Man Utd to win the Premier League by 3 points

[rcgills]

Embarrassing failure in the champions league and now outplayed and outclassed by a team who 23 places (no that's not a typo) below Barca in the Spanish league in both games of the two-legged tie

I think you'll find it is (although not in the sense you meant)

 

[ONEDUNME]

Good spot Rc

 

[ONEDUNME]

23 points below Barca that should be.

 

[slick]

Don't bother quoting me their stats for goals conceded in the Premiership campaign. They are the keystone cops on acid and they aren't going to go on to win the premiership this season, no matter what you may think

I hope your right ODM but City aren't setting the world alight at the moment and the first half of the match tonight is the worst I've seen them play for two years.
Looking at the run in all the games United have bar the City game are winnable for United even with this team, i know that won't probably happen but I can also see the same thing happening to City, i.e dropping points in games they should win.
Like I've said before, at the moment the Arsenal game looks key to City but theres still a long way to go.

City do need to find their form again and soon otherwise the title could be over before the derby.

 

[swooperman]

There's 2 different ways of looking at it though. City, man for man, should have walked it, & I've said all season would have it in the bag by now with a good manager. Mancini is a clown. If City dont win it this season, when united, Arsenal & Chelsea can strengthen in the summer, maybe they never will. This is the poorest Prem for a while, yet with Uniteds defence, as I posted higher in the thread containing players that in previous squads just made up the numbers, this may yet be Fergies greatest achievement. the fault is citys, this should no longer be a contest

 

[slick]

Wouldn't argue with any of that Swoops, theres something amiss in the City camp at the moment and it seems to be based around certain players that don't seem to respect Mancini and it's growing.
Tonight Kolarov joined the band of players that have started to give Mancini back chat from the pitch, he now joins Tevez, Dzeko, Balotelli, Johnson, Milner and Barry who have all done similar things this season, that would not happen at United in the main as 99% of the players have utmost respect for Fergurson, they certainly wouldn't do it to his face in public like a few of the City players have.

Pressure also seems to be getting to Yaya who has 'lost it' twice now in two matches on the bounce through frustration, 3 months ago he was the most chilled put player on the planet.

I wouldn't say Mancini is a clown as he's very tactically adept, it's more like a few of the City players won't buy into what they are told to do thinking they know better or thinking they are 'too big a player' to be subbed or sat on the subs bench.

 

[slick]

Kompany is also a bigger factor than I thought, we struggled when he was suspended in the new yr and were struggling again now he has an Injury, the sooner he is back the better as Savic still has a hell of a lot to learn and must have cost us at least 6 points this season.
I have every faith that he will come good though once he beefs up a bit and gains a bit of confidence, at the moment he's playing to the book with every clearance going out into touch when a pass could be on, mainly due to making mistakes in the past and not wanting to make anymore at this moment in time.
When he plays for Montenegro he's a different player, Ideally he could do with going out on loan next season but after whats happened this year would anybody touch him?

 

[Wayne]

Wouldn't argue with any of that Swoops, theres something amiss in the City camp at the moment and it seems to be based around certain players that don't seem to respect Mancini and it's growing.

This isn't a dig slick but that's what you get when you sign a load of players who primarily are there for the money. And those who aren't there for the money get dragged into the negativity being created by the egos.

Do you think this lack of respect has stemmed from Mancini's handling of Tevez? I thought Mancini had played a blinder by shutting the selfish cunt out and telling him to find another club. But by backtracking (and I'm guessing, from a financial perspective, the Arabs have had some sort of input into that decision) and therefore going against everything he said previously, he's shown a lack of backbone I think. And all for a player who has openly criticised everything about City (and United and West Ham.....) - any wonder that the Citeh ego's are losing their respect for Mancini?

 

[Yorkieacer]

Not sure what table you look at barca are second bilboa 7th so i make that 5 places. To be fair i dont think fergie really wanted to win it and i wanted us out the last round, Bilboa are a decent side who we should be beating but still hey ho better out of it and having a weeks rest and concentrate on the league.

Next season we will get to the semis at least in the Champions League and you can quote me on that next year, Weird you say we have a crap defence and dont quote stats but we have the 3rd best in the league 7 behind Man City and 1 behind Liverpool, Away from home we also have the best defensive record in the league as well and thats including conceding 3 to Chelsea.

So we do have a decent defence and we will win the League by at least 3 points and next season we will win either the fa cup or the league cup also the league and get at least to the semi's of the Champions League and yeah quote me on it.

 

[Wayne]

Although sitting at the top of the league at the moment, there's still a chance that United will end the season winning fuck all and their pre-season target of "closing the gap on Barcelona" is now looking nothing short of laughable.

Embarrassing failure in the champions league and now outplayed and outclassed by a team who 23 places (no that's not a typo) below Barca in the Spanish league in both games of the two-legged tie, even the most short-sighted United fan (Yes, that's you Yorkie) must fear that next season will be another one of failure. I find myself feeling sorry for the old man but, in all fairness, while Arsen Wenger has been slated up hill and down dale for not strengthening his team where everyone but him knows it needs strengthening, nobody but SAF can be blamed for the fact that they currently have possibly the worst defence that they've had in the last ten years.

Don't bother quoting me their stats for goals conceded in the Premiership campaign. They are the keystone cops on acid and they aren't going to go on to win the premiership this season, no matter what you may think

Can't disagree with most of that ODM but let's not forget, our best player and captain (Vidic) has been injured for most of the season. Plus how you can disregard the stats of goals conceded when discussing how well a defence has perfomed doesn't make much sense to me. If we keep the ball out of the net, I couldn't care less how 'keystone cops' it looks. And we've conceded less than a goal a game in the PL which includes the drubbing Citeh gave us.

I've said it already, this is the worst United team in 20 years playing in the worst Premier League for 20 years. But I've also said, we're a team in transition and you can't just push a button to end one team and then instantly produce a brand new team that performs as well. The kids we have have great potential and Fergie's challenge is to bring that through whilst working some of the 'dead wood' out of the club. It'll take time and the more 'rounded' Utd supporters are happy to wait for that to come. We've been here several times before remember and the old man always comes through.

Our Champs League failure this year was embarrassing. The Europa League was weird. I found myself channel hopping whilst watching the Europa games as I just couldn't be arsed with it. And the United players looked exactly the same. Check out Evra last night for Bilbao's second goal - he didn't make any effort at all to stop that cross coming in.

As soon as the Champs League died, our focus has been 100% on the PL. And credit has to go to Citeh for that. Ask any United fan (or Fergie) would we rather win the Europa League and Citeh win the PL OR would we like to win the PL and put Citeh in their place and you'll only get one answer.

 

[Wayne]

we will win the League by at least 3 points and next season we will win either the fa cup or the league cup also the league and get at least to the semi's of the Champions League and yeah quote me on it.

Behave yourself Yorkie.

 

[Yorkieacer]

We shall see ill come back laughing though oh and next season we will keep at least 15 clean sheets in the league

 

[Pete89]

15 clean sheets is'n an achievement, you've 13 so far this season, 15 last season, 19 the year before, 24 the year before that, and 21 the year before that.

And Yorkie how can you come back laughing, you were wrong? Your out of the Champions League so no Semis (and the Europa league too), you didn't win the League Cup, you can't win the FA cup, at best you've got 1/4 right.

 

[Pete89]

infact yorkie, you'll get 15 this year

 

[ONEDUNME]

Can't disagree with most of that ODM but let's not forget, our best player and captain (Vidic) has been injured for most of the season. Plus how you can disregard the stats of goals conceded when discussing how well a defence has perfomed doesn't make much sense to me. If we keep the ball out of the net, I couldn't care less how 'keystone cops' it looks. And we've conceded less than a goal a game in the PL which includes the drubbing Citeh gave us.

.

There is no bigger Vidic fan than me Wayne. I agree he's the best player and everything could have been different with him in the team. You seem to be misunderstanding what I'm saying about disregarding the stats - perhaps I didn't put it as well as I should have. What I'm saying is don't quote me their figures from August, September, October. I'm talking about the here and now and, whatever gloss you try to put on it, their defence compared to their only rival is dire. United have let in 9 goals in the last six games, City have let in 4. City have kept three clean sheets, United, one.

United are best price 8/13 to win the league and the perceived wisdom is that they have much the easier run in - good for them, but you can't always rely on scoring one goal more than you're letting in and conceding a goal and a half a game is not the form that wins you titles. By the way, one of those "easier" games in a couple of weeks is away to Blackburn. No reason to think they won't take all three points from that game is there? Oh, that is unless they let them score three goals like they did in the home tie.

I'm even reading comments from United fans on some forums praising Evans which, I think, says more about their plummeting expectation level rather than the player himself. If they are happy that a player in a key position has moved from inadequate to almost average, then they need to take a look at where that sort of attitude has landed Arsenal and heed the health warning "Being happy to back sub-standard players can lead to trophyless seasons".

I'm not saying City are brilliant by any means They may fail to score in the next four games and end up taking just four points from them. I'm just saying that I have zero confidence in United's shocking defence and I think they will end up costing them the title.

 

[rcgills]

Not sure what table you look at barca are second bilboa 7th so i make that 5 places.

But 23 points, which is what he meant, as he mentioned a couple of posts further down.

And Yorkie how can you come back laughing, you were wrong? Your out of the Champions League so no Semis (and the Europa league too), you didn't win the League Cup, you can't win the FA cup, at best you've got 1/4 right.

Give us a look in that crystal ball when you've finished with it, Pete

 

[swooperman]

Worst united defence in years, although Fergie doesnt get much wrong & he couldnt foresee Vidic getting injured. Wes Brown was injury prone so I could understand him going but Evans is the new O'shea & thats all, simply in there for being decently average in a lot of positions, but certainly not a United class player.
Its a poor Prem, & if city dont win it this year then they wont under Mancini. sorry slick, I think hes a clown, he brings no calm to anything. What you say about the egos is probably true but fergie is a class above.
Weve all said this Prem is the weakest in years, & its the European campaign that shows where its at. United havent failed this badly in years in Europe & to do what Yorkies saying they need about 6 new players in the summer. Simply not the team they were in Europe, but Fergies no fool, he knows that & he'll address it but it wont happen overnight

 

[Wayne]

You seem to be misunderstanding what I'm saying about disregarding the stats - perhaps I didn't put it as well as I should have. What I'm saying is don't quote me their figures from August, September, October. I'm talking about the here and now and, whatever gloss you try to put on it, their defence compared to their only rival is dire. United have let in 9 goals in the last six games, City have let in 4. City have kept three clean sheets, United, one.

Ah, got ya. Sorry I did misunderstand. Can't argue with that I suppose.

I'm even reading comments from United fans on some forums praising Evans which, I think, says more about their plummeting expectation level rather than the player himself. If they are happy that a player in a key position has moved from inadequate to almost average, then they need to take a look at where that sort of attitude has landed Arsenal and heed the health warning "Being happy to back sub-standard players can lead to trophyless seasons".

Praise is a bit strong from my perspective (for the reasons you point out) but Evans has definitely stepped up his game in recent weeks. It's just been raised from a pretty shit level and he has that uncanny ability though that when he makes a bad mistake, it gets punished. Considering Fergie offloaded Wes and JOS in the summer and kept Evans shows he must see something in him that he can develop. Time will tell I guess.

 

[ONEDUNME]

Ah, got ya. Sorry I did misunderstand. Can't argue with that I suppose.



Praise is a bit strong from my perspective (for the reasons you point out) but Evans has definitely stepped up his game in recent weeks. It's just been raised from a pretty shit level and he has that uncanny ability though that when he makes a bad mistake, it gets punished. Considering Fergie offloaded Wes and JOS in the summer and kept Evans shows he must see something in him that he can develop. Time will tell I guess.

That's right, it's improvement but improvement from a very low starting point and the best teams in the English Premiership shouldn't have to be waiting for average players to start learning the game. Most games are too important for that.

In the interest of some kind of balance, Savic is City's Evans. A team like City have the resources to buy a ready made player. If they want to show they can pick up a bargain, buy a twenty one year old and loan him out to Bolton where he can make his fuck ups there and learn from them, then put him in the team when he's developed into a player who knows what he's doing. Don't stick him in a team that is actually trying to win something and be surprised when he costs you games.

 

[Wayne]

and the best teams in the English Premiership shouldn't have to be waiting for average players to start learning the game.

Unless some arsehole Yanks have bought your club, drained its resources and loaded it with huge amounts of debt and annual interest payments that exceed the business's profits.