What's crazy is that back in December/January it was the opposite. 6 teams that weren't giving an inch on each other.
Top 4 race 2016/17
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What's crazy is that back in December/January it was the opposite. 6 teams that weren't giving an inch on each other.
We will finish 3rd.
Yep but we played with 9 men (Rooney and Lingard) how can that be fair?
We are losing next week.
Never thought I'll see the day when we'll be going to WHL with us as heavy underdogs.
Yeah, we had plenty of games like these with seemingly half our squad out under Fergie where we didn't impress anyone. But, far more often than not, by hook or crook, when the heat was on we would always find a way to get the three points. Of course, back in those days we were competing for titles, not fourth places!
I didn't say you're in terrible form. Just very unlikley to win 4 out of 4. You have exactly the same number of points from your last 10 games as we do, yet apparently we are doing awful. Points will be dropped in the run in by both teams, it's just a case of who drops the least that will decide the top 4.
What a perfect weekend for Liverpool, all of their top 4 rivals dropping points. Beat Watford tomorrow and that seals it.
At least 3 of our last 4 games are away from home.
It's wild how true that is based on our form. If our home and away form were switched, then I'd guess the majority of fans would not be as upset and riled up. More appreciative of how we have improved as a whole this year.
Oh c'mon mate. If the last five months have shown the last thing we can assume is that it's over until the very last ball is kicked on the final day.
The top four has dropped points at all the key points were all the nostradamuses predicted they would not.
Will be an exciting albeit nail biting end of the season.
Whilst we were bloody awful against Swansea, back earlier in the season we were winning strongly and couldn't get out of 6th. We're now reaping the benefits because all the other chasing teams are also weak right now.
I always thought the 70-72 point mark SHOULD get you CL football, it will be very interesting who will stumble over the line.
We need players to return from injury, Mata being back is great, Lingard and Rooney are in the side because there is nobody else. Players like Mata can make a big difference.
I always thought the 70-72 point mark SHOULD get you CL football, it will be very interesting who will stumble over the line.
We need players to return from injury, Mata being back is great, Lingard and Rooney are in the side because there is nobody else. Players like Mata can make a big difference.
Nah, we will win. Away from home and against so called tough opposition.
It is the dregs of the league we lose/draw to.
Indeed, especially with Jose' record against Arsene.
We can open up a 3 point gap at 3rd? What a perfect weekend it is for us to go 2 up against Watford before Clyne or Lovren lets them back in the game with a stray pass, then some shambolic set piece defending to concede two goals in stoppage time.
Not an outlandish prediction by any means, but all of the top six will fail to win at least one of their remaining games IMO. The best I can see us doing is W3D1, putting us at 75 Points which is what I expected us to finish on a few weeks ago. We'll draw at WHL to end Spurs winning streak and effectively stop them being able to win the title (not that Chelsea will drop enough to be caught). This probably means we're finishing 5th, however, so it's Europa League or bust.
I thought we were facing spurs next week?
Celta > Arsenal > Celta > Spurs > Southampton > Palace
Its almost as if nobody wants to qualify for the Champions League. Honestly a team of blind crippled hunchbacks could do better. As a Liverpool fan I think (and I am not deluded) we should have been out of sight . How can you take all those points from the top teams and drop all sorts of points to the bottom 6 teams i.e. score five in 2 games against Bournemouth and get 1 point. Its ridiculous. I'll get my tin hat ready for the responses
That was a great post, thanks for making it buddy.
We aren't known for taking opportunities.
Won't be surprised in the slightest if we drop points.
I expect both Liverpool and City to drop more points, but ultimately they'll both stumble over the line just ahead of us. Without the EL I'm confident we'd have finished above both, but as it is our team is shattered.
Yup.
Seems the EL has crippled us near the finish line. Could very well be the we end up with neither.
I think United have made a mistake by not prioritising one of the both competitons and chasing a CL both through the league and the EL. This may hamper our success both in the league and in Europe.
Paradoxically, City and Liverpool dropping points may be bad for us because they give us a chance to make the top 4 and thus we run the players in the ground. Because we still have a chance to surpass City and Liverpool, we won't make enough changes vs Arsenal to the team that is going to play Celta and this may cost us dear in the second leg.
Paradoxically, City and Liverpool dropping points may be bad for us because they give us a chance to make the top 4 and thus we run the players in the ground. Because we still have a chance to surpass City and Liverpool, we won't make enough changes vs Arsenal to the team that is going to play Celta and this may cost us dear in the second leg.
Stating the obvious but the number of games is gonna catch up with us. We have absolutely no cover left in midfield and defence.
It's almost like we can't be put out of our misery in the league to concentrate on the EL. Our squad is getting thinner by the week and I think we'll just miss out on top 4 in the end.
In the end we might miss out on top 4 and not win the EL, with so many injuries and so many players tired.
We're not getting top 4.
Liverpool's place is secured and even if them or City stumble can you see us taking 9-12 points out of our final games?
Liverpool's place is secured and even if them or City stumble can you see us taking 9-12 points out of our final games?
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That's where I'd be placing my money, atm. With tremendous positivity that would be,obviously. But there's close to no central defence left unless anyone thinks putting Carrick and/or Fellaini there is a good idea.
Absolutely. Sometimes you need to swallow the bitter pill to get better later. Us getting knocked out of the cups embarrassingly in January was our bitter pill this season. While Mourinho and the fans on here were saying additional fixtures is a sign of a club having a successful season. Which was partly correct having spent all that money. But ultimately this season was a season to early as you still have numerous notorious injury prone players that require one more summer at least to fix. Too many games too soon.
Had you got knocked out of the FA and Europa cups much earlier I have no doubt you would have finished top three. Sometimes too many sweet pills make you sick.
Got a sneaky feeling Liverpool are not winning both their next two games. They still have plenty of dropped points in them.
Imo none of the 4 teams in contention are gonna win all of there fix , add to that arsenal playing utd ..that match would definetly knock one of the two for sure , if arsenal loose they shouldnt even bother to play rest of their matches ..no use. If utd loose arsenal still 3 points and GD behind ...utd might loose to spurs ..
..so many if and buts , imo liverpool n city are finishing 3&4th
For sure. Maybe 71 points should be enough to finish in the top 4th at this rate.
I've been saying 72-74 points for months now. The way the games have panned out my opinion hasn't changed.
Said it before and I'll say it again, top 4 is gone and if we go all out against Arsenal and Spurs we risk not making it to the Europa final.
We usually react positively to defeats under Klopp. I'm actually feeling optimistic about tonight but I think we'll drop points at home to Southampton.
WDDLDW
Yes, I'd go along with that.
Please just fecking take points off Spurs. Though, knowing how bitter Mou is towards us now I wouldn't be surprised at all if he fields a youth team to gift them the points.
I'd expect it to be more like he picks a semi-youth team to get their hopes up, and then pulls off a tactical masterclass and grabs an unexpected 3 points. It would be classic Jose.
Jose isn't really bitter towards Chelsea. He's got the United job which is the one he actually wanted. Sure there's animosity over the way he left Chelsea but I doubt he would go the lengths of fielding a youth team just to spite Chelsea. Chelsea are in pole position and have no need to worry about Spurs. There's even margin for error as you can afford to lose a whole game. If you can't win at least 3 of your remaining 4 fixtures, given the teams you're up against then you'll have bottled it.
Mourinho will do what's best for United going up against Spurs taking into account our league position, injury status and participation in the Europa League.
I can see the point you're making; clearly United's squad is looking threadbare and less cups games (not least less EL ties) would have made a huge difference to our current condition, and I dread (
) to think where Liverpool would have ended up in the league had they been fighting a European campaign this season.I have reservations about the concept of electing to swallow the bitter pill though. Of course there are decisions to make over team selections across the season, but picking and choosing which competitions to give 100% to can leave a manager with masses of egg on their face. If Jose had let our Europa campaign wither on the vine without a tangible improvement in our league form and position he'd have been crucified, and rightly so, while putting all his eggs in the EL basket would have been hugely risky and massively unpopular if our league position suffered. I also believe this way of thinking can lead to self-defeating cycles such as 'let's concentrate on our league campaign over our CL group games so we can make sure we qualify for next season's CL group stage'. When you consider the confidence and momentum the team gets from winning games, plus giving your top players a chance to play themselves into some form, I think there is a strong case for (broadly speaking) trying your best across the entire fixture list.