Are we going to be put back in our place next season?

Skills said:
Anyone here feel the league position this season feels a bit flukey? The entire seasons got the 17/18 feel - that season also ended with a whimper, losing a cup final.

Are we going back to spending next season fighting for 4th again, watching Liverpool and City fight for the title?
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Yes and throw Chelsea in there as well. 4th might be the best we get, unless we massively strengthen. The common denominator is they all have vastly experienced managers with a winning mentality.
 
Said earlier in season I think we’re very much where we were three seasons ago. A top four team, nowhere near winning the League or Champions League that needs better players, management, tactics and coaching.

Next season I imagine will be another top four battle, City and Liverpool should both be much stronger and possibly Chelsea too.
 
DickDastardly said:
Next season?! You lot are thinking of watching another game of football after tonight?? Kudos!

I'm still fecking livid. It's gonna take a while before i feel happy about watching us any time soon.

Liverpool won't improve, and City won't spend.
Chelsea might get better, but i don't think so.

It's all on us. Some tough calls to be made.

Too many weak minded players who don't perform.

Getting rid of them and bringing in some winners.
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Not quite sure I have seen anyone making reasoned argument that supports your thoughts.

Liverpool potentially will improve if for no other reason than VVD & Gomez returning after injury. I accept it’s not a given they will get back to pre injury levels but their influence on the pitch makes Liverpool a better team.

City. You say they won’t spend but everything I read suggests they will.

Chelsea. Might get better you say and indeed they might . Chelsea will bring in a ST that’s for sure bearing in mind that our top league scorer has just 7 to his name but what will additionally make a major difference is three fold:

Firstly Tuchal will have time to prepare something that he hasn’t more than the odd couple of games working with a squad that wasn’t based on his representations.

Secondly several of the players that are in the squad have not been able to embrace moving to a new country . Some have at a very young age been separated from any family support add to that they suffered Covid.

The third is slightly more subjective and in a way links into the first point in that several squad members will be moved on . Players like Tammy Abraham , CHO, and possibly Alonso. The first two names are treading water and or have issues off field.
 
We have to buy our wanted players NOW and not wait and bicker and dilly-dally as in the previous years.

Get things done NOW!
 
Maybe this is just last night making me feel when but I’m not sure I see much progress beyond the fortune that many rivals had poor seasons.

You can’t look at points tally v points tally. You could get more points in the season you finish second than the season you win the league, and it won’t mean the 2nd place finish was the better season.

I still don’t see much more to the manager than naming a team and hope it goes well. His influence on games is non-existent. Incidents like failing to see that time Fred was heading for a second yellow, failing to see Rashford playing poorly, failure to use subs effectively (if at all), failure to charge anything in terms of how we are playing to react to events in the pitch...

I hope we kick on but I genuinely don’t expect us to
 
I'm not sure a team of our mentality will benefit from having the fans back. Certainly our away record will get binned early doors next season.

We'll come 4th, possibly 3rd, unless Chelsea or Liverpool shit the bed again which feels unlikely. It's more likely we'll slip out of the top 4 than put in a genuine title challenge - unless we invest with 3 top level players.
 
Skills said:
Anyone here feel the league position this season feels a bit flukey? The entire seasons got the 17/18 feel - that season also ended with a whimper, losing a cup final.

Are we going back to spending next season fighting for 4th again, watching Liverpool and City fight for the title?
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It feels flukey because you look for evidence to back up your views and not the opposite. Maybe work on that

Is it possible a teams finish second and then worse off the following season ? Given that it happens every single year yes it is possible
 
This is my fear. We could repeat this season or slightly improve and still find ourselves behind Liverpool and Chelsea in the league who have had disappointing seasons. Added to that, the cups are tough at the moment with the strength of the PL and winning the CL is unlikely. That could mean a 4th place finish and another season without silverware. I think then the knives would really be out for Ole even if there was improvement in points and performances.

I fear last night was a massive moment in Ole’s tenure and the beginning of the end.
 
yeah, I'm pretty worried about next season. we ended this season with a whimper and I don't see us adding that much quality in the summer. We;ve got a good team but we don't hav ethe squad to really pose much of a problem.
 
It will be an interesting season. On paper, yes. Because in terms of squad quality and coaches we are behind City Liverpool and arguably Chelsea and they won't stop improving. But I wouldn't write us off from challenging. We are also not far away from competing ourselves. We need 3 starters and Ole has always improved after every window and the team has been progressing since he came here. The next thing to be considered as progress is a cup win and challenging for the title so fingers crossed.
 
MadMike said:
We got 74 points which in none of the last 5 seasons would get you 2nd. Mourinho got us 81 points in 2018 for reference. We also came from behind more than any other team this season which indicates some positives like persistence, but also an element of luck that could well abandon us.

Objectively speaking as soon as Liverpool get a new defender and VVD back they again become stronger in almost every line (midfield debatable) while being significantly better coached. Man City are much stronger, with more quality depth and also better coached. These facts should be obvious to anyone watching football and claiming to understand it.

The odds are heavily stacked against us for next season. Statistically speaking the smart money would be us fighting Chelsea for 3rd-4th. If they lose the final they go into next season in almost the same boat as us. Uncertain if their manager and squad is the right one to win things after two final losses.

Unfortunately the ambition of the owners is to be in the CL spots and be profitable, not to win things. I think we will have too much for Leicester, Arsenal and Tottenham again next season so we are likely to get top 4 and avoid an inquisition into why a team with our budget and expenditure cannot compete at the top. Or even have a discernible style of play for that matter.
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Yup, we will be fighting for 4th place next season, alongside Leicester, Tottenham and Arsenal. City, Liverpool and Chelsea will be miles ahead of us.
 
We've had it easy with no fans, this squad has a weak mentality, soon as fans are back in stadiums, our away form will drop and teams know they can come to OT and grab points.

This idea of challenging for the title after a few signings this summer is pure fantasy, we'll be scrapping with Leicester for top 4 next season. Signings don't matter if your tactics, coaching, in game organisation and structure aren't up to scratch, it'll always be found out at the top level.
 
We are the new Arsenal and we don't even have a renovated, let alone new, stadium to show for it.

Meanwhile, the delusional fanbase would find more reason to back the manager and give him time when be should have been out on his arse in November.
 
The league table doesn't lie, after 38 games you get the position you deserve. It's not 'flukey'.

As for next season, how about waiting to see who we bring in during the summer before guessing how we'll do next season?
 
We can only miss out on the CL twice more. From 2024 onwards we are going to be in via a wildcard if we dont make top 4. This will see very little investment in infrastructure,players,youth setup,womens team etc.

The next 3 seasons mean very little to the Glazers.

Protests are much more important that what happens on the pitch now. Momentum must continue.
 
Yorkeontop said:
City and Liverpool are still the teams to beat. We are now fairly settled on who we are under Ole.
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Don’t think we can say that until Ole is backed properly with regards to what he wants. He wanted Haaland, club didn’t deliver. Sancho was number 1 target last summer, club didn’t deliver.
 
I’m gonna boldly say Axel, Elanga and Mejbri get games next season we will compete with very best. This is obviously in thingy with the 2 or 3 new signings that might come in.
I don’t think we need more than one big signing to achieve any glory. I mentioned those 3 lads because I believe they are all bigger talent than we are noticing. Watch the finals 20 minutes into it I was thinking this game will perfect for Hannibal.
If our manager grows some and make decisions based on individual contribution to the collective not who’s perceived to be great by the general. We will surprisingly perform brilliantly. As a coach it’s his job to prove us wrong not to prove us right. Great managers carry a different viewpoint to the fan base but they prove they are right.
 
Judas said:
We're in for a tough top 4 fight, unless we do some serious summer shopping and one of City/Liverpool aren't at their best, then maybe we can push for some sort of title challenge. A lot of work to be done on the team first.

Every pre-season last few years people talk of loads of teams being in the title race and hasn't really happened, probably be the same again.
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Think we are fourth in the betting, so that is likely where we will finish. That is if Leicester don't find a way to actually achieve Top 4.
 
Our owners ambition is to get top four, not win stuff. It’s crazy thinking we might actually be successful
 
It does feel like we're treading water. We've the potential to improve we'll have to wait and see but i think next year has to end in a trophy or he's gone.

I thought it was telling that Rio, Scholes and Hargreaves seemed to be skirting around that too. A little progress isn't enough for united and we as fans have become a little too lenient in pretending every manager needs a long project and that failure is acceptable.
 
No. The league position doesn't lie. We deserved to finish second and the gap between us and City showed the real difference between us. What we also need to look at is the gap between those behind us. We finished 5 points ahead of liverpool and 7 ahead of Chelsea. It's not that big a difference. If we improve our squad and get some consistency, we can get second again, but we'd need a lot of luck to get first.
 
christinaa said:
We have to buy our wanted players NOW and not wait and bicker and dilly-dally as in the previous years.

Get things done NOW!
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Exactly. That is likely too much to ask for. The meltdown when one of the players we all think we need desperately goes somewhere else will be awful.
 
We will be challengers but city are still favourites. Anyone that’s followed football understands there are cycles which take place
 
We have been comfortable top 2 this entire season, 18 months worth of football since signing Bruno.
Lets not pretend otherwise.
 
Zoo said:
Don’t think we can say that until Ole is backed properly with regards to what he wants. He wanted Haaland, club didn’t deliver. Sancho was number 1 target last summer, club didn’t deliver.
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I trust Pep and Klopp over him regardless of his signings.
 
It depends on who we sign.
We won't win the league though.
Liverpool won't be as bad as they were this season and Chelsea will have a better start than they did in 2020.
City will obviously be favourites especially if they sign Kane.
 
Liverpool have obviously underperformed due to their many injuries. Chelsea look much better now with Tuchel. I don't think we will finish higher than 4th next season unfortunately.
 
Should get top 4 again but more likely 3rd or 4th. City and Liverpool streets ahead.

Will need good signings though and I still cannot see us winning a trophy at all, not with our coaching.
 
Harry Harries said:
I'm not even sure what our place is right now. We crapped out of all the cups, we cruised to second place while failing to muster up any sort of a title challenge. Obviously it all hinges on the summer, but we could finish anywhere between 2nd and 6th next season and it wouldn't particularly surprise me.
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Please, enough of this. We have been much better than to go and get this prediction. Yes sure City and Liverpool are probably favourties to go above us, but not anyone else.

Imagine the things people would've said about Ole, if he lost the clutch last game of the season to miss out on CL (bar some Spurs help) to Aston Villa, like Tuchel did.
 
Weren't we supposed to be 'put back in our place' this season already? Happens every year, fans proclaiming every other team amazing and us shite. We will be fine. City are better than us and will remain. Chelsea and Liverpool are close to our level, could be better could be worse depending on the day and health. Everyone else is weaker and will remain weaker. If we get good signings in we may have a shot at title challenge, provided all stars align for us, other than that City will be impossible to catch. We won't drop out of top 4.
 
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matsdf said:
Please, enough of this. We have been much better than to go and get this prediction. Yes sure City and Liverpool are probably favourties to go above us, but not anyone else.

Imagine the things people would've said about Ole, if he lost the clutch last game of the season to miss out on CL (bar some Spurs help) to Aston Villa, like Tuchel did.
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Bang on, Tuchel could well lose all three most important games of his season but he'll still be a beautiful amazing person for people on here while Ole is the vile idiot.
 
Lucky? We should have had more than 80 points if not for scheduling in last few weeks. We were unlucky to be in tough group in UCL and actually should have qualified. Went to finals of Europa and had a disappointing day. We were in Semi final of FA cup. How can we get so lucky in all competition?
 
Although we weren't really fighting for top 4 as we were always comfortable for that, we weren't really fighting for the title either, so fighting for top 4 wouldn't really be a step down from where we've been anyway. And it's probable, we're unlikely to close the gap on City, it would take serious investment of like 250m to do that, and I just don't see that happening, so it's far more likely we end up in some kind of battle for top 4, especially when you take into account it's hard to imagine Liverpool can possibly be as bad as this season, and Chelsea's clear improvement since Tuchel come in.
 
For us, it'll be a top four scrap, trying to keep our noses in front of Leicester, Spurs, Arsenal, Everton etc and hoping we don't have to watch Liverpool/City clean up on trophies again.

Unless of course we get a top manager in.
 
Zoo said:
Don’t think we can say that until Ole is backed properly with regards to what he wants. He wanted Haaland, club didn’t deliver. Sancho was number 1 target last summer, club didn’t deliver.
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We got Amad , Pellestri , VDB and Telles and Cavani. None were first teamers with the exception of Cavani at the end of the Season . The Definition of Insanity is to repeat the same thing and expect different outcomes. If we dont Invest in First team footballers we will suffer the same fate again next season . Trophy less.
 
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