Wolves & United in a fight for 5th. Not been a great season has it, I hope we can nick 5th but it’s 50/50 I think.
Top 4 Race 19/20 | duffer: "We [Chelsea] are getting 3rd. Despite what the lunatics in here think, Man United are not all that."
- Thread starter Andy_Cole
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How do you make it 50-50 when reviewing the respective fixture schedules?
We’re 3 points behind still (game in hand I know, but still better to have points on the board) and fixture wise who knows how respective teams will play in this period, especially with such a prize on offer for Wolves of Champions League. It’ll be close I’m sure
If United don't qualify for the European Cup next season it will come down to us refusing to sign Bruno Fernandes until the last possible second. We lost three times in January, to Burney, Liverpool and Arsenal. Had we signed Bruno at the same time as Liverpool signed Minamino its possible we don't lose any of those games, its probable we win at least one of them and its very possible we get five or six points from the three fixtures. Five points is the difference between United and Chelsea at the moment. If we fail to finish in the top four the reason will be clear.
If we don't make 5th we will have ourselves to blame because there would be exactly 3 teams (Chelsea, Wolves and Leicester) ahead of us who didn't spend either. One of those teams we weakened when we took their best player. We can't be getting the excuses in early. There must be standards and we have to at least make top 5 in case of City's ban. I just can't imagine Wolves making CL ahead of us. They have one trick and that's adama, we have Fernandes, Pogba etc now and it's still in our hands
edit: and with us still being in Europa that's a 3rd lifeline for CL qualification. Between top 4, City's potential ban and the Europa league, we should absolutely make it
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Why does everyone think Wolves fixtures are so difficult?
Arsenal- tough yes but not hard to see them winning that or at least a draw.
C Palace, Everton, Burnley- Can easily see them winning those.
Sheff U- They’ve had a good season but look woefully off pace since the restart
Chelsea- Yes possible loss here but it’s the last day & 5th May be sewn up by then or they’ll play out of their skins to get result they need.
Wolves are a very serious challenger for 5th & I’m shocked people think it’s a relatively easy shootout between us & them
Arsenal- tough yes but not hard to see them winning that or at least a draw.
C Palace, Everton, Burnley- Can easily see them winning those.
Sheff U- They’ve had a good season but look woefully off pace since the restart
Chelsea- Yes possible loss here but it’s the last day & 5th May be sewn up by then or they’ll play out of their skins to get result they need.
Wolves are a very serious challenger for 5th & I’m shocked people think it’s a relatively easy shootout between us & them
Crystal Palace and Ancelotti`s Everton are far from easy to beat I can see Utd dropping points to Palace BTW. Wolves will definitely drop points in at least one of those games and beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge will far from easy as well. They have had a good season but since the restart they`ve relied purely on Adama as an impact sub to win them games you are overestimating them. For the record I think they will finish 5th and get CL via City`s ban but they won`t finish ahead of Utd.
They aren't that difficult, they're just more difficult than ours are and we already need to be almost perfect to get in realistically. Think we can afford to drop points in 1 game (draw) and win the rest. Wolves would need the same. Think theyll get 6th because we're too far off the pace from Leicester and Chelsea to pull both back, and realistically we're only going to catch Leicester up.
Chelsea's win against City seems to have really shifted perceptions. They've got a decent run of games now (until the last 2 against Liverpool and Wolves) but they've been just as inconsistent as us against the lesser sides. West Ham should be an easy win for them but I doubt the others will be formalities.
This might not be a popular opinion but I think Wolves are the strongest contenders right now. They look more resilient than Leicester and Chelsea to me, and they don't have to worry about any cup games either.
This might not be a popular opinion but I think Wolves are the strongest contenders right now. They look more resilient than Leicester and Chelsea to me, and they don't have to worry about any cup games either.
Its not an excuse its an observation.
I am not saying woe to us that Pogba was out for most of the season or that Rashford did his back in when he was on the hottest streak of his career.
I'm saying that Bruno was available at the start of January, for pretty much what we paid for him, we dithered through a disastrous series of results rather than going for him from the off and during that time we dropped points we probably wouldn't have had the club just got the deal done early.
If we miss top four it will once again be due to the often bizarre way the club does its business in the transfer market. I'm sure some on here, and elsewhere, will blame Ole. However, it really will be the case that doing the Bruno deal earlier would've got us into the Champions League.
I believe that Leicester will drop out of the top 4 and we will end up 4th.
IMO we should never have fallen to the depths we did in the first half of the season with or without Bruno but that's in the past and would rather not reopen that blame game. Top 5 may be enough to land CL qualification anyway. If not there's the Europa league. We have Bruno now so better late than never. Top 4 may be gone but CL qualification is still alive and we resumed the season on better or equal footing with Wolves and whoever we will be coming up against in the Europa league. If we fall short on those of course Ole will and should be held accountable (assuming city's ban is upheld and we still miss it). He can be forgiven for missing top 4 if we finish strong
Is there much difference between fourth or 5th if City are banned? Obviously better fourth but if we get into Europe Id take 5 + a cup over fourth. Have to still go for it though and make sure we dont end up 6th or something ridiculous.
I agree, they've been steadily falling away for months both sides of the lockdown. I'm confident we'll get 3rd or 4th.
Can't see us getting top 4, we can't afford to drop any more points and no doubt we will. In the reverse fixtures we got a total of 8 points yet some people seem to think we have an easier set of fixtures left.
Our form has been better since Bruno come in but we have huge problems breaking down defensive teams and I can't see that changing much in the remaining fixtures. If these teams play like Norwich did then don't expect us to win many of the games we have left.
Our form has been better since Bruno come in but we have huge problems breaking down defensive teams and I can't see that changing much in the remaining fixtures. If these teams play like Norwich did then don't expect us to win many of the games we have left.
I know it's early to say but the break seems to have worked for chelsea and Wolves. Not just with the injured player returning but also with their momentum coming back. They were struggling before the break but now look fresh and pumping.
Last day could be massive if us and Wolves get closer to Leicester and Chelsea by then. Wolves play Chelsea and we play Leicester. On top of that it's my birthday so these cnuts better not ruin it 
The difference is we will not play the team that played against Norwich. If we cannot break teams down with Martial, Rashford, Pogba, Bruno, Greenwood then there is bigger problems at the club.
Should have used two words ending instead.Interesting stat, but those one-word endings to the OptaJoe tweets are so annoying
Michael Owen.
Interesting how these stats can skew so much.
For example, if we took just Home from in the first 45 minutes, Norwich would be third
I fancy us to get a result against Leicester at home. Our play isn't easy on the eye at the moment but we are getting results under Ancelotti. I suspect we will be happy to sit deep and play on the counter to DCL and Richarlison which won't be what Rodgers will want. If we win we also have chance at 7th (Europa) so the team should be taking it serious.
Those players came on during the game and we still struggled to break them down and we had a man advantage.
If we carry on playing as slow as we do then we will always have problems breaking down defensive teams as we don't stretch them.
If the remaining teams just sit and defend then we will struggle against them, It won't make a difference what team we put out.
Is that right? They are 19th at Home otherwise!Interesting how these stats can skew so much.
For example, if we took just Home from in the first 45 minutes, Norwich would be third
I am surprised you can say that after seeing the cup tie at the weekend. Our second string is solidly mid-table. Once you take Bruno, Pogba, Martial etc out of the first XI the level drop is massive. Aspiring to compete with Champions League level teams while relying on the some of the names that started at the weekend is wildly optimistic.
I don't mean to be harsh on our squad but the first XI is like a new coat of paint on a dodgy car. Nicky Butt was starring as England's defensive midfielder at the 2002 World Cup, at the same time he couldn't get into the United first team. We had no room for Phil Neville, so he went off and became Everton's captain. We are miles off of that level of depth now. I'm not even going to talk about the days when Sir Alex could pick anyone from Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Hargreaves, Fletcher or Anderson to play in the middle of the park. That's not just miles, that's light years off of what Ole can pick from.
Honestly, look at the teams around us and tell me with a straight face if Fred, McTominay, Pereira etc would get near their match day squads. The idea that we should have been doing much better without Bruno just goes against the evidence of what we've been watching for years. We needed Bruno at the start of January. Frankly, we needed Bruno at the start of the season.
You cant make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. We have been finishing outside of the top four more often than not since Sir Alex retired. If we wanted to bridge that gap we needed to buy in more quality. We failed to do so and therefore if we fail to reach what should be our level we have only ourselves to blame. For the sake of trying to save a bit of money the money men at the club will have blown millions in Champions League TV and advertising revenue. There's a lesson there that we should be learning but repeatedly ignore.
Yeah!
Although it is slightly off as they'd be on 29 points behind Man Utd (33) and Liverpool (41), but played a game more than Man City & Everton who would be 28. So, you could also take it as 5th if those two teams were ahead at half time in their next home fixture.
Obviously kind of a pointless stat but I still think it's somewhat interesting to look at.
Norwich absolutely capitulate in the second half of games this season, so I was thinking that was Ole's approach when we played them. Bringing on the big guns in the second half.
Okay, they came on at what minute? They had a man down in extra time not in normal time.
The reason they went a man down is because Bruno & Ighalo broke down their defence btw.
We won the game if I recall?
We scored and conceded yet another silly goal.
Said it because we were dropping points when Rashford, Pogba and Martial were healthy. We also pissed away the start of the season backing Lingard in the number 10 role while Pogba played deep CM. We didn't make anywhere close to the best of the hand we had been dealt. Let's just disagree on the needing Bruno to not expect a collapse part. It's similar to Jose fans telling us the season was ruined because no Perisic
edit: btw who do Sheffield, Wolves and Leicester have in midfield that's better than any trio combination of Pogba, Matic, Fred, Mctominay etc?
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Goal difference could be crucial here, it seems that it's going to be very tight until the end. Need to give it a proper go in terms of goals as well.
Very interesting race going on now.
- Leicester sitting in 3rd but clearly out of form.
- Chelsea in 4th and looking good since the restart, but with some hard games coming up.
- United in great form for a while now. Front five looks great and becoming very hard to play against. Great fixture list to end the season.
- Wolves also in great form and looking like finishing the season strongly.
You've also got Spurs as distant outsiders.
I think Chelsea and United will take it but I'd love to see Wolves or Leicester in there just for a shake up.
- Leicester sitting in 3rd but clearly out of form.
- Chelsea in 4th and looking good since the restart, but with some hard games coming up.
- United in great form for a while now. Front five looks great and becoming very hard to play against. Great fixture list to end the season.
- Wolves also in great form and looking like finishing the season strongly.
You've also got Spurs as distant outsiders.
I think Chelsea and United will take it but I'd love to see Wolves or Leicester in there just for a shake up.
I think if Leicester lose to Everton, they are as good as out of it, as strange as that sounds.
It’s too long a spell of bad form to indicate that they could go on a run to end the season, and I think the teams around them will.
They need a big result to turn things around and get their confidence back.
It’s too long a spell of bad form to indicate that they could go on a run to end the season, and I think the teams around them will.
They need a big result to turn things around and get their confidence back.
Can see Leicester dropping out. pool, city, chelsea, utd/leic. most likely utd
Don't fancy Wolves?
I actually think both Arsenal and Everton can go to wolves and get something. Arsenal will beat Norwich and get some more confidence back.
Even going to Sheffield United after arsenal won’t be an easy game for Wolves.
We are looking like a quality side. We definitely have a chance of top 4 or Europa League.
nah, cracking effort by them though. Pool. City. Chelsea. Utd is my honest prediction, with 5th place also getting into CL because City's ban will stand but reduce to 1 year. Cannot see how they can overturn that
We have West Ham away, Watford home, Palace away, sheff u away, norwich home, pool away, wolves home. By the time we get to Liverpool i think top 4 will be sorted for all 4 clubs. I actually think tomorrow is the toughest up until the Liverpool game, but then again west ham in some dire form. Would have said Sheff U but they seem poor since restart.
If we can win tomorrow and put the gap back to 5, thats more or less job done for me. With my blue tinted specs on i thnk we will win the next 5, but who knows haha
Good win, 3 points behind LCFC in 3rd and 2 behind Chelsea. There's a big chance LCFC won't win tomorrow as they play Everton away.
And the London derby is a difficult one. Chelsea can definitly lose points there. So let's see.
Tomorrow's games:
Everton - Leicester
West Ham - Chelsea
Hopefully tomorrow's table will end like today:
And the London derby is a difficult one. Chelsea can definitly lose points there. So let's see.
Tomorrow's games:
Everton - Leicester
West Ham - Chelsea
Hopefully tomorrow's table will end like today:
| Team | Played | Points |
|---|---|---|
Leicester | 31 | 55 |
Chelsea | 31 | 54 |
United | 32 | 52 |
West Ham are garbage so I expect them to lose to Chelsea tomorrow and bar Liverpool, Chelsea have a kind run in. Think we really needed to beat Spurs to have a chance of catching Chelsea.
It's going to be between us and Leicester for fourth place I reckon. Leicester have the trickiest fixtures left to play so I'd fancy us to get close to them at the very least. If they fail to win against Everton tomorrow, I'm confident we can hunt them down.
It's going to be between us and Leicester for fourth place I reckon. Leicester have the trickiest fixtures left to play so I'd fancy us to get close to them at the very least. If they fail to win against Everton tomorrow, I'm confident we can hunt them down.
Has everyone stop shitting themselves about Wolves yet?
If we do our own job properly then we will finish in the top four.
If we do our own job properly then we will finish in the top four.
I don't think we should worry about Chelsea. I think they are likely getting the spot. And I also won't be worry too much about Leicester since they are probably going to lose some points in upcoming fixtures. Right now the focus should be winning all our games before the Leicester game, they are all winnable except for Southampton since they can be tricky.