Good enough for top 4 next season?

With Maguire it's top 4 easily. Expecting anything less than top 4 having spent a fortune in two key positions of weakness would be a real lowering of standards.

We should be challenging Spurs, too soon for much higher.
 
Smores said:
With Maguire it's top 4 easily. Expecting anything less than top 4 having spent a fortune in two key positions of weakness would be a real lowering of standards.

We should be challenging Spurs, too soon for much higher.
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We really shouldn't be challenging spurs we have a very mixed first 11. And a new manager taking his first pre-season. We might challenge spurs but no way we "should" be given our respective last 12 months.

Can I just caveat that I'm referring to the team we have right now. If we get 3-4 players in from now. Then yeah 3rd is possibly on.
 
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Even Chelsea get transfer ban. But so far Chelsea arent sure worse strength than United. Reasons why.

CB - Kurt Zouma
CM - Bakayoko
Winger - Pulisic and Hudson
CF - Tony Abraham

And Chelsea do have some really good youngster. On same level as United best U19 youngster. Theirs reach the final of uefa youth league last season.

So no superstar in the team. Both Chelsea are double covered in all positions. Loftus Cheek can be a decent and big CF, beside Giroud. Plus some really good youth CF, like Charlie Brown. So again. Luckily for Lampard, he is taking over a really good squad. And if Hudson turn to be really good like Bayern Munich rate him.

Again, even they haven’t buy any this summer. But 5 really good players back from loan. Will definitely strength theirs squad and starting line up. Chelsea are definitely capable of top 4 this season.
 
We were 5 points behind 4th place at the end of last season.
Being harsh but I think fair, we were carrying Young at Right back for the whole season which is a drain on the rest of the team. That effect over that long is a small margin becoming a big margin. We now have a very good solid (Actual..... as opposed to former winger) Right Back. So straight away we're better off.
Secondly, if the team is fit and conditioned as required to play that way, and the Pre-Ole-Conctract first 11 shows up, then that terrible run of form at the end of the season is VERY unlikely. Taking away abit of the doom merchant vibe...... we were causing some very good teams a lot of problems in that period.
Thirdly if/when **delete as applicable** we get Maguire, we have the makings of a much more stable and functioning, comfortable, composed defence that can play out from the back, link better with the forward players, which automatically takes the pressure of the defence.

Taking lots of small things in to account, but across the length of a season means in my belief we can easily claw back 5 points.

Esp when it seems Chelsea are static and Arsenal seem to be back peddaling faster than people would belive we are on here.

Sure its not great and we are looking at a long way back to where we once were, but for this specific question regarding the upcoming season...... Yes we are good enough for the top 4.
 
LuckyScout78 said:
Even Chelsea get transfer ban. But so far Chelsea arent sure worse strength than United. Reasons why.

CB - Kurt Zouma
CM - Bakayoko
Winger - Pulisic and Hudson
CF - Tony Abraham

And Chelsea do have some really good youngster. On same level as United best U19 youngster. Theirs reach the final of uefa youth league last season.

So no superstar in the team. Both Chelsea are double covered in all positions. Loftus Cheek can be a decent and big CF, beside Giroud. Plus some really good youth CF, like Charlie Brown. So again. Luckily for Lampard, he is taking over a really good squad. And if Hudson turn to be really good like Bayern Munich rate him.

Again, even they haven’t buy any this summer. But 5 really good players back from loan. Will definitely strength theirs squad and starting line up. Chelsea are definitely capable of top 4 this season.
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Hudson was already there last year...

They barely got top 4 last year and they just lost Higuain and Morata and more importantly, Hazard, their best player. If anything, their first 11 and squad is worse this year.
 
It would be fantastic to go from 6th to 4th. It is whether a month is enough time to raise the fitness levels and the ability to play at the intensity Ole wants to. I still think we may have a similar physical tail off as last season but that it will happen slightly later and could be enough to push for fourth.
 
With our current squad I think we could make 4th but it will require a big effort. This transfer window is reminding me of David Moyes' summer transfer window. Ed Woodward pretending he is working hard on transfers but in the end no one else will leave and no one else will be brought. I think Ole would like to get rid of Lukaku, Matic and potentially one of Smalling Jones and Rojo. But he will end up having to make do. Watching the team on tour, I don't think Chong is anywhere ready to come into the team, Gomes looks like he might manage and Andreas still doesn't look all that great. So we will have a thin squad. I'll be watching every game in agony willing them to play out of their skins every match and confound expectation.
 
I'm starting to think we are good enough. Arsenal and Chelsea are the teams to beat which is definitely doable. If we sign Maguire and Bruno, we might even come 3rd.

I think Rashford is going to have a standout season and score 20 goals in the PL for the first time. Our back 4 is also looking good (assuming Maguire signs) and De Gea is also signing a new contract. Pogba also looks like staying. So if we can add Longstaff and Bruno, we'll have decent variety and options in midfield.

I'm also expecting Greenwood, Gomes and James to play a key role. They will bring that extra bit of ability, creativity and goal threat that we have been lacking.

The players from whom I have zero expectations are Martial, Sanchez, Lukaku, Lingard, Mata and Matic. I hope they can surprise me but I doubt it.
 
My opinion hasn't changed. So a big no for me.
We get Maguire and Fernandes and keep hold of our best player then I would be more confident. As is though I would say 6th again.
 
Thing is I like how we are playing right now. We look like a team with a plan and Ole is hard at work to make everyone's role clear. Right now I am excited and could see top four. Add Maguire and Bruno and we will be really strong.
 
Rob Bowman said:
Thing is I like how we are playing right now. We look like a team with a plan and Ole is hard at work to make everyone's role clear. Right now I am excited and could see top four. Add Maguire and Bruno and we will be really strong.
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My thoughts exactly
 
Rob Bowman said:
Thing is I like how we are playing right now. We look like a team with a plan and Ole is hard at work to make everyone's role clear. Right now I am excited and could see top four. Add Maguire and Bruno and we will be really strong.
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Trouble is, we haven't played anyone yet. We'll have no idea how good we are until we start the Premier League. And by then it's too late. We should get the signings in now and then figure out how to integrate them as we move forward.
 
Smores said:
With Maguire it's top 4 easily. Expecting anything less than top 4 having spent a fortune in two key positions of weakness would be a real lowering of standards.

We should be challenging Spurs, too soon for much higher.
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My thoughts as well, challenging Spurs for that 3rd place. I feel it will take more than one xfer window to bridge the gap to Liverpool and City.
 
We are good enough for the top four, but definately or easily some people are saying? Forgetting the wonderful 2-3months we have when Ole first took over our seasons form was probably just above being in fear of getting sucked into a relegation fight.

I still think we are five ins and outs of a side that can compete for the title and not sure 1-2 more and personally the 1-2 more we are heavily linked with make us that good that the top four will be comfortable and Im also not sure at all Pogba still being here is a good thing the number of problems he could cause off the pitch weighed up against the number of top tier performances he may put on it.
 
Hard to say until the transfer window closes before we can realistically project where we are relative to the other top six clubs.

Assuming Pogba puts in a full throttle shift this season (based on the Ronaldoesque promise that we sell him next summer), assuming we bring in Maguire, assuming we bring in Bruno, and assuming Rashford takes the next step up, I can actually see us being best of the class after City and Liverpool. But that's a lot of ifs. Let's see where the squad is before the season's first whistle.
 
I think it'll be much easier than last season. Tottenham will take some hard hits, Chelsea with Hazard out, no signings and a rookie manager ist most likely much weaker than they were. That leaves Arsenal who don't seem too eager to push their rebuild.

So yeah, I think you guys have good chances this season but mainly because of your competitors' weakness. I don't think your squad is all that strong to be honest. Very few players who would even fight for a starting spot at Liverpool or City. For what it's worth I'd say that the gap between the top 2 and 3-6 will get even better than it was last season.
 
Mr H said:
Hudson was already there last year...

They barely got top 4 last year and they just lost Higuain and Morata and more importantly, Hazard, their best player. If anything, their first 11 and squad is worse this year.
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Hudson-Odoi was at Chelsea last season you are indeed right but he didn’t start a PL game till 3 April and some 20 days later he sustained an injury that put him out for the rest of the season.

Morata left in January to be replaced by Higuain in truth neither will be missed. I suspect most Chelsea supporters are far happier with the possibility that Abraham and Batshuayi will both return.

Rob Green has left, he never started a game. Cahill likewise has left but it was abundantly clear that he was never going to regain a starting berth.

Green will likely be replaced by Cumming and Cahill by Zouma or Tomori or potentially both

Hazard of course is a miss and we have no idea how Pulisic will do.

FL will probably add the likes of Reece James and Mason Mount to the squad.

Chelsea were third last season and the only real loss is Hazard but in terms of squad I think it will be stronger add to that FL will probably deploy a completely different system which will play to the strengths of the likes of Kante.

I wouldn’t dwell too much on Chelsea “ Barely getting top 4 last season” for many aChelsea supporters are of the opinion it was despite and not because of Sari
 
Even if we get Maguire and Fernandes it’s still a battle for top 4. We’ll still have gaping holes at RW, no competent holding midfielder, no-one you’d back confidently to get 20 league goals and they’ll be a reliance on same deadwood who have failed year after year in some cases. Once season starts I think youngsters will find themselves behind usual dross in pecking order.

Don’t see any reason why we can’t finish fourth but still wouldn’t be shocked if we ended up back in sixth.
 
Much depends on what happens in the rest of the transfer window. Would be desperately disappointed if we finished below Arsenal again, as they seem to be running on a small budget. That leaves us, Chelsea and Spurs fighting for 2 of the top 4 places imo. Spurs are strengthening, Chelsea may get the new manager ‘bounce’ so it will not be easy. I think we will have a much better idea after our first two fixtures.
 
If we sign Maguire and Longstaff, we will definitely finish top 3 or the least top 4. Defensively we will be so good with those 2 added.
 
Ander herrera the warrior said:
If we sign Maguire and Longstaff, we will definitely finish top 3 or the least top 4. Defensively we will be so good with those 2 added.
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I get the first player, but how can you be even slightly confident in Longstaff with a 9 game Premier league record?! He's basically totally an unknown quantity.
 
Sandikan said:
I get the first player, but how can you be even slightly confident in Longstaff with a 9 game Premier league record?! He's basically totally an unknown quantity.
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Well the only proper dm that we have is Matic, anything other than him is supposed to be an upgrade.
 
Smores said:
With Maguire it's top 4 easily. Expecting anything less than top 4 having spent a fortune in two key positions of weakness would be a real lowering of standards.

We should be challenging Spurs, too soon for much higher.
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I wish I shared your optimism.

It will depend on whether Ole can keep the players motivated and fighting for the cause. If we have some bad results and heads start to drop and rumors start coming out about unrest in the dressing room and players wishing for greener pastures etc., then we have no chance. We need 100% commitment for the entire year to even have a chance of finishing above Chelsea and Arsenal.

I think we have more chance of Ole not making it to March than we do of finishing in the top four. But I am typically a glass-half-empty kinda dude.
 
United
Chelsea
Arsenal
Everton
Leicester
Wolves
West Ham

The race for 4th place is the most open it's been for years! Pretty exciting stuff.
 
With signing only James and AWB, I think it'll be close. Chelsea, Arsenal and United will be vying for the number 4 spot. Depends if any of these three teams get hot, might be the difference maker. Last season was depressing.
 
Getting Maguire, Fernandes and a defensive midfielder in as well as keeping/re-signing De Gea and Pogba and I think top 3 is realistic and top 4 the bare minimum to expect.
 
VanGaalyTime said:
Trouble is, we haven't played anyone yet. We'll have no idea how good we are until we start the Premier League. And by then it's too late. We should get the signings in now and then figure out how to integrate them as we move forward.
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I completely agree we haven't played anyone yet.

That said it is clear the team has a plan- young skilled fast players to press high and work collectively. We will see how these young lads do against the meat of the schedule but youth is in United's DNA so I can live with this.
 
All things being equal, we will be in the Top 4 only by default. Arsenal and Chelsea are in their respective messy. Our mess isnt as bad only because we can literally chuck money onto the fire to keep it going in the short run.
 
sglowrider said:
All things being equal, we will be in the Top 4 only by default. Arsenal and Chelsea are in their respective messy. Our mess isnt as bad only because we can literally chuck money onto the fire to keep it going in the short run.
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I don't know. Arsenal started to look decent in spells last year. Now they've another year with their manager.
 
Zehner said:
I think it'll be much easier than last season. Tottenham will take some hard hits, Chelsea with Hazard out, no signings and a rookie manager ist most likely much weaker than they were. That leaves Arsenal who don't seem too eager to push their rebuild.

So yeah, I think you guys have good chances this season but mainly because of your competitors' weakness. I don't think your squad is all that strong to be honest. Very few players who would even fight for a starting spot at Liverpool or City. For what it's worth I'd say that the gap between the top 2 and 3-6 will get even better than it was last season.
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I agree with your points in bold and they scare me. Don't want to see the top 2 get so far in front that it will take too many years to be catching them. I think it is going to take 3 seasons starting from this one, where we have quite a few players who get a starting point. That is the season I think we will make a realistic challenge mate.
 
terraloo said:
Hudson-Odoi was at Chelsea last season you are indeed right but he didn’t start a PL game till 3 April and some 20 days later he sustained an injury that put him out for the rest of the season.

Morata left in January to be replaced by Higuain in truth neither will be missed. I suspect most Chelsea supporters are far happier with the possibility that Abraham and Batshuayi will both return.

Rob Green has left, he never started a game. Cahill likewise has left but it was abundantly clear that he was never going to regain a starting berth.

Green will likely be replaced by Cumming and Cahill by Zouma or Tomori or potentially both

Hazard of course is a miss and we have no idea how Pulisic will do.

FL will probably add the likes of Reece James and Mason Mount to the squad.

Chelsea were third last season and the only real loss is Hazard but in terms of squad I think it will be stronger add to that FL will probably deploy a completely different system which will play to the strengths of the likes of Kante.

I wouldn’t dwell too much on Chelsea “ Barely getting top 4 last season” for many aChelsea supporters are of the opinion it was despite and not because of Sari
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Higuain was so dead on his feet that even the raw Abraham and limited Batshuayi represent upgrades but you're underrating Sarri (got the team to play a coherent style even if you all hated it) and Hazard.

I love Pulisic's aggression, everyone who watched him says Reece James is fantastic and I know Kovacic can play better than he did last year, but Mount does not look like a starting quality top 4 Prem player to me at the moment (no indictment, he's 20 and not about physicality).

I think Chelsea (again, no Hazard), Arsenal (they'll be better in some positions then last year but are sneaky old up front and in defence) and United are solidly (as in 8-10 points) behind Spurs who are solidly behind Liverpool who won't run City quite as close this time because of a few fluke results or Klopp tactics physical fatigue after a long season and because as good as Robertson and TAA are you can't expect 23 combined assists again this time around, even though they might actually look better overall (with Keita and Fabinho properly coming good in midfield).
 
I think we have a good shout to finish in the top 4. We still have the same set of players (minus Fellaini and possibly Lukaku) who finished 2nd in 2017/18 and went on a big winning run last season. If we add Maguire, there is enough talent to finish top 4. The larger question in my mind is if we will be moving forward as a team and if we will have answers to some of the following questions:

- Do we have a settled back 4 that can be trusted for the next 2-3 seasons
- Have we got the midfield balance sorted with the right mix of defensive capability, energy and creativity
- Do we have an established pattern of attack that has enough variations to score against different opposition setups
- Has either of Rashford/Martial established themselves as one of 3 attackers that will spearhead our attack

If we are able to get positive responses to the above and enough evidence during the season that it will sustain over the next 2-3 seasons, then we have a base to build on. Then even if we lose a key player (such as Pogba or DDG) we can replace them and work towards solving 1/2 weaknesses. Otherwise, we might achieve 4th but we will have no clue whether this team can progress to a title challenge in the next 2-3 years.
 
Amazing to see people overrating Wolves, Everton & Leicester while saying we’re gonna finish 6th at best :lol:
 
Does anyone think playing in Europe on Thursday will have any impact? Whether that will be positive as it can give plenty of players minutes or negative as it could impact games played on a Saturday/Sunday.
 
It all comes down to who else we sign, if Lukaku goes and we sign A) a CB probably Maguire, B) a midfielder probably Bruno and C) a striker probably Yedder, an If players like Gomes, and Greenwood are given a crack of the whip then I think we will be distinctively better than last season and will prbably be in and around the top 2-3 for most of the season but will drop away towards the end.

6/7th Arsenal are done for my money could well be scrapping with Leicester, Wolves and Everton for top 6,
3rd/4th Spurs will as ever be about keeping their best 11 on the field, but I have a sneaky feeling they will not be as close to the top 2 throughout the season as they were this time
1st City will romp it next season IMO
2nd Liverpool put ina herculean effort last season and were slapped away, CL aside the minute any cracks show I think they will wobble
5 - 8th Chelsea many people reckon FL is going to immediately get a tune out of Chelsea, but he was not that great at Derby for much of the time he was there and was hella fortunate to get into the play offs Chelsea for me are very fragile, as long as it is going well they will be okay, but if the wheels come off I reckon they will come off big style
3rd/4th Us, A bit like Chelsea if we go well will will get top 4 no probs, we are better than Chelsea or Arsenal, if it goes pear shaped though.... not going to happen, Maguire coming in and being made captain straight off will galvanise the team
 
I'm not sure about that original team, but my suspicion is that we'll just about get maguire over the line by deadline day and that will be our only other bit of business coming in unless Lukaku leaves.

With our current side plus Maguire, I think we'll struggle for top 6,never mind top 4.
 
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