Would you be ok with finishing outside the top 4

[Carl]

If it meant exciting attacking football and the young players such as Tuanzebe, Garner, Gomes, Chong and Greenwood all got a proper chance in the first team?

Personally I would take that happily. The approach of signing ready made stars and safety first football we've had since Fergie retired has been awful to endure, despite relative success on occasion.

I know it's easy to get carried away with young players, but it feels like we have a real crop of talented youngsters coming through and it'd be great to see them get a proper crack and playing the right way, even if it means finishing 5/6/7th.

 

[HankHill]

How about...fourth with just Gomes, Greenwood and Tuanzebe getting their chances?

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Surely exciting attacking football means scoring lots of goals, no? How could we be that sort of team and still fall outside the top 4?

I definitely wouldn't be happy seeing us attack and scuffing chance after chance, nor would I want to see us regularly score 2 or 3, but concede 4 or 5. That would be equally as frustrating as LvG's keep-ball.

I think we'll keep Pogba this year, but if we have another shit season he'll definitely be off, and a few others might follow. A good season (top 4, plus a trophy) is essential IMO. We can't keep failing.

 

[Carl]

How about...fourth with just Gomes, Greenwood and Tuanzebe getting their chances?

I'd say everyone would take that because 4th is probably the best we can hope for anyway. If you're not gunna finish 1st, then 4th is as good as 2nd anyway.

 

[Carl]

Surely exciting attacking football means scoring lots of goals, no? How could we be that sort of team and still fall outside the top 4?

I definitely wouldn't be happy seeing us attack and scuffing chance after chance, nor would I want to see us regularly score 2 or 3, but concede 4 or 5. That would be equally as frustrating as LvG's keep-ball.

I think we'll keep Pogba this year, but if we have another shit season he'll definitely be off, and a few others might follow. A good season (top 4, plus a trophy) is essential IMO. We can't keep failing.

Because you can't always outscore opponents, and with young players comes inconsistency.

 

[Traub]

We going to struggle to finish top 4, so we may as well use the youngsters.

 

[lysglimt]

I would rather take 5th Place with good attacking football and 74 Points than 4th Place with 68 Points.

I want to see progress...

And I want us to win Europa League

 

[Kostur]

So we'd be a worse version of the ol' Arsenal who still managed to cap 4th? No thanks.

Players' only merit shouldn't be that they are young. That breeds complacency.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

I just don't see how the two things go hand in hand, we'll be losing too many games if we finish outside the top 4, the fans will start to get restless, and Ole will likely be sacked.

We could just start buying the right players for a change, and introduce the talented youngsters as and when they're ready, it doesn't have to be a major swing in another direction.

 

[GailSpaceWynand]

Why not both?

Why not sign a few experienced players (not the expensive ones but effective purchases like Yedder/Toby) instead? They will not hamper the development of youth but will help with achieving CL spot.

 

[Amir]

Less

I would rather take 5th Place with good attacking football and 74 Points than 4th Place with 68 Points.

I want to see progress...

This.

We're United and finishing fourth - all due respect to the CL - is no achievement. We're not going to be challenging for the title, so what's important is to see signs of a team that is built towards such a thing in the future.

If it comes fourth or sixth next season, that's not the most important indication.

 

[Paxi]

I would rather take 5th Place with good attacking football and 74 Points than 4th Place with 68 Points.

I want to see progress...

And I want us to win Europa League

Yes. Thread/

Good thread though.

 

[ivaldo]

No reason why we can't finish top four while giving those lads their chance. Arsenal and Chelsea were shite last year, the former only treading water with their transfer business and the later only getting worse.

 

[Snafu17]

There's only a very specific set of circumstances where finishing outside of top 4 would still show signs of progress.

 

[WR10]

Impossible we finish out of top 4 this year. We finished 2nd out of all games Ole took charge of. We’re not going to all of a sudden become substantially worse.

Chelsea will finish 8th. Spurs will struggle. Arsenal will arsenal.

 

[Mindhunter]

Yes, but there need to be mitigating circumstances. There needs to be progress made in terms of the style of play. We need to slowly ease ourselves into a progressive and coherent style of play that can be our identity for the future. We should start most games on the front foot and look to dominate, rather than concede possession and look to capitalise on the oppositions mistakes.

In addition, we need to see our young players being given opportunities to perform and show their talent. What’s the point in playing established players and still coming 5th?

The season should end with promise that we will build on from there instead of deflation and pessimism.

 

[spaceboyRSA]

Another year without champions league football would be super shit and not worth it. It would likely also mean players like sancho and his ilk wont be keen on us. It would alsocement the view we are in a downward spiral.

The aim should be top four (remember when it used to be winning the league) and giving youngsters lots lost chances without relying on them.

Finally, we are not guaranteed winning the Europa league so should not try and bank on that getting us into the champions league.

 

[Stepney73]

I'd take mid table for a few years if it ended up getting the glazers out of the club because we will NEVER be a top team while these parasites are bleeding the club dry.

Lose the battle to win the war.

 

[Gopher Brown]

No, I’d be fecking miserable.

 

[SirAF]

No.

 

[Alemar]

Finally, we are not guaranteed winning the Europa league so should not try and bank on that getting us into the champions league.

It’s easier with this squad to win the EL than finish top 4.

 

[Drainy]

We going to struggle to finish top 4, so we may as well use the youngsters.

I think you'll be surprised, even if nothing else changes in the squad I think we will be competitive with the players we have and the kids being brought through.

We look like the right back issue has been fixed, which was a massive issue for us.
Don't forget that we have a number of players in their early 20s who should improve this year and we've had a proper pre-season, unlike last year.

That said, it does look like we're going to lose Pogba and Lukaku so that money needs to be reinvested wisely- it wouldn't be very wise to throw the kids in and hope for the best.

The players we're being linked with (Maguire, Milinkovic-Savic & Fernandes) would actually have a massive positive effect on the balance of the team if we are playing a 4-2-3-1, in my opinion.

Maguire at left centre back, SMS in the midfield 2 with McTominay and Bruno in a free role at number 10 and we're looking like a good team. Bruno can also play in the midfield 2 or a 3 deeper depending on the needs of the team.

It would be good for the kids to be able to learn from more established players and be able to bed in without reliance on them for goals/assists.

 

[buckooo1978]

I'd take anything that looks like progress

watching some good attacking football would be fantastic with those kids developing

with the failure to make significant changes it could well happen that way.....

• Rashford and Martial might not score more than 15 each
• Pogba could be his usual self with performances ranging from thr sublime to the couldn't care less
• Our midfield looks weak offering no protection
• to our porous defence with Bailly, Jones, Smalling and Rojo a mistake/injury waiting to happen

all that adds up to 5th or 6th

 

[0le]

There's only a very specific set of circumstances where finishing outside of top 4 would still show signs of progress.

This. I couldn't put it better myself.

 

[spaceboyRSA]

It’s easier with this squad to win the EL than finish top 4.

EL is a knockout. Nothing is guaranteed. At least over the course of 38 games glitches even out. They dont even out in a knockout.

Personally think we should be aiming for top four and Europa league.

 

[Alemar]

Personally think we should be aiming for top four and Europa league.

We should be aiming to win all competitions we take part in. Perhaps we don’t succeed (with such a squad), but that’s what a club of this stature should aim for. If our aims are lower, something is wrong

 

[Real Madras]

This thread is so depressing. Straight to the bottom of the page so I can write this. Whilst I understand being realistic but surely this thread should be locked if we get another 2 players in, IE Maguire and Fernandes?

 

[clarkydaz]

This thread is so depressing. Straight to the bottom of the page so I can write this. Whilst I understand being realistic but surely this thread should be locked if we get another 2 players in, IE Maguire and Fernandes?

Thats a very big 'if' now

 

[dove]

So basically the question is "Would you be ok being Arsenal?".

 

[Real Madras]

Thats a very big 'if' now

Have a bit of faith brother. We will get one player atleast. Our youth players look amazing so let’s get behind the team.

 

[manunited1919]

If we don’t play frustrating football we won’t finish outside the top 4. The question is whether Ole has the wherewithal to get his beloved Rashy playing for the team instead of taking low probability shots, to keep Pogba motivated, to realize Lingard is 4th or 6th choice at any position, and be willing to give yougsters like Greenwood and Gomes proper chances. I figure if Ole manages to get us playing exciting football with all of the above, we will make a title challenge. If he doesn’t have the wherewithal to correct all of the above issues, not only do we not finish in the top 4, but Ole will be out of a job.

 

[Carl]

So basically the question is "Would you be ok being Arsenal?".

Not really, because I'm not saying this approach would be recycled every year. I'm talking this season specifically.

Let's change the way we play whilst giving this crop of young players a real crack. It feels like that could actually be a building block for future success, rather than doing what we've continued to do over the last 6 years.

 

[dove]

Not really, because I'm not saying this approach would be recycled every year. I'm talking this season specifically.

Let's change the way we play whilst giving this crop of young players a real crack. It feels like that could actually be a building block for future success, rather than doing what we've continued to do over the last 6 years.

I know what you mean but throwing the kids and putting immense pressure on them to perform is the last thing we should do IMO. I think many people will be disappointed as I cannot see the likes of Greenwood, Chong, Gomes, Garner making more than 10 appearances each in all competitions, and to be fair I don't think they are ready. That's just not how you integrate young players into the squad, out of all promising youngsters we have it would be great if at least 1 of them becomes our starting player in the future (deserved to be in starting XI, unlike Lingard) but the reality is that majority of them won't make it here.

 

[Hawks2008]

No, unless we win Europa.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

If we don't make any further signings and don't clear out a few players, then no way should we be happy with not making top 4.

In one way or another we all put money into this club and it's not being invested well from a fans perspective.

 

[FireballXL5]

It's not that I'd be 'ok' with finishing outside the top 4, the grim reality is that we probably won't.

 

[JPRouve]

I'm sure that I'm not the only one but I don't really care about the league table and I'm not as worried about the future as I was a few months ago. We are going to have a very young team and by the look of it the starters on the right side should deservedly be 17 and 21 on opening day. If the club and Ole aren't useless, they will focus on developing the young core and not make silly moves. The only thing that bothers me with the situation is that Greenwood is the only player that is close to be good on the right, hopefully James will be more comfortable in the near future.

I feel that we somehow lucked our way out of a complete mess with the additions of Wan Bissaka, Gomes, James and Greewood. Now we need to make the correct moves that will support these players in the short to long term.

 

[Zlatattack]

No.

 

[Rista]

The club is way too big to accept "anything that looks like progress". Ole comes in during the middle of the season, accumulates 3rd most points and now we should be happy with 6th as long as we play some decent stuff in some games? I don't think so. If you finish outside 4, chances are you're going to lose and draw quite a few games. There being a noticeable progress and losing games left and right does not really go hand in hand.

 

[Suv666]

This thread is so depressing. Straight to the bottom of the page so I can write this. Whilst I understand being realistic but surely this thread should be locked if we get another 2 players in, IE Maguire and Fernandes?

Yeah super depressing what the club has been reduced to,from being title favourites every season to wishing we somehow end up in the Europa league. Fecking Glazers have destroyed the club. Hopefully Ole can navigate us out of this mess.