Next two games

[IWasHere]

would anybody take a defeat at Palace , and a win at the swamp ? My hatred for the rags far outweighs , finishing 3rd behind the chavs and arsenal , because in reality the chavs only need 4 or 5 more wins and arsenal are easily the best team in the premiership at the moment . We beat the rags and we keep them in their place , and apart from spuds away , our run-in is the easiest we have had for years . Whether we finish 2nd or 3rd doesnt matter in the long run ,we still get champs league , but if we finish behind the rags , their armchair fans will be full of it , (there will be an open top bus parade , laps of honour , presentations at trafford town hall , etc etc ) and our season starts in July qualifying for the champs league if we finish 4th.

Top 4 is already guaranteed so of course I'd take a win at the swamp :-)

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

would anybody take a defeat at Palace , and a win at the swamp ? My hatred for the rags far outweighs , finishing 3rd behind the chavs and arsenal , because in reality the chavs only need 4 or 5 more wins and arsenal are easily the best team in the premiership at the moment . We beat the rags and we keep them in their place , and apart from spuds away , our run-in is the easiest we have had for years . Whether we finish 2nd or 3rd doesnt matter in the long run ,we still get champs league , but if we finish behind the rags , their armchair fans will be full of it , (there will be an open top bus parade , laps of honour , presentations at trafford town hall , etc etc ) and our season starts in July qualifying for the champs league if we finish 4th.

Top 4 is already guaranteed so of course I'd take a win at the swamp :-)

Nope id take 2 wins then maybe 6 more one can dream":))

 

[CITY FOR LIFE]

It's a sign of how we have regressed that the rags are favorites to beat us next week.

With the standard of the rags performances our squad should be hanging their heads.

Totally agree, how times have changed, if utd are rubbish how come we are chasing them and let's not put it down to lucky wins on their behalf, we have been shit most of the season, out of both cup competitions against lesser teams, dropped to many points against team we should be beating. Even if we win tomorrow night, come next Sunday Utd are going to be well up for the derby so best most of our lot turn up for a change.

 

[Dribble]

This season is uncannily like 12/13 when we allowed Utd to win the league, weve done the same, to date, this year.
I do wonder what goes through Manuels mind, does he pick the players who can do it but who may not be arsed or does he take a gamble and play the players with something to prove.
If its the latter then theres no Dzeko, Nasri, Toure, Fernando, Navaz, Kolarov, Lampard or maybe even Kompany in the starting eleven, which means he needs to start with Bony or Jovetic, Dinho, Milner, Clichy, Sagna (no Paulo, (hes on duty) Mangala and Demichelis.
Big ask as Manuel is a safety first man which means tried and tested and fingers crossed!!
Big tests all round

I was just having a discussion about this with a Rag who's on his uppers regarding next Sunday. IMHO, we have a brilliant situation which has become a hinderance with MP's insistence on 442.

We have four very good/world class No10's in Jovetic, Nasri, Silva & Yaya which is the brilliant situation, however the hinderance is with MP's love of 442 and the fact we are constantly putting square pegs in round holes because MP seems to prefer picking his best players available instead of picking the best players for his preferred system.

If he did pick the best players available for 442 we'd see Milner on the left and Navas on the right, Clichy as left back with Zabs as right back. It goes without saying Aguero would be the main striker with possibly Bony alongside, Dinho would be one of 2 central midfielders and Kompany would be one of 2 CB's with Mangala supporting him. Its at this point it all falls down because I don't think we have the players left to play 442 the way MP wants to.

But look who's left: Silva, Yaya, Nasri, Jovetic, Dzeko, Demichalis & Fernando who none IMO suit 442. This is where our problems lie, if MP was more forward thinking & set us up to best utilise the players we have I don't believe we would have had half the problems we've had this season. It seems so obvious that it baffles me why MP and his coaching staff can't see the same......... Unless the coaching staff can see the obvious but MP isn't for turning and he's determined to to down fighting his way and take his team with him.

Liverpool, dealt with us easily. ManUre and Arsenal both dealt with Liverpool easily, this isn't to say we're the worst out of the four, but our form definitely is and this is where my top 3 finish concerns lie. It will be interesting to see how we set up tomorrow & next Sunday, but it will come as no sufprise to see a continued 442 with Yaya as one of the midfield two and Dzeko partnering Aguero with Silva on the left. Unless we change I get a really bad feeling about the final few weeks of the season, I really do..........

 

[kippaxmemories]

It's a sign of how we have regressed that the rags are favorites to beat us next week.

With the standard of the rags performances our squad should be hanging their heads.

Totally agree, how times have changed, if utd are rubbish how come we are chasing them and let's not put it down to lucky wins on their behalf, we have been shit most of the season, out of both cup competitions against lesser teams, dropped to many points against team we should be beating. Even if we win tomorrow night, come next Sunday Utd are going to be well up for the derby so best most of our lot turn up for a change.

I agree with all that except the bit in bold. I may have the wrong end of the stick here but surely the derby is one game our players have turned up in recently? We've won the last three at the swamp and the only win they have in about three years (excl the cup) was that flukey last minute free kick.

4 points from these two games would do us nicely imo, as someone else said we then have two very winnable home games whilst the rags go to Chelsea and Everton - we'll have a decent gap by then so long as we don't mess up in the next two. Whether that'll be enough for a title challenge is anyones guess, probably not but it would more than likely secure 2nd

 

[emiratblu]

POS TEAM P W D L PTS
1.
Chelsea 29 26 3 0 81

2.
Man City 30 25 5 0 80

3.
Arsenal 30 20 8 2 68

4.
Man Utd 30 19 6 5 63

5.
Liverpool 30 17 11 2 62

Interesting looking at Lawros predictions, great expectations for City but a terrible actual 61 v 80 with Arse and Utd broadly in line. Says a lot about how weve fallen away and are not getting the results we should have, also shows how wide the gap should be between us and Chelsea and us and the rags

 

[Sergi0 Na5r1]

Lawro was generous in the predictions because he didn't expect us to collapse like this. Right now our first half of the season has held us up. December was overall a great month and then a quick decline from then on.

 

[paul_blue]

It's a sign of how we have regressed that the rags are favorites to beat us next week.

With the standard of the rags performances our squad should be hanging their heads.

Totally agree, how times have changed, if utd are rubbish how come we are chasing them and let's not put it down to lucky wins on their behalf, we have been shit most of the season, out of both cup competitions against lesser teams, dropped to many points against team we should be beating. Even if we win tomorrow night, come next Sunday Utd are going to be well up for the derby so best most of our lot turn up for a change.

Totally agree. The only game I can think of when we have played brilliant is the home game against Liverpool, and the home Derby. other than that I struggle to remember any other games when we have played as well as we are capable of.

Got to say I am slightly nervous about the Derby on Sunday!!

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

It's a sign of how we have regressed that the rags are favorites to beat us next week.

With the standard of the rags performances our squad should be hanging their heads.

Totally agree, how times have changed, if utd are rubbish how come we are chasing them and let's not put it down to lucky wins on their behalf, we have been shit most of the season, out of both cup competitions against lesser teams, dropped to many points against team we should be beating. Even if we win tomorrow night, come next Sunday Utd are going to be well up for the derby so best most of our lot turn up for a change.

Totally agree. The only game I can think of when we have played brilliant is the home game against Liverpool, and the home Derby. other than that I struggle to remember any other games when we have played as well as we are capable of.

Got to say I am slightly nervous about the Derby on Sunday!!

I actually thought in those two games you mention we weren't that great in parts especially last 20 against a ten man united

Southampton away, Sunderland away and Newcastle home were our best performances for me.

 

[paul_blue]

Totally agree, how times have changed, if utd are rubbish how come we are chasing them and let's not put it down to lucky wins on their behalf, we have been shit most of the season, out of both cup competitions against lesser teams, dropped to many points against team we should be beating. Even if we win tomorrow night, come next Sunday Utd are going to be well up for the derby so best most of our lot turn up for a change.

Totally agree. The only game I can think of when we have played brilliant is the home game against Liverpool, and the home Derby. other than that I struggle to remember any other games when we have played as well as we are capable of.

Got to say I am slightly nervous about the Derby on Sunday!!

I actually thought in those two games you mention we weren't that great in parts especially last 20 against a ten man united

I forgot about Southampton away, I would include that too. You could argue that you would expect us to beat Newcastle, but I agree we did play well, and I agree about the last 20 mins against the rags.

Southampton away, Sunderland away and Newcastle home were our best performances for me.