This season wasn't really close, was it?
What are expectations for next season?
- Thread starter Crashoutcassius
- Start date
This season wasn't really close, was it?
Pogba, McT, Fred, Lindelof all playing better. Even James is.
Maguire is injured, Henderson is injured. Shaw and Bruno were ok. England has better players than Rashford in attack. de Gea has past it, even majority of United fans acknowledge it.
Well yes and no, we were closer to 5th than 1st so it depends how you see it. We are 5 points ahead of 3rd, its not exactly a lot.
We were comfortably making top four well before the season ended. Actually we made top four with four games to spare, while City only won the league with three games to spare. One could argue that we were closer to winning the league, than to dropping out of top four.
Anyway, that's not really my point. My point was just that I do not agree that top four was "close" this season.
Win something would be nice, even the Carabo Cup would do, but I reckon the transfer window will be the usual shitshow and we’ll end up getting third or fourth choices instead of the real targets. If we do manage to sign Sancho, Varane and maybe Grealish, that would make it interesting. City May sign Kane who is old(ish) and has dodgy ankles. Can’t see them having such an easy season again if we sign some decent players and Liverpool rebound to the form they had when they won it.
Not pitch or player related, but I think it's time the club redesigned the club badge.
Put the FC back on the badge and maybe the team will start playing like one.
Put the FC back on the badge and maybe the team will start playing like one.
1. Conclude all transfer business before the first match
2. Go unbeaten at home
3. Score as many as the league winners
4. Have a top 3 defence in the league
5. Win something. Anything.
6. Quarter Final CL, minimum.
It’s not great but it’s progress.
2. Go unbeaten at home
3. Score as many as the league winners
4. Have a top 3 defence in the league
5. Win something. Anything.
6. Quarter Final CL, minimum.
It’s not great but it’s progress.
Pogba, James, Fred, Lindelof have all been good. Funnily enough some of the players that get the most stick on here.
And they got 5 years of squad building to get to that point. Check their achievements along the way.
No that's not true. It was also only 2.5 years of Klopp before they managed to challenge for the league with such group of players. In his 3rd full year they challenged for the league till the last game, got 97 points, and won CL, with this group of players, whom a lot of them joined the team during Klopp's era. Salah joined one year before this season, Mane 2 years before it, VVD half a year and Alisson in the next summer.
Next year is gonna be Ole's 3rd full year as well.
So yeah, we can and should absolutely challenge for the league next season.
You were talking about title winning and challenging experience. Barely anyone in that Liverpool squad had any going into 2018/19, but they still got a massive points tally.
This United squad is entering its third season, having just finished second (Liverpool were third/fourth in both their first two seasons under Klopp). Perfectly valid to expect a challenge now.
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.
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.
I don't post to contribute to the the team having a positive effect the players get paid small fortunes to perform whether you like it or not.
Too many are over-paid, over-hyped and over-rated. It's embarrassing to see these so called footballers out witted, out thought and out played by guys from smaller clubs earning many thousands per week less. Why are they getting such astronomical pay? YES it's to deliver SUCCESS for the club and fans.
In any other job these guys would not last a week, maybe one or two would pass a probationary period and they should be paid according to the trophies they win.
If citys players can win 21 games on the bounce then why can't our players? The manager is there to give confidence and get the team playing it's his job.
I don't know how you are baffled by my opinions, you obviously don't live in the real world and must be "entitled" yourself.
"Too many are over-paid, over-hyped and over-rated."
None of that is the players fault. They just want to play and win.
" It's embarrassing to see these so called footballers out witted, out thought and out played by guys from smaller clubs .."
Again this is not down to the players. It is down to Solksjaer's risk free set up, the naive tactics implemented, the coaching skills and the managers overly passive performance on the day. Unfortunately right now both the coaching and manager at United are well below challenging standard.
Our tactics are slow and outdated and midtable managers outfox Solksjaer time and time again.
In fact we have our 'highly paid' players to thank, for getting us out of the mess caused by managerial disasters, game after game. How many times did we fall behind only to rely on individual brilliance by one of our superior players to undo the basic tactical ineptness and poor game management and substitution incompetence of OGS and co.
So no it's not the 'over-paid' players but the manager and coaches who wouldn't last one week in any other job. Bring in a proper coaching team and world class manager, not just unproven ex United nice-guys like Carrick, Fletcher, OGS and Phelan and see how the players get on.
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Er....Lampard at Chelsea??
But I do get your point. We can talk about player transfers all day long but if the manager can't get the right tune out of them then it is irrelevant.
Win the league, FA Cup, champions League, world cup and Copa America, Fred to get balon d'Or, Ole voted best manager of the universe and hendo not to concede a goal all season.
For our fans stop thinking every club and every player is better than our own.
Ive said that numerous times. Even Deadwood Woodward said it when he first took over, but like everything involving the actual club, else he fecked it up.
Lampard didnt have Drogba, Essian and the tea lady who was there in 1995 running it with him though.
How often have Liverpool, on paper, had a better transfer window than United since Klopp arrived? I can’t think of any time where United fans have been in awe, at the time without hindsight, of Liverpool’s signings.
For some, a decent shot at the title and a cup will do. For others nothing short of the world cup is a sackable offence.
A real title challenge (if Ole is backed this summer)
Who cares what Liverpool do or have done? They're wankers, they've always been wankers and they'll continue to be wankers for all eternity.
Any player that signs for them immediately becomes an insufferable twatbag and deserves severe chafing of the nipples caused by their hideous kits. And I'd never want them at United.
The same applies to managers.
Take klopp for instance, I'd have been happy to take him from Dortmund, but now he's tainted.
An insufferable bellend of biblical proportions.
I hope his ridiculous teeth turn rogue on him and bite the inside of his lip causing mildly irritating sores that only show up when he eats salty snacks.
Wankers.
No but in order to beat City - we need a really good transfer window. Our squad is nowhere near City's - so we need 3-4 quality players in
Next seasons results and achievements basically revolve around the ability of the club to sign the needed players , we see their names in the press and its now down to Woodward/Judge and finally the Glazers to get them done. Does anyone have the belief that any signings will be done swiftly, and even more importantly to begin the pre seaon training with the club.
It’s a big IF, and that’s where the season outlook stands.
It’s a big IF, and that’s where the season outlook stands.
When the team’s not performing well, Ole to realise that his all English coaching staff will be getting him the sack and then he gets the best assistant no matter where they’re from like SAF
We wont be first that honour goes to Man City and the premier leagues top scorer next season - Harry Kane.
2nd - Chelsea could really push us for this spot espcially with Havertz about to go nuclear.
3rd - Liverpool maybe - incredibly consistent prior to VVD's injury. They played all of last season without half their defence. Hard to see them doing as badly as last year.
4th - Us or Liverpool I think. Midfield hasnt really been improved, Strikers - Do we have any 20 plus goal strikers and i mean prem league goals here not all games combined. I dont think we do, Greenwood is brilliant but he'll be played from the right - if he gets 15 in the prem he'll have done brilliant. Rashford has gone completely off the boil recently. Martial - dont know what to expect from him. On a good season 10-13 PL goals. Bruno - he'll get his fair share over the season. Cavani wont play every game. We need to recruit some players rapidly. Otherwise its the same squad all 1 year older, Matas time must be up. Matic I love but only sparingly.
Tottenham, Arsenal - foget it. Leicester - cant see it next season - defo not top 4. Soumare or no Soumare.
2nd - Chelsea could really push us for this spot espcially with Havertz about to go nuclear.
3rd - Liverpool maybe - incredibly consistent prior to VVD's injury. They played all of last season without half their defence. Hard to see them doing as badly as last year.
4th - Us or Liverpool I think. Midfield hasnt really been improved, Strikers - Do we have any 20 plus goal strikers and i mean prem league goals here not all games combined. I dont think we do, Greenwood is brilliant but he'll be played from the right - if he gets 15 in the prem he'll have done brilliant. Rashford has gone completely off the boil recently. Martial - dont know what to expect from him. On a good season 10-13 PL goals. Bruno - he'll get his fair share over the season. Cavani wont play every game. We need to recruit some players rapidly. Otherwise its the same squad all 1 year older, Matas time must be up. Matic I love but only sparingly.
Tottenham, Arsenal - foget it. Leicester - cant see it next season - defo not top 4. Soumare or no Soumare.
Anything less than that is an embarrassing drop in standards by our fan base. Oh and style patterns of identifiable play.
Actually going back to this - Ole's getting back to our roots type of management is refreshing. I admire the way we are trying to bring players through the academy, pick up great young talent and develope them. If we can get shot of Pogba, De Gea, Martial, Jones - we'll be £900+k a week better off. But what good does that do in the long run - the Glazers will just take bigger dividends. True some players are mercenarys but so are some owners. With these Glazers in charge ripping the stuffing out of the club then maybe if affects who we can attract as players. Right now we are not a great bet for trophies so we have to pay extra to get the top talent. You are in effect joining a club that is a season or two from the league, so all you can expect is a cup and it wont be the European one. Sad but true unfortunately. But it was like that for a long time before fergie led us to the promised land.It'll turn round, eventually those arabs up the road will run out of oil and then what will Citeh do!
Have to challenge for the league this season. Can never comment on winning since that is a function of the growth/quality of other teams.
But we can't call ourselves a big club and need more than two and a half years of rebuild to properly challenge for the league.
Hopefully, this is accompanied by a style of play which is clearly defined.
But we can't call ourselves a big club and need more than two and a half years of rebuild to properly challenge for the league.
Hopefully, this is accompanied by a style of play which is clearly defined.
As things look now, manage to squeeze into top 4 and not get knocked out in the group stages in the CL... hopefully my expectations will change with some incoming transfers
This thread is proof that our standards and expectations have dropped to the lowest they have been post Fergie. No other manager before Ole and I will guess after Ole will be given so much time and money and have the expectation be league cup and top 4. That would be the expectation for any other manager in their first season in charge and rightly so but here we are 3/4 years into his reign and top 4 and getting out of the group stage of the CL is our expectation. It's gonna be a long season boys.
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Expecting us to flounder hopelessly around 3rd without any significant trophies or real improvement. Expecting the same old crowd to defend our incompetent manager and cry for more signings.
That's the spirit!
Id be delighted to be proven utterly wrong,
Those are my expectations though. Are yours higher?Obviously I will have higher expectations. The season hasn't even started and we haven't got things started in the transfer market. If the board delivers in the market, I expect a title challenge.Id be delighted to be proven utterly wrong,
Ole did well with what he got. He need some very good players who directly able to start in starting 11 or at least equally perform the starting 11 members.
He should get one defender who will be better than lindelof. One midfielder who can break monopoly of mctominay Fred partnership and one right side winger. If he get this three upgrades and yet not able to challenge for title then question should be raised to ole.
If tuchel failed in cl or ole won el nobody will question him about his ability. He should demand the signings he immediately needed and get them sooner too. That's on ole in my opinion. United board is under pressure to deliver and he can use it for his team.
United should dream bigger and demand bigger. Ole should take responsibility and have to deliver. From now on he should be treated as any manager before. He got the time and now he need to deliver.
Exactly. The constant downgrading and underrating our players just needs to stop. We’ve seen them perform well in stints, we’ve seen them be much better in national team setups…I don’t get why the caf isn’t United in thinking we should put up some kind of title fight, at least to be in the running until the last few games of a season, especially with Sancho looking likely.
At this moment in time i have quite low expectations ahead of the new season.
I think OGS lacks intensity and a winning mentality and this manifests itself in inconsistent performances from his players.
Last year we were lucky to finish second, Chelsea and Liverpool will be stronger next year too.
We have to invest heavily in our first XI to compete and i dont think we will. i DONT trust Ed and Glazers in the market, never have done.
I think OGS lacks intensity and a winning mentality and this manifests itself in inconsistent performances from his players.
Last year we were lucky to finish second, Chelsea and Liverpool will be stronger next year too.
We have to invest heavily in our first XI to compete and i dont think we will. i DONT trust Ed and Glazers in the market, never have done.
What have you seen them be much better in national team set up that I don't see?
Bruno doesn't score goals & assists enough in national team. The opposite at United.
Pogba performed vs Germany but didn't perform vs Hungary. Same up and down at United.
Rashford couldn't get starting spot over the two City players. Rashford been United one of the most productive player.
Fred & Shaw finally joined national team for first time after many years thanks to their performance at United.
Cavani couldn't score in Uruguay in this Copa America so far. He's United's 3rd top scorer despite of small number of minutes he played.
DDG & Henderson are not first choice keeper in their national team. And those two are United two best keepers.
Martial, Bissaka & Greenwood couldn't get into national team. And those three are one of United regular players.
VDB was never regular starter in national team.
He must be backed by at least 2 or 3 ''top class'' signings (CB, Midfield, Attacker) to upgrade the XI if we want to talk about challenging the league. The current squad hasn't shown a sign that they have been much better in national team setups.