Well regardless of what we think, Jose needs to convince the team that's it's still possible. Our next two games are winnable. So just put your head down, one game at a time and do your best. The only hope is that City have a massive feck up at some point. Let's atleast be there to capitalise if that happens. Pogba and Fellaini should be back. Rojo and Ibra not so far away.
The Title Race 2017/18 | Done and dusted.
- Thread starter Buchan
- Start date
- Status
Doubt it. Watch Real turn it up in the knockouts. They have started the season poorly, but they always step it up in the later stages of the season.
PSG are arguably the best right now. Barca and Juventus are no pushovers too. Just last game, Arsenal had many openings, which they failed to capitalise on. The bigger teams won't be doing that.
PSG haven't even played that many teams of real quality yet, they've brushed aside Celtic, Anderlecht and a demotivated Bayern under Ancelotti. They played a team called Angers the other day and scored 5 past them, even then Angers could've and should've easily scored 2 goals.
Not taking anything away from them, to be fair they are probably the best team in Europe going forward, but they are yet to perform against a top inform side that can cause them real problems and test their defence. Also I have my reservations on Emery as a tactician.
You can logically try and predict who will win the league in November, the CL? No way in hell can you predict that in fecking November.
In fact, it’s hard to predict full stop. KO football anything can happen.
In fact, it’s hard to predict full stop. KO football anything can happen.
All very reasonable comments, but you'll drop unexpected points as all clubs (including City) will do.
What's going to be critical is the head to heads vs City and what I think will cost you, is I cannot see you getting more than 1 point from those two games.
We really need to win our next two games at home, not lose away to Arsenal and then go into the City game at Old Trafford and win it. If the distance of 8 points expands anymore we can kiss a credible title challenge goodbye never mind the title.
They need to only sustain it up to February by which time they should be double digits ahead. After that they will concentrate on the cup competitions. Pep's Barcelona side sustained this type of football for 3 years. He also has a great medical team of his own who kept that Barcelona team going. Most teams are beaten now when they step onto the pitch, their confidence is sky high. They are going to bring several top players in January; most likely gholum, Sanchez and a CB. It's a perfect storm.
United can win against any team at OT. You are very naive to make such assumptions. Even if City have more possession, shots on target, clear chances etc. United can still win it by scoring from set pieces, counter attacks etc. This season our home form is great - not a single draw and no conceded goal in the league.
I agree, i hope for the sake of the title race that we get at least 4 from the head to heads (3 at home and 1 away), i'm hoping that in the away leg, Jose could do a job on you away and by job, i mean park the bus and aim for a draw like last year. it's good that the first game is at home. the fact that you play shaktar in Ukraine 4 days before playing us is good for us.
The goal should be to keep the gap at 5-7 and stay close by the end of december.
Obviously as a blue I don't want anyone else to win, but this talk by many of city having already won the title and others playing for CL places is surely likely to be counter productive for united, chelsea & spurs ? Yes in some circumstances, this type of talk can put pressure on the leaders and take pressure of those chasing. But at the moment, I think this talk actually can create a defeatist attitude amongst fans & players of our rivals, whilst also creating an air of invincibility around our club & players which becomes self perpetuating. As some others have said, rivals need to keep their head down, have confidence in their own ability and make sure they are in as good a position as possible to pounce if an opportunity arises.
The other issue is of course the head to heads - for a rival to city to emerge, not only will one team need to have consistently good results against the rest in the top 4/5/6 but we will need to drop some points against them - there have simply been too few of those head to heads yet played to jump to conclusions yet
The other issue is of course the head to heads - for a rival to city to emerge, not only will one team need to have consistently good results against the rest in the top 4/5/6 but we will need to drop some points against them - there have simply been too few of those head to heads yet played to jump to conclusions yet
Yeah they haven't been truly tested. However I think they can outscore the opposition. They are very good on the counter.
Of course you can win any game at OT. I wouldn't be so rude to suggest otherwise.
You could of course take 6 points off us in the head to heads. But my belief is we'll win our home game and draw at OT.
If we do that, we're effectively 11 points clear of you (all other results up to that point being equal) and I think that would have the season done and dusted.
You NEED to take points off us in the head to heads imo.
It's Spurs you probably need to worry about.
I agree and complacency can creep in, if you are 8 or more points clear by January then to me that is suggestive.
Jose will not give up the league so soon and so should not us fans. The most important thing we must do is win the next 3 games, Newcastle (H), Brighton (H) and Watford (A). I expect somewhere city will drop points. If we say we are 6 points behind before we face city, then we can catch them.
I don't think so. I think it's Moureen vs Pep this season.
Fair enough. You're more optimistic about United's title credentials than most of the actual United fans on here!
If we were 8 points ahead, i don't think we would think City will catch us. My point? Reality check, 8 points isn't 3 or 5 - it's actually 9 considering goal difference too. It will take a real implosion by Pep and his boys to make this happen while also praying for our own consistency with other teams breathing down our neck.
Jose has never been the one to chase, he'd rather be chased.
Fair point but still there are 27 games to go so anything can happen.
It's not just about the 8 points. It's the fact that we are playing like crap right now.
Jose's approach to the tougher games is also too negative. We basically won't get a win against the top 6 teams when we're playing away since we can't even score. So let's say we are lucky enough to draw 3 and lose only 2. That's only 3 points whereas City play to win. It's not hard to imagine them getting at least 9-12 points in those tough away games. I don't see a way for us to catch up unfortunately.
Jose's approach to the tougher games is also too negative. We basically won't get a win against the top 6 teams when we're playing away since we can't even score. So let's say we are lucky enough to draw 3 and lose only 2. That's only 3 points whereas City play to win. It's not hard to imagine them getting at least 9-12 points in those tough away games. I don't see a way for us to catch up unfortunately.
I think you are being overly pessimistic.
Utd will have POGBA, IBRAHIMOVICH and ROJO back which will be a huge boost.
And JOSE has had a tendency to kind of steal points from tough oppositions using PRAGMATIC approach, Spurs game being a prime example.
Very few top6 teams will go to Anfield and get 3 points. Utd lost at the bridge but it could have gone either way.
Jose has been doing this throughout his career and it has served him quite well.
City are tearing teams a new one but when we wobble, we will lose all 3 points rather than losing just 2. That's what Jose is relying on.
Although i hope City cruise to the title just for the sake of absolutely mesmerizing game that we are playing this season
I think you are being overly pessimistic.
Utd will have POGBA, IBRAHIMOVICH and ROJO back which will be a huge boost.
And JOSE has had a tendency to kind of steal points from tough oppositions using PRAGMATIC approach, Spurs game being a prime example.
Very few top6 teams will go to Anfield and get 3 points. Utd lost at the bridge but it could have gone either way.
Jose has been doing this throughout his career and it has served him quite well.
City are tearing teams a new one but when we wobble, we will lose all 3 points rather than losing just 2. That's what Jose is relying on.
Although i hope City cruise to the title just for the sake of absolutely mesmerizing game that we are playing this season
Mourinho’s team has scored only 1 goal away from home in the PL against the Top 6 sides in his last 10 attempts.
Am I really being overly pessimistic?
Yes he won league titles in the past playing like this. But don't forget EPL only had 3-4 top teams in the past. Now we have a strong top 6 teams instead of top 4. 30 points instead of 18 points are up for grabs. Winning only against smaller teams is not enough anymore.
United were never as good as their record suggested and they haven't fared so great against the top teams. Even Tottenham was missing Kane who is a much bigger piece than Pogba for United.
United are a good squad but no one can realistically expect them to get past the quarters in CL and their ceiling is probably a top 3 finish in the PL. Their attack is poor despite having a wonderful defense.
United are a good squad but no one can realistically expect them to get past the quarters in CL and their ceiling is probably a top 3 finish in the PL. Their attack is poor despite having a wonderful defense.
And guess what they lost. Its funny how people like you undermine Pogba's loss but do not think twice before mentioning other club's injury. Because if you are going to mention injuries, then probably we have the biggest claim. Ask city to play without Silva and KdB for one month and let us see how effective Pep and his football is.
Correct - and unfortunately our wonderful defence looked pretty awful against Chelsea on Sunday as well. We quite easily could have conceded 4 or 5.
They played without Silva at Napoli in arguably their best win so far this season. And without Walker too (discounting Mendy and Kompany). Not sure why they should play without both Silva and KDB. Are you suggesting that Fellaini is comparable to them?
They have a strong squad but KDB and silva are their engines. Without them they would also look toothless aka against Wolves. Without Pogba we loose our engine and that is why it is not a surprise our transition from defense to attack looks crap.
I wouldn't be thinking we had the league wrapped up if we were in City's position at the moment. I seem to remember we had an 8 pt lead a few years ago & blew it & this was an experienced PL winning team. We also only had City breathing down our necks. There could be 4 teams close together going into the last quarter of the season. If we keep the pressure on who knows how City are going to react.
It's a must-win match for us later now v Newcastle. All of our rivals (bar Spurs) coasting to victories today.
All we can do is win from here on out.
Very true, but when the teams immediately below you all win, it adds that little bit of extra pressure.
Let's look at things one step at a time. Until City stutter, we cannot talk about the title.
With Spurs losing, we can get to second place solo if we beat Newcastle. And beat them convincingly like title contenders rather than the shaky 1-0 after struggling for 60 odd minutes, like we have been doing the past 7 matches. That would be a start.
With Spurs losing, we can get to second place solo if we beat Newcastle. And beat them convincingly like title contenders rather than the shaky 1-0 after struggling for 60 odd minutes, like we have been doing the past 7 matches. That would be a start.
Important match for us tonight.
We've struggled a bit lately, but with Pogba particularly, but Zlatan too, coming back into the side, we've got a great chance to make that a real positive, and use it to build some momentum. Prove to ourself that we're a different animal with our best players, and try to stay on City's coattails until they face a bit of hardship.
If we don't win, it can get ugly. It'll be the last we see of the "title race" and we'll be facing a hard top four battle.
Important match.
We've struggled a bit lately, but with Pogba particularly, but Zlatan too, coming back into the side, we've got a great chance to make that a real positive, and use it to build some momentum. Prove to ourself that we're a different animal with our best players, and try to stay on City's coattails until they face a bit of hardship.
If we don't win, it can get ugly. It'll be the last we see of the "title race" and we'll be facing a hard top four battle.
Important match.
Does it still exist?
We've not got enough this season. Citeh adressed their glaring weaknesses with FB's and GK, we didn't adress ours at RW and FB.
Will take another window and a whole lot of moolah for us to be there I think, I honestly believe Chelsea to be a bigger challenge for Citeh this season than us.
Will take another window and a whole lot of moolah for us to be there I think, I honestly believe Chelsea to be a bigger challenge for Citeh this season than us.
If City maintain their current pace then fair fecks to them as they will break a few records along the way.
I think we'll be there, close.
And going for the quadruple is the target common sense suggested after their most recent transfer windows, isn't it? This race does not exists this year, really: another team may eat into their lead if a bad spell or the usual dip in form happens, but keeping going and pipping them over 38 games would need a monumental feck up by Pep.
Brighton at home next for United. Just gotta keep winning the easy matches and hope City run into some difficulties somewhere. At present it seems most teams around the top are fighting to be in the top four rather than win the title.
In all title races, no matter how well the top team is playing they usually hit a patch where things don't click. Now its a matter of who will be close to them when that happens. We 100% need to beat them at OT too.
- Status