how good is our form really?

table looks nice enough, but still....

we've actually struggled a bit against some dross and had to thank de gea (and rashford). we were beaten by city, only drew against newcastle and were beaten by £#%&!ing villa.

are we kidding ourselves that we're on the up? I don't suppose bournemouth and everton will tell us much (although going without varane and martinez doesn't sound great), but are we looking forward to city and arsenal?

we still have £#%&! all cover in a number of positions and a lack of clinical finishing. even if we are third in a couple of hours.

It’s night and day compared to last season. I can’t understand how anyone could watch us and doubt for even a second that we’ve improved massively on last year. Which I think we all agreed at the end of the season was the aim, we wanted to see some progress above anything.

It’s there. We’re certainly far from perfect, and this was always going to be a long term job for the big man, but it’s plain to see we’re on the up imo.

We are moving in the right direction. There is so much work to do. We need to find a competent XI befitting of Manchester United. We then need to add to that and build the depth.

We need the right recruitment and scouting set up too.

We also will be getting new owners soon.

At the very least, the one thing we have done that is right is get the right manager in.

Lots of work to do, but atleast we are moving in the right direction. Even if it is slowly .

1/2 windows off a title push ...

It's hot as £#%&!, upcoming, a moulding cauldron...

The form is good, perfect time to build some momentum post world cup.

Watching all the other 'Top 4' contenders they are facing as many problems as we could potentially face. Top 4 would be a great start for 10/10 Haag

We're playing well, running games... if we could convert more of the chances we create we'd be looking even better. Newcastle draw was frustrating, we were the better team.

It's not so much form as style and quality of play. When we play with urgency and whip the ball about we look terrific when we relapse to the ponderous we look poor.

Originally Posted by redhegemony

It's not so much form as style and quality of play. When we play with urgency and whip the ball about we look terrific when we relapse to the ponderous we look poor.

But we're not doing the latter as much.

we are beating the teams we should’ve be beating which is something we haven’t been doing for ages.

- i don’t go into any games thinking we are gonna lose or be out played
- i don’t look at our starting line up and scratch up head or just hope for the best from what’s out there
- as games go on generally the right subs are made not “favourites untouchable”
- i also see a manager that wants to win and has standards. He isn’t on the side line smiling and wanting the players to almost exclusively “have fun” for 90 minutes

we are better than i thought we’d be at this stage.

For the first time in ages i don’t even think city we beat us next week.
For a while we were just hoping they keep the scoreline respectable in defeat

We have to consider where we were and where we would expect to be after six months of a new manager.

We were a shambles last season.. Every game was a struggle. We had the ability to play well in 10 to 20 minutes spells and if we didn’t win it then, we were there for the taking. We lost 9-0 to Liverpool on aggregate, 6-1 to City. We lost 4-0 at Brighton, 4-1 at relegated Watford. A negative goal difference. Lowest points in PL history. It was humiliating.

By the end of the season, we were at our lowest ebb in 30 years and a complete laughing stock. That transmitted to the players and there were few you’d even want to keep around.

We needed stripping out from top to bottom and about ten new players.

Before we could even think about challenging at top of the league, we needed to get some basics in place. Some standards.

Work hard
Build a team spirit
Show signs of a style of play

Do that and you raise the chances of winning games each week.

We signed Casemiro, Eriksen, Martinez who instantly improve their positions. More to come from Antony and Malacia.

The first two games were a disaster and felt like nothing had changed. Something clicked with the Liverpool game and there’s been a tangible change since then. Not that you can discount the first two games, but it felt like the penny dropped and our season started after Brentford. Since then we’ve won 11 out of 15 matches in the league.. We got tonked at City, we were shite at Villa. We were worth our point at Chelsea and should have beaten Newcastle.

We’ve won every other league game. Including Liverpool, spurs, Arsenal. We’ve conceded 3 goals in our home games since the opening day defeat and kept clean sheets since that Arsenal game and won 4 out of 5 of them.

Meanwhile, we’ve won 5 out of 6 Europa matches and won 2 league cup games.

Overall, P: 25, W: 18, L5, D2

That’s pretty damn impressive.

And that’s before we get into the crazy scheduling, all our forwards being out at some point( bar Rashford), the Ronaldo situation and our parasitic owners.

Are there problems? Of course, but none that can’t be attributed to us being a work in progress and the squad needing work. Instead of playing well for 20 minutes, we now switch off for 20 minutes. When we do, we still win 3-0.

Our problems are getting smaller.

We need forwards. In the summer we needed more or less an entire squad.

It’s understandable to see old habits and shit yourself because it looks like an Ole/Rangnick team - that’s because it still is. It’ll still show from time to time, but I defy anyone to take a step back, look at what’s happening over the course of the season in comparison to last and not see progress.

ETH was the one I wanted and I’ve seen nothing yet to doubt that.

And we’ve got new owners to come.

We're gonna find out in the next two league games

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

We have to consider where we were and where we would expect to be after six months of a new manager.

We were a shambles last season.. Every game was a struggle. We had the ability to play well in 10 to 20 minutes spells and if we didn’t win it then, we were there for the taking. We lost 9-0 to Liverpool on aggregate, 6-1 to City. We lost 4-0 at Brighton, 4-1 at relegated Watford. A negative goal difference. Lowest points in PL history. It was humiliating.

By the end of the season, we were at our lowest ebb in 30 years and a complete laughing stock. That transmitted to the players and there were few you’d even want to keep around.

We needed stripping out from top to bottom and about ten new players.

Before we could even think about challenging at top of the league, we needed to get some basics in place. Some standards.

Work hard
Build a team spirit
Show signs of a style of play

Do that and you raise the chances of winning games each week.

We signed Casemiro, Eriksen, Martinez who instantly improve their positions. More to come from Antony and Malacia.

The first two games were a disaster and felt like nothing had changed. Something clicked with the Liverpool game and there’s been a tangible change since then. Not that you can discount the first two games, but it felt like the penny dropped and our season started after Brentford. Since then we’ve won 11 out of 15 matches in the league.. We got tonked at City, we were shite at Villa. We were worth our point at Chelsea and should have beaten Newcastle.

We’ve won every other league game. Including Liverpool, spurs, Arsenal. We’ve conceded 3 goals in our home games since the opening day defeat and kept clean sheets since that Arsenal game and won 4 out of 5 of them.

Meanwhile, we’ve won 5 out of 6 Europa matches and won 2 league cup games.

Overall, P: 25, W: 18, L5, D2

That’s pretty damn impressive.

And that’s before we get into the crazy scheduling, all our forwards being out at some point( bar Rashford), the Ronaldo situation and our parasitic owners.

Are there problems? Of course, but none that can’t be attributed to us being a work in progress and the squad needing work. Instead of playing well for 20 minutes, we now switch off for 20 minutes. When we do, we still win 3-0.

Our problems are getting smaller.

We need forwards. In the summer we needed more or less an entire squad.

It’s understandable to see old habits and shit yourself because it looks like an Ole/Rangnick team - that’s because it still is. It’ll still show from time to time, but I defy anyone to take a step back, look at what’s happening over the course of the season in comparison to last and not see progress.

ETH was the one I wanted and I’ve seen nothing yet to doubt that.

And we’ve got new owners to come.

Good post.

Yes, the improvement from last season is blindingly obvious to all - save for those who do not wish to see it.

But still, one game at at time.

And that especially means seeing off Everton and Charlton before we worry about our next few PL matches.

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

Yes, the improvement from last season is blindingly obvious to all - save for those who do not wish to see it.

But still, one game at at time.

And that especially means seeing off Everton and Charlton before we worry about our next few PL matches.

So, two games at a time?

all reasonable posts, but we are a couple of better finishes from the opposition / dave not saving away from mid-table. quite glad everyone else is rather awful. we are so much more fun to watch, though. will enjoy while we can.

the chances of us signing anyone half-decent for the final push seem negligible.

Originally Posted by jem

all reasonable posts, but we are a couple of better finishes from the opposition / dave not saving away from mid-table. quite glad everyone else is rather awful. we are so much more fun to watch, though. will enjoy while we can.

the chances of us signing anyone half-decent for the final push seem negligible.

I don’t think that’s the case. Tonight, ok, the scoreline was flattering, but overall I don’t think we’re getting more than we deserve from games. You could apply the same logic and say we should have been 3 up at Wolves by half time based on the chances we missed.

There’s not many games this season where I’ve felt we were lucky to win. That also wasn’t the case last season.

Originally Posted by jem

all reasonable posts, but we are a couple of better finishes from the opposition / dave not saving away from mid-table. quite glad everyone else is rather awful. we are so much more fun to watch, though. will enjoy while we can.

the chances of us signing anyone half-decent for the final push seem negligible.

They're mid table because they don't finish those chances most of the time. You could equally say we should have hammered some of these teams but didn't because our forwards don't finish as well as a top team's should. We're still a work in progress as others have said but I'm encouraged so far.

Originally Posted by jem

all reasonable posts, but we are a couple of better finishes from the opposition / dave not saving away from mid-table. quite glad everyone else is rather awful. we are so much more fun to watch, though. will enjoy while we can.

Everyone has been awful for a long time and it’s not changing soon, hence shite like Leicester winning the league by about ten points and our rivals regularly ending up with 95+ points. You don’t need to be great to win, just look at the current league leaders.

Originally Posted by marlo

we are beating the teams we should’ve be beating which is something we haven’t been doing for

This all over.

Tonight was the type of opportunity we’ve bottled for fun over the last 5 years.

Best form in the league after the first 2 games?

Can't be far off.