Turns out we're a bit crap, anyone?

Rolandofgilead said:
Man City V Villa - sadly, 3 points to City.
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Knowing MCFC, they'll find a way to drop points against Villa. Somehow.
Honestly, I have no idea what is going on with MCFC. They announce Guardiola and immediately turned into a mid-table team.
 
Win the title? Obviously very do-able for our buccaneering young stars.

Let's have a bit of ambition lads, I'm fully expecting the FA cup and Europa League to go with it and Louis to be awarded a knighthood and a contract extension in the summer
 
We have blown similar or better leads in the past...

  • On 1 March 1998, Manchester United were 11 points ahead at the top of the Premiership and looked all set for a fifth title success in six seasons. One bookmaker even paid out on the punters who had bet on United winning the league. Arsenal went on to win it by a point.
  • On April 8 2012, with six matches remaining United were 8 points ahead of City and the title seemingly decided. However United, then faltered with a defeat and a draw in their next three games, while City won all three to narrow the gap to 3 points. City then beat United 1–0 at the Etihad Stadium to move back ahead of United on goal difference. We all know what happened here..
 
foolsgold said:
Win the title? Obviously very do-able for our buccaneering young stars.

Let's have a bit of ambition lads, I'm fully expecting the FA cup and Europa League to go with it and Louis to be awarded a knighthood and a contract extension in the summer
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This is the spirit!

Perhaps we can all actually stay in the ground until full time for a change and create an atmosphere to lead our young bucks to the title.

We can do this!
 
Premier League
West BromvMan Utd
Sun 6 Mar 16:00


Europa League -Round of 16
LiverpoolvMan Utd
Thu 10 Mar 20:05


Premier League
Man UtdP-PCrystal Palace
Postponed
Sat 12 Mar


FA Cup - Sixth Round
Man UtdvWest Ham
Sun 13 Mar 16:00


Europa League -Round of 16
Man UtdvLiverpool
Thu 17 Mar 18:00


Premier League
Man CityvMan Utd
Sun 20 Mar 16:00
April 2016

Premier League
Man UtdvEverton
Sun 3 Apr 16:00

Premier League
TottenhamvMan Utd
Sun 10 Apr 16:00

Premier League
Man UtdvAston Villa
Sat 16 Apr 15:00

Premier League
West HamP-PMan Utd
Postponed
Sat 23 Apr


May 2016


Premier League
Man UtdvLeicester
Sun 1 May 13:30


Premier League
NorwichvMan Utd
Sat 7 May 15:00


Premier League
Man UtdvBournemouth
Sun 15 May 15:00



City and Spurs away tough fixtures. A lot depends on our injured players coming back. And winning does give confidence.
 
Those last 3 games of ours, if we can pull ourselves into a situation where we beat Leicester to go top or close to top, imagine the pressure on the other sides knowing our last 2 games are Norwich and Bournemouth.
 
@Rolandofgilead Get in you legend!!

About time this topic gets created. I've only gone ahead and tried all combinations on this page to somehow make us the champions. And there is a very slight change that things can go our way. It can be done and if it's anybody, it's us who can do it :D

https://www.thesportspredictor.com/#/predictor/with/season,pro,hideFinished,showTools

That Liverpool magical season in which they pushed us hard till we beat Aston villa, they were down and out with no chance of a challenge in December and had a run of 13 consecutive victories or something. After all this ridiculous negativity, I'm all up for some positivity.
 
bleedred said:
Didn't we have a similar thread after our last resurgence and we all know how it ended!!!!
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Last season Deja vu here. We went rambling about top 2-3 when we went on that run beating Spurs and City and somehow ended scraping through to 4th. I wouldn't bet on us.
 
The best way is game by game, win as much as possible and we will see where we will end.
 
One game at a time lads, one game at a time.

Our first and foremost task is top 4, given how City are kicking themselves in the balls. If with 3 games to go we are within 3 points of first then yes, let us dream.
 
Don't do this to yourself, man!:lol:

But from a serious analytical POV, it is possible, and it's the sort of thing that has been done before. But there are a few reasons as to why I'd say it's objectively a lot less likely for us to bridge a 10 point gap this season than it has been for other sides in previous seasons.

The first is that we're not chasing one team. We're chasing four. If Leicester maintain reasonable form till the end of the season, we can't win it. If Spurs do fairly well, we can't win it. If Arsenal or City hit excellent form, we can't win it. Even with us winning every game, it's still unlikely. And there's almost no chance we're going to win every game from now until the end of the season, which takes me onto my next point...

The points total. It's all well and good coming from 10 points behind to win it on 90 points. City bridged an 8 point gap against us, for example. But the problem is that in most seasons, a side who wins the title but were 10 points behind remains a very good side who are generally getting results, but happened to be against an even better performing side who hit some poorer form. In other words, it's much more likely for a side with 60 points after 28 games (which is decent without being brilliant), to bridge a 10 point gap, than it is for a side with 47 points to win 10 games in a row. That's not to say it can't be done, but if we assume this hypothetical run begins at the Arsenal game, to win the title we would have to win more games in our final 12 than we did in our first 26.

Add in a feckton of injury problems, the fact that we aren't a high scoring side, and nah, it's extremely, ridiculously unlikely. Although, so was Leicester potentially winning the Premier League last August...but still, no way it's happening.
 
Rolandofgilead said:
Those last 3 games of ours, if we can pull ourselves into a situation where we beat Leicester to go top or close to top, imagine the pressure on the other sides knowing our last 2 games are Norwich and Bournemouth.
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You mean those two sides we've been beaten by this season? We're worryingly abject against teams we're expected to beat. Thing is...I can conceivably see us beating Leicester, or City, or Spurs even. We've actually got a decent chance. But we're hopeless at killing off smaller teams who seem to be adept at nicking a goal or two with our style of play.
 
I don't think any of the teams above are too far in front to catch. Even Leicester, for example, it's not unreasonable to think we could gain 4 points on them over the next 7 games. Then they would only be 6 points ahead when they come to Old Trafford, with their final two games being Everton and Chelsea.

What's unthinkable really is that we would be able to pass all of them and that we would be able to produce the form to make that possible. We haven't produced a run like that since Ferguson left and it's likely we will have another bad run of form at some stage between now and the end of the season.
 
We're not going to win the title, and it's not because we face City or Spurs or Leicester. It's because we have dropped a mind-boggling number of points against relegation-quality sides:

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/premier-league/2015-2016/versus-bottom-third

The current top 4, meanwhile, have feasted on those opponents. Arsenal are the lowest of the top 4 with 2.22pts/game compared to our 1.5pts/game vs the bottom third. We've still got 5 matches left against those teams who will only get tougher to break down as the relegation battle continues.
 
Cheesy said:
You mean those two sides we've been beaten by this season? We're worryingly abject against teams we're expected to beat. Thing is...I can conceivably see us beating Leicester, or City, or Spurs even. We've actually got a decent chance. But we're hopeless at killing off smaller teams who seem to be adept at nicking a goal or two with our style of play.
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Yeah I totally agree, it's the smaller teams that are killing us. But since the Europa league defeat it's almost as if a light switch has gone off. Not only did we turn it on so to speak in the second leg, we beat Shrewsbury who are the sort of team we would really end up struggling against for whatever reason, we carried the form on against Arsenal when nobody expected us to and then tonight we actually managed to beat a below average side. I know that sounds like it isn't much of an achievement especially with the performance but I think people are forgetting that this was our third game in 6 days.

Confidence should be high going to the hawthorns on Sunday and with players coming back from injury, who knows.
 
Red Dreams said:
City and Spurs away tough fixtures. A lot depends on our injured players coming back. And winning does give confidence.
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Or not coming back. Because I tell you, once we start dropping some of the players riding on confidence at the moment for those returning... :nervous:
 
Cheesy said:
Don't do this to yourself, man!:lol:

But from a serious analytical POV, it is possible, and it's the sort of thing that has been done before. But there are a few reasons as to why I'd say it's objectively a lot less likely for us to bridge a 10 point gap this season than it has been for other sides in previous seasons.

The first is that we're not chasing one team. We're chasing four. If Leicester maintain reasonable form till the end of the season, we can't win it. If Spurs do fairly well, we can't win it. If Arsenal or City hit excellent form, we can't win it. Even with us winning every game, it's still unlikely. And there's almost no chance we're going to win every game from now until the end of the season, which takes me onto my next point...

The points total. It's all well and good coming from 10 points behind to win it on 90 points. City bridged an 8 point gap against us, for example. But the problem is that in most seasons, a side who wins the title but were 10 points behind remains a very good side who are generally getting results, but happened to be against an even better performing side who hit some poorer form. In other words, it's much more likely for a side with 60 points after 28 games (which is decent without being brilliant), to bridge a 10 point gap, than it is for a side with 47 points to win 10 games in a row. That's not to say it can't be done, but if we assume this hypothetical run begins at the Arsenal game, to win the title we would have to win more games in our final 12 than we did in our first 26.

Add in a feckton of injury problems, the fact that we aren't a high scoring side, and nah, it's extremely, ridiculously unlikely. Although, so was Leicester potentially winning the Premier League last August...but still, no way it's happening.
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Shut up and join the optimism queue Cheesy, my fellow food-themed poster diamond you.
 
RedStarUnited said:
We have blown similar or better leads in the past...

  • On 1 March 1998, Manchester United were 11 points ahead at the top of the Premiership and looked all set for a fifth title success in six seasons. One bookmaker even paid out on the punters who had bet on United winning the league. Arsenal went on to win it by a point.
  • On April 8 2012, with six matches remaining United were 8 points ahead of City and the title seemingly decided. However United, then faltered with a defeat and a draw in their next three games, while City won all three to narrow the gap to 3 points. City then beat United 1–0 at the Etihad Stadium to move back ahead of United on goal difference. We all know what happened here..
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difference is there's more than 1 team that's ahead of us atm
 
Cheesy said:
Don't do this to yourself, man!:lol:

But from a serious analytical POV, it is possible, and it's the sort of thing that has been done before. But there are a few reasons as to why I'd say it's objectively a lot less likely for us to bridge a 10 point gap this season than it has been for other sides in previous seasons.

The first is that we're not chasing one team. We're chasing four. If Leicester maintain reasonable form till the end of the season, we can't win it. If Spurs do fairly well, we can't win it. If Arsenal or City hit excellent form, we can't win it. Even with us winning every game, it's still unlikely. And there's almost no chance we're going to win every game from now until the end of the season, which takes me onto my next point...

The points total. It's all well and good coming from 10 points behind to win it on 90 points. City bridged an 8 point gap against us, for example. But the problem is that in most seasons, a side who wins the title but were 10 points behind remains a very good side who are generally getting results, but happened to be against an even better performing side who hit some poorer form. In other words, it's much more likely for a side with 60 points after 28 games (which is decent without being brilliant), to bridge a 10 point gap, than it is for a side with 47 points to win 10 games in a row. That's not to say it can't be done, but if we assume this hypothetical run begins at the Arsenal game, to win the title we would have to win more games in our final 12 than we did in our first 26.

Add in a feckton of injury problems, the fact that we aren't a high scoring side, and nah, it's extremely, ridiculously unlikely. Although, so was Leicester potentially winning the Premier League last August...but still, no way it's happening.
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Leicester is not winning it if we are. So only one ridiculous thing will happen.
 
Rolandofgilead said:
I saw a team play poorly, soak up the pressure and come away with a 1-0 win.

Now....what is it they say about champions and playing poorly?
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That they always plays poorly. I'd be very worried if we played well and won, this is not the mark of the champions. Playing crap and forcing a win is.
 
Empire said:
We'd have to win every game between now and the end and even then Leicester would need to drop 7 so no it won't happen, not with our current team, we just about got through this match.

We don't have that consistently effective player in the final third to consistently score goals or create.

And then the fact that from the first leg against Midgetylland to the final game against City before the international break we will have played 10 matches in 32 days, the players already look fatigued, I don't think they can keep winning.

The race for top four is on though, that with a trophy in either the FA Cup or Europa League would make for a successful season when combined with the youth players that have shown themselves worthy of our squad next season.

Add more players either like Martial, Memphis and Shaw or a world class player or two and we are in an excellent position.
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I dont think its on but just to play red devils advocate, we have to play Leicester and they also have to play Everton and Chelsea. Thats 9 points right there they could drop.

Spurs have to play us, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Arsenal have to play west brom, palace and west ham... :lol:

Shitty have to play us, Chelsea and Arsenal.

So, at the end of the day its still wide open even for us. Will we have a chance? Doubt it. If we could get top 4 id be happy. I think if Arsenal can get their shit together they have the best run in. But its still up for grabs.

In days of old a run in like that would have had us all rubbing our hands together. Now we're happy with top 4 and have another go next year. Is it something in the merseyside?
 
Rolandofgilead said:
That speaks volumes mate to be honest when we are level on points with a team in terrible form and we still have to play them.
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Except that we arent really level on points yet because City still have a game in hand. On top of that we are also a team in terrible form that has been struggling an entire season to string 2 good performances together and we just came back from another terrible performance against an average team only difference is we got a lucky result. Not to mention we have one of the most difficult run ins still having to play city, spurs, leicester and everton.

Id say top 4 got closer but it is still going to be horribly difficult to get it. If you believe anything else than you are being naive.
 
Just :lol:

I feel like some people slipped into a coma fir most of the season and woke up thinking its a different season

Wake up and smell the coffee
 
I am pretty certain that if we win our 2 next matches - we will be in the top 4 after those matches. But unless we get some key-players back from injuries, really fast - we won't stay there long.
 
Manchester United is definitely in the title race. If we beat Leicester we will be seven points behind, we threw away an eight point lead at the end of April in 2012. The title is very doable.

The teams ahead of us are not mentally prepared for squeaky bum time. Only City's players have experienced a title run in, and they have all switched off following the Pep announcement.

You can see by the draws and losses Leicester, Spurs and Arsenal have stumbled into, the pressure is getting to them. The title winning know how of our senior players, and coach, could see us drop the fewest points from here until May.
 
golden_blunder said:
Just :lol:

I feel like some people slipped into a coma fir most of the season and woke up thinking its a different season

Wake up and smell the coffee
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Not really.

Whether what we have served up so far is good enough is quite irrelevant at this point, because despite the poor form, the boring football and the masses of negativity from people that at this point are frankly haunting the United forum, we are 5th, level on points with 4th, only ten points off the top with 3 of the top 4 still to play, not to mention that there are a few games between the existing top 4 to play, where they will take points from each other. We're still in Europe, all be it a lesser competition but it's still Europe. We're in the quarter final of the FA Cup.

Perhaps it isn't me that needs to smell the coffee as you put it. Perhaps we can all stop cry wanking ourselves to sleep over the absolute football equivalent of first world problems.
 
I'm still not convinced about Top 4 and there's a thread about the title!
 
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Title? You guys smoke funny stuff. There is no way we will win our remaining games and not slip up again anytime soon. Our form this season has been up and down, mainly down. There is no indication that will change. We yet have to play the other top teams, so what gives you the indication that we will win these? We might be able to push for 4th place, that's about it
 
Watch us lose at West Brom now.

I'm sure Roland is just trolling/wumming though. He can't be serious.
 
I'll tell you what, based on some of the reaction on here I'm starting to think we should just write a nice letter to the FA asking to place us 4th and to finish the season now, there's clearly no point in watching the rest of our games.
 
Rolandofgilead said:
I'll tell you what, based on some of the reaction on here I'm starting to think we should just write a nice letter to the FA asking to place us 4th and to finish the season now, there's clearly no point in watching the rest of our games.
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We can fight for fourth, that's the point. But we're obviously not winning the title. We won't be anywhere near.
 
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I put my money where my mouth is.

Let's believe, just for a change eh.
 
Its all about this weekend. If Leicester drop points v Watford then its on. We've seen first hand how energetic and hard working Watford are plus they could be bouyed by knowing they were the best side at Old Trafford last night.
Personally i think the side who are within 4/5 points of Leicester going into the last 3 games have a fantastic chance of overtaking them. Our front 4 seem to be coming into form while others are struggling. If that is enough is another question.
 
Obviously its not mathematically impossible but realistically you're hoping to outperform the league leaders by 11 points in the remaining 10 games so its a big ask, especially with the injury issues we have.

Even if you say that Leicester might not do so well without Kante in the short term you're also hoping that the 2nd-4th place also drop between 4 and 8 points as well. Surely 1 of the 4 will put on a decent run.
 
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