Why do people keep posting that the season is 'practically done', or 'literally over' for us...?

[Rhyme Animal]

This isn't about whether or not Ole is a good punt or just more cronyism, but why on Earth do people keep insisting that the 'Season is over'?

I keep reading this in pretty much every thread discussing United and our choices this season it's annoying me -

There are 21 games left out of 38 in the PL

We're in the last 16 of the Champion's League

We're in the 3rd Round of the F.A Cup with a home game against Reading

This narrative that the 'Season is practically over' is factually incorrect, annoying and also dangerous in lowering expectation.

People are repeating it a lot in regard to our choice of interim boss, and what our expectations should be and to me it seems a fairly obvious mantra to continue lowering standards.

The season isn't 'almost over' - it isn't even halfway through...

We're in 2 prestigious Cup competitions and with our wage bill and season ticket prices we should be aiming to win both.

And regarding the PL - there are 60 points left for us to play for, and we're 11 points from 4th. Bigger gaps than 11 points have been made up in 20 games, many times before.

Cmon people - have a word with yourselves.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

It's more to do with priorities. Given our level of football this season the two main trophies are out of reach and top 4 isn't that gettable. The other two trophies arent all that relevant albiet nice to win, and at this stage things like cohesion, entertaining football and setting things up for next season take precedence over what we can achieve this season - which is very little of true note.

 

[Judas]

Yep, I'm completely baffled by so many people happy and willing to write off a season that's only halfway through. Hardly a winning mentality is it?

 

[Snow]

I assume they're talking about the league when they say that although people are that negative that they've written off the cups as well.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

It's more to do with priorities. Given our level of football this season the two main trophies are out of reach and top 4 isn't that gettable. The other two trophies arent all that relevant albiet nice to win, and at this stage things like cohesion, entertaining football and setting things up for next season take precedence over what we can achieve this season - which is very little of true note.

We beat Juve away a few weeks ago, drew with Arsenal in a thrilling game... and that was with Mourinho's drab football...

A new manager should be expected to do better than a manager who's just been fired, surely...?

 

[JB08]

We beat Juve away a few weeks ago, drew with Arsenal in a thrilling game... and that was with Mourinho's drab football...

A new manager should be expected to do better than a manager who's just been fired, surely...?

Define better, I suppose. Points and results wise I wouldn’t be surprised if Ole is worse than Mourinho. But he will hopefully be more likeable and supporting the club will be more enjoyable.

 

[macheda14]

Yep, I'm completely baffled by so many people happy and willing to write off a season that's only halfway through. Hardly a winning mentality is it?

As you well know Jesus knew he was dead before it happened. It’s called being realistic. (We are far enough behind top 4 that we have to count on both arsenal and Chelsea losing about 4 games each with us achieving a 100% record for the rest of the season)

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Define better, I suppose. Points and results wise I wouldn’t be surprised if Ole is worse than Mourinho. But he will hopefully be more likeable and supporting the club will be more enjoyable.

That's crazy, I hope the club has higher standards - no offense meant to you with that, but to bring in a new manager and accept worse results than a manager just fired, because the new guy 'more likable' is insane.

 

[BluesJr]

The only games that matter are now the CL games. We could go on the best winning run in our history and still not get close to the top four.

Thanks to the special once we are 11 points adrift before Christmas. Beyond inept.

 

[snk123]

It's only because of the tumescent football we have been playing. People don't expect we will bee able to change our football easily hence we can not get back to winning ways this season with or without Mourinho.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

As supporters we no longer have expectations about the season.

 

[Gandalf]

I actually think in terms of Top 4 our best bet is to overhaul Tottenham rather than Chelsea or Arsenal. On the surface they are better placed but that small squad is going to bite them at some point and they could lose points in a hurry if Kane gets hurt at any point. I think they are the worst placed to cope with any sort of injury crisis and as an added benefit, if we do knock them out of the CL spots we improve our chances of tempting Poch to come here.

 

[Hamadovich86]

If i'm not mistaken it would take an unprecedented run for us to reach 4th. PSG will absolutely decimate us unless Ole can create another CL miracle and even then there are far far better teams that would catch us in later rounds. The FA cup is still on for sure but its the FA cup nothing to be estatic about imo.

The reason I say the season is over is because we finished 2nd last season and were supposed to finally mount a real challenge for the title, instead we are 19 points behind the fecking scousers after 18 matches. Its probably naive of me but Man United should be competing for the title, thats the standard, arguably its a lower standard than under SAF because we expected to fecking win the title every season and was a near disaster when we didnt.

 

[Zlatan 7]

That's crazy, I hope the club has higher standards - no offense meant to you with that, but to bring in a new manager and accept worse results than a manager just fired, because the new guy 'more likable' is insane.

It’s not really that insane if there’s a longer plan involved like recruiting a dof and or permanent manager in the summer.
Rot was really starting to set in with Mourinho and it needed to be stopped before we lost players, even more respect as a club and created more dramas and absolutely killed morale.

This could hopefully be a good morale boost and getting some respect back for the club before a new manager comes in

 

[BigRon1985]

The season certainly isn’t over and until the fat lady sings then it's game on! That’s why I think we should have gone for a more experienced interim manager with a knowledge of the club instead of a feel good stop gap which won’t halt the fundamental issues.

I’ve been called a WUM on another thread for daring to suggest Steve Bruce? I’ve since seen an online article where Paul Ince suggests the same thing and although hardly a managerial legend he knows his stuff.

 

[glazed]

No one is saying give up or don't try. Just no one expects anything

 

[spiriticon]

Well the season's over in terms of winning the league. You guys can debate about the 'top 4' all you want but it's hardly winning. The FA Cup is always nice but not necessarily season saving.

The CL is the last great hope but I'm not holding my breath for Ole to win it. But hey, if Di Matteo can do it....

 

[Sgt.Major]

Because if we're going to be all over the Moon because of an FA Cup, then we're either pretending or turned into Everton. If United's not in a title race or a CL contender, a season is crap, it's that simple in my opinion.

 

[Zlatattack]

We are 19 points from top spot (which is what this club is built on aspiring towards).
We are 11 points away from 4th spot (the bare minimum we expect).

For us to win the league Liverpool would need to lose 7 more matches than us. Considering they've gone halfway through the season and lost 0 and drawn 3 - that's unlikely. The second half of the season is always more challenging due to fixture congestion, fatigue, pressure - but it would need an utter collapse from them, and the 5 other clubs ahead of us.

For us to qualify for fourth is slightly more realistic, but even then it requires Chelsea to lose 4 more matches than we do. Halfway through the season they've lost 2 and drawn 4. It's not impossible they'll lose another 4, but 4 more than we do - that's very unlikely.

Short of a miracle, I expect us to get trounced in the Champions league. It is a cup competition so I won't write us off, but out form has not been great - all season.

That leaves the FA cup. For a club of our ambition, winning the FA cup and nothing else is a consolation prize. A much welcome prize nonetheless.

 

[Canagel]

It's just being realistic. Mourinho has messed up this season and left us rock bottom in everything. Newcastle was the perfect time to get rid and start afresh as the season was still relatively early but too late now. We have been left TWELVE points off 4th. If you factor in GD. The season is dead. FA Cup is not really signficant imo.
The rest of the season is about restoring the confidence of our attackers, playing attractive football and bring back the enjoyment of watching United. I mean we had a thread asking 'anyone stopped watching?' That's how bad it's been. Give us something to look forward to for next season and Ole will have done his job.

 

[RORY65]

That's crazy, I hope the club has higher standards - no offense meant to you with that, but to bring in a new manager and accept worse results than a manager just fired, because the new guy 'more likable' is insane.

Well they're not going to sack the interim are they? I think it's perfectly valid to think that a guy who people within the club at Cardiff thought was completely out of his depth and who apparently isn't that hands-on on the training ground might not get the best results. The season is essentially a write-off, we might win the FA Cup if we get a very generous draw but we've got no chance of winning the Champions League nor of making the top 4.

The main thing now is to give the club time to identify a director of football, a new manager and potential recruits for next season while also removing a toxic presence from the dressing room, replacing him with a legend who is a very nice man and does have some managerial experience albeit at a lower standard, and make some very talented players feel warmer to the club and more open to the idea of staying and signing new contracts.

 

[sullydnl]

It's less that the season is already done and more that I thought the season was already done before Mourinho was sacked and my expectations had already adjusted accordingly.

I really believed Mourinho would be here until near the summer and, as such, was 100% sure we were going to finish well outside the top four and crash out in the next round of the CL. Not only that, I was sure we would do so in an embarrassingly negative way whilst having to endure Mourinho's toxicity throughout.

So basically anything better than that feels like a bonus as I had already written the season off as a dismal failure. In that sense it doesn't really matter how we do for the rest of the season. As long as we're not relegated anything else can be shrugged off once the season is over as being no worse than it would have been if Mourinho had stayed.

Being realistic, what can we actually hope for? It's highly unlikely that any interim manager inheriting this squad as it is at this point could spark the sort of turnaround that would see us claim top four. The CL is still obviously up for grabs but given how rarely we've won it in the history of the club it's hardly a realistic goal either.

I'll happily settle for actually enjoying watching us play.

 

[Devil may care]

We are essentially 12 points off top 4 due to the goial difference, and it's not just about how we perform, Chelsea and Spurs would need to collapse. No matter who the manager is we aren't good enough to win the CL and the FA Cup is neither here nor there.

 

[bosnian_red]

Crazy that if we win every game left this season in the league, we'd only end on 86 points. If we go into title winning form from now until the end of the season and average a ppg that over a season would give us 90 points, we'd end on 75 points. Last season, that total would only give us 5th place (tied with 4th). This season the top 5 teams are even more consistent and it'll be harder to get in. There's such a small chance for United to get in top 4 this season because of the first half of this season that it is basically write off. We aren't going to go on a run that would give us 90 points by the end of the season, and even that would only give us an outside shot at making the top 4 the way it's going.

In the Champions League, of course, anything can happen. I do think and have a feeling that Ole will have a big impact on us and get our spirits back up by quite a bit. Do I think we have much of a chance to beat PSG, let alone win the CL? Not really. Chelsea managed it, but it was a massive once in a lifetime fluke. It could happen, just like we could technically win every game for the next 5 years with Ole in charge. Unlikely.

So that leaves the FA Cup. Would be great for us to win that, and would be such a feel good story with Ole too. The FA Cup and getting our identity back as a football focused club that prioritizes on doing things the right way is what is the priority for the rest of the season. Repair damaged relationships throughout and between the fans and club, get us believing again and hoping for future glories, and get us enjoying our football again. Build the foundation for what our future should be. This season was a lost season before a ball was kicked because we decided to keep Mourinho in charge and the way everything was going. The only surprise was that we actually sacked him before the end of the season, so hopefully we can take a proactive approach now.

 

[Buster15]

This isn't about whether or not Ole is a good punt or just more cronyism, but why on Earth do people keep insisting that the 'Season is over'?

I keep reading this in pretty much every thread discussing United and our choices this season it's annoying me -

There are 20 gameweeks left out of 38 in the PL

We're in the last 16 of the Champion's League

We're in the 3rd Round of the F.A Cup with a home game against Reading

This narrative that the 'Season is practically over' is factually incorrect, annoying and also dangerous in lowering expectation.

People are repeating it a lot in regard to our choice of interim boss, and what our expectations should be and to me it seems a fairly obvious mantra to continue lowering standards.

The season isn't 'almost over' - it isn't even halfway through...

We're in 2 prestigious Cup competitions and with our wage bill and season ticket prices we should be aiming to win both.

And regarding the PL - there are 60 points left for us to play for, and we're 11 points from 4th. Bigger gaps than 11 points have been made up in 20 games, many times before.

Cmon people - have a word with yourselves.

Brilliant. Well done sir for quite an inspiring post.
Ole would do well to read this out to the players.

Despite my sadness that Jose was not a success there is no doubt that a cloud has been lifted, or at least I hope it has been lifted.

We are Manchester United and we thrive on adversity don't we.

Despite my cautions about Ole I truly wish him well.
This is by any standards a massive massive task for him and his team.

We will need to go on the type of post Christmas run that characterised United of old to start to close that gap on the top 4 teams and maybe we can inflict on them a squeeky bum time.
That would be fantastic.

 

[AltiUn]

The only games that matter are now the CL games. We could go on the best winning run in our history and still not get close to the top four.

Thanks to the special once we are 11 points adrift before Christmas. Beyond inept.

I'll be honest, I wouldn't mind another FA cup either.

The season isn't done with yet, however there is an absolute mountain to climb to reach top 4. I think the higher ups have recognised this and are planning on using the season in a different way. We'll be looking at getting players out of slumps and trying to enjoy football, whilst also blooding the next generation. I'm going to try and look at the rest of the season as a "development" period so the next manager walks into a better atmosphere, with more options to choose from, hopefully into a team no longer shy of scoring goals.

The season certainly isn’t over and until the fat lady sings then it's game on! That’s why I think we should have gone for a more experienced interim manager with a knowledge of the club instead of a feel good stop gap which won’t halt the fundamental issues.

I’ve been called a WUM on another thread for daring to suggest Steve Bruce? I’ve since seen an online article where Paul Ince suggests the same thing and although hardly a managerial legend he knows his stuff.

I don't think you're a WUM for suggesting Bruce but I don't think he makes sense at all. When you hear about how Solskjaer has been playing at Molde I can see why the board opted for him over Hughes and Bruce. Bruce only recently being sacked would probably set off alarm bells, he was doing an awful job at Villa and now that Smith has taken over it's really showing how much Bruce was holding them back.

 

[el3mel]

11 points out of top 4, needing two teams to collapse and collapse massively too, with us going on a title form winning run of 10-12 won games straight.

Anyone optimistic about this season, I want to tell him I wish I have half of your optimism in my life!

 

[Rhyme Animal]

It's just being realistic. Mourinho has messed up this season and left us rock bottom in everything. Newcastle was the perfect time to get rid and start afresh as the season was still relatively early but too late now. We have been left TWELVE points off 4th.

But, we're not rock bottom though, that's the point...

We're in the last 16 of the CL

The 3rd round of the F.A Cup

And are 6th with 21 games left to play

It's like people are hypnotized or something.

We still have a lot to play for!

 

[shamans]

Because even going on a winning streak from now till the end of the season may not be enough for even top 4.

 

[bosnian_red]

Define better, I suppose. Points and results wise I wouldn’t be surprised if Ole is worse than Mourinho. But he will hopefully be more likeable and supporting the club will be more enjoyable.

Points and results wise we will almost certainly do better than Mourinho did this season. We have a 0 goal difference after 17 games. Can't even begin to explain how terrible that is for a club like United. I don't think there's a chance we improve to such an extent that we actually make top 4, because of how far off the pace we are though. And that wouldn't mean Ole didn't do a good job. He can do a great job and get us on pace for 90 points over a season and that still likely won't be enough for top 4.

 

[shamans]

But, we're not rock bottom though, that's the point...

We're in the 16 of the CL

The 3rd round of the F.A Cup

And are 6th with 21 games left to play

It's like people are hypnotized or something.

We still have a lot to play for!

A lot? For instance?

 

[altodevil]

Clutching at straws a bit here. Top four not happening, CL not happening, therefore a wasted, done, season.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

This isn't about whether or not Ole is a good punt or just more cronyism, but why on Earth do people keep insisting that the 'Season is over'?

I keep reading this in pretty much every thread discussing United and our choices this season it's annoying me -

There are 21 games left out of 38 in the PL

We're in the last 16 of the Champion's League

We're in the 3rd Round of the F.A Cup with a home game against Reading

This narrative that the 'Season is practically over' is factually incorrect, annoying and also dangerous in lowering expectation.

People are repeating it a lot in regard to our choice of interim boss, and what our expectations should be and to me it seems a fairly obvious mantra to continue lowering standards.

The season isn't 'almost over' - it isn't even halfway through...

We're in 2 prestigious Cup competitions and with our wage bill and season ticket prices we should be aiming to win both.

And regarding the PL - there are 60 points left for us to play for, and we're 11 points from 4th. Bigger gaps than 11 points have been made up in 20 games, many times before.

Cmon people - have a word with yourselves.

Yes, we are still in 2 cups, but our domestic season is pretty much over. An outside chance of getting the top 4 if the teams above us sh*t the bed much like we have the first half of the season

 

[Leftback99]

Thinking we can still finish top 4 is equivalent to an Arsenal fan thinking they can still win the league ('it's only 11 points'). Fair play to anyone who is that optimistic.

 

[manc exile]

I actually think in terms of Top 4 our best bet is to overhaul Tottenham rather than Chelsea or Arsenal. On the surface they are better placed but that small squad is going to bite them at some point and they could lose points in a hurry if Kane gets hurt at any point. I think they are the worst placed to cope with any sort of injury crisis and as an added benefit, if we do knock them out of the CL spots we improve our chances of tempting Poch to come here.

we have to overhaul 2 out of 3 of chelsea, arsenal and spurs to get top 4.

i can see spurs collapsing because of their small squad but neither of the other 2.
if we just overhaul spurs we still will be 5th

 

[Eric's Seagull]

I don't think we should see it as a season lost more an opportunity to gauge where we really are and what we need to do to get to where we want to be "Some people see a difficulty in every opportunity, some people an opportunity in every difficulty".

 

[JB08]

That's crazy, I hope the club has higher standards - no offense meant to you with that, but to bring in a new manager and accept worse results than a manager just fired, because the new guy 'more likable' is insane.

Sorry but I think you misunderstood my post. Nobody knows how he’ll do, and I don’t necessarily think they would accept him doing worse (though feck knows what the club will do if he does). I was just stating I’m not particularly confident he’ll do better in terms of results.

 

[sullydnl]

We are essentially 12 points off top 4 due to the goial difference, and it's not just about how we perform, Chelsea and Spurs would need to collapse. No matter who the manager is we aren't good enough to win the CL and the FA Cup is neither here nor there.

Given how terribly this season has gone so far, ending it by seeing Solskjaer lift the cup would be pretty damn nice though.

 

[Schneckerl]

Top 4 would require either to barely drop any point at all or 2 out of 3 teams having a massive collapse

 

[WR10]

I appreciate the optimism. However there’s a point where it reaches ignorance

The premier league - you’re expecting the top 5 or even just the 3/4/5th teams to completely shit the bed consistently from now till the end of the season and for us to have a MIRACULOUS run of games from now till the end of the season to finish anywhere above 6th. This is not the early 2000s or 90s anymore. That shit doesn’t happen anymore. Especially not with the quality of the current top 5 team.

Champions league - I’ll give you that one. Anybody’s game now that Mourinho is out and the players might give a feck. Let’s be honest though - we are getting schooled by bigger teams. We are hoping for complete levels of feck up on our opponents level

FA Cup - okay, once again, any body’s game there.