The chase for 4th place (not top 4)

Games in hand can mean feck all if you're battling against one side.

When 3 other teams have games in hand on you and another is already ahead of you and you're fecking shit, then you're up shit's creek.
 
Arsenal on paper is in pole position. However, the postponed games are against Chelsea and Tottenham, so there is hope they would be pulled back in.

Tottenham being Spursy kept us and Wolves in around 5th and 6th place.
 
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peridigm said:
No idea what you're trying to say. Care to go again?
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I think he’s responding to this…
peridigm said:
Least worried about Arsenal. Their games in hand are against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Spurs.
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I’ve seen it a few times in this thread and it doesn’t really make sense. Arsenals have three games in hand. To say that it’s cool because they’re against top teams is illogical at the halfway point of the season as everyone still has to play these teams.

It would make more sense if there were, say, five games left. Then all of the contenders for top four may have played those three clubs. But in early Feb? Not so much.
 
Daydreamer said:
I think he’s responding to this…

I’ve seen it a few times in this thread and it doesn’t really make sense. Arsenals have three games in hand. To say that it’s cool because they’re against top teams is illogical at the halfway point of the season as everyone still has to play these teams.

It would make more sense if there were, say, five games left. Then all of the contenders for top four may have played those three clubs. But in early Feb? Not so much.
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Yeah it's a weird angle to take.

Anyway I need to start ignoring this thread as it will be a revolving 'insert team name here' will definitely get it now on a weekly basis.
 
Daydreamer said:
I think he’s responding to this…

I’ve seen it a few times in this thread and it doesn’t really make sense. Arsenals have three games in hand. To say that it’s cool because they’re against top teams is illogical at the halfway point of the season as everyone still has to play these teams.

It would make more sense if there were, say, five games left. Then all of the contenders for top four may have played those three clubs. But in early Feb? Not so much.
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People only talking about your games in hand in this way because it was originally supposed to play in this order.

Yes the other teams still have to play against strong teams, or play against each other too. Arsenal situation has more uncertainty. At the moment you don't know when you would play those games n hand, and in what order. If those games were scheduled in quick succession in the 3 games in a week manner, it would also influence your form against lesser teams.

With your long rest right now, you can't realize the potential point gap on the table even if they're supposed to be easier games. You want to keep the momentum going now by playing games rather resting if you have a choice. This situation psychologically keep other teams in the race. Atletico Madrid nearly blew up their La Liga title triump last season despite a huge point gap and game in hands for similar reason. At one point, they should have had double digit point gap mid season, taking into account the point gap and games in hand IIRC. Finished the season only 2 points ahead of Real Madrid.

Edit: We United fans are not deluding ourselves. My previous post clearly acknowledging that Arsenal is now in pole position for 4th spot. The thread title also reflect this with its word choice (chase instead of race).
 
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Let's be real. It won't be West Ham, it won't be Wolves. The other three sides are capable of losing to anyone.

We do have games in hand, but we also have few goals in our team. One injury to Lacazette, and we are relying on Nketiah, who should be investigated by trading standards for claiming to be a Premier League footballer. If that is what causes us to miss out on top 4, then Arteta should be fired on the spot, as it is a ridiculous situation to be in.
 
Can’t believe we slipped up in the last 2 games, West Ham and spurs have both dropped points today aswell. We just love throwing chances away! When are we ever gonna get the old days back and start competing for the best trophy’s? We shouldn’t even be having too 4 conversations, we should be having title race threads!
 
Daydreamer said:
I think he’s responding to this…

I’ve seen it a few times in this thread and it doesn’t really make sense. Arsenals have three games in hand. To say that it’s cool because they’re against top teams is illogical at the halfway point of the season as everyone still has to play these teams.

It would make more sense if there were, say, five games left. Then all of the contenders for top four may have played those three clubs. But in early Feb? Not so much.
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My point is Arsenal are not likely to win all or any of those matches. They could take points but I think the odds are against them.
 
peridigm said:
My point is Arsenal are not likely to win all or any of those matches. They could take points but I think the odds are against them.
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You might be right about that. But surely that applies to all the contenders for top four? So assuming we write off games against those teams for the entire chasing pack… we still have three games in hand.

Not saying we can’t mess this up - we done just that over half a decade. But whatever time scale you measure league form over (six games / season so far / last twelve months) we rank pretty highly. One advantage we have is that we don’t actually have to improve to qualify. We just have to mirror our results and performances from the first half of the season.
 
There’s far too many games left to be analysing this. United could finish the season strongly, I’m not convinced Arsenal or West Ham or Spurs are better sides. Or we could carry on being shite and miss out. The fact is we’re in with a shout and there’s a long way to go. I feel we’re more capable of putting together a serious winning streak than the others. Arsenal for example seem to be doing as well as they possibly can right now.
 
After everything that has happened, united look good for the fourth spot. ronaldo is the key for this race.
 
Offside said:
There’s far too many games left to be analysing this. United could finish the season strongly, I’m not convinced Arsenal or West Ham or Spurs are better sides. Or we could carry on being shite and miss out. The fact is we’re in with a shout and there’s a long way to go. I feel we’re more capable of putting together a serious winning streak than the others. Arsenal for example seem to be doing as well as they possibly can right now.
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Well our form in the last 6 league games is only bettered by Man City, so yeah, I suppose I can't see us doing any better right now.
 
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copen1945 said:
After everything that has happened, united look good for the fourth spot. ronaldo is the key for this race.
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You mean if ronaldo starts on the bench ?
He has been fecking pony for a few games now. He’s not the key for anything as far as I can work out.
 
The Purley King said:
You mean if ronaldo starts on the bench ?
He has been fecking pony for a few games now. He’s not the key for anything as far as I can work out.
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As much as I agree, I just don't see Ralf dropping Ronaldo given the depth of our squad. I'd say the key to a 4th place finish is actually the link up between Sancho and Pogba.
 
DRJosh said:
As much as I agree, I just don't see Ralf dropping Ronaldo given the depth of our squad. I'd say the key to a 4th place finish is actually the link up between Sancho and Pogba.
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Shaw, sancho and pogba have done pretty well on the left hand side the last few games. Shaw needs another 2-3 games to get back to proper fitness.
As much as I don’t think he is the answer, pogba has played well and deserves his spot at the moment.
 
If we had our finishing boots on lately we’d probably be third. If we sort our shit out quickly I can see us getting 4th, but it has to be immediately.
 
The least shit team out of the top 3 good teams will get 4th. Probably Arsenal will do enough to fall over the line into 4th. Criminal from us it really is.
 
2 man midfield said:
If we had our finishing boots on lately we’d probably be third. If we sort our shit out quickly I can see us getting 4th, but it has to be immediately.
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It doesn’t though. If we were to carry on like this until April then put 5 wins together we’d probably find ourself in 4th. I get your point though but mine is that there’s a long way to go and, as long as you hang in there the it’s your form at the end of the season that matters. That is ultimately when the table is decided.
 
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Offside said:
It doesn’t though. If we were to carry on like this until April then put 5 wins together we’d probably find ourself in 4th. I get your point though but mine is that there’s a long way to go and, as long as you hang in there the it’s your form at the end of the season that matters. That is ultimately when the table is decided.
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I’m just not sure we’re going to get away with weekends like this one forever. We’re undergoing a new project which could all click into place tomorrow, but then so are Tottenham.
 
GoonerBear said:
Well our form in the last 6 league games is only bettered by Man City, so yeah, I suppose I can't see us doing any better right now.
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Yes, But you've said this at least once every season for the last 5. I understand that you're frustrated that the general consensus here is that you will bottle it, but in recent history you have been up and down so it's only normal that you aren't taken seriously. Similar to how United fans were with Ole you guys are always only 3-4 games away from a crisis and calls for Arteta to be sacked.

The only advantage you have is no European football and other competitions to concentrate on and in about 2 weeks Spurs and United will have the same advantage.
 
the_cliff said:
Yes, But you've said this at least once every season for the last 5. I understand that you're frustrated that the general consensus here is that you will bottle it, but in recent history you have been up and down so it's only normal that you aren't taken seriously. Similar to how United fans were with Ole you guys are always only 3-4 games away from a crisis and calls for Arteta to be sacked.

The only advantage you have is no European football and other competitions to concentrate on and in about 2 weeks Spurs and United will have the same advantage.
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Na mate, I actually quite like getting written off, I'm just correcting a few misconceptions that are being said in here. Used to getting written off, we are the 1's with the poor squad and the rookie manager.
 
Any one of the five teams could make this; none are in very good form and many of the games in hand are against each other or obdurate teams like Brighton who seem to draw with everyone.

It's going to be about the team that suddenly hits form for ten on the spin.
 
Spurs will not finish into top 4 because of Conte always saying how bad or mentally weak half of his team is: if you know you ll not stay next season, why would you fight for the team? Poor man management. And surely 4 defeats in a row this week at City. And almost 5 without these 2 goals in ET at Leicester. Bad spiral.

For United, the team concedes too many occasions and is unable to control a game even when scoring first. Tomorrow game against a very good Brighton side will be interesting. Another draw tomorrow is on the cards. Brighton is hard to beat (4 defeats) with 12 draws.

Arsenal with no injuries has a good chance.

West Ham can beat anyone.

Wolves has to be considered as second best behind Arsenal for top four considering their recent form against very good opposition:
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/wolverhampton-wanderers/form-guide

My prédiction:

4. Arsenal
5. Wolves
6 Man Utd
7. West Ham
8 Tottenham
 
I have a bad feeling that 2019 will repeat, even then we got close to 4th place (even were 4th at some point I think), but finished 6th in the end. Could see it happening again, with Arsenal maybe this time 4th and Spurs 5th.
 
DJBillRemfry said:
Any one of the five teams could make this; none are in very good form and many of the games in hand are against each other or obdurate teams like Brighton who seem to draw with everyone.

It's going to be about the team that suddenly hits form for ten on the spin.
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10 on the spin isn’t needed imo. If Utd continue to play the way we are the XG will catch up and out forwards will score. That’s all it really takes for us and is easiest problem to solve amongst the chasers imo.
What would stop Utd is my lingering thought that this is us playing well. If we don’t start scoring soon then our level of performance will need to be at a high level for 15 odd games and that’s a tall ask for even elite sides.
We just need our strikers to gain confidence really
 
See where we are after …..City (A), Spurs (H), Liverpool (A)

Don’t see Utd getting more than 4 points (at best) from those 3 games.
 
I don't think we'll get that 4th spot but to have any real chance we probably have to beat both Leeds and Watford and get to 49 points, especially with fixtures coming up after those 2 games.
 
Without the distraction of Europe and domestic cups, if Arsenal don't get fourth now then Arteta deserves to be sacked.

Knowing how their board functions, he won't.
 
I saw that Arsenal have three games in hand then I checked who they were against:

Tottenham (a)
Chelsea (a)
Liverpool (h)

I’m not sure they’ll get anything out of those. Maybe Spurs.
 
Klopper76 said:
I saw that Arsenal have three games in hand then I checked who they were against:

Tottenham (a)
Chelsea (a)
Liverpool (h)

I’m not sure they’ll get anything out of those. Maybe Spurs.
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I don’t rate Arsenal but this is a daft way to look at it. Who the ‘games in hand’ are against at the current stage of the season is irrelevant. Apart from City, Norwich and Burnley they still have to face every other team once.

United with 13 games left still have to face all other top 6 teams, most of them away. So if anything Arsenal have a far kinder schedule left given they’ve played City twice.
 
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