I'll take a draw on Sunday, don't care if it means United finish 3rd or 4th with a draw as I will already know United have taken 6 points off Chelsea and 4 off Leicester.
Would you take 4th place now?
- Thread starter LawCharltonBest
- Start date
Finishing 3rd or 4th make little material difference, and physiological difference. What really matters, is the momentum into next season. We have too much start and brake moment and really not sure we can sustain consistent performance throughout the entire season, which is what you need if you want to challenge for EPL. Perhaps I will take a good run in Europa as our sign of consistency. Even if we fail to win Europa (assuming CL slot is already secured), a good run into the Final is a good sign.
Scene-1 easily.
Finish as high as possible.
I don't understand why we should be bothered with where Chelsea end up.
definitely!
getting UCL is massive compared to getting 3rd over 4th
getting UCL is massive compared to getting 3rd over 4th
In the past 15 years, 66 points would have got us top 4 once - assuming we beat Leicester 4-0.
I'm grateful that our rivals have been shit, 3rd or 4th matters little as long as we're in CL.
I'm grateful that our rivals have been shit, 3rd or 4th matters little as long as we're in CL.
Doesn't 3rd place give us more prize and TV money as compared to 4th place?
Our net transfer spend going into this season was £60m mate. If you count the loss of Herrera then it's probably £30m. And our form by the end of last season was literally a disaster.
In pre season everyone said Matic legs were gone, Fred still was the player that never ever played professional football, McT was still championship level. According to some Rashford was trash. There was a huge doubt regarding Martial as the new #9. That's as far as I can remember.
You say it doesn't matter but they're yet to concede a single goal at home in the Premier League since the restart.
Also, I expect us to lose because this is what we do when there's pressure, when there's an opportunity to grab what we need. It's what we did last season, it's what we did in 2015/16, it's what we did in 2016/17 even if we bailed ourselves out in the EL (something we might do again). I'd say we even did this in 2014/15 when we got ourselves into a really good position with an excellent run and then totally collapsed, looking incapable to even score a goal in the last few games and ending the season with a whimper.
Leicester will be fresh, they'll want it more, they'll press which we can't deal with. I don't see a way we can get anything on Sunday. People put their faith in Leicester's weakened back four but we could barely get the ball to our front three against West Ham and they played through our midfield at will in the second half. Leicester's midfield is much better than West Ham's and I fully expect them to dominate the game against a nervous, doubt-ridden United side.
Thanks mate! Hope it go through.
No, I made an acca last week with 6 games. The last one is now United to win against Leicester.
This game I am least worried about though. Think we’ll win 1-3.
After losing to Liverpool and Burnley, I lost interest in football and contemplated retiring to a monastery in Tibet.
So yes, I'll take 3rd or 4th
So yes, I'll take 3rd or 4th
Can't we finish 3rd and Chelsea finish 5th?
We draw. Chelsea lose.Can't we finish 3rd and Chelsea finish 5th?
Well yes, since the playoffs are no longer a thing for English clubs.
Why is this even a question?
- We have one game
- Our goal is Champion League
Yes.
I have no idea. Might be since I haven't had to worry about it for our purposes.
Oh I am not doubting you, just laughing at how little attention I have been paying to the Champions League the last few seasons.
It certainly helps us, as there was always a chance we could slip to 4th in the coefficient and only get 3 places.
But it's a bit of a disgrace to the smaller leagues in Europe.
Ifs and buts.
We spent a lot of money including buying the most expensive CB in the world. Of course we should be challenging the top teams and coming ahead of the likes of Leicester and Chelsea, Leicester who we doubled in spending and with them losing Maguire to us, more important than us losing Lukaku
and Chelsea who had a transfer ban, spending £153 million less than us.If we werent expected to be in the top 3 this season, then its because we didnt spend the money well. I remember after the first game of the season where we beat Chelsea and everyone was billing us as title challengers
Do we not have to play a qualifier if we finish 4th but dont if we finish 3rd?
I’d braced myself for the Liverpool result but was desperate after Burnley. That was three steps back.
I will take 4th but I want us to smash Leicester and get 3rd. Finishing the season on high might help us in Europa
Hey you're off the subject.Ifs and buts.
We spent a lot of money including buying the most expensive CB in the world. Of course we should be challenging the top teams and coming ahead of the likes of Leicester and Chelsea, Leicester who we doubled in spending and with them losing Maguire to us, more important than us losing Lukaku
If we werent expected to be in the top 3 this season, then its because we didnt spend the money well. I remember after the first game of the season where we beat Chelsea and everyone was billing us as title challengers
You said that much and I just don't think £60m is considered a big sum in transfer these days.
Btw, in your opinion, how would it should be spent to be considered well spent?
And did you actually expect us to finish in the top 3 at the start of the season?
Not £80 million on Maguire, I really like AWB but £55 million was a lot for him when he has work to do improving on the ball. James hasnt worked out. Bruno Fernandes has been a great signing so in hindsight we could say sign him before the season and spend less on a CB and RB
Hey you're avoiding my questions.
I asked you two questions:
1. In your opinion, how should we spend the money to be considered well spent?
2. Did you actually expect us to finish in the top 3 at the start of the season?
Nah.
4th is absolute minimum and playing for a safe draw is too much of a risk when you'll have Vardy vs Lindelof duels.
3rd is too close to just settle with 4th.
3rd is too close to just settle with 4th.
Of course yes. If you’re not first, you’re a loser anyway. No difference between second, third and fourth expect a couple of millions (while the penalty of not getting UCL with adidas and UCL money would be easily over 50m).
So yes, I would risk losing a couple of millions to insure 50m+. No one is gonna sang songs about brave United finishing third a decade from now.
So yes, I would risk losing a couple of millions to insure 50m+. No one is gonna sang songs about brave United finishing third a decade from now.
How on Earth does this math work? We spent 210m or so in transfers. When did we sell 150m? I remember selling Lukaku for 60m, so where does the 90m come from?
And no, Herrera does not make the net spent 30m lower. By definition, net spent is what you spend - what you receive. You cannot just arbitrarily make your own rules and pretend that we got 30m for a player which we did not get. Otherwise, I can pretend that we spent 300m and if we count Maguire to have cost 180m, then we had a net spent of 400m so we have done bad.
My point is that net spent is not putting arbitrary random numbers. Our net spent has been circa 142m.
Don't really care, as long as we get CL football. There isn't much glory in claiming you finish third and not fourth in the league. If we qualify for CL I think this takes a lot of pressure off the players for Europa League and would make it easier (though obviously not guaranteed) for them to win. Ole and some of the players could do with a trophy.
But Martial, Rashford and Greenwood up against a defense that includes 36 year old Wes Morgan and has shipped 7 goals in 3 games isn't an issue. And that's ignoring the fact Lindelof has never lost to Leicester in the league. In fact, they haven't beaten us in the league for nearly 6 years, that's 11 games. 8 losses and 3 draws. We even have 3 clean sheets in our last 5 meetings.
But yeah. Lindelof.
Of course, on a risk reward view you have the tiny reward of finishing "bets of the rest" with the HUGE risk or missing out on champions league football for another year and all the benefits that come with it (which we need more than ever), It would be idiotic to not take that deal.
That being said though it isn't an option so we should go out and try to get that 3rd spot and have both rewards.
That being said though it isn't an option so we should go out and try to get that 3rd spot and have both rewards.
What on Earth is best of the rest, and why that is not City? I mean if best of the rest can mean whatever you want, we will get best of the rest title even with fourth as long as we don’t count the top 3. And the eleventh placed team is best of the rest if you don’t include on the rest the top 10 teams.
You're all CL anthem whores
What wouldn't you do to ensure United is in the CL, you filthy whores ye
What wouldn't you do to ensure United is in the CL, you filthy whores ye
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...hester-united-transfer-net-spend-16869073.amp
It's £60m.
If we use the amount of net transfer spend to judge the strength of the squad then why don't we count the loss of free transfer? Especially with players who are still very useful like Herrera. About his value you can see here:
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/ander-herrera/marktwertverlauf/spieler/99343
By 2018 his value was about £27m.
Best of the rest in this case means 3rd, because it's pretty obvious that City and Liverpool are the two stand out teams in the Premier League at present - even with the big points gap between City and Liverpool.
I think we will beat Leicester on Sunday, but given the choice of course i'd take 4th now.
I am not interested in finishing 3rd of 4th, when we are miles behind our two main rivals. All i care about is how to improve this team to get it back to a level where United are competing for trophies, and to bring in the required caliber of players, we need CL football. So given a choice, of course i'd take it.
I am not interested in finishing 3rd of 4th, when we are miles behind our two main rivals. All i care about is how to improve this team to get it back to a level where United are competing for trophies, and to bring in the required caliber of players, we need CL football. So given a choice, of course i'd take it.
I'd take 4th in an instant. However, my ideal scenario is Chelsea losing and our game ends up being drawn. Eliminating super Frank from Champions League spot would be nice. This is not due to disliking of Chelsea or Frank. They seem to be our closest rivals at present and would give United an advantage over the next few years.
Yes it would.
Personally I'm just keen for Ole to keep his job. The direction of the club is spot on.
These stats are more of good news. The only worry is fatigue and even with that Vardy won't have same service as he had with Maddison roaming behind.
Yeah Lindelof indeed, this club needs to learn how to cut ties with underwhelming players. Ole will give him chances but I feel it's only because Tuanzebe is not ready yet and Jones with Bailly are kamikaze disasters. Truly ambitious player would use these chances to show how good he is.