What are expectations for next season?

A serious title challenge and a trophy.

Coming second without really being in it will not be enough for me. With Varane, Sancho and Trippier, this is the very least I expect.
 
Paxi said:
A serious title challenge and a trophy.

Coming second without really being in it will not be enough for me. With Varane, Sancho and Trippier, this is the very least I expect.
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Agree.

Definitely need to put in a title challenge and win a trophy to show some real progress, especially with the above trio signed.
 
At least a domestic cup semi-final appearance, QF matchup in CL, and top 3 in the PL with a real title challenge into April and May.

The league will be much more competitive this year with Chelsea maturing domestically under Tuchel, Liverpool shouldn't be as underperforming for periods of time like last season, City is kind of up in the air because the transfer window isn't closed yet for them, and Leicester are very competitive under Rodgers.

United will not have an undefeated away record for too much longer, but their home record won't be as it was last year. So the points should balance out a bit, so that's a push.

I'm more interested in how the team continues to change during the 22/23 season. That will result in more potential player changes like Cavani, Pogba, DDG, maybe an older head like Matic or Mata leaving. And then Ole's position, considering if there's another clear bump in performance or if the team needs another tweak or two.
 
edcunited1878 said:
At least a domestic cup semi-final appearance, QF matchup in CL, and top 3 in the PL with a real title challenge into April and May.

The league will be much more competitive this year with Chelsea maturing domestically under Tuchel, Liverpool shouldn't be as underperforming for periods of time like last season, City is kind of up in the air because the transfer window isn't closed yet for them, and Leicester are very competitive under Rodgers.

United will not have an undefeated away record for too much longer, but their home record won't be as it was last year. So the points should balance out a bit, so that's a push.

I'm more interested in how the team continues to change during the 22/23 season. That will result in more potential player changes like Cavani, Pogba, DDG, maybe an older head like Matic or Mata leaving. And then Ole's position, considering if there's another clear bump in performance or if the team needs another tweak or two.
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None of that is going to happen based on how we keep handing fringe players fat paychecks.
 
Comfortable top 3 finish in the league for me. We still dont know how Sancho and Varane(if he signs) will perform for us so I can re-asses this a bit further into the season.

But given how Chelsea did in the UCL and how the clubs around Europe are not that strong as they used to be, I expect minimum UCL SFs with this squad. Distant reality but one can dream.
 
Green_Red said:
If we sign Varane I think we should be looking to win the the league
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This should be our reasonable expectation. No, of course not a guarantee. Cruel fate gets in the way...look at Liverpool last season. But if the question asked is what do we expect of this squad as it know it today (July 20), surely the only answer has to be winning the league.
 
I'll reserve my final judgement until after the transfer window, but I will say this now: on paper, even with Sancho and Varane, we are not that much better than Liverpool and Chelsea. Anyone who takes it for granted that we finish minimum 2nd needs a reality check.


Minimum expectations:
Comfortable top 4 finish. And if we finish 4th, then we should only be a few points behind 2nd place.

Reasonable expectations:
A title challenge. My definition of 'title challenge': no more than 5 points behind the 1st place on match day 37.

Beyond expectations:
Winning the PL or CL.

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If we sign a really good CM, then I think we should expect a title challenge. Although that would also mean that we throw in 3 new players, who possibly never have played PL football, straight into the starting XI. It may take some time before the team starts to gel.
 
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ayushreddevil9 said:
None of that is going to happen based on how we keep handing fringe players fat paychecks.
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There have been a lot of dumb mistakes, but under Ole and this new structure, they should be more ruthless and forward thinking...not afraid of cutting players loose.

Phil Jones has to be something undisclosed. I appreciate and like Matic and Mata, like I did Young and Valencia.

Timing is a lot of things, and we are seeing that Pogba doesn't have the leverage that DDG did when his deal was being renewed.
 
lex talionis said:
This should be our reasonable expectation. No, of course not a guarantee. Cruel fate gets in the way...look at Liverpool last season. But if the question asked is what do we expect of this squad as it know it today (July 20), surely the only answer has to be winning the league.
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As of today, without Varane, push for a title challenge, but I'd ultimately expect another team to win unless we had some very good luck. With Varane, we should be looking to win it because Maguire and Varane would be the best CB pairing in Europe. Title winning teams are built on defences.
 
Probably 2nd or 3rd. I can see Chelsea (squad depth) and City finishing ahead of us.

Sancho will help us but we'll still struggle against low blocks which will be our downfall over a season vs City.

Defensively we'll be better with signings but we lose quite a bit of creativity (as a squad option) if we sell Pogba.
 
Top 4 and quarter finals of Champions League and I'd be happy with that. I'm not too bothered about FA Cup or EFL Cup. Priority should be to turn kids into superstars while getting top 4 at same time, and looking to improve every season.
 
Hard to call until we see what happens in the transfer window for us and others.
We need to keep in improving so a higher points total than last year and going further in champions league. I don’t think we have to win a trophy as long as we are improving.
If we bring in Varane then I think it’s more about what we do over the next 3/4 seasons. Having Maguire and Varane should be our best CB pair since Rio and Vidic. They are both in their prime and should be quality for next 3/4 seasons.
I think we really have to win both the Prem and CL in that time frame.
 
I think much will depend on Fred.

If he becomes the confident, aggressive yet disciplined midfield dynamo that I think he can, but doubt he will, become, then we could go all the way. If he doesnt, and we don't find someone else who can perform that role, I think we fall some way short.
 
With incoming Sancho and possibly Varane and new DM? I expect we would challenge for trophies on all front.
 
If Sancho signs I would expect us to finish 4th.

I'm expecting Chelsea to do well from the start and the same goes for Liverpool who will be better with their fans back, I would also expect both to still be looking to bring in a couple more faces - if teams like Barca and Real are having to sell before they can buy I'd think English clubs with money to spend will be looking that way for a bargain.

City I think depends on who they sign, from watching the Champions league final I wonder if some of the team selection will have had a negative impact on their squad, they certainly didn't play like they were capable of.

I do think those 3 teams have slightly more in terms of depth in the squad all across the team so are better prepared should a player be out with an injury.

If we sign Varane, I would probably say 3rd, depending on how quickly he settles and how we plan on fitting him into the back line.

I would rather we won the league of course! :-)
 
OleBoiii said:
I'll reserve my final judgement until after the transfer window, but I will say this now: on paper, even with Sancho and Varane, we are not that much better than Liverpool and Chelsea. Anyone who takes it for granted that we finish minimum 2nd needs a reality check.


Minimum expectations:
Comfortable top 4 finish. And if we finish 4th, then we should only be a few points behind 2nd place.

Reasonable expectations:
A title challenge. My definition of 'title challenge': no more than 5 points behind the 1st place on match day 37.

Beyond expectations:
Winning the PL or CL.

_________________________________________

If we sign a really good CM, then I think we should expect a title challenge. Although that would also mean that we throw in 3 new players, who possibly never have played PL football, straight into the starting XI. It may take some time before the team starts to gel.
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City's leftback and striker problems are much bigger than Manchester United's CM problems. But I am sure most City fan's expect a league challenge even without any new signings. If we get Varane and Trippier on top of Sancho, it is a title challenge till the last month or bust.
 
One thing I expect this season is a lot more clarity about whether the manager is up to snuff. His off-the-field work has been first class, the squad is looking miles better than at any point since Fergie left. His on-the-field work has been good, but in my opinion, missing that last few percent we need to turn ourselves into serial winners.

With this squad, if we still had SAF in charge, with this squad, we'd win the league for sure. Obviously Ole isnt up to SAFs level so we cant expect that, but unlike previous seasons, with this squad, he should be challenging. I'm not saying he should win it outright - if we finish with 95 points and come second, that's clearly a big improvement. But we should expect to see a squad that has broken through to another level in terms of performance and consistency. A failure to do that and I think it's clear it's the manager, not the squad.
 
It’s going to be an incredibly fierce competition this year. Chelsea and Liverpool should be better than last year over a full season, and City well… I am hoping for 1-3rd place in PL and the CL final. Winning either would be great but I am not going to bet on it.
 
It's normal to have a patch of bad form through a season. Happens to every team.
Last season we had 3. At the beginning (3 losses and a draw in 6 games), around the home loss from Sheffield (4 draws and a loss in 6 games) and towards the end when we had to play 4 games in 8 days (2 losses and 2 draws in 5 games). With the first and last bad patches due to outside influence, Pogba being injured for most of the time, Rashford having to play through injury, Martial having his arguably worst season since he's joined us and Greenwood losing his shooting boots for the bigger part of the season we still found a way to be the best of the rest.

With proper time off, pre-season, the right additions (hopefully Sancho and Varane are confirmed by the end of the month) and hopefully the four I mentioned above switching into more consistent form - we should be able to challenge for the title. A real challenge, unlike last year when we were just comfortably following City.
If we manage to reduce the bad runs from 3 to 1, turn the losses into draws and the draws into wins from the first bad run and the last bad run, then our points tally would've been 85. Which is the target I'm expecting for next season.
  • 85+ points in the PL
  • FA Cup final (win or lose)
  • CL semi-final
  • The League Cup

    If we don't make the CL semis, because of Bayern, Atletico or Juve, I'd be upset, but I wouldn't call it a failure.
 
Green_Red said:
As of today, without Varane, push for a title challenge, but I'd ultimately expect another team to win unless we had some very good luck. With Varane, we should be looking to win it because Maguire and Varane would be the best CB pairing in Europe. Title winning teams are built on defences.
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The importance of Varane cannot be overstated. It seems certain that he’s coming to OT and if he does he’s a transformational addition to the squad.

However, if the only additions to the squad this summer are Sancho and Heaton we’ll do well to settle for second place in the PL and make it to the QF in the CL.
 
With just three days left and with the possibility of there been no more business for United other than a few outgoings...with the transfer window we had, surely nothing but a title challenge will do?
 
Feck it we signed Ronaldo. I'm upping my expectations to include winning the league, the Champions League, the Cup and the Ryder Cup.
 
I know this is probably a pointless bump but a bit of a reality check about how off course this season is going when you see what people expected
 
Ixion said:
I know this is probably a pointless bump but a bit of a reality check about how off course this season is going when you see what people expected
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They’re the same until the new manager comes in. Ole doesn’t get off the hook.
 
I expected no silverware but 2nd/3rd in the league I think.

Currently that seems far-fetched. It'll be a scrap for fourth place.
 
DeviIrua said:
City and Chelsea squads are way better than Uniteds and they'll be adding some world class signings no doubt, but that isn't even our main problem going into next season.

United's main handicap is the relatively low level of our manager and coaches ( mid tablers mostly), thanks to a totally unprofessional recruitment policy, which really is 'jobs for the lads' type nonsense that no other top club would put up with. I mean what other club would have Solksjaer as manager and have Carrick, Fletcher and Phelan as coaches. Mind-boggling incompetence for a club that is supposed to have world class ambition.

With 3 of the best managers in the world right now, Guardiola, Klopp and Tuchel overseeing our 3 main premier league rivals, ably supported by proper top class, international coaching teams, United have very little chance of even challenging. Top 4 will be a struggle to be fair.
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@devilrua new DOF?
 
Rather than looking at one season ahead, the club, owners and senior management have to look beyond that really.

Success on the pitch = Higher potential revenue and market value

The converse is true as well.

If that is the end outcome that they wanted, they should wake up and start working on it.

But we have been on it since 2013. Year by year, the club is eroding away.

Seemingly, like a lost cause.
 
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