Race for top 4 | Finito.

So at the weekend when we play at Arsenal:

Liverpool-Chelsea
Fulham-Tottenham
City-Wolves
Palace-Newcastle

Draw between Liverpool and Chelsea (though I think Liverpool should beat them at Anfield) and Spurs not winning at Fulham would be great. Don't think Palace will get anything vs Newcastle, especially after drawing vs us.

Such a shame we didn't win last night as we'd be 8 points ahead of Spurs now, having played one game less.
 
So even if we lost against Arse, we are 6 points ahead of Spurs having played both Arse and City 2 times.

Will take it..
 
Really well ensconced in the top 4 places now, with a nice buffer.

A title challenge would have been fun and unexpected but we’re probably about where we all thought and hoped we be with this squad and ETH’s first season.
 
Good for Spurs not to start closing the gap, as much as I don’t rate then anyway.
 
not so long ago we were champions, now in race for top 4, i miss those beautiful times
 
This was the right result for us. There is no universe in which City are going to drop out of the top four and what we want above all else is to be snuggled safety in the top four with Spurs a tiny speck in the rear view mirror so that we can go about our business in the competitions we're still in through the end of the season.

The alternative argument is that we still had, or have, a chance at the PL trophy and City dropping points would have been worth the price of Spurs closing in on us. Perhaps, but I don't think that's a realistic goal this season.
 
lex talionis said:
This was the right result for us. There is no universe in which City are going to drop out of the top four and what we want above all else is to be snuggled safety in the top four with Spurs a tiny speck in the rear view mirror so that we can go about our business in the competitions we're still in through the end of the season.

The alternative argument is that we still had, or have, a chance at the PL trophy and City dropping points would have been worth the price of Spurs closing in on us. Perhaps, but I don't think that's a realistic goal this season.
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Yeah I feel the same way. I think yesterday's result brought us back down to reality and made it clear that a title race was a pipedream for us at this point. We need to focus on cementing top 4 and this result favours that.
 
6pts clear of 5th with a game in hand?

I'd have snatched someone's arm off for that kind of lead after Brentford beat us 4-0.
After Arsenal at the weekend we will have played the top 2 twice as well.

talks of title races are still premature. We still need a proper striker and another top midfielder before we can realistically win the league.
 
lex talionis said:
Correct. One could even argue that a City win is preferable to a draw as we really do want to get rid of Spurs altogether, whereas there is no getting rid of City.
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Yeah we aren't in City's league across a whole season yet
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
6pts clear of 5th with a game in hand?

I'd have snatched someone's arm off for that kind of lead after Brentford beat us 4-0.
After Arsenal at the weekend we will have played the top 2 twice as well.

talks of title races are still premature. We still need a proper striker and another top midfielder before we can realistically win the league.
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Wouldn't be so utterly gutting if we hadn't been down this shite second half route already this season
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
6pts clear of 5th with a game in hand?

I'd have snatched someone's arm off for that kind of lead after Brentford beat us 4-0.
After Arsenal at the weekend we will have played the top 2 twice as well.

talks of title races are still premature. We still need a proper striker and another top midfielder before we can realistically win the league.
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Get Kane in and I think we would/will be firmly in the title challenge next year, even without the midfield add (assuming Eriksen/Fred can maintain their level from this season). We are 1 top striker away from being title challengers and addressing the last big hole. We have other things that can be improved on, like an Eriksen replacement who is more energetic/press resistant and can carry the ball, but on the balance of it, if we get Kane either way, I don't think the midfielder makes a huge difference. It improves us undoubtedly, but from a results/table point of view, we'd likely get a similar amount of points. If anything, it'd make a bigger difference in our performance across all competitions I'd say, for those one off games.

Genuinely though we are just 1 player (a top striker, so not easy) away from being real title challengers. Past that, need some luck to get over the line but we'd be firmly in the mix.
 
DRJosh said:
True and I think that’s what hurts the most the fact we’ve been through this dance before
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I think the problem was we haven't been punished for this slack approach before, just maybe now we finally have been it might lead to a different attitude next time we are leading by a goal away from home
 
GregM40 said:
Don’t think we have to worry about dropping out of top 4. I think we’re comfortably the 3rd best team in the country. Only the 4th place will go to a “race” IMO between Newcastle, Spurs and Liverpool.
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Could do with Newcastle dropping a few more points soon
 
We could hopefully be on for a comfortable top four finish, that will be a huge improvement on last season.
 
So 4th place Newcastle has a 5 point gap to Spurs with all of the top 4 having a game in hand (technically Brighton could be 5 points back with the same games played. There is no race barring a big collapse, which I don't see happening as United has been at roughly a title challenging level since Casemiro came in and Newcastle have 0 distractions.

Think there will be a decent gap between 4th and 5th come the end of the season, like there is now.
 
bosnian_red said:
Get Kane in and I think we would/will be firmly in the title challenge next year, even without the midfield add (assuming Eriksen/Fred can maintain their level from this season). We are 1 top striker away from being title challengers and addressing the last big hole. We have other things that can be improved on, like an Eriksen replacement who is more energetic/press resistant and can carry the ball, but on the balance of it, if we get Kane either way, I don't think the midfielder makes a huge difference. It improves us undoubtedly, but from a results/table point of view, we'd likely get a similar amount of points. If anything, it'd make a bigger difference in our performance across all competitions I'd say, for those one off games.

Genuinely though we are just 1 player (a top striker, so not easy) away from being real title challengers. Past that, need some luck to get over the line but we'd be firmly in the mix.
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For sure our first XI is missing a top striker to be quite complete. However, our squad depth and quality is kind of awful, though. A pretty big drop in quality for CB and CM most notably. No real replacement for Bruno. Also needs the wingers/wide forwards to step up, as both Antony and Sancho haven’t proved they are worthy of a permanent spot in the starting XI. Winning the league is all about having a strong squad in addition to high performing first XI. I’m very hopeful, though.
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
6pts clear of 5th with a game in hand?

I'd have snatched someone's arm off for that kind of lead after Brentford beat us 4-0.
After Arsenal at the weekend we will have played the top 2 twice as well.

talks of title races are still premature. We still need a proper striker and another top midfielder before we can realistically win the league.
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Why not play Rashford through the middle as a main striker, he is in top scoring form and it would save you 100 million quid.

Sancho on one wing, Anthony on the other. That would be pretty effective and I would fear it.
 
December_16 said:
For sure our first XI is missing a top striker to be quite complete. However, our squad depth and quality is kind of awful, though. A pretty big drop in quality for CB and CM most notably. No real replacement for Bruno. Also needs the wingers/wide forwards to step up, as both Antony and Sancho haven’t proved they are worthy of a permanent spot in the starting XI. Winning the league is all about having a strong squad in addition to high performing first XI. I’m very hopeful, though.
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I don't think it's too bad tbh. We have versatile depth. Injury crisis' are hard to predict, but essentially, if this is our starting 11, here are the backups to them:
  • De Gea - Butland as backup now. Goalkeepers rarely get injured
  • Dalot - Wan Bissaka is probably the best right back depth in the league even if he's not everyone's cup of tea.
  • Varane - Lindelof or Maguire come in. I'd agree this summer I would sell Maguire and sign someone like Bella Kotchap, who can develop into a similar profile being fast, strong and physical, but Lindelof and Maguire aren't bad depth at all, especially comparing to other clubs.
  • Martinez - Shaw comes to CB and Malacia goes left back. Obviously one of those where we are then light at LB, but Martinez doesn't get many injuries and if further trouble happens we then move Maguire to LCB and have the Ole back 4
  • Shaw - Malacia goes left back, or if we have 2 injuries then Dalot had a successful loan spell with Milan playing LB.
  • Casemiro - the big drop off to McTominay. He's never struggled with injuries though, and McTominay has shown that he can be an able deputy in a few games (especially at the start of this season). For a played that will play very few games generally, I'm ok with it but again, would prefer a replacement to a younger CDM who can grow like Lavia
  • Eriksen - Fred... Everyone has their views, IMO Fred is a great squad player to have and is the type that can actually compete with Eriksen for a starting spot depending on opponent
  • Bruno - his absence is felt big time if he ever gets hurt, but he's pretty much flawless in terms of injuries. But also, Amad is having a a great season with Sunderland playing a more #10 role, and we could move Eriksen here and play Fred deeper, and IMO Sancho could play the #10 role very effectively too. So it's untested, but if needed, I wouldn't be too worried
  • Antony - Sancho both are obviously underperforming but either one could settle in and be the long term starter and both have elite potential. So we'll see. We need them to improve, but it's not a problem area for another while yet.
  • Rashford - Garnacho has come in and been someone who can provide pace and cutting edge if Rashford would miss time. Sancho of course can play either wing. Rashford generally is a big loss as he's our only real goal threat, which would change if we got Kane and then we'd have the pace through Garnacho.
  • Striker - obviously the problem area, though if we get Kane then that's an easy settled area, make Martial part of the rotation as LW or backup striker and it's not problematic at all.
Basically, just with Kane I think the starters are good enough, and we would have a solution for any single player who got injured where our level wouldn't drop a whole lot. The most notable absences would be Casemiro and Varane. Varane should be addressed this summer (Maguire has his uses, but he doesn't fit Ten Hag, and Lindelof as 3rd/4th choice CB in a group of 4 is fine), and if we sell McTominay than we just reinvest that money into a Casemiro backup like Lavia.

Can't underestimate the impact of a world class #9 on the rest of the attack though. Guys like Sancho who maybe can't step up when they're in the spotlight would then be supporting cast, and maybe have the freedom to express themselves. Same with Antony.
 
Tigersam said:
Why not play Rashford through the middle as a main striker, he is in top scoring form and it would save you 100 million quid.

Sancho on one wing, Anthony on the other. That would be pretty effective and I would fear it.
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Rashford is best as a LW, and we'd need someone in the front 3 who can do something aerially/hold up the ball properly. Sancho and Antony are young and have a long way to go.
 
December_16 said:
For sure our first XI is missing a top striker to be quite complete. However, our squad depth and quality is kind of awful, though. A pretty big drop in quality for CB and CM most notably. No real replacement for Bruno. Also needs the wingers/wide forwards to step up, as both Antony and Sancho haven’t proved they are worthy of a permanent spot in the starting XI. Winning the league is all about having a strong squad in addition to high performing first XI. I’m very hopeful, though.
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We are awful squad depth but Arsenal aren't much better, however Jesus apart been exceptionally lucky with injuries
 
Tigersam said:
Why not play Rashford through the middle as a main striker, he is in top scoring form and it would save you 100 million quid.

Sancho on one wing, Anthony on the other. That would be pretty effective and I would fear it.
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Because Rasford isn't a true striker, he's best running in to space and a central strker doesn't get that much of it, when we play against deep lying defences that close off all the space he almost always struggles
 
We will continue to have problems picking up points away from home until we stop becoming sloppy second half FC
 
KiD MoYeS said:
We could hopefully be on for a comfortable top four finish, that will be a huge improvement on last season.
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It could be argued that, had we kept Carrick as Interim or gone for a more competent interim manager than Ralf, we could have easily qualified last season too. We were in with a short in the approach to the run in but then we had completely imploded.
 
Tigersam said:
Why not play Rashford through the middle as a main striker, he is in top scoring form and it would save you 100 million quid.

Sancho on one wing, Anthony on the other. That would be pretty effective and I would fear it.
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Rashford is really bad at CF play
 
The "squad depth" concern is reasonable, but upon a closer look we're actually not in terrible shape with the depth in our squad. The serious hole in the squad is the absence of a proper striker in the starting XI. We have Martial, but we might as well have a Martian wearing the number 9 shirt.

Keeper, sorted.
RB, sorted.
CB, sorted.
LB, sorted.
CDM, we have a top starter but fall off quite a bit without our starter.
Midfielders, sorted.
RW, sorted...although every single one of us here believes Antony has a lot more to give than he's shown us so far.
CF, serious problem.
LW, sorted.

We're in great shape for a top four finish. But if we're going to put in a proper run for the PL trophy next season we need to address the problem at CF (two strikers in, and keep Martial if we can't give him away and let him compete for the backup CF role) and we'll need an understudy for Casemiro.
 
lex talionis said:
The "squad depth" concern is reasonable, but upon a closer look we're actually not in terrible shape with the depth in our squad. The serious hole in the squad is the absence of a proper striker in the starting XI. We have Martial, but we might as well have a Martian wearing the number 9 shirt.

Keeper, sorted.
RB, sorted.
CB, sorted.
LB, sorted.
CDM, we have a top starter but fall off quite a bit without our starter.
Midfielders, sorted.
RW, sorted...although every single one of us here believes Antony has a lot more to give than he's shown us so far.
CF, serious problem.
LW, sorted.

We're in great shape for a top four finish. But if we're going to put in a proper run for the PL trophy next season we need to address the problem at CF (two strikers in, and keep Martial if we can't give him away and let him compete for the backup CF role) and we'll need an understudy for Casemiro.
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Think we need backup for Bruno and Rapha as well,what sort of targets do you have in mind for backup striker then
 
croadyman said:
Think we need backup for Bruno and Rapha as well,what sort of targets do you have in mind for backup striker then
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I agree, but if we're going to spend big on a CF and a backup CDM there probably won't be much left for cover for other positions.

What I'd like to see, but I doubt the football gods would allow, is Sancho given a shot at the Bruno role. He'll never accept being Bruno's backup so that's that, but he looks to me like a player who would be more effective in a central position than he does out wide, either left or right.
 
lex talionis said:
I agree, but if we're going to spend big on a CF and a backup CDM there probably won't be much left for cover for other positions.

What I'd like to see, but I doubt the football gods would allow, is Sancho given a shot at the Bruno role. He'll never accept being Bruno's backup so that's that, but he looks to me like a player who would be more effective in a central position than he does out wide, either left or right.
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Presume you mean a backup CDM that is able to offer a similar sort of skillset to Casa. I do feel we will need more of a progressive CM like a Fernandez/De Jong as higher priority but maybe I'm wrong.

Have seen others on here suggest Sancho should be given a chance more centrally when he returns in next week or so.
 
I think the top 4 will remain Arsenal, City, Us and Newcastle. I can't see Liverpool or Chelsea getting their act together enough combined with any of these four floundering enough to let them in. Spurs look like they have nothing under Conte right now.
 
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