Where will we finish this season ?

Where will Manchester United finish in the Premier League table in the 2022-23 season?

  • 1st

    Votes: 23 4.1%

  • 2nd

    Votes: 17 3.0%

  • 3rd

    Votes: 72 12.8%

  • 4th

    Votes: 104 18.5%

  • 5th

    Votes: 146 25.9%

  • 6th

    Votes: 130 23.1%

  • 7th-10th

    Votes: 49 8.7%

  • Bottom 10

    Votes: 22 3.9%
  • Total voters
    563
  • Poll closed .
I think we will look a bit better and finish 5th or 6th (I've gone for 5th). Just so many good teams now and we're still not in the top 2 or 3, nowhere near
 
6th. Martial won’t score more than 10 goals and he’s looking like our first choice no.9 going into the season. Get FDJ and a goalscorer and 4th won’t be out of the question.
 
For the first time since SAF retired I genuinely have no idea (though tbf I've been consistently wrong when I thought I did). I'm always optimistic, but I think next season can go both ways. We won't win the title obviously, but I would consider a top 4 finish and genuine progress in our style of play a great season, and if we can add a cup title to that it would make it amazing. But I think there's an equally big chance we will finish between 5th and 7th and not win anything.

Ten Hag was my preferred choice though, and even if the season ends in disappointment (us not qualifying for CL) I don't think he necessarily should be sacked.
 
sullydnl said:
As it stands, 5th or 6th.

We finished 11 points the rest of the top six last season and 13 points behind top four. Even assuming ETH bridges a lot of that gap, realistically we also needed to do a better job of strengthening the team in the transfer market than at least one if not two of the three teams ahead of us. As it stands we have arguably strengthened the least.
Click to expand...

Yup. Other than buying new players the only way we can improve our squad compared to the teams ahead of us is by more of our youngsters improving as they age or older players at our rivals declining. Neither Arsenal nor Spurs have older players in decline and Arsenal had more young/improving first teamers last season than us.

The only other hope of an improvement over and above the Erik effect would be a youngster breaking into the first team and having a spectacular debut season. I just don’t see that youngster in our squad right now. Garnacho’s too young and Diallo and Mejbri are both too far from the finished article.
 
4th.

Hearing ALL the noise about Spurs and Conte as the second coming, the guy is always two games away from a major catostrophe and implosion.. If he can take them from 9th to 4th, no reason why we can't go from 6th with a VERY underperforming squad to 4th with some good additions. Don't think Chelsea will be all that this coming season and Arsenal will be doing Arsenal things.
 
Gone for fifth. At this moment in time we are a side who have slightly improved but fundamentally remain the same midfield and attack that finished 6th. I don’t think ten Hag alone can do enough to finish much higher.
 
We have a weaker squad than last season but probably a better manager. Think we will finish fifth or sixth, probably sixth. I do think we have a good chance winning the Europa League.
 
6th as things stand

We haven't done anywhere near enough in the transfer market, for whatever reason. We'll play better football but you still need quality players to perfectly execute the style Ten Hag is implementing
 
I put 6th but I'd put a range of 4th-8th as a best and worst case given the current squad.

I think we could reach the top of that bracket by signing 3 players. De Jong, Antony and a striker would get us top 4 this season.
 
Anywhere from 3rd to 5th - I'll meet myself halfway and go with 4th.

De Jong coming in would drastically increase my confidence in making the top four.
 
Can't see any lower than 5th.
Can't see any higher than 4th
 
bosnian_red said:
You could say "time will tell" if we appointed Klopp instead of Ole. Ten Hag is undoubtedly a top coach. He has achieved excellent things at Ajax, and you see the early signs are fantastic already. Of course, time will tell, but it's not a random baseless hope to just say "Ten Hag is a big step up from previously relegated at Cardiff Ole, or interim manager Ralf with MLS level coaching staff". We had absolute garbage as our coaching staff the past few years. So it's not a high bar to beat. So of course, we will be massively improved, especially as Ten Hag is actually just a top coach.

Recruitment is crucial, I agree. But we will be massively improved from last season anyway even without anything else. Will we be improved enough relative to the others is the question. Conte and Tuchel are also very good coaches, and Tottenham has had a good window, while Chelsea to me is looking more likely of a collapse season than others so far. Arsenal have made good signings and have some momentum, though I don't rate Arteta much, at least not yet. And then there is Klopp and Pep, the top 2 coaches at the #1 and 2 teams in world football with their squads as well. So nobody is touching them yet. But I have no doubt that Ten Hag is the best possible manager we could have appointed, and I think he has the potential to get us to the top. But we need the recruitment right to get us there.

Basically, we might still finish 6th, but we could improve massively and still just finish 6th because a lack of options up front and others doing really well as well, and 3rd to 6th being a very tight group at this point. Just like we finished 2nd under Ole and I don't think we improved from the previous year when we were 3rd, or when we finished 2nd and I thought we were worse than when we finished 6th under Mourinho. We'll see a huge improvement this season, but where it will take us in the league position at the end of Ten Hag's first season remains to be seen and a lot probably rests on the next month. But long term no worries from me as we'll get there with ETH, just won't be instant.
Click to expand...

IMO it is pretty optimistic just to assume any new manager will be successful based on track record alone. Van Gaal and Mourinho had plenty of success elsewhere and didn't do well at United. Conversely plenty of managers with no track record have thrived. Not sure it means much.
 
If we get De Jong in, Varane stays fit for most of the season, Rashford returns to form and we get Martial of a couple of years ago then ETH’s system works then we should get top four but that’s a best case scenario as we’re in yet another rebuild with yet another new system/philosophy which will take time to implement and then Ronaldo is being Ronaldo so overshadowing everything.
 
Currently, 6th.

Transfer window has been poor yet again. We've not improved our weakest positions. I believe in Ten Hag's coaching but he's not going to be able to work miracles.

We've got the same poor right backs. We've not improved the midfield at all, we're set for another season of Fred/Mctominay midfield. Even if we end up signing De Jong it's not enough as we should have got in a proper replacement for Matic. Lack of depth in attack. Question marks over suitability of certain centre backs to play high line, as well as question marks over whether Martinez will adapt to the league physically.
 
At Fulham on the 28th May…..after that I haven’t got a notion….hopefully 3rd or better with a good happy squad who are working together in a System…
 
sincher said:
IMO it is pretty optimistic just to assume any new manager will be successful based on track record alone. Van Gaal and Mourinho had plenty of success elsewhere and didn't do well at United. Conversely plenty of managers with no track record have thrived. Not sure it means much.
Click to expand...
Van Gaal year 1 was much better than Moyes' year and year 2 he won the FA Cup with a child like squad (his problem was his system was boring and he couldn't work with big name players anymore seemingly).
Mourinho year 1 improved us loads, we couldn't finish but we're very decent and won the league Cup and Europa League. Year 2 finished 2nd and lost in the FA Cup final. Obviously past it as a manager, but he did alright considering he was up against Pep.
Ole improved on Mourinho in his first full season, and did well for 2 years considering he was up against Pep and Klopp. Ultimately couldn't sustain it and the collapse happened again.

I think it's pretty clear that we do alright with every manager at first, and over time it falls apart if they aren't good enough, as will always happen. The difference is that Ten Hag is far better equipped for modern day football than any of them, is a proper coach focused on improving playstyle and plays attacking football. Of course over time he has to show he can improve us sufficiently and to keep the level high rather than drop down after 2 years, but even the obviously mediocre managers for the modern era post Sir Alex did relatively well for a couple of years pretty much.

In terms of track record, it depends what you look at. Look at his trophies won and hope it carries over, prepared to be disappointed. Look at system implemented, and constant successful rebuilds to play the same dominant, attacking style with different groups and slight adaptations to still be successful, and that's how you can be confident they can coach it elsewhere too.
 
With the current squad 6th with difficult

With De Jong and Sesko between 3-5th
 
bond19821982 said:
55 % think we will finish outside of top 4 . Wow !!!
Click to expand...

What's the surprise in this ? Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Spurs are all better than us at the moment, and even Arsenal aren't half bad. We're in for a tough season.
 
Gone for 5th, if we add some more depth to the squad in the last few weeks of the season then I'd be tempted to go for 4th.

As it stands we're a couple of injuries away from playing the kids in midfield and attack, and the drop off is huge.

I think with our first 11 we should be able to give anyone a game and I don't think I'll feel embarrassed as much next season playing our rivals.
 
6th. Last six months the combination of Rangnick's appalling caretakership and the majority of these players scarcely bothering to be arsed crushed out all my optimism.

We'll see some better performances but it's a long way back, ETH needs time and as it stands the first xi is nowhere near top 4.

Glaring deficiencies at CM and RB are yet to be addressed. Ronaldo has decided to have a self centred flounce. The overall squad depth is insufficient.

Could be that a couple of late, key signings change the dynamic. Yet we've spent the summer playing 'Waiting for Godot' with de Jong and still look like starting the season with McFred.
 
bond19821982 said:
55 % think we will finish outside of top 4 . Wow !!!
Click to expand...

The only wow for me is that it’s only 55%. It needs to be one hell of a good remaining 4 weeks of the window for me to think we will finish any higher than 6th.

I’m glad some are still hopeful though but as is, I’m definitely worried about the season ahead.
 
With our current squad (I think we have the worst squad out of anyone in the top 6 now? Probably the weakest first XI too) - it'll take a huge effort from ETH to get us top 4.
 
5th.

So we have to really go for it in the Europa League.
 
Utd heap said:
Best case - 3rd
Probably - 5th
Potentially - 6th.
Click to expand...

Fully agree with this. Gun to my head I’d say 5th but I’m secretly hoping Ten Hag over delivers and we get 4th.

I’d say top 2 is nailed on but I reckon Chelsea us spurs arsenal are all capable of finishing anywhere 3 to 6.
 
I've got to go 6th based on our squad. ETH will be fine in the long run, but our squad is abysmal. Right now we're hoping Eriksen can stitch together our midfield. We're relying on a lot of players that have been rubbish, or at least not good enough, for a long time. Put it this way, if Ole was still in charge then we'd all be shitting it right now. And I don't think ETH can polish a turd.

However, sign FDJ and 2 attackers (incredibly unlikely. Don't think we'll get anybody else) then I think we could finish as high as 3rd.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.