United have a hard schedule and are just too rotten at the core of the squad to go on a long winning streak. As the summer gets closer, the uncertainty surrounding the manager, the future of key players, etc will just continue to build and they’ll continue to be a mess. Spurs have an easier schedule, a settled if somewhat mediocre squad, and with Conte could plausibly rip off a series of wins if things start clicking.
We’re also not really that far ahead of Spurs, especially given that they have an easier schedule than us going forward, having played Chelsea already while we have not. We’re basically one bad result for us and one good result for them from it being a virtual tossup.
the first after the ONE is always an impossible job… and tbf Fergie performed a minor miracle taking that last squad to the title before leaving that shit behind - they were in major decline at that moment imho.
Moyes wasn’t great there, but I think he’s actually a decent manager and its not like anyone after him has really pulled any trees. You need patience with a rebuild and a team like Utd is always going to look for quick fix, just recycling their problems… also their personnel decisions have been tragic for a while with a few exceptions.
They aren’t as bad as some are making out, but they are certainly clearly not top 4 material this year, which is a bit of a surprise to me tbh since they finished second last season, 5 points above Pool (granted, an anomalous year) at 74… if they had even slightly built on that this year, they’d be in for 3rd or 4th.
Yep - I am all about a project as long as it is one I believe in and is competently led… at this point, I’m still on the fence and probably will be until I see how next season goes, but atm I have to admit we are looking better.
Kinda where I’m at. The results look good, the performances look good, we’re not fumbling around from match to match making the same selection or formation errors. Even the substitutions have gotten better, which all tracks with having a rookie coach.
Maybe I’m just feeling optimistic today but I like the direction of travel. I am worried about managing a bigger squad but all good coaches have to figure that out at some point.
With Chelsea hopefully fading, Spurs a few bad results from Conte pulling out his hair plugs and Pep/Klopp probably leaving in the next 2/3 years we may have a shot of really pushing. I think they’re going to tie Arteta down to a new long term deal. I just hope they don’t break my heart again. They usually do though
Yeah my take generally was always we need phase 1 stabilization and platform, which frankly was minimum standard given our investment over last 3-5 years… we have no business being below 4th, 5th at a stretch. Last season we were 8th - it looks like this season we will hit 4th with 73-74 points.
For comparison, under worse investment backing, Wenger had a devastatingly terrible end to his reign by all accounts, but his last season was 63 points - we had 61 last season… sixty one. The year before (partial Arteta) we hit 56. Arteta’s spell that season was 34 points over 22 games - a trend of 59 points over a 38 game season.
The 3 years before Arsene’s horrible year were average of about 74, again under far less investment (going with a rolling 5 years net).
I can’t wrap my head around a side with players like they have being so poor and disorganized.
We HAVE TO slap them at the Emirates. Their midfield is all over the place, their defence has more holes than swiss cheese and their attack heavily relies on Ronaldo and Bruno having a good day.
Why? I won’t argue there’s a conflict between both wanting to be focal point of the team but they have good chemistry with each other. If they weren’t going through a goal drought recently they probably would have had another 5 goals each and they probably would have assisted each other in the process too.
Bruno, Pogba and Ronaldo are Man Utd’s best players. I feel a better coach with more authority would have gotten the best out of them.
This is the result I wanted. Both United and Spuds were going to drop points during the run-in anyway, but I took Spuds more seriously as long as they were three points behind, same amount of games played, and with a NLD to come. That’s how it was prior to this weekend. Hopefully we beat Leicester tomorrow.
