Ole

Originally Posted by shenwen

Early in the season most people saying how improved the squad was, bringing in VDB, Telles and Cavani.

Now it's shit again

Exactly

We always tend to view the opposition players as better than ours. Matic for instance would be a huge contributor for Leicester if say he were to go there but that’s just one mans opinion. And I’m sure Rodgers would love Pogba and Van De Beek too.

Originally Posted by Patty_b

There's been few that have been convinced by the likes of Fred, Lindelof, Pogba, Martial for years. That's four players that start straight off the bat. Shaw would be added to that list if he didn't have a storming season, and others would happily add De Gea, AWB, Rashford and The Scottish Player to that list too.

Who can we replace them with? Bailly, Williams, James, Matic and Mata? The latter two being too far gone last year. We expected a bit more from DVB, unfortunately it didn't happen, but won't stop me believing that next year will be his. That's not even including Lingard who only went on loan halfway through the season.

It's easy at the beginning of the season to hope that Fred isn't actually Fred at all, and Lindelof may stop being such a fanny, that Pogba pulls his head out of his arse, and that Martial stops being such a let down. I do it because I'm a giddy #@&%!, but they've proved again they're not good enough. That said, before next season if they're still at the club I'll probably do it all over again.

Even then, the majority still thought we'd finish lower than we did last season . It's hardly like we thought we had a squad to realistically compete.

Edit: although here was another poll where 3rd just edged the vote, not sure why there was two polls

Or maybe they thought we didn't have a manager capable of elevating that squad. Unless you asked everyone to explain their choice?

Originally Posted by Stickman

Exactly

Originally Posted by Redacted

Difficult to say tbh, depends whether or not anyone else comes in. IF we don't buy any more forwards, it's going to be a tough ask to do better than 4th imo, and a struggle getting that.

Need to give serious thought to £#%&!ing the cup competitions off as a priority this year, given the nature of the schedule and our fragile number of first team quality players.

Originally Posted by Redacted

It's hard to say without knowing the final squad. Get a good left back, centre back and right sided attacker and 3rd should be pretty straightforward.

Originally Posted by Redacted

with current squad we'll be battling for 4/5th.

Originally Posted by Me

5th

Need a couple more players which it doesn't look like we're going to get, and we'll not be able to rest first team players in Champions League games like we did in the Europa last season. Tired long season ahead.

Originally Posted by Redacted

As a squad we are incapable of going on anything approaching a title challenge unless we're to add 4 more players of quality at least. The issue is stark, we don't score enough & we cannot expect to get the volume of penalties we did last season to paper over some of those cracks.

Having a midfield that contains Bruno, Donny & Pogba is genuinely exciting though.

I'd say 4th right now, if we get Sancho & keep most of the best XI fit we'd be 3rd if we play well.

That's just the first page and a half on the Prediction thread. Yes, so much confidence in the depth of our squad.

And these are your predictions on the two threads:

Originally Posted by Stickman

This

Originally Posted by Stickman

5th

Originally Posted by shenwen

Or maybe they thought we didn't have a manager capable of elevating that squad. Unless you asked everyone to explain their choice?

I don't need to, see above.

Originally Posted by Stickman

Exactly

We always tend to view the opposition players as better than ours. Matic for instance would be a huge contributor for Leicester if say he were to go there but that’s just one mans opinion. And I’m sure Rodgers would love Pogba and Van De Beek too.

Always.

I would argue that on paper Pogba, Bruno, VDB, Fred and McT is better than what Leicester has. Also got us into second while Leicester's fell apart again. Not sure too many managers would swap that lot wholesale for Tielmans, Maddison, Ndidi. Mendy and Praet, but I guess as you say that's all opinions.

Originally Posted by Patty_b

That's just the first page and a half on the Prediction thread. Yes, so much confidence in the depth of our squad.

And these are your predictions on the two threads:








I don't need to, see above.

Weren't some of those comments made before we had finished signings, certainly before Cavani came in?

Anyway, see my response above: opinions. We could argue all day about this and still not agree. Maybe the only answer is that our squad could be improved and our management could be better. I'd agree on both of those.

Originally Posted by shenwen

Always.

I would argue that on paper Pogba, Bruno, VDB, Fred and McT is better than what Leicester has. Also got us into second while Leicester's fell apart again. Not sure too many managers would swap that lot wholesale for Tielmans, Maddison, Ndidi. Mendy and Praet, but I guess as you say that's all opinions.



Weren't some of those comments made before we had finished signings, certainly before Cavani came in?

Anyway, see my response above: opinions. We could argue all day about this and still not agree. Maybe the only answer is that our squad could be improved and our management could be better. I'd agree on both of those.

Yes, the comments saying we need another three or four players were made before we signed Cavani on a free late on in the window (DVB was signed a fortnight before).

Cavani turned out to be a good bit of business, but most knew that we needed at least another defender, midfielder and winger. And that's as true now as it was then.

How strong our squad is is always up for debate, personally I don't look at our strongest line up and bench and think that it is the second strongest team in the league.

Originally Posted by Patty_b

Yes, the comments saying we need another three or four players were made before we signed Cavani on a free late on in the window (DVB was signed a fortnight before).

Cavani turned out to be a good bit of business, but most knew that we needed at least another defender, midfielder and winger. And that's as true now as it was then.

How strong our squad is is always up for debate, personally I don't look at our strongest line up and bench and think that it is the second strongest team in the league.

Me neither.

Third strongest.

Originally Posted by shenwen

Me neither.

Third strongest.

Almost met me half way. I can just about live with that

Originally Posted by ryanMUFC

Hard not to like him and want him to do well.

There’s people that will defend him blindly and use Mourinho as a comparison. Mourinho won trophies, the football we play now isn’t much better either.

There’s talk of him laying down foundations (partly true) but he’s spent about £250m net in 3 years and we’re miles off city. There’s talk of him getting rid of dead wood when we has Phil Jones still at the club and Eric Bailey on a new contract.

The owners aren’t blameless in the slightest but as much as we want him to succeed, it should probably be questioned as to whether he’s the right man.

The fact that he's had to spend £250m net speaks volumes about the state of the squad he's inherited - if that squad was worth much, net spend would have been far lower. We had to pretty much give players like Sanchez and Rojo away when we should have been getting about £40m back from their sales, for example.

Originally Posted by 92ToBury

The fact that he's had to spend £250m net speaks volumes about the state of the squad he's inherited - if that squad was worth much, net spend would have been far lower. We had to pretty much give players like Sanchez and Rojo away when we should have been getting about £40m back from their sales, for example.

That and the outrageously inflated prices we've had to pay for AWB and Maguire in particular, really renders pointing at his spending pointless.

So, we have a squad that isn't good enough for top four, and we also have a manager who is tactically inept, out of his depth, and just a yes man.

Yet we finished second and reached a European Final.

You £#%&!ing melts.

Stop using the small time excuse of being runners up, we didn't push for the title, & there's not a £#%&!ing chance we'd have had that away form with crowds in the grounds.

I'm sure he'll have another season, but so far it's been bang average, nothing he's done inspires any confidence he'll push on to another level either, we're treading water.

Originally Posted by programmes?

So, we have a squad that isn't good enough for top four, and we also have a manager who is tactically inept, out of his depth, and just a yes man.

Yet we finished second and reached a European Final.

You £#%&!ing melts.

We do have a squad that should be competing for top four. Yes, second was better than I expected but it’s hardly up there with Leicester winning the league.

As for this European final, you mean the one none of us want to be in and which people have already said they hope we never have to play in again. The one that we couldn’t even win? Yeah, some achievement. Equalled what Fulham did.

No one here believes we can win the league or cl with this guy. Not one guy here believes this.

Why is he still not sacked.

Originally Posted by programmes?

it wasn't to be this time, and the team and manager will not want that feeling again.

er.... yeah... I'm sure they'll learn lessons. and go again. or something.

ffs, they lost because they are collectively gutless. if we want to win something, we need players who are determined to win, not players who are slightly disappointed about losing.

Originally Posted by saffers

No one here believes we can win the league or cl with this guy. Not one guy here believes this.

Why is he still not sacked.

He’s not going anywhere for a while mate. Get used to it. You’ll find it easier.

Originally Posted by saffers

No one here believes we can win the league or cl with this guy. Not one guy here believes this.

Why is he still not sacked.

Yes we can.

The only replacement you've suggested was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur and just lost a one-horse race in France. There's no point in ripping up and starting again for that.

Originally Posted by Zorg

Yes we can.

The only replacement you've suggested was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur and just lost a one-horse race in France. There's no point in ripping up and starting again for that.

I think it would be worth the gamble now tbh (not necessarily that particular manager) Ole has laid certain foundations that could quite easily be continued when the time does come go replace and try something different. I feel that right now we are a bit guilty of accepting the current situation of City mopping up as opposed to trying to take them down. If we are to attempt to do that then the coaching will need to be elite.

As it stands I wouldn’t bet against another season end of “what do you hope the outcome is?” type conversations next year as we watch our rivals compete for the prizes that really matter. I for one am sick of that. There is absolutely no reason we couldn’t have done what Chelsea did in the champions league, but we act all plucky about everything now which is dangerous territory.

Originally Posted by saffers

No one here believes we can win the league or cl with this guy. Not one guy here believes this.

Why is he still not sacked.

New 5 year deal

Originally Posted by dunk

New 5 year deal

Lets hope

Originally Posted by dunk

New 5 year deal

Worth it just for Saffers reaction.