We can't beat bottom 10 sides.
Forget it.
Forget it.
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
- Start date
The way we are playing right now makes it possible that we miss top 6 too. Although 7th place may get it again since I do think City will win the Fa cup.
The only positives I can think of being in the Europa league is giving youth a chance.
I want to play in europe 100%. It is a title that also gives CL qualification.
Feels like its Spurs to lose for me. We don't get the job done against the smaller teams, and Chelsea are just really inconsistent in general.
Looks like qualification via Europa is more likely, ideally we need to avoid park the bus teams.
Was wondering if this season is one of the lowest at 19 games in. Lot of teams on course for 56-64 points. usually top 4 has been 70+
End of last season Chelsea and Spurs got 72 and 71 points respectively for 3rd and 4th while in 2017 5th had 75 and in 2018 3rd and 4th had 77 and 75.
2015 and 2016 had some low totals of around 66-70 points. Looks like this season has followed suit from the end of last and looking quite similar to the awful 2016 season so far where only 66 points was 4th place.
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I am concerned us having a negative 6 goal difference in 2 games might shatter our confidence and there is a chance our season may collapse, if that happens then 2 CL spots are open, hopefully we will recover though.
Everybody has been terrible though, its why Lampard getting praise for sitting in 4th doesn't wash with me.
Was wondering if this season is one of the lowest at 19 games in. Lot of teams on course for 56-64 points. usually top 4 has been 70+
End of last season Chelsea and Spurs got 72 and 71 points respectively for 3rd and 4th while in 2017 5th had 75 and in 2018 3rd and 4th had 77 and 75.
2015 and 2016 had some low totals of around 66-70 points. Looks like this season has followed suit from the end of last and looking quite similar to the awful 2016 season so far where only 66 points was 4th place.
If we go on any sort of run we have it imo. Pogba and a maturing Greenwood should see us through.
Looks like united will be 1 pt out of fourth if Arsenal beat Chelsea at home. The race for fourth is just so wide open right now.
Wolves have as good a chance as anyone I think.
Even with Europa and Nuno still not rotating much they look pretty good. Can win away regularly. Just need to sharpen up their home form so the Man. City win should help.
Even with Europa and Nuno still not rotating much they look pretty good. Can win away regularly. Just need to sharpen up their home form so the Man. City win should help.
Was wondering if this season is one of the lowest at 19 games in. Lot of teams on course for 56-64 points. usually top 4 has been 70+
End of last season Chelsea and Spurs got 72 and 71 points respectively for 3rd and 4th while in 2017 5th had 75 and in 2018 3rd and 4th had 77 and 75.
2015 and 2016 had some low totals of around 66-70 points. Looks like this season has followed suit from the end of last and looking quite similar to the awful 2016 season so far where only 66 points was 4th place.
After 19 games
| Season | 4th points | 8th points | Difference | final points for 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2019/20 | 32 | 28 | 4 | - |
2018/19 | 40 | 27 | 13 | 71 |
2017/18 | 35 | 27 | 8 | 75 |
2016/17 | 39 | 26 | 13 | 76 |
2015/16 | 35 | 29 | 6 | 66 |
2014/15 | 33 | 28 | 5 | 70 |
2013/14 | 37 | 33 | 4 | 79 |
2012/13 | 33 | 28 | 5 | 73 |
2011/12 | 36 | 26 | 10 | 69 |
2010/11 | 34 | 27 | 7 | 68 |
2014/15 is pretty close to representing the current situation. 11th had 25 points, so 8 point difference between 4th and 11th, same as this season. 2012/13 is similar situation but they had four teams on 33 points from 4th-7th.
Low 60s could be good enough points haul so loads of teams in the mix despite indifferent form.
It's on like donkey Kong
Big month coming up in which all can drop points - January PL fixtures:
Us: Arsenal (A), Norwich (H), Liverpool (A), Burnley (H).
Chelsea: Brighton (A), Burnley (H), Newcastle (A), Arsenal (H).
Spurs: Southampton (A), Liverpool (H), Watford (A), Norwich (H).
Wolves: Watford (A), Newcastle (H), Southampton (A), Liverpool (H).
Us: Arsenal (A), Norwich (H), Liverpool (A), Burnley (H).
Chelsea: Brighton (A), Burnley (H), Newcastle (A), Arsenal (H).
Spurs: Southampton (A), Liverpool (H), Watford (A), Norwich (H).
Wolves: Watford (A), Newcastle (H), Southampton (A), Liverpool (H).
I think one or two teams will be more consistent in the second half of the season, so probably late 60s / 70 to be sure
No chance
I know a lot of Wolves fans and they are simply happy to be where they are
The difference is that despite their ‘fantastic’ form they have not put daylight between them and their rivals
more likely scenario is that united and spurs start to stretch their legs and wolves finish 7th
We will need to do good business in the winter transfer window, add some depth to the squad, if we really want to challenge for top 4. Sh*t is going to get tough in the second half of the season and exhaustion will settle in. From the sound of it, though, it seems like top 4 hasn't been given as a target to Ole, this season. It is very unusual for United, of course, but makes sense if we are serious about long-term rebuild. I don't think we were going for a plan that was going to take several seasons, before Ole. Mourinho clearly wanted quick success, and so did LvG (he wasn't even going to stay longer than 3 years, was planning to retire).
To increase our chances of top 4 we would need to bring-in proven talent. That comes in two flavors:
1. Older players (27+) – I am 99% certain Ole will not do it.
2. Players 23-25 years old who already have EPL experience, like Maddison – these are expensive (Woodward won't want to spend money) and usually not available in January windows.
I think there's 80% chance we will not add anybody and 90%+ chance we will add one player at most.
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Chelsea 3 points.
Transfer ban now over.
They've a lot of money which has been burning a hole in their pocket, so expect them to pay some big money for a couple of players. Lampard will be backed based on what he's done with limited resources.
So if Chelsea are getting top 4, who's dropping out for us?
Transfer ban now over.
They've a lot of money which has been burning a hole in their pocket, so expect them to pay some big money for a couple of players. Lampard will be backed based on what he's done with limited resources.
So if Chelsea are getting top 4, who's dropping out for us?
Chelsea are just as likely to lose a game to a Newcastle or Southampton as we are. Spurs look just as susceptible.
A three horse race all the way to the end, you feel. Only one team is bringing back in a player like Pogba, though. That’s my hope, at least.
A three horse race all the way to the end, you feel. Only one team is bringing back in a player like Pogba, though. That’s my hope, at least.
We really fecked up our chances with Villa, Everton and Watford games. 7 points dropped there. Plus all those bad results before. Now come Liverpool and Arsenal away. Plus we have Spurs, Chelsea and Leicester away also. I am afraid that Chelsea will end in that 4th place.
Leicester will drop back and enter the fight.
We're perfectly suited for the big games though.
Knee jerk reaction here.
They won't buy anyone to be unduly worried over. Roman hasn't given a toss about Chelsea ever since Putin got into shit. They're in the market for the Zahas of this world, ffs.
And that performance from them was nothing to be worried about either. It was a 1-1 game from around 30 minutes onwards, and it was only due to the naivety of Arsenal after the equaliser that they got the win.
I would not be surprised at all if they proceeded to lose against Brighton on NYD.
We as a fan base tend to get too excited too quickly wrt our top four prospects. Given the volatility of teams performance and competition for places, I would still consider the europa as our safest bet into the CL.
I'd be very surprised if it doesn't stay as it is. Spurs the only real challenge to it.
I am tired of being optimistic only to be let down.
Thanks for the stats at 19 games in, Damien.
Like I suspected this year is very low at this stage and actually the lowest but looking over each year it's quite a mixed bag come the end of the season. I'm tempted to say this year will end quite low but probably not as low 66 in 2016, like ~70.
Last season was quite a start with 40 points. Think it was Chelsea, Spurs Arsenal that kept on winning much to the annoyance of us United fans but really they bombed in the second half.
Also interesting is the spread from 4th to 8th 19 games in is quite close usually over the decade. 32 and 28 this year is also the lowest tightest.
Well it looked like being a really good weekend for Utd until Arsenal decided to show off their defensive frailties yet again, have a horrible feeling that if Chelsea beat Brighton in the lunchtime kick off on new years day we will go into the late game at Arsenal downhearted that we aren't closer to the top four than 7 pts behind. I really hope that I am wrong on this but there will be many of them thinking that they were going to gain some ground on Chelsea today only for it to be snatched away in the last five minutes.
I wanted a draw rather than either win for Arsenal vs Chelsea game. Arsenal’s victory could lift up the team mentally so better make them stay in that relegation form. I was expecting Leicester to drop another point with their 2nd team but ffs West Ham is just shite.
United...UNITED...don’t feck this up again.
You guys still waiting?
We performed bad against the top two, but we still have almost 3 PPG per bottom 14. Consistency.
You’ve taken two big steps towards CL qualification with the last two wins. Also steadied the ship after 2 defeats. I think you’ll comfortably finish top 4 - probably 3rd.
cnuts
We have zero change of making it into the top 4. We're so inconsistent and I have no faith in this team. Ole was right, this season is a right off and if hes our manager next season, we might as well right that season off too
You’re 5 points of top 4, against a off form Chelsea. Its still totally doable.
But your United is too inconsistent at the moment. Reminds me of Liverpool a few years ago, whenever we had a good chance to jump higher into the table, we missed it.
But yeah, I dont know where Arsenal will go in their catch up game. I think Arteta will be a good manager, but their squad is poor IMO and I can see Auba leaving in January.
Write on.
The difference in quality from 4th to near the bottom of the league is probably the lowest it's ever been. Impossible to predict, especially if none of the teams make significant signings in January.