The next 4 weeks

charlenefan

Far less insightful than the other Charley
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
33,052
Wow what a set of fixtures between now mid Jan and mid Feb

Not a predictions thread but just a reference

14th Jan - Man City (H) PL
18th Jan - Crystal Palace (A) PL
22nd Jan - Arsenal (A) PL
25th Jan - Nottingham Forest (A) LC SF
28th Jan? - Reading (H) FA Cup
31st/1st Feb - Nottingham Forest (H) LC SF
4th Feb - Crystal Palace (H) PL
12th Feb - Leeds (A) PL
16th Feb - Barcelona (A) EL

Only 1 free midweek
 
Samid said:
Chances are we play that midweek. Either:

- Reading FA cup replay
- Leeds match from autumn rescheduled
- Brentford match from the Carabao final weekend rescheduled
Click to expand...

Yep I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Leeds home game squeezed in which would mean playing them twice in a week
 
charlenefan said:
Wow what a set of fixtures between now mid Jan and mid Feb

Not a predictions thread but just a reference

14th Jan - Man City (H) PL
18th Jan - Crystal Palace (A) PL
22nd Jan - Arsenal (A) PL
25th Jan - Nottingham Forest (A) LC SF
28th Jan? - Reading (H) FA Cup
31st/1st Feb - Nottingham Forest (H) LC SF
4th Feb - Crystal Palace (H) PL
12th Feb - Leeds (A) PL
16th Feb - Barcelona (A) EL

Only 1 free midweek
Click to expand...

It’s going to be tough but I think we need to try and play close to our strongest XI in the next 4 games to set us up nicely. Then hopefully get some rotation in ahead of the Barcelona ties. It would be a shame to surrender momentum in the league.

Rotate heavily against Reading. Hopefully rotate to an extent in the Forest 2nd leg.
 
charlenefan said:
Yep I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Leeds home game squeezed in which would mean playing them twice in a week
Click to expand...

Kind of ironic how they postponed the original fixture due to policing issues and now have to try and fit it in on a midweek evening on very short notice.
 
charlenefan said:
Wow what a set of fixtures between now mid Jan and mid Feb

Not a predictions thread but just a reference

14th Jan - Man City (H) PL
18th Jan - Crystal Palace (A) PL
22nd Jan - Arsenal (A) PL
25th Jan - Nottingham Forest (A) LC SF
28th Jan? - Reading (H) FA Cup
31st/1st Feb - Nottingham Forest (H) LC SF
4th Feb - Crystal Palace (H) PL
12th Feb - Leeds (A) PL
16th Feb - Barcelona (A) EL

Only 1 free midweek
Click to expand...
Crikey, how is Ten Hag even getting the players training properly? Surely just tons of recovery right now?
 
We have to play the kids against Barca and hope they knock us out of the Europa League. Fixture congestion is bad enough without all the extra travelling that competition brings with it.
 
Judge Red said:
We have to play the kids against Barca and hope they knock us out of the Europa League. Fixture congestion is bad enough without all the extra travelling that competition brings with it.
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Sorry wtf
 
Next 3 league games are huge. If we get 9 from 9 we’ll be challenging till late on in the season.

Weve had kind draws in the cups, we can rotate there.
 
It's just exciting to be in a position where we have games at this stage with stuff riding on them, early on last year we were in a position where we had very little to play for (we obviously were never going to make a run in Europe and top 4 was long gone) so it's been a great turnaround led by Ten Hag.

Managing the squad, which isn't that deep, is going to be tricky in the coming weeks so he will have to use opportunities where he can to rotate (Reading being an obvious one, the Forest 2nd leg would be great if we put ourselves in a healthy position in the 1st game) but around that he might have to find ways of subtly change things up, resting the odd player here and there, to keep everyone involved but in a good state physically.
 
In terms of squad depth I think we're largely okay to cope with fixture congestion like this. We have good rotation options for virtually every position, except for a striker but that's seemingly about to be fixed. Happy for Garnacho and possibly Pellistri to get some minutes, Malacia is decent, and although their long term futures may not be at Old Trafford, Fred, McTominay, Lindelof AWB and Maguire are experienced and usually solid options to call upon when we need to rotate. Elanga is probably the weakest link at the moment but you never know he may be able to contribute.

Donny being injured (if he is still?) perhaps leaves us a number 10 short, although he wasn't reliable or impactful enough anyway, I'd like to see Eriksen play there but he's needed in CM currently due both numbers and his skill set. Arguably this is where keeping Garner may have proven beneficial because Mainoo and Iqbal aren't ready, whilst Hannibal and Amad are getting vital playing time out on loan.

More importantly though, I think ETH has shown that we're capable of good performances even if we chop and change a few players against middling opposition, which is a welcomed improvement compared to Ole. I have quiet confidence that ETH will manage the squad effectively during this run if games and get contributions from everyone without burning out our key players.
 
Judge Red said:
We have to play the kids against Barca and hope they knock us out of the Europa League. Fixture congestion is bad enough without all the extra travelling that competition brings with it.
Click to expand...
No chance, if we're resting players it'll be the carabao and FA Cup. Winning the Europa league is a way back into the champions league if we don't get top 4 so expect Ten Hag to play our strongest team
 
That run of fixtures is bloody stupid. We're going to need to rotate against Palace and Reading. Hopefully we get a very good result against Forest in the 1st leg. That'll allow us to rotate in the 2nd leg. If the league is going well, I'd probably rotate against Barca as well.
 
CloneMC16 said:
That run of fixtures is bloody stupid. We're going to need to rotate against Palace and Reading. Hopefully we get a very good result against Forest in the 1st leg. That'll allow us to rotate in the 2nd leg. If the league is going well, I'd probably rotate against Barca as well.
Click to expand...
Can thank the World Cup for that.
 
Judge Red said:
We have to play the kids against Barca and hope they knock us out of the Europa League. Fixture congestion is bad enough without all the extra travelling that competition brings with it.
Click to expand...

luckily ETH doesn’t have a loser mindset like yours.
 
Judge Red said:
We have to play the kids against Barca and hope they knock us out of the Europa League. Fixture congestion is bad enough without all the extra travelling that competition brings with it.
Click to expand...
No, hopefully we’ll beat them to put Barce in a bigger shit hole financially or you’ll see them spoiling the transfer market again next summer.
 
I am actually staggered that there are fa cup replays and still a two legged league cup semi final this season.
the football league are going to have to drop the two semies especially with the new cl format coming in. This year would have been the prefect time to start it.
 
Judge Red said:
We have to play the kids against Barca and hope they knock us out of the Europa League. Fixture congestion is bad enough without all the extra travelling that competition brings with it.
Click to expand...

No way I'd want that and I don't think ETH would do that.
We can play the kids in the first leg against Forrest, at home in the FA Cup against Reading and depending on the first leg result again against Forrest. Other than that, we have to play full strength because there is no room for error.
 
charlenefan said:
Wow what a set of fixtures between now mid Jan and mid Feb

Not a predictions thread but just a reference

14th Jan - Man City (H) PL
18th Jan - Crystal Palace (A) PL
22nd Jan - Arsenal (A) PL
25th Jan - Nottingham Forest (A) LC SF
28th Jan? - Reading (H) FA Cup
31st/1st Feb - Nottingham Forest (H) LC SF
4th Feb - Crystal Palace (H) PL
12th Feb - Leeds (A) PL
16th Feb - Barcelona (A) EL

Only 1 free midweek
Click to expand...
Nice that the lads have got the 28th to catch up on a few books and watch match of the day.
 
Probably all downhill from here. Goes without saying, our results are a bit too good at this point. EtH win percentage, in his first season, is almost 15 % above Klopp. Even better than Pep. It will not be the case when this season is over.
 
Whatever happens the proof is already there that TH is the right manager to take us forward. We might fall short due to fixture pileup, but he has already shown our future on the pitch is assured. This is better than any cup win we have had in the past 10 years.
 
cyberman said:
We can rotate in the cups, it’s not as bad as it looks.
Click to expand...

I think we have to play our strongest side in the next 4 but yes after that there can be some rotation

A lot of fixtures but the next 3 are the hardest until Barca
 
It will make or break our season , we could be anywhere from being in the title race to out from every competition we're involved in and everywhere in between.

Ten hag's first real test!
 
A game every weekend and mid week has been the norm since the COVID restart, so it's not a huge deal. Only truly tough fixtures there are city, Arsenal and Barca.

Plus that midweek will likely get filled... We'll likely have a league Cup final that reschedules another league game in addition to the missed Leeds game, and then the next round of the fa cup will go somewhere.
 
Get a good solid win against Forest 1st leg, and then rotate across the Reading game and the 2nd leg
 
I wish we could find a prudent midfielder signing like this Weghorst deal. I fear we're short a proper first team player in the middle, with the fixture congestion.
 
Trequarista10 said:
In terms of squad depth I think we're largely okay to cope with fixture congestion like this. We have good rotation options for virtually every position, except for a striker but that's seemingly about to be fixed. Happy for Garnacho and possibly Pellistri to get some minutes, Malacia is decent, and although their long term futures may not be at Old Trafford, Fred, McTominay, Lindelof AWB and Maguire are experienced and usually solid options to call upon when we need to rotate. Elanga is probably the weakest link at the moment but you never know he may be able to contribute.

Donny being injured (if he is still?) perhaps leaves us a number 10 short, although he wasn't reliable or impactful enough anyway, I'd like to see Eriksen play there but he's needed in CM currently due both numbers and his skill set. Arguably this is where keeping Garner may have proven beneficial because Mainoo and Iqbal aren't ready, whilst Hannibal and Amad are getting vital playing time out on loan.

More importantly though, I think ETH has shown that we're capable of good performances even if we chop and change a few players against middling opposition, which is a welcomed improvement compared to Ole. I have quiet confidence that ETH will manage the squad effectively during this run if games and get contributions from everyone without burning out our key players.
Click to expand...

I agree. My only real worries are Casemiro and Bruno. Those positions require a lot of running and our play degrades without them because the backups just aren't close to being effective. ETH has some tough decisions. I think he was giving Donny time so he could spell Bruno somewhat effectively and that ended with injury. We'll see what happens and hopefully we don't have any key injuries.
 
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