I think neither of them has to start, just play mctominay and eriksen as low block, fernandes on nr10.
Give fernandes rest after 60 minutes and give sancho some minutes as nr 10.
Against arsenal, play fred and casemiro with fernandes in front.
Who, with me, believes we can win the premier league?
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Give fernandes rest after 60 minutes and give sancho some minutes as nr 10.
Against arsenal, play fred and casemiro with fernandes in front.
Be astounded if Fred doesn't start and gut feeling we won't see Sancho until FA Cup tie with Reading
Palace next is the biggest game 3pts there needed otherwise getting 3 from Saturday is pointless. Palace jammed in between city and arsenal is a imo deliberately done by FA and then they say sorry - yeah realy !
When we get past Palace then Arsenal on Sunday imo I think we can beat them no matter how good others think they are. We've played City twice before they've played them once.
Newcastle held them we should have beaten Newcastle. If we're 5 to 7 pts off top spot with 10 games to go and can't see why we can't win it. Long long way to go.
When we get past Palace then Arsenal on Sunday imo I think we can beat them no matter how good others think they are. We've played City twice before they've played them once.
Newcastle held them we should have beaten Newcastle. If we're 5 to 7 pts off top spot with 10 games to go and can't see why we can't win it. Long long way to go.
My feeling is that City wont win the league this year. They look right on the cusp of a team that needs a refresh. Gundogan, Ederson, Walker, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Silva, Cancelo...all been fantastic for them and clearly, undoubtedly, still very, very good...but they seem to have lost that little bit of sparkle, that little bit of hunger and that little bit of physical edge with age
So the obvious alternative is Arsenal. They are playing very well but their squad is thin and we dont know how they will respond to setbacks. There's a fair possibility that at some point, they hit a rough patch. I don't think they are going to post the sort of total Liverpool and City have been posting these last few seasons.
Chelsea and Liverpool cant win it, neither are good enough. Newcastle wont score enough goals in tight games to throw down a serious challenge.
That leaves us. I feel our squad is underestimated at times because of how poorly we have been coached and managed at times. We have some very good and very experienced football players. I believe our problem will be the lack of quality at CF. Martial is unreliable and we only have Weghorst as backup. The defence seems to have improved markedly but can we score enough goals
So the obvious alternative is Arsenal. They are playing very well but their squad is thin and we dont know how they will respond to setbacks. There's a fair possibility that at some point, they hit a rough patch. I don't think they are going to post the sort of total Liverpool and City have been posting these last few seasons.
Chelsea and Liverpool cant win it, neither are good enough. Newcastle wont score enough goals in tight games to throw down a serious challenge.
That leaves us. I feel our squad is underestimated at times because of how poorly we have been coached and managed at times. We have some very good and very experienced football players. I believe our problem will be the lack of quality at CF. Martial is unreliable and we only have Weghorst as backup. The defence seems to have improved markedly but can we score enough goals
If Saka gets injured it will massively affect their performances
I fear that could be the end of our title charge
Arsenal are too far ahead.
Delete this thread!
Anyone wondering why the answer to this question is no, I will refer you to this game.
They really aren't
Time to take the pitchfork out for threads like this...
This fecking thread
We were never really going to win it let alone be in a race, but it was nice for a while 
Not enough goals in this team sadly for a serious title push.
Nice. It didn't even last a week.
Maybe 3 starters (GK, CM, CF) and a capable second choice RCB from having a team truly capable. Doable next season though.
Delete this thread
I'm still on the train.
I feel like the title race will soon became a TOP 4 race.
next season 
Absolutely. There's a way to go yet.
Corrected for you.
We've scored 30 goals now after 19 games, the worst amount out of the top 9 teams. That alone will see us nowhere near the league, we're too reliant on Rashford and he was non existent tonight.
Same.
For some posters its either we need the best squad in the world to even be considered or there's no point thinking about it. I don't know when people stopped dreaming, maybe too many false dawns and getting their hopes up.
Keep believing and hoping, anything can happen in football. Leicester won it in 2015/2016, we lost an 8 point lead in 4 matches in 2012, we clawed back so many points on Liverpool in 2009 when we were playing the club world cup.
I believe in this team.
Nah it’s the hope that’ll kill ya .
last night was proof of that
last night was proof of that
The run has been pegged up by home form, 2 away games we looked vulnerable (Wolves, Palace)
Bouncebackability.
Won’t win the title this season because we do not have enough forward power. Can’t rely on Rashford to keep scoring, it’s not fair to put the burden on him. Our squad is not yet strong enough to keep playing so many games and any serious injuries could seriously disable us, even without injuries I think best we can hope for is top four. That would be good enough and an improvement on last season.
There is a long way to go yet in the season, however crazy and all as it sounds, I think we have been poor enough lately and last night was no different.
Fulham and Wolves away we were lucky to get out with wins. Bournemouth and Charlton at home they both looked like getting an equaliser until we scored some late goals. City at home we barely touched the ball in second half until Bruno's equaliser.
I dont mean to be critical but we do still have a lot of work to do. This awful sloppy and casual approach we have at times is really killing us, last night was a great example. Should have put that game to bed except we decided to spend the entire second half passing to Crystal Palace players, Rashford in particular. As soon as they scored we woke up and almost got a goal....why the feck can't we play like that until we at least get the second goal....its infuriating. Put the game to bed them you can take the more casual approach but not until we have at least a two goal cushion.
We lack ruthlessness and are too casual/sloppy too often. However I trust ETH to sort it out over the next few months and summer but we are certainly not the finished article that recent good results may have suggested.
Fulham and Wolves away we were lucky to get out with wins. Bournemouth and Charlton at home they both looked like getting an equaliser until we scored some late goals. City at home we barely touched the ball in second half until Bruno's equaliser.
I dont mean to be critical but we do still have a lot of work to do. This awful sloppy and casual approach we have at times is really killing us, last night was a great example. Should have put that game to bed except we decided to spend the entire second half passing to Crystal Palace players, Rashford in particular. As soon as they scored we woke up and almost got a goal....why the feck can't we play like that until we at least get the second goal....its infuriating. Put the game to bed them you can take the more casual approach but not until we have at least a two goal cushion.
We lack ruthlessness and are too casual/sloppy too often. However I trust ETH to sort it out over the next few months and summer but we are certainly not the finished article that recent good results may have suggested.
I'll still remain pleasantly surprised if we win rather than getting my hopes up and having them dashed. As those still on the train suggest, anything can happen in football so the lead isn't insurmountable, especially with so much of the season left. However whatever goes for Arsenal dropping points will apply to us too and I'd say we're more likely to drop more than catch up.
Obviously if we beat Arsenal then it's fair game but they look better than I thought they would when I've seen them and without Casemiro it'll be tough, even if we managed it at home earlier in the season.
It's annoying because in the first half it looked like we were playing some nice stuff and you can tell how much of an impact both the manager and the run have had on this team at the minute, but I do think we're absolutely shagged and it showed in the second half.
I think ETH needs to rotate more but we don't really have the squad to keep up the form if he does I guess.
Obviously if we beat Arsenal then it's fair game but they look better than I thought they would when I've seen them and without Casemiro it'll be tough, even if we managed it at home earlier in the season.
It's annoying because in the first half it looked like we were playing some nice stuff and you can tell how much of an impact both the manager and the run have had on this team at the minute, but I do think we're absolutely shagged and it showed in the second half.
I think ETH needs to rotate more but we don't really have the squad to keep up the form if he does I guess.
We seemingly can't get that spread of goals round the team which Arsenal have had since the start of the season. How on earth can we improve this a bit until May
I'm still somewhat optimistic. Arsenal have to drop points eventually (right?) and have to play City twice still. They also have a very difficult run-in, they have to play Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Newcastle and Brighton pretty much back to back in April / May. If we can keep slogging along, you never know.
Us challenging for the title, nevermind winning it was always a long shot, the fact we are on the fringes of a challenge shows how much progress we have made.
Us challenging for the title, nevermind winning it was always a long shot, the fact we are on the fringes of a challenge shows how much progress we have made.
Nothing has changed for me. We just don't have a squad to compete over a full season. Once the EL re-starts, it will be tough for the players (unless Barca kicks us out). Even a win against Arsenal wouldn't change my mind. But it is good that we closed the gap and show we can play up there
If we continue to improve then the maximum I can see United getting is 44 points in next 19 games. That’s P19 W14 D2 L3 GS 35 GC 15. I think We will lose to Liverpool, Brighton, Arsenal away, probably drop points at Spurs and one of the teams trying to stay up. This on its own will take a super human effort and will mean we need to get knocked out of Europa League. It would also mean that weghorst chips in with 7 or 8 goals, Sancho comes back to form scores 4 or 5 goals, Martial stays fit and another player like F Pellistri breaks through with Garnaucho. This would give us 83 points and assuming Arsenal do win on Sunday they would only need 33 points from last 19 games, vastly superior goal difference which means they would have to lose 8 out of 19 games, never going to happen and then on top of that City who have 42 points would also have to lose 6 out of 19 pl games or W12 D4 L3. In conclusion it’s not going to happen so let’s close the thread. If we beat Arsenal and put a 14 game win run together with our current 2 games per week schedule then ETH is officially the second coming and I will pray to the church of ETH 5 times per day.
You are absolutely bang on our approach is far too casual in the second half,much of that winning run was built on home form. Like you say we got exceptionally lucky to win at Fulham and Wolves when didn't play well at all.
Makes me a bit nervous for the Arsenal game on Sunday. We really need to up the performance level or we'll get nothing from it.
Obviously it's possible but we don't have enough quality depth players in midfield. Too dependant on casemiro bruno and eriksen. Also there isn't enough goalgetters. Rashford playing well and scoring but only a matter of time before he's injured and martial never fit.
However we growing we are improving we have an identity. I'm sure everyone if they were told half way through the season we would be considered title challenger you'd have bit their hands off.
However we growing we are improving we have an identity. I'm sure everyone if they were told half way through the season we would be considered title challenger you'd have bit their hands off.
Close the thread, ban the OP
Yeah after sorting out the first XI hopefully we can focus on some cover at CB,CDM & AM later in the summer (new owners permitting)