Good, for a minute there I thought you were one of them New Age types.
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Good, for a minute there I thought you were one of them New Age types.
I think you're 3-4 from a really good, efficient team.
If I were a United fan, my biggest fear would be that the players coming through are probably not quite at the level of those departing. Jones and Smalling compared to Rio and Vidic, for example?
It wouldn't be a monumental failure - they're a good side run by a good manager which has stability and common sense behind it.
Smell the coffee! there's very little to say you'll finish ahead of Liverpool on current squad/form.
Liverpool do have the best player in the league though and the most devastating attack around as well. It will be interesting to see how they manage both the Champions League and PL but it's very easy to think of them finishing ahead of us again if Rodgers turns out not to be a one season wonder. My own rating for us finishing in the top 4 is dependent on them not doing so well.
David Moyes incompetence was a massive part of what happened last season. We're guaranteed to do much better just as a result of actually having a capable manager.
How much better depends on whether we fix the barren wasteland that is our midfield.
How much better depends on whether we fix the barren wasteland that is our midfield.
Exactly. Throw in a LB, CB and a couple of midfield players and baby, you've got a stew going.
It all depends on the signings we make, 2-3 world class players will make a big difference, whether we'll get them is another question.
Let other clubs deal with the pressure of expectation for once. We should keep our heads down until Van Gaal sorts our lot out; it's pointless to argue when last season says we're mid table at the moment. That's if you believe in the you're-only-as-good-as-your-last-game mantra, which we all would with regard to any club other than our own.
It's near forking impossible to sign one really good player , let alone the 2/3 you need.
Pete and alastair talking more out of hope more than expectation.
I reckon we will finish above them next season. Normality will be restored.
I reckon we will finish above them next season. Normality will be restored.
I'm not.
Under Ferguson, I was never one of these doom-mongerers who believed United would fail every season.
It's changed a bit now.
That's the stupidly arrogant nonsense I was on about. It's a big deal to get back to top 4, even LvG isn't counting on it.
Keep hoping. Either you or Liverpool will be dropping out of the top 4 next season.
Please stop, lol.Don't disagree with that a CB was one of the positions I think needs to be strengthened. Bu neither Vidic nor Rio havery been at their best for the last few years.
Jones and another new experienced CB is strong for a top 4 team.
Ado a quality CM and a change in manager and we aren't that far away from any of top 4 and probably ahead of some.
I'm sure he expects no less. It's turning us back into Champions straight away he implied he will aim to do in the first year if not the second.
Liverpool have one world class player and nearly won the league because they had a manager who devised a system to get the best out of them. This idea that we need to sign multiple worldies just to compete is nonsense.
This league is won by firepower and has been for a long time. We have some world class attacking options and a manager with a track record in making teams gel. I don't think it's arrogant to have a lot of confidence going into next season.
This league is won by firepower and has been for a long time. We have some world class attacking options and a manager with a track record in making teams gel. I don't think it's arrogant to have a lot of confidence going into next season.
Everyone said we were fecked at the start of 06/07 too, having only signed Michael Carrick before the start of the season.
Sometimes there is a thin line between confidence and arrogance.
New manager (again), loss of key players, need new team ethic, gaping holes in CM to be plugged. Plenty of work to do to beat out Spurs and Everton, let alone get top 4.
I still think we will get CL football this season quite comfortably.
For a start, having less games to play will be an added bonus.
But this is a team that won the league two seasons ago. Yes it's aged, yes it's lost a few players, including a manager, but the core is still their.
We had a bad season, under a bad manager. Under what is considered to be a considerably better manager, the team will perform a lot better.
We played negative football, and it affected us, but with the positive manner, the results will come.
We will sign players, they don't need to all be world class. We already have more world class players than Arsenal do. Arsenal have a lot of 'good' players. United have them, and will also buy them.
I just really find it funny that after a bad season, we are all of a sudden a mediocre team that won't do anything.
United is still a way bigger club than Arsenal is
For a start, having less games to play will be an added bonus.
But this is a team that won the league two seasons ago. Yes it's aged, yes it's lost a few players, including a manager, but the core is still their.
We had a bad season, under a bad manager. Under what is considered to be a considerably better manager, the team will perform a lot better.
We played negative football, and it affected us, but with the positive manner, the results will come.
We will sign players, they don't need to all be world class. We already have more world class players than Arsenal do. Arsenal have a lot of 'good' players. United have them, and will also buy them.
I just really find it funny that after a bad season, we are all of a sudden a mediocre team that won't do anything.
United is still a way bigger club than Arsenal is
Arsenal fans are getting called arrogant in this thread when there are posts like this?
I wish I had the optimism you have.
About the only thing that gives me hope that top four will happen is the fact we have no weekly European football.
The name of the club (or being a 'bigger' club than the others) means nothing whatsoever, seeing as the game is played on grass.
This team of players know how to win. But that was playing functional football, under a genius of a manager, with the occasional bit of pretty football.
With this current set of players, I can't see us playing attractive football consistently while also winning the games needed. The balance is missing.
I agree that we don't need world class 'top names' as much as we just need the right players. And I'd welcome Schneiderlin, for example.
It really comes down to this summer. I don't believe that we're incompetent or clueless. But the problem is that we've left the midfield for so long that it's becoming rather desperate, and there are now teams who weren't here three seasons ago who can offer the same as (or more than) us.
We're no longer at a place where having a squad with faults is okay because of the genius in charge. It very much comes down to the personnel. The playing field is even between us and the other teams.
People need to get it into their heads that what happened with Sir Alex has happened. We wont 'return' to the top, just because we're United. And the competition is fiercer than it was for most of Sir Alex' time here.
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The only teams that are set in stone are Chelsea and City in my opinion.
Liverpool and Arsenal have a similar team than us in terms of quality.
I am not saying it will be a walk in the park, but I do expect us to qualify.
I think the major reason for missing out this season was because of our tactics. We was asked as a team to not lose, rather than win, and it showed on the pitch. We played negative football week in week out.
I am not saying Carrick is world class at all, but there is a reason he was in the team of the year the other season, yet this season was was a shadow of him self.
Inserting a positive style of play will improve our results no end.
Name our best players. Apart from De Gea, you would say Rooney, Mata, RVP and Carrick, while adding Januzaj to the mix with his emergence. We will buy some players to, I don't doubt that.
So, all our best players are positive, forward thinking players, but they where held back, being asked to play negative football
We've as good a keeper and strike force as any in the league. A couple of good midfielders and a competent manager would have us top 4.
the league is won by having a solid midfield...the one area we are weak in. whoever van Gaal gets in will play to his system...and we will be fine.
What key players have we lost? Two injury prone defenders weren't key.
You're making sense, however I don't share that level of optimism. But I really hope things click into place like you think they will.
I still think people are talking as if Sir Alex himself has just become manager again. As if it's back to business, when actually it's unknown territory.
It's also arguable whether we have the fourth best manager in the league, and the third best squad (especially after this summer).
Our name doesn't entitle us to anything. The fact we were Champions before doesn't actually mean much now, considering the changes that have happened here and elsewhere.
Van Gaal also isn't the only manager with good attacking tactics.
I'm hoping that the lack of European football is as helpful as people think it'll be, and that we get things very right this summer (considering other teams will be strengthening too, which some seem to forget).
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Indeed. The way it looked this season Vidic and Ferdinand weren't exactly leading by example either.
Fine. A season with Smalling/Evans/Jones at CB, no senior figures like Giggs in the dressing room. No problem. Apart from the other issues you're ignoring.
I wouldn't be surprised if Arsenal fall out of the top four next season, depending on who Liverpool buy and sell.
I can see Arsenal being stronger next year. If anything it'll be Liverpool who see a drop from this season, in my opinion. Still going to be tough for us either way.
Who are we falling out for?
United.
We already have four world class players in our team - how many do Arsenal have?
Everyone says Arsenal will fall out every year. It's not happening.
EDIT - We will get top four though, I'm confident. At the expense of Liverpool.
You've got 1 in De Gea. We've got 1 in Ozil. That's it.
Rooney, DDG, Mata and RVP are all world class.
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