We are going for the title....

Insanity

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http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/forget-top-four---manchester-4706730

Ashley Young claims Manchester United have not ruled out winning the title this season – despite being 13 points behind leaders Chelsea.

Former champions United are in a period of transition under new boss Louis van Gaal and have endured an indifferent start under the Dutchman.

But last weekend's 2-1 win at Arsenal – United's first away win of the season – lifted Van Gaal's side into fourth spot for the first time this term.

Despite Chelsea's commanding lead at the summit of the table, winger Young said United's players will always believe they can go and win the title.

“I think the manager has said obviously we want to break that top four,” said Young.

“But you know players and staff at the club, we want to win the league title.

“I think he [Van Gaal] has got that aura. You know he's got that presence out on the training ground and the training pitch.

“He believes in people, he gives you that belief, he's an honest man and he just wants everyone to go out there and do well.

The manager wants to achieve massive things, he wants the club to get back to winning titles, and we're no different to that.

“You know the players have bought into that philosophy since pre-season and that's exactly what everyone is doing.

“We're all pulling in the right direction, pulling in the same direction and everybody is leading that charge up the league.”

Young believes the upcoming Christmas fixture programme, a point in the season when United are traditionally strong, can see Van Gaal's squad go on a winning run.

"I think that's when we're at our best,” said Young. “At the turn of the year we always come strong.

"I'm sure it is going to be a busy but good Christmas period and we look forward to that New Year."

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-united-can-still-win-the-title-30774369.html

Louis van Gaal's side are up to fourth in the Premier League after a crucial win over Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.

The Dutch striker also admitted that it "will be very hard" to win it this year but if they fail to topple Chelsea and Manchester City then the club are aiming to be back in contention next year.

Speaking as a BT Sport ambassador for The Supporters Club, Van Persie said: "This year it’s still possible as we’ve only played [a quarter] of our games, we’re aiming for this year but it will be very hard.

"If not this year then hopefully next year."




Can we?
 
Nah, but it's nice to hear the players saying that everyone is together.
 
Well i don't think we should give up on it, and even if we do i wouldn't want to hear it from the players.
 
Any year previous and I'd say yes but Chelsea look extremely comfortable against the smaller sides. Their injury record is almost impeccable in comparison to the teams around them and if they do get injuries they've got good replacements in every position. And they've already been to Goodison, Old Trafford, the Etihad and Anfield.
 
Chelsea don't even look likely to drop 13 points this season. Dropping 13 more points than us will never happen.

If we get 2nd or 3rd van Gaal will have done his job and then some. I hate to say this, but... next year is what we should be aiming for as far as the league goes. This season is all about securing European football and having a good cup run.
 
Absolutely. Why not ?

Chelsea might have been ruthlessly consistent so far but the season is relatively young with 26 fixtures yet to be played for either side. We've been slowly building momentum these last few weeks topped off by a gritty win at the Emirates against some steep odds, despite having an injury decimated squad. Things will definitely look up once we Van Gaal fully acclimatizes to the league, the players find a rhythm and we have a consistent XI as the injury concerns subside (hopefully).

February on-wards will be a real test of Chelsea's mettle. They're expected to progress deep in this season Champion's League and once they start compensating for big midweek fixtures, I fully expect them to drop some points. Provided we're there or thereabouts in the same period, a late charge isn't out of question. That said it's a tad unrealistic given that our squad is still in an embryonic stage as opposed to Chelsea who've had a consistent plan for about 18 months now, then there are the injuries and self inflicted lapses we've suffered and have to compete with a wily fox in Jose.

If anyone in the league is capable of outwitting him though, surely it must be his mentor. :D
 
Invictus said:
Absolutely. Why not ?

Chelsea might have been ruthlessly consistent so far but the season is relatively young with 26 fixtures yet to be played for either side. We've been slowly building momentum these last few weeks topped off by a gritty win at the Emirates against some steep odds, despite having an injury decimated squad. Things will definitely look up once we Van Gaal fully acclimatizes to the league, the players find a rhythm and we have a consistent XI as the injury concerns subside (hopefully).

February on-wards will be a real test of Chelsea's mettle. They're expected to progress deep in this season Champion's League and once they start compensating for big midweek fixtures, I fully expect them to drop some points. Provided we're there or thereabouts in the same period, a late charge isn't out of question. That said it's a tad unrealistic given that our squad is still in an embryonic stage as opposed to Chelsea who've had a consistent plan for about 18 months now, then there are the injuries and self inflicted lapses we've suffered and have to compete with a wily fox in Jose.

If anyone in the league is capable of outwitting him though, surely it must be his mentor. :D
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Chelsea's mettle are tested, so does Jose Mourinho

I'm not sure about our mettle post SAF
 
Sky1981 said:
Chelsea's mettle are tested, so does Jose Mourinho

I'm not sure about our mettle post SAF
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Well yes mate, it's a bit unrealistic and largely stemming from a sense of optimism (disproportionate ?) no doubt. But football is a funny game where things can unravel pretty quickly even for the most consistent of teams and managers. Chelsea are in a good moment right now but things are far from decided. Maybe they have an injury situation like ours ? Who knows. Maybe they get crushed in Europe and lose a bit of confidence in the league with the chasing pack breathing down on their necks. Complacency is another factor. United and Fergie's mettle was tested in 2011/ 2012 too. Yet we let an 8 point differential evaporate in the space of 6 matches to a team managed by Mancini. Now, the situations may not be directly comparable, but there are certainly precedents of massive leads being overhauled. It's not entirely impossible and I won't consider it so until we're mathematically ruled out.
 
It is highly unlikely, but I guess still possible. Chelsea would have to go through a major form slump to make it possible. Something I can't see actually happening.
 
Nope. Chelsea have it sewn up. Can't see them capitulating this season, especially under Mourinho.
 
Quite unlikely. But we should never ever think of not going for the title until we are mathematically out of it. The mentality must be maintained.
 
Invictus said:
Well yes mate, it's a bit unrealistic and largely stemming from a sense of optimism (disproportionate ?) no doubt. But football is a funny game where things can unravel pretty quickly even for the most consistent of teams and managers. Chelsea are in a good moment right now but things are far from decided. Maybe they have an injury situation like ours ? Who knows. Maybe they get crushed in Europe and lose a bit of confidence in the league with the chasing pack breathing down on their necks. Complacency is another factor. United and Fergie's mettle was tested in 2011/ 2012 too. Yet we let an 8 point differential evaporate in the space of 6 matches to a team managed by Mancini. Now, the situations may not be directly comparable, but there are certainly precedents of massive leads being overhauled. It's not entirely impossible and I won't consider it so until we're mathematically ruled out.
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It's true. It's not impossible and still within mathematically

But honestly, it's not looking likely to happen, at least not this season. I'm confident we will get 4th at least though with 3rd and possible 2nd if things really goes our way
 
Sky1981 said:
It's true. It's not impossible and still within mathematically

But honestly, it's not looking likely to happen, at least not this season. I'm confident we will get 4th at least though with 3rd and possible 2nd if things really goes our way
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Agreed. It is quite unlikely.

I think Top 4 if absolutely vital this season, that's pretty much the general consensus. And like you said, things are looking good on that front and with a few slips by teams around us we could even get 2nd or 3rd. Anything resembling a title challenge would be a pleasant bonus though. Next year is when we should have the pieces and setup in place to be genuine title challengers from the get go. Would be nice to see normalcy and the weight of expectations restored to default level. :)
 
It's perfectly reasonable to expect a squad member to call for an assault on the title. You can imagine a scenario in which Costa is out for 3 months, a bad decision costs Chelsea a game, they lose the next one on demerit, tits were tremendous, etc and all of a sudden there is points parity between ourselves, City, and Chelsea. You cannot deny that we have the attacking power necessary to defeat all teams out there, and if the question marks surrounding our defensive midfield aptitude and leaky defensive pronations can be removed in the next window then stranger things will have happened.
 
The issue isn't is improving enough to challenge. The issue is that Chelsea aren't going to drop many points. They're yet to lose ffs.

That said, 2nd is within reach and I'm also happy that the belief is back in the team.
 
so far all teams except chelski have their own problems so this is a wide open game if chelski can't keep that momentum.

as rvp said this season has just completed slightly more than a quarter so there is still plenty of time for things going to change. no one has a crystal ball and no one knows what will happen next. if chelski going to win out all their rest games then i wold congratulate them. if they don't and if we screw up ourselves then we could have only ourselves to blame.

we still have many problems to fix for ourselves. but as long as we launch a real charge to the title i won't care much about the end result. the situation shall be more clear in january time and this is just now too early to call. we shall not give up at this moment

i like the way how young said
 
Extremely slim chances. Jose Mourinho is having his typical 2nd season surge and very little will get in Chelsea's way. Only way I can see us somehow competing is if us and Chelsea switch places in our injury rooms.
 
Would you rather Young come out and say we are only aiming for top 4 and stuff like that.

We are not Arsenal FFS until we are mathematically out of the race then we can still win it, It is a long shot but lets have some optimism.
 
I'm glad to hear the players' aren't settling for fourth place, besides Chelsea nobody else has played well this season and at the very least we should be aiming to challenge.

Aguero has been carrying City, Arsenal are all over the place, Liverpool, Spurs...if we get our act together soon we can easily finish above these teams. Obviously Chelsea has established a big lead at the top but we're Man Utd, its in our DNA to go on long runs and to overturn big deficits.

In some ways this season reminds me of 2005/06 where it all looked like it would go horribly wrong early on, and then somehow we ended up going into that Stamford Bridge game thinking we had a chance (and yes I remember we lost and Rooney broke his toe but you know what I mean).

We still have a chance, a slim chance yes but its there, and until that chance disappears we should keep pushing.
 
Oof, I'm torn between praising the positivity, and cringing at the ridiculousness.
 
Nice words, Youngie.

But not going to fly on Caf, as people here already gave up on second as well, "mighty" City is apparently uncatchable, even though they mostly play like shit, let alone the London arses.
 
Red Dreams said:
not unless Chelsea have a big collapse. But I can see us getting second quite easily.
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Easily? We just robbed our way to our first away win of the season going into December.

Other than beating QPR at home we've not done anything easily this season. Top 4 would be quite an achievement all things considered.
 
Not much of a chance this year. We're still fairly inconsistent, and even last year, with Moyes at the helm, we could have snatched the points at the Emirates - so that doesn't say much for our "going on a consistent" run for me.

Once the injury situation subsides, I can see things improving though. Hopefully we can fight for second spot at least.
 
It's more about the spirt and the approach that the players have then the discussion if it's very realistic to overtake Chelsea. I like what he said and of course our players should believe in winning the title and train and play like they're challenging for it!
 
The club has to talk about going for the title even if the fans know it's not realistic.
 
On the topic:

I don't think we have the right mix of players for a title win. If it all clicks we can hope for a top 3 finish. Right now, I wouldn't bet against us finishing outside the top 4.
 
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