Man Utd Thread:

[Boycey]

Great draw in terms of travel, away leg is a few days before a potential fa cup game and I've no doubt Mourinho will play his best 11 considering the home game is a few days before we go away to City.

I think you have that the wrong way round. 1st leg is at home before FA Cup weekend and away leg is before a potential City game but this is also the weekend of League Cup Final so hopefully United would be playing in that. Also there is possibility away leg could be played on the Wed night as Lyon have also been drawn to play at home the same night and seemingly there is precedence of them and St Etienne not being allowed play on same night.

[Maroon Manc]

Great draw in terms of travel, away leg is a few days before a potential fa cup game and I've no doubt Mourinho will play his best 11 considering the home game is a few days before we go away to City.

I think you have that the wrong way round. 1st leg is at home before FA Cup weekend and away leg is before a potential City game but this is also the weekend of League Cup Final so hopefully United would be playing in that. Also there is possibility away leg could be played on the Wed night as Lyon have also been drawn to play at home the same night and seemingly there is precedence of them and St Etienne not being allowed play on same night.

Just seen that now, forgot we were 2nd in our group which meant away first. We're going to have a lot of games if we progress in Europe and get to the league cup final and then have a decent FA Cup run.

[Maroon Manc]

Another good performance and we finally got the result we deserved. I wasn't expecting City & Liverpool to drop so many points the last 2 weekends so after writing top 4 off a few weeks ago we now have a glimmer of hope. If we can go on a run we'll close the gap as City have to play Arsenal & Liverpool over the next few weeks.

Darmian concerns me, Sissoko skinned him 4 or 5 times and he's in the team for his defending as he's very poor going forward.

Rojo & Jones are playing for their futures and have both been excellent, just hope Jones can stay fit though given his injury record.

Agree with all of that. Darmian looked really bad defensively and when you offer little to nothing in attack it's a bad equation. Hope Mkhitaryan's ankle is ok, he has really made the team hum. Still think Pogba is a bit brainless and inconsistent but his raw abilities are massive. The Carrick/Herrera platform allows him the freedom to make the odd f**k up though. Great to see Bailly back....he's a super addition. Was delighted for Jones especially yesterday, defended very well but as you say he needs to avoid injury. The lack of goals again is a little hard to explain. Spurs had chances and could easily have got a point.

So after the Chelsea humiliation Mourinho has copped on and is picking the team on its merits and not just doing his own thing to show who's the boss. This must continue. Two away games this week which are tricky but if United could get 6 points out of them it would be a nice boost heading into the Christmas fixtures.

I do think Pogba is learning though, there was nothing daft from him yesterday. He did his bit for the team defensively and from an attacking point of view he got forward when he needed too and with a bit of luck could have scored 3 goals.

The youth team play their first game in the youth cup tonight, they've got a good team this year and should have a good chance of progressing.

[Fuzzman]

Looking at the 32 teams left Utd should be going all out to win the Europa league cup. It is definitely they're easiest path into the CL for next year.

I can't believe Darmian is getting anywhere near the team but I was surprised how well Rojo played at the weekend.

I hope they sell/loan Depay and Schneiderlin to Everton in the January window. What do ye make of Depay?

[stew]

Looking at the 32 teams left Utd should be going all out to win the Europa league cup. It is definitely they're easiest path into the CL for next year.

I can't believe Darmian is getting anywhere near the team but I was surprised how well Rojo played at the weekend.

I hope they sell/loan Depay and Schneiderlin to Everton in the January window. What do ye make of Depay?

One horrendous challenge aside Rojo has been excellent recently, I did not think he has it in him to be honest.

[J70]

Looking at the 32 teams left Utd should be going all out to win the Europa league cup. It is definitely they're easiest path into the CL for next year.

I can't believe Darmian is getting anywhere near the team but I was surprised how well Rojo played at the weekend.

I hope they sell/loan Depay and Schneiderlin to Everton in the January window. What do ye make of Depay?

After the past two weekends, I would be firmly focused on top 4 if I were a United fan. Liverpool are clearly struggling at the moment, City have lost two games in a row... Just like that a six point gap can be made up. And we're only in December. A good March and April can shoot a team up the table when it matters, and often has in the past.

[Cunny Funt]

Darmian a bit of liability alright and needs to be replaced by Blind or Shaw. Performance wise United deserve to be in the top four already.

[Fuzzman]

Jeepers lads, I think ye are a being a bit optimistic if you think you deserve to be in the top 4 at the moment.
A bit like my own team Everton, ye are finding it hard to score goals and even create that many chances.
For the money ye paid Martial has been a huge disappointment and Mata is your 2nd highest scorer.
Rashford is struggling a bit so far and Rooney looks like he's lost what he had.
If ye could buy a decent striker in January then top 4 is a possibility but at the moment I think both Liverpool and even Spurs are above ye. Even Defoe would do a good job for ye.

[Cunny Funt]

Performance wise I believe they do deserve to be in the top 4 but result wise mean they are 6th. Drew with West ham,Stoke,Burnley,Arsenal at home all games United should have won comfortably. Add those 8 dropped points onto the current total of 24 would have United on 32 points and 3rd in the table.

[BarryBreensBandage]

I am enjoying watching United play again for the first time in years, including the end of the Ferguson era.
Mourinho is obviously managing the bigger players well, and looking through the bit part players from the past to see if they are up to it.
Mkhitarian is pure class, reminds me of Figo in his temperament and play.

[Maroon Manc]

We don't deserve to be in the top 4 because we've not scored enough goals. there's no doubting we've been unlucky as apart from the Everton game we've created plenty of chances in those games to win it.

I don't think there's much of a difference between any of the top 6 but Chelsea have found a system that suits the players they've got and with no European football and their impeccable injury record they've put themselves in a great position. I do think an injury to Costa would hit them more than an injury to any other player at any of the top clubs. Given our stuttering form I'll only start thinking about top 4 if we put a run together.

Youth team got beat last night, they were 1 up with ten mins to go but conceded 2 late goals to go out. What a waste, this is a strong group who are near the top of the league and would have been one of the favourites to win the competition. Angel Gomes is a special talent, along with Ravel Morrison the best we've had since the class of 92.

[Dinny Breen]

Chelsea have found a system that suits the players they've got and with no European football and their impeccable injury record they've put themselves in a great position

If anything the testimony of leading haematologist Giuseppe d'Onofrio appeared even more sensational. He said that it was "practically certain" that midfielders Antonio Conte and Alessio Tacchinardi had taken EPO to overcome brief bouts of anaemia, and "very probable" that seven other players - Alessandro Birindelli, Alessandro Del Piero, Didier Deschamps, Manuel Dimas, Paolo Montero, Gianluca Pessotto and Moreno Torricelli - had taken EPO in small doses.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-drug-scandal-that-blackens-the-name-of-juves-team-of-the-nineties-728710.html

[Captain Obvious]

We don't deserve to be in the top 4 because we've not scored enough goals.

This time last year Manchester United were in the top four having scored less goals than now. In fairness for the way Manchester United have performed this season they probably deserve to be in the top four.

[cadhlancian]

Over who?

[J70]

Performance wise I believe they do deserve to be in the top 4 but result wise mean they are 6th. Drew with West ham,Stoke,Burnley,Arsenal at home all games United should have won comfortably. Add those 8 dropped points onto the current total of 24 would have United on 32 points and 3rd in the table.

By that logic, Liverpool should be right behind or even above Chelsea.

United dropped points because they weren't good enough up front in multiple games (one or two you could write off as unlucky). Liverpool dropped points because they weren't good enough at the back against West Ham and Bournemouth or couldn't finish chances against Southampton or Spurs.

Common denominator for both sides - not good enough.