Race for top 4 | Finito.

We lack strength in depth.

These results would have been different with Eriksen & Casemiro featuring but it goes to show that 1 or 2 key players down and we struggle.

It was always impossible to go a full season without a few key players being out injured or suspended.

We're building something good here. Wait for the summer to invest in the depth of our squad and make a real push for top honors next season.
 
kouroux said:
Which we know will be impossible
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God how I know!! Martial is the most painful one. He's not amazing but if he was fit all season I think we are even better off than we are now. Just have no proper replacement for him.
 
Waynne said:
We lack strength in depth.

These results would have been different with Eriksen & Casemiro featuring but it goes to show that 1 or 2 key players down and we struggle.

It was always impossible to go a full season without a few key players being out injured or suspended.

We're building something good here. Wait for the summer to invest in the depth of our squad and make a real push for top honors next season.
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But then you also lose Antony, lose Martial on top of that. We are suddenly a very mediocre team when you see the likes of Weghorst and some kids playing.
 
kidbob said:
God how I know!! Martial is the most painful one. He's not amazing but if he was fit all season I think we are even better off than we are now. Just have no proper replacement for him.
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I agree. Even if he doesn't score, our play is much better with him on the pitch. If only his fitness could allow him 30mins per game at least
 
Rightnr said:
Erm, what? There was loads of them preaching how we should be looking up after the Spuds Citeh game, blah, blah, blah.
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That’s not the same as thinking we’re going to win the title. That’s called wanting to keep up with City, which is reasonable.

As long as injuries don’t hamper the second half of the season then all will be well.

We’re a better team than both Newcastle and Spurs and people are right to feel confident about top four.

Some folk need to get a grip.
 
You want but you still just cannot trust this team to get the job done , if there is a way of missing out they will find it.

That ruthless winners mentality is just not in this squad yet, it is going to be ETH's biggest job restoring that to the club.
 
The main to team to look out for in the top 4 race are Brighton. They're absolutely quality. Could easily climb up if Newcastle or United go on a bad run. They've more of a chance than Liverpool or Chelsea.
 
Kag said:
That’s not the same as thinking we’re going to win the title. That’s called wanting to keep up with City, which is reasonable.

As long as injuries don’t hamper the second half of the season then all will be well.

We’re a better team than both Newcastle and Spurs and people are right to feel confident about top four.

Some folk need to get a grip.
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We've got a better starting 11 but that won't be available till May now and even the mostly non-injured players are barely ever available at the same time.
 
Kag said:
That’s not the same as thinking we’re going to win the title. That’s called wanting to keep up with City, which is reasonable.

As long as injuries don’t hamper the second half of the season then all will be well.

We’re a better team than both Newcastle and Spurs and people are right to feel confident about top four.

Some folk need to get a grip.
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Keeping up with City is irrelevant. Staying ahead of Newscastle and Spurs is all that matters. City beating Spurs would have been a much better result for us
 
AndySmith1990 said:
Keeping up with City is irrelevant. Staying ahead of Newscastle and Spurs is all that matters. City beating Spurs would have been a much better result for us
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Well, it isn’t. Doing so means that we’re in all likelihood winning games. Do that and top four sorts itself.
 
Kag said:
That’s not the same as thinking we’re going to win the title. That’s called wanting to keep up with City, which is reasonable.

As long as injuries don’t hamper the second half of the season then all will be well.

We’re a better team than both Newcastle and Spurs and people are right to feel confident about top four.

Some folk need to get a grip.
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We've just dropped points to relegation candidates Palace and Leeds. If you can't rely on the team to get the job done against bottom half teams then I'm not sure how you can be confident of anything.

We're slight favourites over Newcastle and Spurs. That's all. That's better than being underdogs. But slight favourites doesn't make anyone comfortable.

If we were slightly more competent we'd have opened up a gap by now where we could feel confident, but we've kept ourselves in the race due to poor performances and failure to win games convincingly.
 
kouroux said:
I agree. Even if he doesn't score, our play is much better with him on the pitch. If only his fitness could allow him 30mins per game at least
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We should really bin him if we are being honest. Players like him are unreliable and are the difference between a proper title challenge and being a pretender.
 
Dropping points like this again after dominating the chance creation, just as we did against Palace, is so frustrating:

 
TMDaines said:
Dropping points like this again after dominating the chance creation, just as we did against Palace, is so frustrating:

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That's what we get for keeping faith in Martial for years and being left in a position where we have to desperately loan in a donkey from Burnley
 
Infra-red said:
You do need top 4 form, though. United have just taken 5 points from a possible 12 - that's the sort of form that will see us drop to 5th or lower fairly quickly.
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We do have top 4 form.
We had a great round of results last round and drew today, it’s no big deal. Teams aren’t roaring up behind us and more teams will drop more points than we will.
As long as we aren’t drawing every week we’re fine. The fact we really should have comfortably won today should be a good sign going forward imo
 
All the teams in and around top 4 will drop plenty of points. It's the same every year. You don't need to be that consistent, just consistent enough at the end to get over the line. It's always a pathetic shit show for that 4th spot.

We should have more than enough, but there's plenty more bumps to come.
 
Buxton said:
Arsenal 51
Man Utd 46

you’re welcome
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It seems every time we start thinking of competing for a title there is a set back and it's back to fighting for top 4. There could be more twists and turns though.
 
To be honest anyone who thought we were in the title race were wrong weeks ago, to think just a few days people were once again banging that drum? I like to be positive, but bloody hell.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
But then you also lose Antony, lose Martial on top of that. We are suddenly a very mediocre team when you see the likes of Weghorst and some kids playing.
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I don't even consider Martial an option as he's out injured so many times. We need to get rid in the summer and bring in someone of a similar profile. Wout is a huge step down from anyone in the front line. That's now 2 forwards that are pretty much useless and wasting space in the team.
 
I think top 4 will come down to the end of the season. We're by no means nailed on for one of those spots.
 
Didn't think I would see us perform so badly in a home game,expected this sort of result on Sunday not tonight and looks ominous for tougher tests to come later in season
 
Judas said:
To be honest anyone who thought we were in the title race were wrong weeks ago, to think just a few days people were once again banging that drum? I like to be positive, but bloody hell.
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This. We were never in the title race
Imo. We are in a race for 3rd or 4th which is massive progress on last year even allowing that Liverpool & Chelsea are having shite seasons.
 
This is why I wanted City to beat Spurs last weekend.
 
croadyman said:
Yeah 5/12 will land us back in Europa
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You panic a lot and that's not just this post or this topic.

With the fixture list and injuries/suspensions we have had, a game like this was always on the cards. It's like some of you don't remember having games like these even under SAF when we had title winning teams. Even Arsenal lost to an Everton side which is flirting with relegation. As long as ETH learns from this and plays his tactics right next game, we will be fine.

We are still 4 points ahead of Spurs who haven't been any great shakes themselves. Top 4 is still very much ours to lose.
 
NK86 said:
You panic a lot and that's not just this post or this topic.

With the fixture list and injuries/suspensions we have had, a game like this was always on the cards. It's like some of you don't remember having games like these even under SAF when we had title winning teams. Even Arsenal lost to an Everton side which is flirting with relegation. As long as ETH learns from this and plays his tactics right next game, we will be fine.

We are still 4 points ahead of Spurs who haven't been any great shakes themselves. Top 4 is still very much ours to lose.
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Yeah and I will keep on panicking when seeing shabby performances like tonight,Antony shouldn't have reacted on Saturday in the first place and then Casa doesn't get involved so isn't suspended for next 3 games
 
I've been told by geniuses in this thread that top 4 is done, Leeds is an easy game and Spurs beating City was good for us.

We're down to the bare bones of a squad with a lot of difficult games to come. Spurs and Brighton won't be far away.
 
croadyman said:
Yeah and I will keep on panicking when seeing shabby performances like tonight,Antony shouldn't have reacted on Saturday in the first place and then Casa doesn't get involved so isn't suspended for next 3 games
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:lol: then keep on panicking instead of enjoying the ride. It's a long season and we have barely crossed the half way stage. I wonder how you managed to keep yourself sane during those years of close title fights under SAF. Were you not supporting United that time?
 
Leftback99 said:
I've been told by geniuses in this thread that top 4 is done, Leeds is an easy game and Spurs beating City was good for us.

We're down to the bare bones of a squad with a lot of difficult games to come. Spurs and Brighton won't be far away.
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Pretty daft of whoever said that bullshit.
 
I wo
croadyman said:
Yeah and I will keep on panicking when seeing shabby performances like tonight,Antony shouldn't have reacted on Saturday in the first place and then Casa doesn't get involved so isn't suspended for next 3 games
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It's all Antony's fault. Sure.
 
NK86 said:
:lol: then keep on panicking instead of enjoying the ride. It's a long season and we have barely crossed the half way stage. I wonder how you managed to keep yourself sane during those years of close title fights under SAF. Were you not supporting United that time?
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Because at least for those title fights you always confident we could retrieve points deficits whereas don't have that belief when we drop such silly points like tonight
 
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