And now you have to deal with your main rivals..Everton. I think you will win the Europa league and get a spot.
Top 4 race 2016/17
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Everton 6th now even though United are 3 games behind. But if you lose to Boro that's terrible because I'm not sure you'll win your game in hand against City.
Arsenal for the first time since I can remember actually really look like they can drop out of the top 4. Madness. Never thought that would happen under Wenger. The man is well and truly finished. What a shame.
Arsenal for the first time since I can remember actually really look like they can drop out of the top 4. Madness. Never thought that would happen under Wenger. The man is well and truly finished. What a shame.
The race for forth seems to be turning into a kind of 3 way cripple fight between Arsenal, Liverpool and United to see who can be the least inept. Liverpool have a couple of tough games coming up so it's really now or never for us. Personally I'm expecting a series of dour 1-1 draws.
I think Arsenal are out of it. Their upcoming fixtures are brutal, and I don't think Wenger will get enough out of them.
It's us vs you right now.
United are out of it.
Liverpool sealed it with the win against Tottenham & Arsenal's bottlejob today.
You can't say that when they go to City tomorrow and are currently 6 points ahead of United having played 2 games more.
No. We probably won't get fourth, but we're definitely not out of it if we win tomorrow.
Disagree.
While it's true we've got a slight advantage in terms of having our six points already banked from the two games extra we've played, and also have a slight advantage as we're not playing in Europe, I still refuse to be confident until we come out of tomorrow's game with at least a point.
Our run in looks kind, but honestly, it's cruel. We can easily bottle it against "lesser" opposition, while United seem to be on a bit of a streak as of late.
So yeah, I'd say right now, we're slight favourites, and a draw against Man City would keep us slight favourites, but I'm not gonna underestimate United.
Hand on heart do you lot really see yourselves scoring enough goals in these upcoming games to squeak into a Top 4 spot?
I just don't see it personally especially with injuries/fatigue piling up. All those draws at home against fodder has already sealed your fate & left you with a little margin for error.
Why do Liverpool fans keep on saying not playing in Europe favour them? If so, why didn't you stay in the title race?
Because we're not that good? Not being blind means I'm better at putting the shopping away, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna make a 147.
(Shite analogy, but you get what I mean
)Exactly, so i wouldn't count on it too much. It's going down to the wire or to who is less shit to finish in the top 4.Because we're not that good? Not being blind means I'm better at putting the shopping away, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna make a 147.
(Shite analogy, but you get what I mean
Which is why I said we're only slight favourites, having the advantage of less fixture congestion & 6 points already banked rather than 2 games extra to play.
That Merseyside derby they've got coming up will be a tough game too.
Oh my word that is a ridiculous fixture list. It wouldn't be so bad if José trusted youth a bit more, but he won't and we will suffer because of it I am sure.Hand on heart do you lot really see yourselves scoring enough goals in these upcoming games to squeak into a Top 4 spot?
I just don't see it personally especially with injuries/fatigue piling up. All those draws at home against fodder has already sealed your fate & left you with a little margin for error.
We're not coming top 4 but luckily, we have a fall back option.Hand on heart do you lot really see yourselves scoring enough goals in these upcoming games to squeak into a Top 4 spot?
I just don't see it personally especially with injuries/fatigue piling up. All those draws at home against fodder has already sealed your fate & left you with a little margin for error.
I wouldn't be too pessimistic. If anything, as outsider I see thing repeats itself yet again. It's really about time you guy turn the corner just like every other season when there ain't expectation. The international break comes at a handy time too.
Assuming you had to beat Lyon to win the Europa League, would you rather play them in the Final or in a 2 legged knockout round?
2 legged KO. The Capital one cup final doesn't give me any confidence.
I think I would go for 2 leg as it reduces the risk of an upset.
Mourinho has a really good cup final record (I think he's won 11/13 now) so I would be pretty confident if we met them in the final. We did play poorly in the Southampton final but we were fatigued and Southampton had rested for 3 weeks
Our fixture only has 2 slots for 2 rescheduled games in case we go all the way in EL. One is after the FA Cup semi final fixture. Another after Tottenham game. In case it's scheduled after Tottenham game (FA loves to spike our schedule); we would pretty much resolve our goal target for the season by then whether we go all for a top 4 or just focus in EL.
Edit: Just realized the City game was confirmed. Not bad. They had to play Arsenal in the weekend in FA Cup semi. Burnley is bad & all but they're very close by so pretty much we don't travel much this period & should have better preparation for this run of game compared to City.
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Hand on heart do you lot really see yourselves scoring enough goals in these upcoming games to squeak into a Top 4 spot?
I just don't see it personally especially with injuries/fatigue piling up. All those draws at home against fodder has already sealed your fate & left you with a little margin for error.
We play City away on April 27th.
I see 6 games out of the 12 where Utd might not get many points at all. I think we are stuffed.
Chelsea - home
away at Burnley, Arsenal, Spurs, Southampton, City.
Win the next 4 & do a bit better than I suggest is possible but looks tough atm. Don't score enough goals, liable to draw any game whatsoever vs. anybody.
Liverpool will put away enough of these lesser sides to maintain the gap as it now imo, we will do well to get close at all given how the fixtures are.
Chelsea - home
away at Burnley, Arsenal, Spurs, Southampton, City.
Win the next 4 & do a bit better than I suggest is possible but looks tough atm. Don't score enough goals, liable to draw any game whatsoever vs. anybody.
Liverpool will put away enough of these lesser sides to maintain the gap as it now imo, we will do well to get close at all given how the fixtures are.
Probably in the final for me. Jose's record in cup finals is remarkable.
The extra round for europa really fecks up everything.
Hilarious the doom being put on us by other fans in this discussion.
Let's get things straight.
Out of Liverpool, Arsenal and us - and it's between the three of us for one CL spot - we are the form team. Top Four is also in our hands...if we match Liverpool and Arsenal for points in the remainder of the campaign (and we have got MORE points than both since the turn of the year, ie we are in better form than both) - we finish top four.
Those saying we have 'no chance' - when it;s quite obvious we absolutely do - are falling for Mouirnho's little mind games of 'the fixture schedule is killing us'...that's what he wants you all to think. Make no bones about it; Mourinho 100% thinks we will finish top four. I'm pretty sure we will too. I think we'll be in the top four by the fourth of April and we'll still have a game in hand.
Let's get things straight.
Out of Liverpool, Arsenal and us - and it's between the three of us for one CL spot - we are the form team. Top Four is also in our hands...if we match Liverpool and Arsenal for points in the remainder of the campaign (and we have got MORE points than both since the turn of the year, ie we are in better form than both) - we finish top four.
Those saying we have 'no chance' - when it;s quite obvious we absolutely do - are falling for Mouirnho's little mind games of 'the fixture schedule is killing us'...that's what he wants you all to think. Make no bones about it; Mourinho 100% thinks we will finish top four. I'm pretty sure we will too. I think we'll be in the top four by the fourth of April and we'll still have a game in hand.
No, you can not compare that. That would not happen since Wenger will be replaced by a top notch manager, and not by someone from the bargain table.
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Definitely not Moyes. There are many options in Italy, Spain and France. But that's a topic for another thread... once we definitely know that Wenger is quitting.
Liverpool and Arsenal have bigger problems than us. That's why we'll get top 4 regardless of tiredness and fatigue. Pogba/ Herrera and Ibra basically having a month off in March is a huge plus for us if we can get by Boro and West Brom.Hand on heart do you lot really see yourselves scoring enough goals in these upcoming games to squeak into a Top 4 spot?
I just don't see it personally especially with injuries/fatigue piling up. All those draws at home against fodder has already sealed your fate & left you with a little margin for error.
What a bizarre response. You are saying Arsenal won't make the mistakes we did because they will hire a top coach, yet you can't name one?
There is no coach out there who will definitely carry on Arsenal's amazing run of 17 CL qualifications. Let's not forget, Arsenal won't be just losing a manage,r they will be losing their whole club mentality, a mentality that has been in place for 18-years.
Chelsea can handle a Conte coming in and doing well because Chelsea's mentality is to change coaches every two years...it's how the club operates. But Arsenal will have a massive dip post Wenger, much like United did post-Fergie regardless of who comes in.
Except Fergie retired as a champion so the "dip" was only 6 league places. If Arsenal suffer a dip of similar magnitude they could really be in the wilderness for a while and that means mid table not top 5 or 6.
The perennial question is how expectations are set.
For example, can fans accept a run over 3 seasons where their team finishes 1st, 10th, 1st, as Chelsea have done (and their fans seem to be able to accept that), or would they prefer to be 4th, 3rd, 4th?
Being the form team is easier when considering your schedule compared to theirs over the same period. If Liverpool doesn't continue to throw games against the lower teams they are favourites imo, but anything can happen.
Not saying you have no chance, you got as good a chance as the rest, but you will need to perform in a few big games away from home against the top 6 to get in imo.
Not saying we are out of it, but wins against Middlesbrough and West Brom without Pogba, Herrera and Ibrahimovic are going to be pivotal (suppose Pogba could be back for WBA but it might be a game too soon). If we win these games, then having these guys rested for Everton will probably have done us some good in the end.
I'm kinda thinking we'd only need about 20/30 of the remaining points to finish 4th after that. I can't see four teams finishing on 75+ points this year, everyone keeps screwing it up. We are going to have to actually beat some of the teams around us to do it, however.
I'm kinda thinking we'd only need about 20/30 of the remaining points to finish 4th after that. I can't see four teams finishing on 75+ points this year, everyone keeps screwing it up. We are going to have to actually beat some of the teams around us to do it, however.
Oh sorry, if you like to read some names: Simeone, Allegri should be relatively safe top 4 options. And I do think your post Fergie problems only ocurred because of that one insane appointment. I can't see Arsenal being that naive.
What do you mean throw away? The problem for Liverpool is they aren't good enough to alter their style and are actually second best in a lot of those games.
They aren't throwing anything away
Maybe you're right, but they were beating those teams comfortably earlier in the season though. We'll have to see what happens, but most teams go through a bad patch, and with their schedule, and being out of Europe and the cups I personally think its theirs to lose.
There is no way Simeone or Allegri would guarantee Top Four. Only four of Mouirnho Conte, Klopp, Guardiola, Pochetinho and "Allegri" can fit in the CL spaces.
Plus, the major problem for Arsenal being the mass turn around in mentality. The next Gunners manager will struggle massively, whoever he is, to meet fan expectation.
No, if United don't continue to throw games against lower team opposition, they will be favourites.
But going by the fact that it's likely United and Liverpool, as well as Gunners, will continue to go as they have been going over the past few months, United will out-point both Liverpool and Arsenal.