75pts: Around about the maximum points haul you’d expect from this squad?

Siorac said:
Yes, that would have been about the limit of my ambition, and that only after signing Casemiro and Antony at the end of the summer. Before that, I would have been a lot more pessimistic.

It's disappointing that this is now considered a good return for Manchester United but, well, that's the reality. The squad has obvious gaps; filling some of those gaps should be able to push us towards the 80s.
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We got 58 points last season. We went from 35 points behind city to 14. 34 behind Liverpool to 8 ahead. Interestingly we scored only one goal more, but conceded 14 fewer. A first, and maybe a second trophy since 2017.

there are clear signs that we aren’t “there” yet but we have to appreciate the steps made.
 
I think if you apply the context of Varane's fitness, Casemiro's suspensions, Eriksen's injury and our lack of a striker we could rely on (which was 100% known at the start of the season), it's a good return.

City have had a normal PL season - they've used the 10 game buffer to drop points so it probably was the season for someone to make a challenge and have a chance, but it was certainly too soon for us.
 
Charlie Foley said:
We got 58 points last season. We went from 35 points behind city to 14. 34 behind Liverpool to 8 ahead. Interestingly we scored only one goal more, but conceded 14 fewer. A first, and maybe a second trophy since 2017.

there are clear signs that we aren’t “there” yet but we have to appreciate the steps made.
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That's why I'm saying this is the reality. At this time this has to be considered a good season for us, with a good points total.
 
Wumminator said:
Another way to look at it is our wage bill and transfer outlay is about sixty times higher than Southamptons and yet we’re only 16 positions higher than them. I’d expect genuinely to be sixty times higher based on our transfer spend.
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:lol:
 
Probably near enough the maximum in practical terms. There's probably always stuff we could have done differently at various stages that might have maximised things even further, but you're never going to reach that type of perfection as a manager, especially in your first season in the league. In hindsight you wouldn't take Weghorst, you'd take anybody else with a pulse and maybe that would have made the difference for example.

The squad is okay but it's not brilliant. Striker has been a chasm, Ronaldo causing early season problems, various forward players that have been average at best aside from Rashford. The tools have been alright but nothing special for ETH so to achieve that points tally feels like a great effort.

I think if I imagine Pep coming in, exact same squad, I don't see any huge improvement on what we produced. So that says it all to me, if I don't think one of the best managers in history would do much if any better then it must be near the max.
 
Not sure I can remember seeing a warning for constant negativity. Mods clearly don’t venture into the match day threads after a bad half
 
SinNombre said:
I am not a big fan of buying a 30-year old Kane but buying him and Caicedo will give us a chance of 90 points.
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Yeah, I'm not saying I think 90's impossible but I doubt if we finish next year second place with 80 points and another good performance in the other comps I'm gonna be saying the slow progress is unacceptable.
 
Dan_F said:
Not sure I can remember seeing a warning for constant negativity. Mods clearly don’t venture into the match day threads after a bad half
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I think different standards are applied to match day threads, else modding it would be like trying to cut the lawn with scissors.
 
el3mel said:
Very good tally coming from our abysmal record of last season. Need 10 more points next season in order to challenge for the league.
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85 points won't be anywhere near enough if City carry on their level of the last few months and repeat the previous 2 seasons. The finished on 89 this season but more than likely would've been 94 if the league wasn't already done before the Brighton and Brentford games.

You would need 90-100 points to challenge realistically.
 
Considering where we were back in August it's great. Casemiro made it possible otherwise we'd have to put up with McTominay-Fred midfield still.
 
Skills said:
Another way to look at it is - is this squad only 4 points better than Newcastle United?

If so, why? Considering the amount of money we spent last summer and the relative starting points of the two clubs.
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You never disappoint.
 
sullydnl said:
In most seasons our level of performances and struggles with goalscoring would result in fewer points than that. We were generally on the right side of some very tight margins and I don't think there was more to eke out of this squad this season than we have.
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This is already overachieving, due to a combination of some luck, some due to getting in players like Licha, Casemiro, some credit to ETH for getting more out of Rashford/shaw/Lindelof. This is a 65 point squad.

So strengthening the first team and improving the squad is key to maintaining top 4 imo.
 
Without a striker all season? It’s an overachievement. A top striker and we can easily stick 12 points on that tally
 
If we take our collection of forward players they don't seem to have any cohesion about them. They all play like individuals as if this was an international side. You can see relationships developing elsewhere on the pitch except up top where we look disjointed and have often relied on individual form and brilliance. Getting that right could make up the points difference
 
Don't care about points, as comparisons each year are fairly meaningless.
But 3rd place is without any doubt maximising things.

If anyone thought we'd finish higher than 3rd this season they must be on the Ty from Arsenal Fan TV scale of delusion.

After those opening 2 defeats there was actually a genuine thread asking if we'd get relegated!
 
Yes. Maybe we would have got a few more if the refs hadn't screwed over Casemiro. Next season will be the real marker when the dross has been culled and the proper midfield and forward line is in place from day 1.
 
sullydnl said:
In most seasons our level of performances and struggles with goalscoring would result in fewer points than that. We were generally on the right side of some very tight margins and I don't think there was more to eke out of this squad this season than we have.
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Yes, although there is an argument to be made that the insane fixture congestion had a significant negative effect on the overall performance levels. We haven't had a week without a midweek game between the World Cup and something like the start of May. A more normal season, in which our matches aren't getting arbitrarily moved around because the Queen dies, should see better performances.
 
Wumminator said:
Another way to look at it is our wage bill and transfer outlay is about sixty times higher than Southamptons and yet we’re only 16 positions higher than them. I’d expect genuinely to be sixty times higher based on our transfer spend.
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I know that Southampton aren't great but are they really bottom of league 1 standard :)
 
Yeah, very happy with 75 points and a 3rd placed finish. Especially after the first 2 games!

And with all the off field things going on throughout the season, and with going deep in all the cup competitions as well, then I really couldn't have asked for much more than that in the league.

Next season, if we have a good transfer window and address some of the areas of improvement - especially the #9 position - then I'll be hoping for closer to 85 points. But this season, 75 points - and doing well in the cups - has been a very good effort.
 
It feels as if we should be doing better, given that we were on 74 points the season before last. After last season's collapse it's encouraging, though, especially as a first season for ETH. For me, without question the lack of a proper number 9 has held us back, we just haven't scored enough goals and the season's been more about becoming defensively sound. We'd have been struggling if Rashford hadn't had such a good run.
Add in a good striker and we're competing with everyone except City, although that's not to say there aren't other positions to sort out if we want to win titles again.
 
It's a foundation to build on for sure.

We still have some glaring problems, that need addressing this summer.
We've got some exciting forwards, but we just don't seem to click. If we can get firing, and add a striker, I'd fully expect us to be in and around the title fight
 
75 is a fantastic achievement without a number 9.
We really needed the defence to step up and they did
 
GMoore23 said:
4 wins on the bounce once the players got a proper rest between games.

I think we could've pushed City if ten Hag had rotated in the Europa and Fa Cup.

Still a good first season overall and it'll be an excellent first season if we end up beating City in the Cup final.
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Not a chance, the only way we'd have been pushing City was if we had a proper striker, we didn't not win games because of rotation, we didn't win because we couldn't score goals that with a proper striker we probably would have
 
I reckon the point limit of this squad as it is is probably around 80ish points. If there wasn't a World Cup so we had to cram all our cup games into 4 months, as well as getting a bit luckier with injuries/suspensions I reckon we'd be up there with Arsenal.

That's got to be the goal for next year, assuming we have a good summer. We should pushing the top teams for the title although it may be a season too early to win it.

I'm happy with how this season went, 75 is nothing to scoff at. With a trophy (potentially 2), that's got to be an 8/10 season.
 
The biggest constraint was a lack of proper striker so yeah think we're at the very upper end of expectations. For the money spent though i'd say we could have gone a bit further.

Largely irrelevant though, celebrating third is daft and you'd hope the players still see it as a failing. Next season we have to compete.
 
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