This! Fans expectations have been completely watered down. Club is in shambles!
Who would you accept beating us to top 4?
- Thread starter Lee565
- Start date
Nobody. We get top 4 else Woodward and Ole need to make room for people who can achieve that.
Our first XI is MAYBE on par with Arsenal and Chelsea. The problem is we are literally one or two injuries away from having to rely on teenagers. As you say, City and Liverpool are nailed on for top four, I would add Spurs to that with the squad they have.
IF, and it's a big IF, our best players can stay fit for 60+ games we COULD snatch 4th spot. In reality, I think a Europa league campaign plus a busy Christmas period and a few injuries will derail us. My money is on 6th
Have to at least get fourth. Should not be accepting Chelsea or Arsenal ousting United out of the top 4. Much less the pretenders Leicester, Wolves, Everton, West Ham.
Given our spending, wage bill, Chelsea's transfer ban, Arsenal's defensive situation & meagre budget, question should be if this squad & its coaches are capable of pushing for third even.
Given our spending, wage bill, Chelsea's transfer ban, Arsenal's defensive situation & meagre budget, question should be if this squad & its coaches are capable of pushing for third even.
We was only 6 points behind them and was right in the hunt until the very few last games that we messed up rather than them being good.
They lost Morata, Luiz, hazard and higuain, The players they brought back were basically championship players in mount, tomori and abraham, plus zouma who has been gifting the opposition goals and Pulisic is now getting benched by mount so he's far from a good replacement for a talisman like hazard that single handedly won them games last season, their bench aint much either with Barkley, giroud, batshuayi and pedro, thats not barely any better than ours really is it, they have lost an established manager in sarri for a novice championship manager in Lampard and the team are now having to adapt to a new philosophy/style that is currently leaking goals.
united have had the opportunity to buy 3 new players that are all basically 1st team players in Bissaka, Maguire and James, there was no gun held to Solskjear's head to loan and sell off the likes of smalling, darmian, fellaini and lukaku and Sanchez, plus we have January window to strengthen, so to finish behind Chelsea at the end of the season would be our own undoing really would it not?
This not a solskjear bashing thread either as we wont know what's going to happen until the end of the season.
NO ONE! Top 4 is a minimum aim for a club like United. That being said, next year could be the first time in about 30 years (?) that we've been without Champions league football for two consecutive seasons. Hopefully it wont come to that.
Stupid thread.
Mount and Abraham were better championship performers than James. I'd rather have Zouma than Luiz.
I don't think there much in it, but if we finished behind Chelsea with what we've got it wouldn't be 'unacceptable'.
We don't know about Lukaku and Sanchez, I'd be inclined to think there was pressure on the financial side.
What exactly have spurs done the last six months or so to be nailed on top three?
Sanchez maybe but I cant see why the board would want lukaku gone as they probably saw him as pogba type of big name to help with the commercial side and the club were happy to not sell unless for the right price and we weren't too far off from swapping him for dybala, it seemed more like he just wasnt Solskjear's type of player that fitted how he wanted to play much like fellaini.
Aston Villa or Norwich.
Results wise nothing really in all honesty but looking at their squad which is better than the likes of arsenal's, Chelsea's and ours and them probably having the 3rd best manager in the league it seems like many see them as the best choice for getting 3rd.
I didn't get the OP. Why are we even considering someone beating us to the top 4.
And even if we finish 5th, how does it matter if Arsenal or Leicester or Chelsea took the 4th spot?
And even if we finish 5th, how does it matter if Arsenal or Leicester or Chelsea took the 4th spot?
There seems to be somewhat of an acceptance from many of being ok with finishing top 6 but just wondered which actual teams would people find acceptable to finish 4th in front of us when you start comparing us to the likes of Chelsea, arsenal and Leicester who would probably be seen to be the main team fighting for 4th.
No one.
Top 4 should be there for the taking. This is supposedly our worst start to a Premier League season for 27 years, yet we're still level on points with Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester.
There are a lot of ordinary teams in the league this year, ourselves included.
There are a lot of ordinary teams in the league this year, ourselves included.
No one, we need to get back into Champions League next season.
If we sack any manager out of principle for not winning the league while pep is getting 95 to 100 points a season ..... do you really really think that is a good approach. Or do you mean the goal should just be winning the league but nothing happens if we don't we just say it is the goal
So you stick your head in the sand and wont accept that other clubs have developed over the years? That Man Utd isn’t the only club with money anymore? And you won’t accept that Utd has one of two choices. Either spunk out 5/6 hundred millions on players, and even then it would take time to gel as a team, or slowly rebuild at with the right tools (players) and develop. I read something about Harry Potter earlier. And it seems a lot of fans would like Harry Potter as a new manager.
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We don't need magician, we need a Damm miracle worker.
Jose got us 2nd with that shower, let s see where Ole lands us
Missing top 4 should not be acceptable at United except in the rarest of rare scenarios where the football/peformances/player development is so good that it offsets that, somehow. But I can't see that happening. If we're headed in the right direction we should get top 4.
So yeah , as always top 4 is the bare minimum.
So yeah , as always top 4 is the bare minimum.
City and Liverpool are the only teams that should finish above us on quality.
Our squad is no worse than Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Our squad is no worse than Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Nobody!!!
Norwich 4th and us winning Europa (with no English team winning the CL).
Accept is the wrong word. Manchester United are supposedly the biggest club in the world, or one of - it should never be acceptable for Man United to not challenge for the title let alone not finish in the top 4. That is my opinion, at least.
However, in the context of where we currently are - anyone and everyone. If we perform worse over the course of a season than Brighton or Palace and they finished 4th, they'd deserve that over us.
However, in the context of where we currently are - anyone and everyone. If we perform worse over the course of a season than Brighton or Palace and they finished 4th, they'd deserve that over us.
So far this season we have already beaten Leicester and Chelsea, and got a draw at Wolves; three teams that were tipped to push for top four/six this season. I think you’ve gone over the top with your assumption.
The league is awarded to the team that gets the most points, not the team with the highest wage bill.
In this context, what does ”accept” mean? What can us fans do to say ”Thats not acceptable” Fly a ”Woodward out” banner over Old trafford? Write angry post on internetforums?
Accepting reality for what it is does not imply being happy with it.This thread alone shows exactly how far we have fallen..... and we have now accepted it.
This is loser talk. Nobody should be beating us to the top 4. It should be the bare minimum requirement for this season.
I dont think we should sack managers but do think that should be the goal..
The point is that in general the wage bill is directly to the level of your team. Unlike transfer fees wages are supposed to be an actual reflection of a player contribution to your team.
What do you base this on? The quality of the squad?
Who cares? We're either top 4 or we're not.
(But the Scouse better not win the league)
(But the Scouse better not win the league)
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I get the point, it’s a roundabout way of complaining that we pay average players too much money, which we all already know. We shouldn’t expect and demand to challenge for the title because we have a high wage bill, we should demand we lower the wage bill because we don’t and will not challenge for the title any time soon.
Correction, we aspire to be top 4.
It's expectation. The squad is no crapper than Arsenal or Chelsea or a few of the other teams floating around for 4th spot.
Yes but you conveniently ignore the fact we have picked up one point from two games against relegation candidates!
I am one of the most positive people on this site currently, I get what the club are doing, I understand it will take time. I am just trying to be realistic....do we have the 4th best starting XI in the league, debatable....do we have the 4th best squad....I would say definitely not.
We're one or two injuries away from fielding 17/18yos week in week out and that has to be a huge concern for a team with potentially 60+ fixtures in the calendar
I agree it will be difficult but you said it would be impossible. It will be difficult if we encounter injuries, but just this week two of our best players were unavailable and we beat a strong Leicester side. We can revisit our predictions next year - hopefully I'm right and you're wrong!
Our problems are clearly to do with those above the manager, so at least for me, it isn't about sacking Ole and getting some magician. However, there have to be a standard that the club (owners, CEO, etc) is held to. You can't just forever "slowly rebuild". As you said, everyone else is developing so the only way to progress is to develop at a quicker rate than everyone else. If you don't, and you're happy to keep falling behind, then that is burying your head in the sand. Most other clubs don't have as much money as we have, and no-one has broken into the "big 6" since 2016. You have Arsenal and Chelsea in a transitional state, but we should be fine with being beneath either them or non big-6 clubs to end up less than 4th?