Bit of an overreaction. We are a stable club. Yes, it's very important to stay in the Champions League but United won't crumble like Leeds did.
Where do you expect us to finish this season?
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No way we will crumble. Even if we finish outside the top four, we will come back and compete for the league next year - assuming the appropriate changes are made.
Certainly not Leeds style, but the way back would be tough. The teams ahead of us would be able to strengthen more, and ourselves would struggle to attract top players without champions league football. Commercially we'd be fine for a long long time, but winning big trophies would become a huge ask - in my opinion.
No doubt it would be tough but the club has faced darker days and come through with flying colours.
I understand that in the modern game teams have the ability to strenghten very quickly but I think United can still be a force.
4th
Is it good enough? For this season I'd say yes, however next season we have to be challenging for the title.
Is it good enough? For this season I'd say yes, however next season we have to be challenging for the title.
Yeh, 4th is good enough and that's not lowering expectations, it's just being realistic and with an ever improving league, 4th could only be a few games from 1st come May.
I really hope so. We should be able to attract top players by virtue of our history and facilities. Unfortunately the modern footballer (generalized) doesn't seem to prioritize that ahead of a quick buck.
I find it weird when fans suggest they would like the team to fail so we can get rid of the 'idiotic fans'. As if the make up of the clubs fan base is more important than the success of the team. Really odd.
The tough thing is attracting the top level players who all want to play in the CL. Yes Manchester United is still a prestigious club but who is to say the best players will come here when we aren't in the CL?
This right here is what I'm nervous about. Also seeing as our player negotiations and dealings are apparently shite these days
Yep, and once we taste success again guess which fans are going to return?
I just find that way of thinking incredibly bizarre. And I've seen it a few times in various threads including this one.
I struggle to even see us finishing fourth presently. To think many on here laughed at Glaston and other for suggesting we were not really that good and will battle for 4th place.
At the moment, we'll drop points every three games at best. Since we beat Arsenal, we have picked up 2 out of 9. Our 'tough start' is out of the way, and now just any old team is roughing us up.
Fact is, the truth could not stay hidden forever. My concern is that we don't have the money to fix this, as I struggle to believe Fergie did not realise how crap some of his lot were, and him not doing anything about it implies that he perhaps couldn't.
At the moment, we'll drop points every three games at best. Since we beat Arsenal, we have picked up 2 out of 9. Our 'tough start' is out of the way, and now just any old team is roughing us up.
Fact is, the truth could not stay hidden forever. My concern is that we don't have the money to fix this, as I struggle to believe Fergie did not realise how crap some of his lot were, and him not doing anything about it implies that he perhaps couldn't.
We have the money, it's if he's allowed to spend it or not.
I don't think that's the case. Sure there are clubs out there with crazy amounts of money but I think the money is there. I just think it's a matter of being burnt one to many times. We have spent big on big players before and it hasn't always turned out and often spent smart and it's proven better business. Obvious exceptions to both, I just think we are more careful with our business and it has its pros and cons, it's just the cons are highlighted at the moment.
Not only that but your best players will surely want to leave..... just look at Liverpool, a club with great success and history but they struggle toi get the BEST players and their star player is going to leave if they dont make the CL.
I'd rather be a proper club instead of a lottery-money club.
United till I die.
United till I die.
That is one thing, I seem to love the club even more at the moment. They fustrate the hell out of me but my feelings only get stronger by the day.
This team is good enough to challenge for the title imo we just aren't playing to our potential. I genuinely believe that. For whatever reason the team is currently underperforming so no I don't think we should be battling for 4th but we probably will be and I think even 4th might be ambitious. The whole "we're not really that good" "our players are rubbish" thing is bollocks imo.
I agree.If we were to finish outside of the European places, we'd still be able to do pretty much the same business as we would have if we have qualified.The top, top players will not come here because there are a selection of extremely rich clubs creaming them off, and LIverpool have done quite well recently considering they have not been in the CL!
It would be a big hit should we fail but not a disaster.We would need to rectify the problem before it extends to another season, but maybe it would be the kick up the arse the Glazers need! My biggest fear is that the key players we have, namely rooney and RvP, would get fed up and make noises about leaving
I don't think many want us to be City, Chelsea or Real. We just want Manchester United to be the best Manchester United it can, do the best with what we have, in terms of staff, players or resources. And we're not really there right now.
If we finish outside of UCL, we won't be able to sign many great players. There is always the possibility of unearthing a gem or probably even a rated player like Herrera but still it will be difficult. Especially if we have to compete with other clubs to sign them. Even with Sir Alex and constantly being one of the best in Europe we lost many battles to sign players. The other problem is that players from smaller teams might be in UCL while we are not. Take Koke for example (a player who is one of the top players in our wish list). By the looks of it Atletico Madrid will be on UCL while we won't. Will he leave them for us even if we decide to splash the cash?
Not to mention the financial loses of it. If I am not mistaken, we usually get 30m or more from UCL. You can get a fecking Fellaini with those money. Glazers haven't been the most generous in this business and I don't think that things will change if we start generating less money. And while a year without Champions won't be the end of the world, if we fail on the second year, it will really be difficult. Our squad is aging and the top replacements will be very difficult to get, players like Rooney or even the future world class players like De Gea or Rafael might be tempted from an exotic offer from outside.
What do you exactly mean by appropriate changes? I don't believe that Glazers will suddenly decide to spend 100m+ on transfers.
No, they haven't. This is the fourth season without UCL and even nw it will be very difficult to go there. Their squad is nowhere as good as it was during 2006-2009. They haven't been releagted but they haven't done well.
If the league form doesn't pick up sharpish, then the pressure mounts and even top four becomes a challenge...no joke. December is a crucial month in terms of shaping the table. It needs to be a solid month for United. Lose the next one and we could be 8 points off 4th place. That is 3 wins...shiver.
The Newcastle game is simply a must-win fixture, not for title aspirations, just to keep in touch with the top four. How dire is that?
The Newcastle game is simply a must-win fixture, not for title aspirations, just to keep in touch with the top four. How dire is that?
It's still top four for me, don't know which place but I haven't been a fan of theory that we'd win the league this year even before we kicked off and naturally, I still am not.
Even if we don't make CL - we would still be able to get quality players to get back to challenging for the title season after. We would have to spend, maybe not as much as City but, even if we spend say 90 mil on 2 quality players, with the squad that we have now we'd be right back in the thick of things.
Obviously given our history of trying to bargain have to be got rid of at least for one summer.
Obviously given our history of trying to bargain have to be got rid of at least for one summer.
I think that's overstating it - they've done quite well for about 3 months. They've been disappointing for the last 3-4 years, and only time will tell if they can keep up this start to the season.
It's hard to attract top quality players in today's market without the attraction of CL football. Unless you're willing to shell out a lot of money on wages, I'd expect attracting top players to be harder if you fall out of the top 4.
That was then. The game has changed a lot now with so much money and quick 'success' being the focal point. Back then fans were more patient and willing to really support their team; now it's just a bunch of fanboy impatience that's also affecting the decisions of managers. City and Chelsea won't exactly sit and wait for Utd to come though. They'd do all they can to spend their way to more trophies.
Chelsea have been spending for 10 years, United has stuck with them. We have the structure there to stay at the top level.
We should be hoping for 4th, or win the CL. Anything lower could be disastrous.
If we're lucky I think we certainly have the quality to make a solid run, but Moyes needs to get a handle on things and we desperately need to bring in midfield reinforcements. As much as I love Giggs, the guy is 40 years old and he figures prominently for us. As much as that says about Giggs, it also says about our midfield.
Without a lot of help from higher up in the table, like some massive implosions I think we're in a dog fight for 4th.
If we're lucky I think we certainly have the quality to make a solid run, but Moyes needs to get a handle on things and we desperately need to bring in midfield reinforcements. As much as I love Giggs, the guy is 40 years old and he figures prominently for us. As much as that says about Giggs, it also says about our midfield.
Without a lot of help from higher up in the table, like some massive implosions I think we're in a dog fight for 4th.
Attention-seeking, that's all it is.
4th. (downgrading from 2nd before the season started).
I dont think people believe the team is rubbish, but that SAF got the best out of it, and that it is probably not as good as many of you believe.
Couldn't agree more. They're as bad, if not worse, than the fairweather fans. Condescending elitist prats.
I think if we fell out of the Top 4, van Persie and Rooney would leave right away... That would make it very difficult, as finding players of that quality to get our goals would be a tremendous task (we could still even lose both of those players this season/end of the season if rumours are true no matter our position).
I do think we'll finish in at least the Top 4 still, though. We still have the squad to compete on all fronts, but Moyes may be able to put together some January buys considering how much ground we need to make up for a title challenge. On current form, I'd say Man City will win it, but that could all change if they don't keep picking up results away from home. We need to sort everything out though!
I do think we'll finish in at least the Top 4 still, though. We still have the squad to compete on all fronts, but Moyes may be able to put together some January buys considering how much ground we need to make up for a title challenge. On current form, I'd say Man City will win it, but that could all change if they don't keep picking up results away from home. We need to sort everything out though!
I figured we'd finish third before the season started so fourth wouldn't be too bad. Anything less than that will be a big underachievement though as there really aren't four teams better than us in the league.
Still, there's a difference between finishing fourth after being relatively competitive and not even coming close to the leaders. It's a bit too simplistic to just say "4th is okay" or whatever.
I dont think he would. Hes actually pretty trustworthy, and only really left Arsenal so that he could have something to show for his decade in the EPL. Whilst current predicaments are about as ironic as you could imagine them given the state of play one year ago, where would he go thats a step up or level with United? He might still be world class but after next summer hes going to be 31 and as a striker thats getting on a bit. Rooney however would be straight on the train down to London of course
Martinez is getting the best out of an inferior Everton team, Pochettino is getting the best out of an inferior Southampton team both of whom are playing a better brand of football than us. Moyes currently isn't getting this team to play to its potential for whatever reason and he will be given time to do so. People act like the team is shit and we need to throw money at it and overhaul it. This team is good enough imo.
I think we will finish 4th this season.
Hard yes, - very hard - not really especially for United as we have a lot more going for us than CL football. It's not like we need to attract several top players. Just one in central midfield and then a couple top quality prospects with the promise of regular first team football. You hear a lot of that from young players who are not looking to jump to big clubs just to sit on the bench. If we fail to to at least get 4th, then hopefully we'll look to move on several players to give us a fresh go the next season.