Season 2 LVG - Objectives and expectations

Where do you expect United to finish in 2016/17

  • All hail champions!

    Votes: 69 35.6%

  • Runner-up

    Votes: 74 38.1%

  • 3th place

    Votes: 29 14.9%

  • 4th place trophy

    Votes: 22 11.3%
  • Total voters
    194
Automatic CL qualification and be involved in the title race until the end.

This should be a poll.
 
If we start moving back to better quality, attacking football, that would be a good start.
If we commence the season with no further buys (which I think we will do) and DDG going, then I can only see us fighting for 4th with LFC and Co.
 
Capital One Cup: Hoping for a win, expecting a Quarter-Final exit or thereabouts.
Emirates FA Cup: Hoping for a win, again expecting a Semi-Final exit.
Champions League: Hoping for a win, expecting a Last 16 exit or thereabouts.
Premier League: Hoping for a win, expecting a third place finish.

Hoping for beautiful football.
 
Expecting a top 3 finish/title challenge, and then out of group stage and then it depends on who we draw for the champions league. My guess would be finishing 2nd in the league and getting to quarter finals. Semi finals for capital one cup and then winning the fa cup hopefully.
 
Title challenge. That's not to say we should finish in the top two or set objective, position wise. I just want to see us close the gap on the league leaders and put in a concerted title tilt over the duration of the PL campaign.

Win a domestic cup. I agree with others who say that a domestic cup isn't a great barometer for a teams ability, but it has been far too long since we have won an FA Cup. Something which I think is quite frankly inexcusable for a club of our stature. If not the FA Cup, then the COC. You could make a good argument for last year being a squandered opportunity with us failing to win the FA Cup. One of the two cups should be targeted at the very least.

Knockout stages of CL. We are still quite far off becoming a major European force and I think it's unfair to expect a team who have had a year out of Europe to immediately become one of the front runners, despite their spending. Just like it was unfair to expect us to challenge for the league after finishing seventh. Beyond the group stages, it's a lottery dependant on the draw.

Finally, a distinctive improvement in the teams playing style and quality of football. We are no longer a team in transition and most of the players will be familiar with van Gaal's 'philosophy' by now. Surgery is still needed in the squad, but with a set formation and balance in the side, it should be easier to integrate new signings as well as those who are yet to truly adapt like di Maria and Shaw; players who we expect to have better seasons.
 
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I struggle to see us playing amazing football for some reason. The truth is, trophies or not, United rarely play amazing football. Arsenal always do, for example. Since 'good football' at the very top level moved on from runing down the wing at pace and crossing the ball in, I wouldn't say United have been a good footballing side for any sustained period. There was a time, during our last title win, where I was going to make a thread of 'when was the last time we actually played well?'. We have largely been criticised, from my memory, as not being as attractive a team as our results would suggest, and we've never been sustainedly as entertaining as Arsenal probably since Wenger came.

I'm just saying that the quality of our football has been a gripe for many of our fans, but I think that is just highlighted now due to a lack of success. Before, we were never that stylish, but the concensus wasd to call another fan spoilt, or tell them to 'go and support Arsenal/Barca etc' if they moaned during years of success.
 
The term 'title challenge' is pretty useless, so I'll go with top two and a domestic cup.
That would be success.
 
First and above all, a stable and functioning plan A which can be interpreted as very few drastic formation changes between or during our games. It's one thing to use a second forward at some point in a game or to make minor changes from 4-3-3 to 4-1-4-1 when you are missing key players due to suspensions/injuries but it's a whole different deal to constantly switch from a three to a four man defense or from a holding CM to a #10 in a three man midfield. This has to be made crystal clear from our very first match against Spurs.

Then i expect improvement in our tactics, especially when we have the ball in the final third. In the beginning of last season we really struggled to open up narrow defenses with nine or ten men behind the ball but we also had a lot of trouble dealing with our opponents' counter attacks. As the season progressed and after various tactical changes and players being used in different positions we managed to become better defensively and concede fewer chances per game.

This season we must also become better on the ball with more pace and better passing through the lines in our attacking transition but also with better decision making in the final third. I want to see teamwork, off the ball movement and a couple of attacking plays which will aim to take the best out of our most creative players and create 1v1 situations in our favor. You know, the "this has been worked in training" stuff.

We would also be prepared and have the necessary quality and depth in the squad to deal with a major injury crisis and be able to compete on all levels. If we manage to take care of these three things in the best possible way, i'm confident that we'll have a good season.
 
1 of the cups
3rd or above in the league
QF of the Champions League
 
No excuses next season.

Finish at least 3rd.

A trophy.

Qualify for the CL and reach the quarters at least.

Improve the style of play.

Improve the injury record.
 
You can only ask for a trophy after seeing what happens with the squad this summer.
 
3rdCarter said:
You can only ask for a trophy after seeing what happens with the squad this summer.
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Exactly, i'm not sure why people think a few weeks off will turn a team who even though we played nice football in spells into challengers. If we had finished off the season in style i'd be confident but we seemed determined to give our 4th place away even after things started to click with the team we have.
 
IF we get our expected signings (whomever they may be!)

Title challenge: win or within a whisker of winning.
CL: Knock out stages
FA cup or capital one cup: Win (with the kids and a sprinkling of experience players)
 
golden_blunder said:
A trophy

A man with his experience, having a huge amount of money spent

Expect a trophy

Obviously CL spot is a must but would also expect to improve upon 4th
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I'd accept a cup final. Ideally two. If we win the trophy that's well and good but that FA Cup final against Arsenal showed how you need the rub of the green to convert a final into a trophy.

Would also expect third as a minimum for the league.

All the above on the assumption we sign a couple more quality players.
 
In terms of league/cup finishes:
  • Top 3 finish with us still being involved in the title race in March.
  • Winning either the FA Cup or the League Cup
  • Quarter Final stage of the Champions League unless we get unlucky and draw Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the last 16 (even then we should be putting up a decent fight)
In terms of football:
  • At least one player needs to score at least 20-25 goals (all comps) and other forwards and midfielders need to chip in with good numbers too
  • We need to create far more chances in a game through better crossing and more penetration through the centre of midfield
  • We need a settled first choice partnership. Smalling add 1 seems to be most likely at the moment
  • A better style of football generally. We won quite a few games last year despite being terrible and being fortunate to have De Gea saving us.
  • Somehow we need to make sure the injury record is better. At times last season it was absolutely ridiculous and if it doesn't improve we won't have a settled team and the above aims will not be met.
  • Further development of the juice. Some players may need to go out on loan but we really wasted an opportunity to see what the youngsters could do by getting embarrassed at MK Dons.
  • Ideally we need to find a player that can take over Carrick's role
 
Need him to get the best out of Di Maria. We need to have strengthen and challenge for all competitions. I don't think many people want to see us going back to 3 at the back, so an improvement. He's right in that we shot ourselves in the foot last season and we were 'unlucky'. But we've got to win something.
 
I'd be happy with top 3, close to 1st, a trophy, either the FA cup or the League Cup and honestly I'd be happy for us to get into the Last 16 in the CL.
 
united_99 said:
No excuses next season.

Finish at least 3rd.

A trophy.

Qualify for the CL and reach the quarters at least.

Improve the style of play.

Improve the injury record.
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Agree with this. If we finish in the same position and play dire football again then I think we should look for a new manager.
 
Rozay said:
The truth is, trophies or not, United rarely play amazing football. Arsenal always do, for example. Since 'good football' at the very top level moved on from runing down the wing at pace and crossing the ball in, I wouldn't say United have been a good footballing side for any sustained period.
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'Good football' is all a matter of opinions though. When Pep's Barcelona were the best team, possession football was considered the best. Then Heynckes' Bayern came with an aggressive attacking style and won the treble. So my point is 'good football' is all about flavour of the month. Everyone has a different opinion on how the game should be played and won.

Expectations for the season:
  • Top 3 finish/title challenge. The transfer window really dictates this. If we can get the right players in early and get a better start than last season there is no reason we can't challenge for the title.
  • Trophy. Any trophy will do, realistically it will be one of the domestic cups. But that will provide evidence we are moving in the right direction.
  • Win the Champions League qualifier
  • Get out of the Champions League group stage.
  • Improve the amount of chances we create during matches.
  • Defensive stability.
  • Stop playing players out of position.
  • Tactical consistency.
 
Top 3 will be tough. I expect Arsenal and Chelsea to be very strong. A lot will depend on what City do in the transfer window.
 
I think we should be realistically involved in the title race in the last month or so. I am not going to judge him based on winning a cup or what happens in the CL because one off games are seldom misleading. But if we are not involved in the title race in April, it will definitely mean that we did not do as well as we should have between August and March which I would consider to be not good enough.
 
At the moment we have signed a young player with bags of potential and look likely to lose our stand out goalkeeper. Unless we are able to make and quickly embed acquisitions in key strategic areas, I don't see next season being any better than last. We have a crop of defenders who are all to greater or lesser degrees, erratic and/or injury prone. We have a midfield that, in the absence of Michael Carrick, looks like a flock of sheep in search of a Border Collie. That were still need a minimum of three key players means we are still in transition so even if we get them, I would say a top three finish would represent progress.
 
The bottom line requirement is a genuine title challenge. To be still in with a genuine shout around, say, March.

The FA Cup would be marvelous but I wouldnt swap a cup for a genuine tilt at the league, even if we fall short.

Similarly with the CL really. Would love to see us do well in it but its not how I will judge the season (unless we did the unexpected and got the final.) If we got to the quarters Id be pretty content with that.
 
A trophy, can't have Man Utd go 3 years without one. That and a good title challenge with a top 3 finish.

As for CL, Ro16 at the very least. We might have a tough group considering we'll be drawn with a league winner so there may be a chance of finishing 2nd in the group and facing someone strong in the next round.

And importantly, an attractive style of play that doesn't get messed around with every few months or so (like how we messed around with the 352, 442 diamond, 433 etc last season).

I hope we don't get a severe injury crisis yet again. Slim chance, but here's hoping!
 
It's still a period of building to something bigger. We should definitely be looking at a title challenge where it is at least a close run thing. We never felt in it this year. If we could get to the quarters of the Champion League it would be ok for a first year back. A trophy from either the FA Cup of League Cup is very much achievable. Outside of actually trophies what we really need to see is more consistently good football from us, it wall all too rare last year. That should hopefully come with an improvement in away results too.
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
Top 3 will be tough. I expect Arsenal and Chelsea to be very strong. A lot will depend on what City do in the transfer window.
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It will be tough, but we'll spend money too and we do have some good players here already that have either been injured and/or in poor form this season. Remember as well that we should have been in the top 3 really after we beat City 4-2, the run of performances after it was very poor indeed.
 
Reading some of the posts here, can't believe the standards of expectations of Manchester United fans has fallen so much. 3rd in PL and last 16 in CL with a good cup run and you are happy after spending 300mn in 2 years?
 
Hemil said:
Reading some of the posts here, can't believe the standards of expectations of Manchester United fans has fallen so much. 3rd in PL and last 16 in CL with a good cup run and you are happy after spending 300mn in 2 years?
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It is what it is. The team was in complete disarray after Ferguson left, it's not going to get better after one season.
 
1. Either Premiership, OR 2nd place with CL quarter / semi-finals and FA Cup trophy. League Cup for a bonus.
2. And to develop at least one or two young players that are still potentials, like Januzaj, Wilson, Pereira, McNair.. give them playing time.

Fail one of the two, and I would change LVG for Klopp.
 
Play with verve and cojones. Too much nambying around last season.

Have a decent tilt at the title and at least one of the cups.
 
Hemil said:
Reading some of the posts here, can't believe the standards of expectations of Manchester United fans has fallen so much. 3rd in PL and last 16 in CL with a good cup run and you are happy after spending 300mn in 2 years?
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We also have to be realistic. We would love to be challenging for the league title and the CL but our squad isn't strong enough at the moment to be able to do that. If we add 4-5 signings in this window and manage to keep players off the treatment table this year then our expectations will change.
 
vi1lain said:
Top 2 finish with a close title challenge or a Top 3 finish with any other domestic trophy (FA preferred)

And last 16 of the CL.
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this.

And the youngsters getting a good run in the league Cup
 
Personally I don't care if we get a trophy.

How can I not care about trophies?

If we challenge for the league, if we're in the last 4 of the CL, if we lose to Chelsea 0-1 at Wembley, that would be a great season.

I'd much rather get to the last 4 of the CL than win the FA Cup, because we need to prove we're back against the best, and the FA Cup doesn't say that. You can lose the CL and still come out better for it, look at Juve.

Most seasons I'd take the trophy but I want us to compete for the League and the CL.

I'd rather lose the title by a point to Chelsea and lose the FA Cup than win the FA Cup but finish in 2nd while 15 points behind the winner.

We need consistency against the middle of the road teams, the Spurs, Southamptons, Swanseas of the league, to be fair we've been pretty good against the better teams, who will come out and play football with us.
 
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