We won't win the EPL this year but

Grunge

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So far away I get up 4am to just watch Utd on TV
we seem to be getting stronger every week and look likely to bring in at least one new squad member in the upcoming window.

We have a depth of talent & ambition throughout the team that I have not seen the like of in a good few years now. We have a great mix of experience & youth, a physio table that is amazingly empty as well as a manager who is as hungry and possibly skilled as Fergie & Sir Matt ever were!

We are approaching what will be a crazy number of important matches between now & the end of February

31 Dec Premier League Middlesbrough A [2-0]
07 Jan FA Cup Reading H [4 - 1]
10 Jan EFL Cup Hull City H [3 - 0]
15 Jan Premier League Liverpool A [1-1]
21 Jan Premier League Stoke City A [0-1]
26 Jan EFL Cup Hull City A [1-3]
01 Feb Premier League Hull City H [4-0]
05 Feb Premier League Leicester City A [0-2]
11 Feb Premier League Watford H [2-0]
16 Feb UEFA Europa League Saint-Etienne H [4-1]
22 Feb UEFA Europa League Saint-Etienne A [1-1}
26 Feb Premier League Manchester City A [2-2]

which, on paper at least, are all very win-able with the exception perhaps of the Livershite & Citeh matches, although there's no reason to be afraid of either of them either!
We have more depth than most teams in the Europa (possibly even the EPK too?) and maybe more to play for?
A very manageable League cup run-in and what should be a straight-forward FA cup tie.

Champions League Football for next year via EL, another League cup trophy & maybe back-back FA Cups.

Jose will be re-crowned "Special" and me ... very 'appy
 
I'm very, very, very confused by this post. Are you drunk?
 
The most positive aspect for me is that, for the first time in years, we don't look like we still need 4/5 players. Under LvG especially it felt like we could buy 5 players every summer and still barely improve.

I reckon we're, at most, 2 top players from having an elite level team.
 
On topic I still don't trust this side, they haven't done enough yet to earn it either. Show me Boro on Saturday isn't going to be another Stoke/Burnley/West Ham, get a win in a big game against Liverpool and then maybe I'll start to believe
 
We are still not putting to bed enough of the chances were creating and even Boxing day could of gone either way until the 2 late goals. Saying that we have won 5 on the trot now, and were playing loads better. It looks like the vg football has been finally put to bed as well. Just need to keep up this run, and Chelsea apart were an equal or better than anyone. the City result was when we were still learning and adapting to Joses tactics and way to play. Can we win the league? Its possible but we need to take more of our chances as were way behind on goal difference as well. I think we can get in the top 3 though, as none of the 2nd-5th teams are stand out teams, or performances recently.
 
Liverpool are still better than us. They put away the shite a lot better than we do.
I'd be happy with 4th this year.
 
For me this season will a success with a cup or two and qualification to the Champions League, the title is a very unlikely target unless each of the teams above us had Keegan's Newcastle circa 1996 level meltdowns.

Looking at the Europa and I honestly don't see anyone in that cup that's better than us especially now we're settled and building a bit of momentum, I can see us retaining the FA Cup too as in a one off game I believe we can beat anyone especially if drawn at home.

I think we're still a consistently great left sided forward (Griezmann), a genuine right back (Semedo ?), Linderof and a long term replacement or upgrade if possible (Kroos ?) for Carrick away from the title but we are certainly in a much better position than last season or any season since Sir Alex retired so next season is when I expect us to challenge for the title.
 
United are a long way off still. The squad relies too much on Ibra and it feels like the days of RVN where everything goes through Ibra, which is fine, but others must step up. The key is Martial or whoever is opposite of Mkhitaryan. Pogba is the next best thing to Ronaldo when he played second to RVN, Scholes and Giggs and Rooney somewhat. When Pogba has full reign on this team, watch out. The other player who must step up, but also be played through the middle, is Rashford.
 
I'm delighted we are winning some games again

But we have won games we are expected to win.

So far the team has yet to achieve anything really. They have to keep the run going
 
We have to win the Europa League. We are easily the strongest team in it and a few of our performances have indicated we are taking it seriously. When it gets to the later rounds we will surely see it as a way of guaranteeing CL football. It's also a great trophy that we have never won and will give us some pedigree in Europe again.

Chelsea's unprecedented run has put us too far behind in the league after our nearly equally unprecedented dropping of points in the Autumn.

No reason we can't win either of the cups either. We should be pretty much set for a final at Wembley in March.
 
marukomu said:
Liverpool are still better than us. They put away the shite a lot better than we do.
I'd be happy with 4th this year.
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4th and league cup would be a very good year. Hopefully semis in europa league and a good run in fact cup.
 
"The problem with trying to predict the future is that their are far more things that could happen than will happen"

Plato (paraphrased)

Predictions are pointless
 
mu4c_20le said:
First of all, out of all the fixtures, why are we losing to Boro?
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As has been suggested it's possible that there may have been some festive refreshments the other night causing an impairment of my keyboard skills and resulting in some minor details to be overlooked on my part. My bad. Perhaps @rosay was in the same boat? :)
Clearly I expect Boro to be beaten 2 nil.
In fact with my rose tinted specs I don't see us getting beaten in any of these upcoming fixtures, not withstanding tough games against the scousers & that last game against City.
 
It doesn't matter how well we're doing, our rivals are doing just as well :(
 
Randall Flagg said:
I'm delighted we are winning some games again

But we have won games we are expected to win.

So far the team has yet to achieve anything really. They have to keep the run going
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Yes it does. But at least we seem to have shaken off the LVG doctrine which is the basis for some confidence going forwards
 
I'm still not confident about our options in attack and midfield.

An injury or two would necessitate a complete change to the style of play that Mourinho has taken 4 months to create. Our future prospects are bright but still fragile. It's dangerous to pin all our hopes on two 35 year olds.

Having said that, I think we could end the season with the best XI in the country and the best squad by the end of summer. That's the benefit of having a project and lot of money to complete it. If you're Tottenham, you'd have to spend huge money to improve on someone like Rose, and the resulting improvement probably wouldn't be too great. However, it's the kind of difference that would elevate a team from PL contenders to CL contenders.

United's squad has a few holes in it still, but we have the resources to get the best without worrying about whether the improvements are going to be marginal. Our squad is a mixture of 'world class' and 'reserve level', with relatively little in between.
 
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Offside said:
Chelsea's unprecedented run has put us too far behind in the league after our nearly equally unprecedented dropping of points in the Autumn.

No reason we can't win either of the cups either. We should be pretty much set for a final at Wembley in March.
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Chelsea's run is not unprecedented. The record is 14 wins in a row. They need to win 3 more games in order for it to be "unprecedented" and that includes a difficult game against Spurs (A) which would be the record-equalling 14th game. It is also the game where most pundits and observers believe the run will end.

We are only 13 points behind and when the run eventually ends we must be in a position to capitalise. We have overcome large points differences before. To put things in perspective at one point this season City were 7-8 points clear. The title race is far from over. Also, don't forget that Chelsea still have to come to Stamford Bridge.

There is one final trump card that we hold, and that is Mourinho. He can beat them because he knows their team better than anybody. He knows all their strengths and weaknesses both at the team level and at the individual level. After all, he was the one who built this team! The only player on their side that he has never coached is Kante and that's just one guy!
 
Treble_Winning said:
Chelsea's run is not unprecedented. The record is 14 wins in a row. They need to win 3 more games in order for it to be "unprecedented" and that includes a difficult game against Spurs (A) which would be the record-equalling 14th game. It is also the game where most pundits and observers believe the run will end.

We are only 13 points behind and when the run eventually ends we must be in a position to capitalise. We have overcome large points differences before. To put things in perspective at one point this season City were 7-8 points clear. The title race is far from over. Also, don't forget that Chelsea still have to come to Stamford Bridge.

There is one final trump card that we hold, and that is Mourinho. He can beat them because he knows their team better than anybody. He knows all their strengths and weaknesses both at the team level and at the individual level. After all, he was the one who built this team! The only player on their side that he has never coached is Kante and that's just one guy!
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Also our goal difference is 1/3 of Chelsea's make that 14 points. The boat is long sailed.
 
attack attack said:
Also our goal difference is 1/3 of Chelsea's make that 14 points. The boat is long sailed.
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There was a time when UTD would not give up until it was mathematically impossible. The never say die spirit that would keep believing and plugging along deep into stoppage time in the 1999 CL final after all seemed lost. 13 points is not insurmountable. Bigger leads have been closed in the history of football, and it's not even that rare. 13 points when there is still half a season left!! That's all it is! We need to stop this doom and gloom, sure we may not win it but we should at least not give up and we should keep plugging away until the very end. We are undefeated in 11 games FFS and we are actually playing well!
 
Treble_Winning said:
There was a time when UTD would not give up until it was mathematically impossible. The never say die spirit that would keep believing and plugging along deep into stoppage time in the 1999 CL final after all seemed lost. 13 points is not insurmountable. Bigger leads have been closed in the history of football, and it's not even that rare. 13 points when there is still half a season left!! That's all it is! We need to stop this doom and gloom, sure we may not win it but we should at least not give up and we should keep plugging away until the very end. We are undefeated in 11 games FFS and we are actually playing well!
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When was the last time a team closed a 13 point gap to win the title in the PL?
 
AXVnee7 said:
When was the last time a team closed a 13 point gap to win the title in the PL?
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Manchester United have overcome a 12 point deficit before, so like I said before, United can still win, it's just very, very unlikely due to the numbers of rivals that would have to capitulate.
 
I'm not that bothered about this season. We look 100x better than last year and the team will only get better. We'll be right in amongst in next year for sure.
 
Baxter said:
I'm not that bothered about this season. We look 100x better than last year and the team will only get better. We'll be right in amongst in next year for sure.
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Yeah, this is the best health I've seen United in for a while now.
 
Treble_Winning said:
Chelsea's run is not unprecedented. The record is 14 wins in a row. They need to win 3 more games in order for it to be "unprecedented" and that includes a difficult game against Spurs (A) which would be the record-equalling 14th game. It is also the game where most pundits and observers believe the run will end.

We are only 13 points behind and when the run eventually ends we must be in a position to capitalise. We have overcome large points differences before. To put things in perspective at one point this season City were 7-8 points clear. The title race is far from over. Also, don't forget that Chelsea still have to come to Stamford Bridge.

There is one final trump card that we hold, and that is Mourinho. He can beat them because he knows their team better than anybody. He knows all their strengths and weaknesses both at the team level and at the individual level. After all, he was the one who built this team! The only player on their side that he has never coached is Kante and that's just one guy!
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Actually, I think you'll realise that Chelsea plays half their league fixtures at Stamford Bridge mate.
 
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