We will win the league this season | Champions as it Stands

[Aouer-United]

Why do people have Chelsea challenging for the league? UCL and league are very different, it seems a lot of opinions on them based on Chelsea winning UCL and be like "Yeah, they must be really good to challenge for the title"

Spurs and Chelsea will fight for the top 4 assuming Chelsea had a poor transfer window.

 

[Jericho]

Why do people have Chelsea challenging for the league? UCL and league are very different, it seems a lot of opinions on them based on Chelsea winning UCL and be like "Yeah, they must be really good to challenge for the title"

Spurs and Chelsea will fight for the top 4 assuming Chelsea had a poor transfer window.

They put together a great run after Tuchel took over. Had he been there from the start they may have had a much better league season.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Anything less than a title challenge would be a failure given the transfers.

 

[jem]

With the squad we're putting together, I don't see why we can't mount a serious challenge. Our attackers include Sancho, Rashford, Cavani, Martial, Greenwood, Diallo, and Fernandes, with Pogba and VDB also in the attacking mix. I still worry about the McFred situation, but Varane next to Maguire, perhaps only won't feel the need to play both of them. We also have the best LB in the league, a defensive beast at RB and two good options in goal. Pogba leaving would certainly put a dampener on things, but as of this moment, there can be no excuses for not making a strong run at the title.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Can you put the ages of the players next to their names please.

Here you go mate.

De Gea (30)
AWB (23) Varane (28) Maguire (28) Shaw (26)
Matić (32)
Fernandes (26) Pogba (28)
Sancho (21) Cavani (34) Rashford (23)

Henderson (24)
Williams (20) Lindelöf (27) Bailly (27) Telles (28)
Fred (28)
McTominay (24) Van de Beek (24)
Amad(19) Greenwood (19) Lingard (28)

Just to add that Heaton is 35, Dan James is 23, Mata is 33, Tuanzebe is 23, Garner is 20, Elanga is 19 and Hannibal is 18.


​

 

[Charles Ufarley]

Pogba leaving would certainly put a dampener on things, but as of this moment, there can be no excuses for not making a strong run at the title.

The sooner that arrogant narcissistic twit leaves the better. Just get rid and give VDB a run in the team.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Anything other than a title challenge is a colossal failure.

No more excuses.

 

[MUFC OK]

I am normally not a betting man, but even I’m incredibly tempted to put money on Man United to win the CL next season.

13 to 1 are fantastic odds.

I think we have a better chance of this than the league. May sound crazy but the run to the final of a European comp last year was valuable experience.

 

[jem]

The sooner that arrogant narcissistic twit leaves the better. Just get rid and give VDB a run in the team.

I'm inclined to agree - very talented player but has massively underachieved since coming here

 

[esmufc07]

Here you go mate.

De Gea (30)
AWB (23) Varane (28) Maguire (28) Shaw (26)
Matić (32)
Fernandes (26) Pogba (28)
Sancho (21) Cavani (34) Rashford (23)

Henderson (24)
Williams (20) Lindelöf (27) Bailly (27) Telles (28)
Fred (28)
McTominay (24) Van de Beek (24)
Amad(19) Greenwood (19) Lingard (28)

Just to add that Heaton is 35, Dan James is 23, Mata is 33, Tuanzebe is 23, Garner is 20, Elanga is 19 and Hannibal is 18.


​

Thanks! Shaping up into a very good team.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Thanks! Shaping up into a very good team.

Almost forgot Martial existed as well... He's 25.

 

[Jezpeza]

We should definitely be in the running into the last few games in the league. However its going to be difficult and chelsea and man city have exceptionally strong squads as well. I actually dont fancy Liverpool at all. Much was made of missing VVD but to me they had other issues like the drop off in Mane and Salah etc.

 

[TrustInOle]

Anything less than a title challenge would be a failure given the transfers.

This can be the only expectation! We go for it next year!

 

[DRJosh]

Amazing what fan protests and pressure can do for our transfer window.
Look forward to us pushing City all the way

 

[Kag]

We should be in the mix hopefully. That is the expectation for me.

However, McTominay and Fred isn’t a title-winning midfield. Unless we sort this out then we’ll face some of the same issues over the course of a season.

 

[hungrywing]

If this progression continues, we win the CL in 22-23 and then what, the treble in 23-24. And then in 24-25...

 

[Blood Mage]

Anything less than a title challenge would be a failure given the transfers.

I disagree, if we don't add a midfielder then City would be firm favourites again. If we do get a midfielder then it's game on and we should win the race.

 

[El Zoido]

We should be in the mix hopefully. That is the expectation for me.

However, McTominay and Fred isn’t a title-winning midfield. Unless we sort this out then we’ll face some of the same issues over the course of a season.

True, but Varane and Maguire at the back might be enough for Fred to get the job done on his own now. But yes we need someone new there.

If we get Varane wrapped up this week then surely we’ll bring in someone else before the window shuts. We haven’t even spent that much (Sancho fee is spread out over multiple seasons).

 

[ArjenIsM3]

Honestly I think we're still a top CDM away from having a squad good enough to challenge for the title and that's provided there's no significant outgoings and everybody stays fit during the season. I have a feeling there will be a few outgoings though (Pogba, Dalot, Matic, Lingard) so we'd need to replace them too. Happy with the business thus far, hopefully there's still some gas left in the tank.

Some people on here are seriously underestimating City and dare I say it Chelsea. Liverpool too if they manage to keep their players fit though their squad depth isn't as impressive.

 

[Aouer-United]

They put together a great run after Tuchel took over. Had he been there from the start they may have had a much better league season.

Defensively great but their form is not title-winning. If Tuchel started the way he did at the start of the season with Chelsea 2020-21, he'd get 76 points, plus taking his honeymoon bounce into consideration and had a massive investment worth 250m in the squad.

If they didn't sign any players, I guess Tuchel have to improve Chelsea further after honeymoon bonuses wearing off otherwise they're not going to be favourite for the title.

 

[tenpoless]

I think Scott will do an alright job as a DM. If we dont buy any DM then Matic needs to stay as much as I hate saying it. Then we will have 3 players that could fill that position including Fred, whichever perform the better should play in important games. But in order to actually win the title Cavani needs to score lots of goals for us too. Martial's future is still unknown and Greenwood is still young, cant rely too much on him.

Ideally adding a DM that could dictate tempo would boost the squad by a considerable amount but theyre rarity these days. I dont want Rice for 60-70m or some stupid amount like that.

 

[WR10]

Hendo
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Pogba Scott
Sancho Bruno Rashford
Cavani
​

Let's be honest. This is filthy.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Hendo
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Pogba Scott
Sancho Bruno Rashford
Cavani
​

Let's be honest. This is filthy.

No holding midfielder in that though

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I think Scott will do an alright job as a DM. If we dont buy any DM then Matic needs to stay as much as I hate saying it. Then we will have 3 players that could fill that position including Fred, whichever perform the better should play in important games. But in order to actually win the title Cavani needs to score lots of goals for us too. Martial's future is still unknown and Greenwood is still young, cant rely too much on him.

Ideally adding a DM that could dictate tempo would boost the squad by a considerable amount but theyre rarity these days. I dont want Rice for 60-70m or some stupid amount like that.

Fred is much better than Scott as a DM

Scott isn't a DM and we shouldn't try to shoehorn him there

 

[The Brown Bull]

So we have got Sancho. A decent player, no more than that.
Varane, a good CB, who is probably at his peak.
Where is the spark? The genius player we need?

 

[Mr Smith]

I disagree, if we don't add a midfielder then City would be firm favourites again. If we do get a midfielder then it's game on and we should win the race.

You know it's a little more complicated than that, right?

 

[bosnian_red]

So we have got Sancho. A decent player, no more than that.
Varane, a good CB, who is probably at his peak.
Where is the spark? The genius player we need?

White text?
Sancho is up there with Mbappe and Haaland as the best young attackers in the world. Not an exaggeration. One of the most creative players in world football and has proven it for 3 years now. Varane is a world class CB. We literally signed 2 players who would both start for any club in world football. Again, not an exaggeration. They're 2 amazing signings.

 

[meamth]

Thanks! Shaping up into a very good team.

That backline at least have 3-4 years of peak level.

We have to make use of it while we can. Not winning something in that period will be such a waste of careers.

 

[sglowrider]

We should definitely be in the running into the last few games in the league. However its going to be difficult and chelsea and man city have exceptionally strong squads as well. I actually dont fancy Liverpool at all. Much was made of missing VVD but to me they had other issues like the drop off in Mane and Salah etc.

This. Liverpool will start to struggle unless they do some massive re-fresh of their ageing squad soon.

We will challenge for the league but we will need to be selective in which cups we want to be serious in if we are to challenge. We are a year away from having a decent squad depth to challenge on all fronts.

 

[tjb]

If we start we'll enough, Ole has already proven he can go on long runs with this team, even with limited talent at certain points. I personally think that despite our goalscoring record last season, we are extremely tough to beat; it usually shows in our big games. What we struggled with were defensive lapses and Lindelofs weakness in dealing with duels; this usually affected us in games in which we were on the front foot. I think Varane coming in will make those seemingly easy home games that we lost or drew turn into wins, as scoring from long balls and corners due to Lindelofs lack of strength or aerial ability will be more difficult.

Sancho will obviously add creativity, but I feel itsbour defence that will differentiate us from our rivals. Furthermore, with the strong setup we have defensively, in addition to Varane coming in, I feel the Champions League is a possibility for the first time in many years. We have the ability to set up defensively, the attackers to destroy defenses and we have consistently seen evidence of even the deepest defensive blocks we ve had being able to manufacture attacks. We are a better team now, have far more creativity and have better ball players in the back. I feel we have the steel to actually go and with the Champions League and other cups. The premier League would be harder to win, requires attacking consistency and depth ( which we can have, but haven't really consistently had in games, talk less of seasons). Hopefully we can ride our defence whilst building that.

 

[Escobar]

So we have got Sancho. A decent player, no more than that.
Varane, a good CB, who is probably at his peak.
Where is the spark? The genius player we need?

Haha good one mate…

 

[ManRed]

We have worked on 3 of our top 5 shortcomings going into the next season:

1. Setpiece defending - we conceded 33% of our goals from setpiece last season with introduction of Varane and new coach we can definitely look at improvement there.

2. Right wing - finally we have a proper Right wing option to add balance to our squad. Still question marks on AWB as an attacking threat

3. Lindelof - Nothing against the player but adding Varane is building a top class defence

Still 2 shortcomings we need to work on, of which only 1 can be done in the next few weeks i.e. adding a proper DM. Fred showed quality for Brazil however that came next to Casemiro. He can't play as a proper DM or will become a liability. Pogba is indisciplined defensively and we cannot have 2 liabilities.

Second is believing we can win titles. We have not won a title in a few years and the minimum requirement was a top 4 finish which is unacceptable at Manchester United. Ole has to make the players believe we are going for the title from day 1.

 

[Adisa]

The quality of our football as a unit needs to improve significantly and that is not only about individual players. We have to learn to impose ourselves on teams and not come down to their level.

 

[tenpoless]

Fred is much better than Scott as a DM

Scott isn't a DM and we shouldn't try to shoehorn him there

But I have seen a lot of complains that Fred is more careless with the passing. Scott is better in this aspect I believe. But I wouldnt mind Fred as a DM as well.

 

[Bestietom]

We need a top commanding midfielder now.

 

[Mickson]

Our midfield isn't good enough and Ole doesn't make up for it with tactics, so no, we won't win the league.

 

[Havak]

If we get the CDM, I think we have one of the strongest squads in the league. The only worries are (unfortunately) the manager and if certain other teams buy a worldie of a centre forward IMO.

There's no doubting that Ole is the weakest manager of the four who we would expect to contend the title / command top 4 positions at the business end of the season. To go along with those, I would also say that our squad, even with these improvements, probably isn't better than Man City or maybe even Chelsea. I think our first XI would very much rival them at last though.

I definitely think we could win the title, but if City/Chelsea were to sign the likes of Kane/Haaland I would put them ahead of us as favourites personally.

 

[Ayoba]

Our midfield isn't good enough and Ole doesn't make up for it with tactics, so no, we won't win the league.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I don't mean to turn this into an Ole bashing thread, i'm simply stating my opinion btw before anyone jumps on me. If you were to look at the squads for the top 4 (ie liverpool, united, city and chelsea) - I'd say we're not that far behind now from City, chelsea follows us then liverpool. But the fact that all three of those clubs have a better manager, a better tactician that us means we wont be winning the league.

 

[Billy Jim]

We've got more chance of winning the Champions League than the PL. Very good first XI coming together on paper, and our natural style probably lends itself to the CL a bit better.

We don't have a squad that can match up to City or Chelsea at the moment though.

 

[Massive Spanner]

We've got more chance of winning the Champions League than the PL. Very good first XI coming together on paper, and our natural style probably lends itself to the CL a bit better.

We don't have a squad that can match up to City or Chelsea at the moment though.

That doesn't really make sense when you consider we finished above Chelsea in the league last season and have just signed two world class players whilst they've yet to do anything.