't lie.

 

[croadyman]

Yeah, I've been saying for a while there's only one team better than us in this league and our job should be to make sure if they lose their way we win the league instead of anyone else. They look invincible though, so it's gonna be the runners up spot we're targeting for this campaign, unless we see a dramatic collapse from them.

They just don't look like doing what we did back in April 2012 after losing to Wigan & them and how can we forget that shocker of a 4-4 draw at home to Everton which really handed the initiative to them

 

[DOTA]

They just don't look like doing what we did back in April 2012 after losing to Wigan & them and how can we forget that shocker of a 4-4 draw at home to Everton which really handed the initiative to them

They don't remotely look like it. They've won 20 games in a row or something.

They are the best team in the world by a margin.

 

[Amir]

I'm not sure if progress has actually been made. Liverpool are significantly worse and Chelsea stalled. I think we've been a little better and others fell causing us to go up the table.

When comparing to last season we should remember that we were crap until late January, when Fernandes joined, and much better afterwards, especially after lockdown.

Are we better than how we were until February 2020? Of course. Are we better compared with June and July 2020? I'd say no.

 

[VivaObertan]

agree /thread

 

[DRJosh]

I think we are second because we are harder to beat, especially in away games. This isn't a sustainable approach to securing second place or a title. We need to be more ruthless in attack with those half-chances.

 

[roonster09]

What’s so funny

If we didn't drop points to Sheffield United, Everton, West Brom we would be in title race. All ifs and buts.

Or if we didn't drop points in the games we did, we would be miles ahead of everyone.

 

[SAFMUTD]

I don’t think that Ancelloti, Mourinho, Klopp or Rodgers would swap their squads for ours. So the fact that we are second is bloody impressive. To be honest I am not sure how we are. We have strikers who don’t score (or run all the much), midfielders who can’t pass, defenders that either can’t head or can’t run and a dodgy goalie. I think Shaw has to be the only player who performs well in every match.

Nonsense, we clearly have a top 4 squad. Any team would gladly swap squad with us besides City, Liverpool and maybe Chelsea.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

Again with the positive spin in a vacuum. We’re second because of the good run of form leading up to and including Burnley, at which point we were top of the table and had a lot to feel good about. There is no excuse for what happened after that and glossing over it when discussing the standings is intellectually dishonest. Ignoring the cloud doesn’t mean it’s not there.

 

[RoadTrip]

There are a very unique set of circumstances when the league table lies. We fully deserve to be second because we are second.

 

[RoadTrip]

Again with the positive spin in a vacuum. We’re second because of the good run of form leading up to and including Burnley, at which point we were top of the table and had a lot to feel good about. There is no excuse for what happened after that and glossing over it when discussing the standings is intellectually dishonest. Ignoring the cloud doesn’t mean it’s not there.

But that’s why the league position is an honest reflection. Teams go through ups and downs in a season. So you can’t then say that we don’t deserve it because we went on a run of bad form which is being propped up by good form. That’s just how it happens.

 

[pacifictheme]

Yeah definitely, I reckon we’re comfortably best of the rest. But we’re nowhere near where we want to be

You reckon we're better than Liverpool if they weren't ravaged by injuries?

I'd say we have the third/ fourth best squad behind city and liverpool. We're on a par with Chelsea who had an awful manager earlier in the season.

I think we've made the most of Liverpools injuries but we still have a long way to go and I would expect Liverpool to be above us quite comfortably next season if they don't suffer another injury crisis like they have this season.

Having said that I think we are doing well. Overall there is progress from last season but I do think we have been poor v the big sides in the league. That is a clear step back from last year.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

Nonsense, we clearly have a top 4 squad. Any team would gladly swap squad with us besides City, Liverpool and maybe Chelsea.

The only position Leicester wouldn’t swap with us is center back after they robbed us blind. Soyoncu and Fofana together cost less than Maguire.

 

[pacifictheme]

Would be third if Arsenal hadnt beat Leicester a home which was unexpected . Probably will be third if we lose to City on Sunday.

This really made me laugh.

 

[padzilla]

We were top of the table a month ago and are now 12 points behind, that's a worrying collapse by any standards.