What are our expectations for next season ?

Based on the current squad, we’ll do well to finish 6th. How depressing. We should at least get to the last 8 of the europa still.

I’ll reconsider after the window closes and ETH has had a month of competitive football under his belt.
 
4th place or any trophy is a huge bonus. Likely to finish 5th and trophyless.
 
My expectations drop a little each day. All those here who were saying "Window's only just opened" followed by "it's only been a week", "only two..." do seem to be dropping away and beginning to see the reality that others spotted on day one. Murtough and Arnold are just minor reboots of Woodward.

I feel sorry for ETH because he's hardly being given a chance to succeed. Can you imagine SAF's reaction if the board had treated him in the same way?

For those still thinking everything will somehow (magically) work out: we haven't addressed a hole that's been in midfield since Carrick retired, we don't have a centre forward and we don't have any more depth in the squad than last season.

If ETH does pull off a miracle, the club better back him big time next summer otherwise that 26-year wait for the title will more than repeat itself
 
Yeah, I was optimistic about getting 4th but I'm beginning to realize that we are definitely closer to the West Ham, Wolves and Brighton end of the bracket than Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal, who'll be fighting for the 3-4 spots behind the top 2. This is a depressing start to Ten Hag era.
 
VidaRed said:
a) Challenging for the title
b) Winning the europa cup
c) Winning the fa cup or the league cup
d) Top 4
e) Mid table
f) Relegation scrap

If we sign de jong, I would expect us to atleast achieve d) alongwith either b) or c).
Click to expand...

How about all of
g) fluid attacking football coupled with good defensive shape and intense pressing by means of:
- Top4 in goals scored
- Top4 in distance covered per 90min as a team
- single digit shots against per game
h) much improved set piece stats on both ends of the pitch
I) making Top4 in clean sheets
j) making Top3 in ball possession stats
k) great squad morale where players talk highly of each other and the coaching staff
l) no leaks

Winning trophies is great. But there can be bad refs, injury crises, bad luck and more. As with personal development, I think the real KPIs should be stuff that is in your control and can be gradually improved upon throughout a year and beyond.

I think if the KPIs above are met or at least most of them with the others clearly improving throughout the season, positive results were to follow eventually. And while you could finish outside the Top4 for a season, you set yourself up for success in the long term.
 
5th-6th with an attempt to win Europa.

If we can hold a strong presence in the league we could sneak into 4th or 3rd. Spurs/Chelsea don't seem certs but I have them penciled in for top 4. You never know with injuries and the odd key player gone even the top 2 could stumble at times.
 
I was looking to see when our first Saturday 3pm match will be and there isn’t one scheduled. And that’s one of the main reasons why the Europa League sucks ass. We only have two Saturday matches in the first three months, both away. The rest is that long frustrating weekend wait while everyone else is having fun.
 
I'm both excited and worried. I'm excited because under Ten Hag we have a manager with a clear strategy, and I feel confident that he can get an extra level from the players we had last season. But I'm also worried because we have arguably a weaker squad than last season. Eriksen, Malacia and Martinez are quality players but they don't even fix the issues we had last year in our midfield and attack. We're lacking midfielders, especially after letting two of them go, and our attacking depth is woeful.

Other clubs at the top have incredible squad depth and have strengthened yet again this summer and we don't even have a great full strength first eleven because there's been no replacements for Pogba, Lingard or Gr**nw**d let alone upgrades. We shouldn't be one injury away from playing Elanga or one of the youth players.
 
jadajos said:
How about all of
g) fluid attacking football coupled with good defensive shape and intense pressing by means of:
- Top4 in goals scored
- Top4 in distance covered per 90min as a team
- single digit shots against per game
h) much improved set piece stats on both ends of the pitch
I) making Top4 in clean sheets
j) making Top3 in ball possession stats
k) great squad morale where players talk highly of each other and the coaching staff
l) no leaks

Winning trophies is great. But there can be bad refs, injury crises, bad luck and more. As with personal development, I think the real KPIs should be stuff that is in your control and can be gradually improved upon throughout a year and beyond.

I think if the KPIs above are met or at least most of them with the others clearly improving throughout the season, positive results were to follow eventually. And while you could finish outside the Top4 for a season, you set yourself up for success in the long term.
Click to expand...

I like those KPIs but if we hit all of them won’t we be basically guaranteed Top 4 anyway?
 
Judge Red said:
I was looking to see when our first Saturday 3pm match will be and there isn’t one scheduled. And that’s one of the main reasons why the Europa League sucks ass. We only have two Saturday matches in the first three months, both away. The rest is that long frustrating weekend wait while everyone else is having fun.
Click to expand...
Don’t think many top teams will be playing at 3pm on Saturdays!
 
The squad is, at best, a Europa League level group of players so anything higher than 5th (which would be a good result in itself) would be a real achievement but I would expect us to be between 5th and 7th realistically. There is a possibility that we could win the Europa League but, again, there will be better sides in that than us particularly once teams drop in to after Christmas.

The real hope is that Ten Hag, who I do think is a really good appointment, can get the team playing cohesive, attacking football so that we are enjoyable to watch, for much of the last decade it's been difficult to tell if the players have done anything in training all week.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I like those KPIs but if we hit all of them won’t we be basically guaranteed Top 4 anyway?
Click to expand...

I would think so, barring really bad luck. The KPIs were meant as an ideal to aim for. That's why I added the part "at least most of them with the others clearly improving throughout the season". If several of those KPIs were achieved and others not, but the latter were on an upwards trend throughout the season, I would also call that a good season.
 
jadajos said:
I would think so, barring really bad luck. The KPIs were meant as an ideal to aim for. That's why I added the part "at least most of them with the others clearly improving throughout the season". If several of those KPIs were achieved and others not, but the latter were on an upwards trend throughout the season, I would also call that a good season.
Click to expand...

Ok. I would agree.
 
We're in serious trouble without more signings. There was a lot of big talk a few weeks ago mocking anybody who expressed concerns about how poor our business was and now we're about to start the season with rashford as the only fit striker who did a pre season and other key areas neglected.

This has been the most urgent transfer window in a decade and has been absolutely dreadful
 
Sancho and Fred monster seasons, Maguire poor start but hits form for the WC and season end, Bruno and Eriksen together to be a problem, 20ish goal Rashford season but misses the WC, Shaw strong response to competition again, DDG calamitous
 
SER19 said:
We're in serious trouble without more signings. There was a lot of big talk a few weeks ago mocking anybody who expressed concerns about how poor our business was and now we're about to start the season with rashford as the only fit striker who did a pre season and other key areas neglected.

This has been the most urgent transfer window in a decade and has been absolutely dreadful
Click to expand...

Unsurprisingly these people have disappeared. Don't worry they'll be back in the winter transfer window, atleast in the initial week or so.
 
NoLogo said:
Given how Tottenham and Arsenal have geared up, I reckon top 4 would be a good achievement.
Click to expand...

I can't see our current squad finishing ahead of either of those sides. I've predicted that we'll finish 5th this season, but baked in to that prediction was the assumption of further additions in midfield and attack. As things stand, with the squad in its current state, anything higher than 6th looks unlikely.
 
3rd or 4th in the league is probably going to be the highest we can reach.

Finishing 5th-7th is probably more likely.

Winning the Europa League is almost a requirement to be honest for CL football the following year. Its near impossible attracting top players without it for 1 year but 2 years outside it means we are hamstrung even further.
 
Can't really see us finishing better than 6th or maybe 5th, as to date, it still looks like we are going into the season with McFred, and relying on all the same old culprits.
I do hope and expect Ten Hag to make an immediate impact on our brand of football, and to also have a hugely positive influence on certain individual players such as Rashford & Martial.

Would absolutely love to lift the Europa, that would be fantastic in his first season.
 
Best case scenario we start well, beat Brighton and maybe even beat Liverpool igniting all sorts of false hopes. Then as the season progresses we regress and finish over 30 points off top somewhere in the top half. Maybe a decent cup run but no cups. If we do add a striker and at least one midfielder before the end of August we may do slightly better but still well off City, Pool, Chelsea, Spuds .
Worst case scenario we don’t buy anyone else or buy badly. Start poorly and struggle to stay out of the relegation scrap .
 
I think realistically I'd take 6th and a trophy right now. Go back 6 weeks or so and I'd have said challenging for 4th would be fair but now it's clear the transfer window isn't exactly going to plan and we have the Ronaldo circus I do fear we could be in for a tough season.

With the fixture schedule as it is and the likelihood of more injuries as players adjust to Ten Hag's demands I just don't see how we have the depth to compete. On paper the first choice side is okay but then look at the bench options and there's barely anything there compared to what the other top 6 sides have. At the end of last season I assumed Martial had played his last game for the club, yet we're here now with it being a disaster that he's missing through injury.

That probably sounds more negative than I meant it to be, I haven't seen any of the pre-season games so I'm looking forward to seeing the effect Ten Hag has had on this group. Hopefully we can start well and things will look a lot more positive.
 
RORY65 said:
The squad is, at best, a Europa League level group of players so anything higher than 5th (which would be a good result in itself) would be a real achievement but I would expect us to be between 5th and 7th realistically. There is a possibility that we could win the Europa League but, again, there will be better sides in that than us particularly once teams drop in to after Christmas.

The real hope is that Ten Hag, who I do think is a really good appointment, can get the team playing cohesive, attacking football so that we are enjoyable to watch, for much of the last decade it's been difficult to tell if the players have done anything in training all week.
Click to expand...
Agree with this
 
6th at best in the league

We could progress into the latter stages of cups but once we meet any decent team they'll knock us out.

Another dire season ahead.
 
I think some progressive football but a lot of bad results and a lot of frustrating draws
 
I expect absolutely nothing from this group of players, my only hope is that ETH's coaching is enough to deliver a decent season.

Realistically we'll finish out of the top 4 again, I see City Liverpool and Spurs taking 3 of the 4 spots so with some luck we could nab 4th. I would guess Europa is our best bet for a CL spot though.
 
Last edited:
I don’t expect this set of players to get us more than 65/66 points, which should see us end up around 5th/6th. EtH alone won’t be able to drag us to more points. What we can expect/ hope for is more structured and enjoyable football with frustrating end product.
 
Absolutely dreading this new season.
As it stands I see a 6th place finish at best(with no trophy because we don`t have the depth to compete on all fronts)
Wouldn`t rule out a lower finish if clubs like West Ham/Villa surprise people with the business they`ve done
I`ve never seen us look so unprepared for a new season. In my opinion we`re worse off than 2013, 2018 and 2020, off the back of our worst ever season too
Even if we get 2/3 new names they`ll need at least a month to adapt and God knows how many games we`ll have lost by then
The only expectation I have is some cohesive football with inconsistent results which essentially starts this project off 2/3 steps backwards so good luck to Ten Hag
 
depending if more players will come in. I believe a cm and a forward will join and if the singings are correct we will be challenging fop top 4 and Europa/fa and league cups. If we manage to win one or more of those trophies ad finish 4th it will be a huge success, it all depends if we get those extra 2 players.
 
Not very high for you lot unfortunately. It is looking like all your close competitors have had a better window unless things change drastically which pushes Utd further behind that pack. Unless your new manager has a huge impact then top 6.
 
My expectations are finishing 6th-8th and reaching the latter rounds of a couple cups.
 
Can see us having one of those seasons where we effectively give up on the league due to inconsistencies and put all our attention into winning the Europa. I also don't think we'll win the Europa.
 
Gary Neville and Carragher both agreed that there’s no pressure on Ten Hag this term and it should be a season of patience and progression on the pitch.

Let’s not forget Klopp finished 4th in his first full season but he joined Liverpool the previous October so essentially had three quarters of the previous season, and a full two transfer windows, before managing to get CL football.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.