I don't think this team are as bad as a lot of you lot have made them out to be.

They played some fantastic football early on until the 1-6 to City. They then regrouped and got going again with very few slips along the way.

2 points dropped since Scholes came back - that's got to rank amongst the best second halves of the season any United side have had.

The failure in Europe is perhaps what downgrades this team, but I think that is because they are one of the most inexperienced Utd teams ever to play in Europe. They will learn. Jones, Smalling, Raphael, Cleverley, Welbeck, Evans, Young - I think they've grown during the season, gained invaluable experience and I think this is the start of another great Fergie team.

Few people, myself included, would have thought we would be where we are when Newcastle made us look like complete dicks at the start of 2012. Still a job to finish, though

De Gea sums up the next generation of United players

Fergie's shit@#%&!s can £#%&! off. Useless £#%&!ers.

Don't let the sad state of the premier league fool you into thinking we're a good team overall.

Our failings in Europe show the truth about the current Manchester United - we may not need investment to win "the best league in the world" but if we want to become a serious threat in Europe again serious money needs to be spent in a couple of key areas.

I think they are only going to get better.

Originally Posted by Agent Dale Cooper

Fergie's shit@#%&!s can £#%&! off. Useless £#%&!ers.

Originally Posted by TheKitchenSink

Don't let the sad state of the premier league fool you into thinking we're a good team overall.

Our failings in Europe show the truth about the current Manchester United - we may not need investment to win "the best league in the world" but if we want to become a serious threat in Europe again serious money needs to be spent in a couple of key areas.

he's basically plagiarised me from before. so i agree with him.

Poorest United side to have won the PL imo.

However, it's a young 'poor side' who are only going to improve especially with a new CM in the summer.

Pretty relaxed about next season.

Originally Posted by tatty

Poorest United side to have won the PL imo.

However, it's a young 'poor side' who are only going to improve especially with a new CM in the summer.

Pretty relaxed about next season.

are we signing robbo on a pay as you play deal?

we're never as bad as people say, or as good as people say.

This a good United team but it's a heck of a long way from being great. European football and Champions league in particular is the benchmark and United have fallen way short of that.

We need to bring in players who can add something different to us, a fresh approach, do something unexpected in the final 3rd. At the moment we tend to be very predictable in our approach and we're grinding teams down through sheer persistence rather than cutting through them with incisive attacking..and that's fine in the Premier League when we're having 60-70% of the possession and where the teams aren't that technically minded, but in Europe that sort of approach will only get you so far as you won't see as much of the ball.

The only question is how much money are our frugal owners willing to part with in the summer?

Originally Posted by Sparky***

we're never as bad as people say, or as good as people say.

This a good United team but it's a heck of a long way from being great. European football and Champions league in particular is the benchmark and United have fallen way short of that.

We need to bring in players who can add something different to us, a fresh approach, do something unexpected in the final 3rd. At the moment we tend to be very predictable in our approach and we're grinding teams down through sheer persistence rather than cutting through them with incisive attacking..and that's fine in the Premier League when we're having 60-70% of the possession and where the teams aren't that technically minded, but in Europe that sort of approach will only get you so far as you won't see as much of the ball.

The only question is how much money are our frugal owners willing to part with in the summer?

yes and no.

we fell way short of beating barcelona. who essentially are a crystallisation of an almost perfect club side.

but we didn't get to 3 consecutive finals and win one by being completely abysmal..... it's no fluke getting to a final - this season has shown that....

but i agree we are a way off winning the european cup.

Originally Posted by elhombre

yes and no.

we fell way short of beating barcelona. who essentially are a crystallisation of an almost perfect club side.

but we didn't get to 3 consecutive finals and win one by being completely abysmal..... it's no fluke getting to a final - this season has shown that....

but i agree we are a way off winning the european cup.

i'm not talking about 2008-2011, i'm talking about now mate.

this current united side is a world away from the one which got to 2 successive CL finals. no comparison.

at the moment we have old players propping the team up because the young ones either aren't good enough yet or can't stay fit for more than 5 mins at a time.

nowhere will any regression be shown up as ruthlessly as in the champions league.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

i'm not talking about 2008-2011, i'm talking about now mate.

this current united side is a world away from the one which got to 2 successive CL finals. no comparison.

at the moment we have old players propping the team up because the young ones either aren't good enough yet or can't stay fit for more than 5 mins at a time.

nowhere will any regression be shown up as ruthlessly as in the champions league.

if you're talking about our future in this competition, it's all dependent on fergie staying on AND money being available.... neither are a given.

i dunno. enjoy winning the league. enjoy beating the divs and making it to number 20 and at the same time seeing the vermin slip further down the pecking order....

as it stands we won't match PSG, Madrid, City, Chelsea or Barca in spending and the mercurial talents of fergie will be gone soon enough.

enjoy the now, it may not last much longer.

we've become a very hard side to beat since the defence got its shit together, an impressive feat with vidic injured all season. however, great as valencia is and talented as rooney is, without scholes and giggs this side would be terribly mundane for a united side. and i don't like to think where we'd be without fergie, certainly not 8 points clear with 6 games to go.

we'll be without scholes and giggs in a year or so. it's a very important summer coming up, lots of things are in place, there's reasons to be hopeful about the young players in the side and coming through, but replacing/finding alternatives for giggs and, especially, scholes is the acid test. and then fergie, £#%&! me that's a depressing thought.

Originally Posted by elhombre

yes and no.

we fell way short of beating barcelona. who essentially are a crystallisation of an almost perfect club side.

but we didn't get to 3 consecutive finals and win one by being completely abysmal..... it's no fluke getting to a final - this season has shown that....

but i agree we are a way off winning the european cup.

we didn't get to 3 consecutive finals full stop.

Originally Posted by tatty

poorest united side to have won the pl imo.

however, it's a young 'poor side' who are only going to improve especially with a new cm in the summer.

Pretty relaxed about next season.

96-97

Originally Posted by Agent Dale Cooper

Fergie's shit@#%&!s can £#%&! off. Useless £#%&!ers.

get behind the shit@#%&!s.

The side is hugely reliant on Paul Scholes, from the start of the champions league group stages to a few games into his return there was hardly more than 4 consecutive passes at a time before losing possession.

He's been incredible but it only highlights how important it is to spend big on midfield for the future.

Originally Posted by fix up look SHARPE

96-97

a side with cantona, keane, beckham, scholes, giggs, schmeichel & ole as bad as our current lot? don't think so.

Vidic has only made 6 PL appearances all season!

I think the charity shield and early games such as the 8-2 show what this side is capable of. They also put in some of the most lacklustre performances I've ever seen so very weird season.

But watching us early doors I think we were playing a brand of football that could beat barca, not that we'd be better but that we'd be the kind of team they dont like to play against.

I think if fabio can emulate rafael we have the best young back 5 in the world.

The front 6 early in the season were amazing and played the best football I've seen in years. Obviously the likes of cleverly, Anderson and welbeck have to prove they an do that again nevermind regularly.

I think we have a great team with a very bright future. Perhaps one or two signings away from being right up there alongside Madrid and barca.

This seasons failings in Europe have to be down to coaching or motivation and that's another thing we'd have to evaluate in the summer, are the players still hungry enough.