The chase for 4th place (not top 4)

TheReligion said:
Why do United play 4 times between now and the 20th whilst Arsenal play once?

Utterly bizarre given they already have a game to make up.
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Because Chelsea has to play the Club World Cup. Then Chelsea and Liverpool have League Cup final between themselves. Then CL games. They're originally Arsenal opponents for this couple weeks. PL couldn't find a time slot to reschedule their game against Arsenal.
 
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Good results for us I think. Wolves get pulled back while a 1-0 win doesn’t point to Arsenal solving their goal scoring problems
 
ti vu said:
Because Chelsea has to play the Club World Cup. Then Chelsea and Liverpool have League Cup final between themselves. Then CL games. They're originally in Arsenal opponents for this couple weeks. PL couldn't find a time slot to reschedule their game against Arsenal.
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Pretty unfair really. Why can’t they play the game they are missing in that window? They are out of all the cups themselves. United have Ath Madrid too.
 
TheReligion said:
Pretty unfair really. Why can’t they play the game they are missing in that window? They are out of all the cups themselves. United have Ath Madrid too.
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Arsenal will have to play Tottenham, but due to Tottenham schedule is full for at least February and March, their game is currently not scheduled. Also Leicester with their extra round of ECL creates another issue moving Arsenal schedule. Leceister vs Arsenal is in second week of March. Leicester would have to later deal with their postponed Everton and Chelsea games too.

I personally unable to see what kind of consequence of pushing Arsenal other fixture forward would cause to other teams. So I have no idea how fair this schedule is overall in the bigger picture for the league.

Only trying to provide info about the complication of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea rescheduled games here,
 
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Arsenal are 3 points ahead if they win their game in hand and Spurs also if they win both of their game. But since Arsenal game in hand is against Spurs, means either one will drop point.

We just have to beat Spurs and Arsenal when we play them. That would make it easier for us to get top 4 because all 3 will keep on dropping random points
 
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pratyush_utd said:
Arsenal are 3 points ahead if they win their game in hand and Spurs also if they win both of their game. But since Arsenal game in hand is against Spurs, means either one will drop point.

We just have to beat Spurs and Arsenal when we play them. That would seal top 4 because all 3 will keep on dropping random points
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How on earth would that seal top 4 you mad man.

I wonder if some lads on here started watching football last week sometimes.
 
TheReligion said:
Pretty unfair really. Why can’t they play the game they are missing in that window? They are out of all the cups themselves. United have Ath Madrid too.
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The silver lining of having a Europe free season.
But since all of Leicester, Liverpool and Chelsea will make at least some more rounds in European competitions the FA Cup, Arsenal will end up having to play these games in a much tighter schedule when the race gets harder and more decisive.

Sometime in April/May it won’t feel like an advantage then.
 
Its utterly doable, but we need to start scoring. Ralf has made the defense better (although one could argue having Varane might have a lot to do with that + benching AWB), but we are not scoring. Weird thing is last 3 games we have played really well but only have one win via a last minute winner to show for it.
 
Utd heap said:
How on earth would that seal top 4 you mad man.

I wonder if some lads on here started watching football last week sometimes.
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We have been ok since Ralph took over and are still 3rd in points won since then. It does seem that’s all it will take
 
pratyush_utd said:
Arsenal are 3 points ahead if they win their game in hand and Spurs also if they win both of their game. But since Arsenal game in hand is against Spurs, means either one will drop point.

We just have to beat Spurs and Arsenal when we play them. That would seal top 4 because all 3 will keep on dropping random points
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We have to play Liverpool away, city away, arsenal away, spurs home and chelsea home. We cannot score more than 3 goals, let alone 2. We always seem to concede, we have a mentality of an ice cream cake sitting outside on a barmy summer day.

We ain't sealing anything other than a conference League place.
 
cyberman said:
We have been ok since Ralph took over and are still 3rd in points won since then. It does seem that’s all it will take
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Just no idea why people simplify things.

We could win at Arsenal and beat Spurs but lose against Brighton and Saints this week. Who fecking knows.

The only thing I do know is it will be messy.
 
It's barely doable. We've had one good performance this season. Spurs away. Our first team can't beat the worst teams/there's no consistency. I'd be shocked if we got 4th. Dropping Maguire would be a start. We can't defend.
 
Arsenal are not exciting to watch and plays a defensive structure. They cannot escape without conceding every match like today.

Still think its between us and spurs for top 4.
 
allen7 said:
Arsenal are not exciting to watch and plays a defensive structure. They cannot escape without conceding every match like today.

Still think its between us and spurs for top 4.
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Meh, you say we can't escape playing like this, yet we have done for the past 15 months. But, if you guys want to keep thinking it's just a period of form then you do you.
 
cyberman said:
Good results for us I think. Wolves get pulled back while a 1-0 win doesn’t point to Arsenal solving their goal scoring problems
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Wolves have the 2nd best goals conceded record in the league, & haven't conceded more than 1 goal in a game since the start of November.

This was never going to be any more than a 1-0 win for either side.
 
Nish115 said:
Meh, you say we can't escape playing like this, yet we have done for the past 15 months. But, if you guys want to keep thinking it's just a period of form then you do you.
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You've escaped to where? Out of all comps and scrapping for 4th with the worst Utd side in 30 years?
 
Utd heap said:
You've escaped to where? Out of all comps and scrapping for 4th with the worst Utd side in 30 years?
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Funny, because at the start of this season this was the best United side in years.

Over the past 15 months we're a consistent top 4 side, closer actually to 2nd than 5th.

Yet, I keep seeing how Arsenal have just been lucky in recent weeks and won't keep it up.

What's wrong with scrapping for 4th, when the 3 teams above us have either spent more, or have much better and recognised managers. We are where we should be relative to everything.

United on the other hand, are not.
 
Nish115 said:
Funny, because at the start of this season this was the best United side in years.

Over the past 15 months we're a consistent top 4 side, closer actually to 2nd than 5th.

Yet, I keep seeing how Arsenal have just been lucky in recent weeks and won't keep it up.

What's wrong with scrapping for 4th, when the 3 teams above us have either spent more, or have much better and recognised managers. We are where we should be relative to everything.

United on the other hand, are not.
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You've been lucky in recent weeks? Wasn't that your first goal since NYD?

Expectations at Utd have dipped a fair bit of late but you lot are through the floor.
 
Nish115 said:
Funny, because at the start of this season this was the best United side in years.

Over the past 15 months we're a consistent top 4 side, closer actually to 2nd than 5th.

Yet, I keep seeing how Arsenal have just been lucky in recent weeks and won't keep it up.

What's wrong with scrapping for 4th, when the 3 teams above us have either spent more, or have much better and recognised managers. We are where we should be relative to everything.

United on the other hand, are not.
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You don't keep it up, which is why you finish where you finish
 
We are going through one of our worst seasons I have ever seen and yet , Arsenal are only 1 point ahead. That says more about them and their current state.
 
If Ralf drops Maguire for Lindelof and Rashford starts performing to his known peak level, we have a real chance of scraping fourth.
 
bond19821982 said:
We are going through one of our worst seasons I have ever seen and yet , Arsenal are only 1 point ahead. That says more about them and their current state.
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We're currently level on point. Arsenal game in hand is against Tottenham who is 3 points behind but with 2 game in hands.

So basically we're likely either 1 point behind both, or 3 points behind one of them. Level on point with both is possible if Tottenham wins the NLD, but loses their other game in hand.

Open race as of right now on paper.
 
Utd heap said:
How on earth would that seal top 4 you mad man.

I wonder if some lads on here started watching football last week sometimes.
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It will make it difficult for Spurs and Arsenal and give us more space. All 3 teams at the moment is dropping points. I should not have used the word seal. But it would make it far easier for us then.

Its an open race and there are 14 games to go. Maybe in future ask question without insulting the poster.
 
Nish115 said:
Funny, because at the start of this season this was the best United side in years.

Over the past 15 months we're a consistent top 4 side, closer actually to 2nd than 5th.

Yet, I keep seeing how Arsenal have just been lucky in recent weeks and won't keep it up.

What's wrong with scrapping for 4th, when the 3 teams above us have either spent more, or have much better and recognised managers. We are where we should be relative to everything.

United on the other hand, are not.
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Predicted we'd finish below 6th earlier this season due to mistrust in the manager. But fair play, Mikel has gradually improved the young players and their gaining confidence.

Your right, since december 2020 we've been the third best team in the league in terms of points. We still need to show that throughout a campaign though.

It's going to be a tense interesting battle for 3rd-4th place between us, Chelsea and Spurs like in 2018/19.
 
Ayoba said:
We have to play Liverpool away, city away, arsenal away, spurs home and chelsea home. We cannot score more than 3 goals, let alone 2. We always seem to concede, we have a mentality of an ice cream cake sitting outside on a barmy summer day.

We ain't sealing anything other than a conference League place.
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It was incorrect choice of word. I meant it will be easier for us if we get maximum from those 2.

Arsenal have to play Liverpool and Chelsea and Spurs have to play City and Liverpool. Its not like any of the 3 have easy games left.
 
I still think Spurs will get it because of Conte. I thought that when he was available and we dithered over Ole and I still think it now. I think Arteta is overrated and Rangnick is a little out of date as a manager while Conte is among the best in the world.
 
Utd heap said:
You've been lucky in recent weeks? Wasn't that your first goal since NYD?

Expectations at Utd have dipped a fair bit of late but you lot are through the floor.
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He's talking about form since last December, and you are talking about a period of time with 2 league games.

Of course our expectations are through the floor, we finished 8th last season, while you guys added Ronaldo, Varane & Sancho to a team that finished 2nd.

Perhaps now you should adjust expectations again.
 
Tyrion said:
I still think Spurs will get it because of Conte. I thought that when he was available and we dithered over Ole and I still think it now. I think Arteta is overrated and Rangnick is a little out of date as a manager while Conte is among the best in the world.
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I rate Arteta higher than Conte. Of the 3 you mentioned Conte is the one using outdated tactics and draws a blank against certain formations (one instance of last week against southampton). According to me, he’s riding his past success and happy united didn’t appoint him. Arteta is ok because his teams are at least defensively good.

If ralf couldn’t get us to top 4, no worries but we should always go for better managers in the summer.
 
We've dropped points against way too many poor teams which leaves us in a worse situation than many of the teams around us. This run against mid table and lower teams was the one where we had to take advantage.
 
Really needed a striker if we were serious about top four, Lacazette is barely a football player
 
peridigm said:
As if we don't have goal scoring problems of our own. :rolleyes:
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Yep but I rather create chances and have proven goal scorers miss knowing it simply can’t carry in to having 3 times as many red cards as goals scored since NYD
 
cyberman said:
Yep but I rather create chances and have proven goal scorers miss knowing it simply can’t carry in to having 3 times as many red cards as goals scored since NYD
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You do realise you are talking about a period with just 2 league games in it, a 0-0 draw vs Burnley and 1-0 last night?

The other games were cup games with changed line ups, injuries, covid, AFCON, and 2 of the 3 games were against Liverpool.

And also, you guys have scored a whopping 3 goals more than us having played a game more?
 
ti vu said:
We're currently level on point. Arsenal game in hand is against Tottenham who is 3 points behind but with 2 game in hands.

So basically we're likely either 1 point behind both, or 3 points behind one of them. Level on point with both is possible if Tottenham wins the NLD, but loses their other game in hand.

Open race as of right now on paper.
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What you're not accounting for is, yes Arsenal have hard away games against Spurs and Chelsea. But United have to visit Anfield, The Etihiad and The Emirates. Which imo are harder games to get points (maybe you'll beat us but you are away from home). We also have Liverpool visiting us, but at least it's at home, which gives us more hope of getting something out of the game. In turn you have Chelsea and Spurs yet to visit OT

Definitely an open race and I imagine it will be a tight back and forth.
 
allen7 said:
I rate Arteta higher than Conte. Of the 3 you mentioned Conte is the one using outdated tactics and draws a blank against certain formations (one instance of last week against southampton). According to me, he’s riding his past success and happy united didn’t appoint him. Arteta is ok because his teams are at least defensively good.

If ralf couldn’t get us to top 4, no worries but we should always go for better managers in the summer.
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I'm an Arsenal fan but come on man. Arteta is nowhere near Contes level and probably never will be.
 
MO_Football92 said:
Predicted we'd finish below 6th earlier this season due to mistrust in the manager. But fair play, Mikel has gradually improved the young players and their gaining confidence.

Your right, since december 2020 we've been the third best team in the league in terms of points. We still need to show that throughout a campaign though.

It's going to be a tense interesting battle for 3rd-4th place between us, Chelsea and Spurs like in 2018/19.
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A great wum attempt to try and discount United. Why do now minnow rivals always do this?

Anyway, I took a look at the fixture list. If we get the points our recent result performances have deserved then we can clock on a good tally against Southampton, Brighton, Leeds and Watford. Not easy but very doable, and that will put a feckload of pressure on Arsenal to perform in their postponed games (Chelsea, Liverpool) to stay with the pace.
 
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