I would quite like that, but I don't see it happening.

I was just thinking ... what's the point of us getting into the Ch League, anyway? With Van Gaal still in charge, we won't get past the group stage cos we won't score any goals!

In fact, doesn't 4th place have to qualify for the group stages? You need to score goals to do that as well!

@D_DeGea: "Sometimes you have to win games like we did today - take the three points & move to the next one." #mufc


Now at this stage of the season, in one way he's right. Winning is all that matters, doesn't matter how crap you are. But that might be alright for the end of the season battles, it's the thought of the whole season having games like that that's surely unacceptable.
And under Van Gaal that's what we get.

4th place still might not be good enough, as if City finish in fifth, and win the Champions League, coupled with a Liverpool Europa League win, we would be in the Europa League!

How I long for games where were capable of scoring multiple goals, and looking comfortable in doing so, it does seem such a long while since that was the case.

Something else someone put up, to possible make you cringe slightly! The last 24 games United have scored 25 goals. In the same period ....

Villa: 15
Norwich: 21
Newcastle: 23
Palace: 23
Swansea: 24
WBA: 24
Manchester United: 25
Watford: 26
Bournemouth: 29
Stoke: 29
Soton: 30
Sunderland: 31
WHU: 32
City: 34
Chelsea: 35
Leicester: 38
Arsenal: 39
Liverpool: 42
Everton: 42
Spurs: 49

Only better than the likes of Villa, Norwich and Newcastle, all battling to stay up (Villa just went down, of course)

Yes, 4th. normally gets you into the play-offs, like earlier this season. Seems like a loooong time ago now, does that!

Well yes but it's very selective and just shows that you can prove whatever you like with statistics. Back in the real football world, we are 11th. for the season on goals for, and 2nd in goals against, which pretty well reflects our most likely finishing position of 5th, though that might end up better than our goal difference deserves.

Interestingly, the old-style goal average places us... 5th, and on that basis as well as goal difference, Spurs would be top by a fair margin over Leicester. That would irritate me a lot if I was a Spurs fan!

Oh, well ... maybe Arsenal will collapse and we can overtake them!

I never did think we were going to make 4th place. When you have to rely on other results as well as your own, it's no one else's fault if it doesn't happen.

And Manchester United being reduced to scrabbling for 4th place .. is a very low ebb.

And will probably get even lower with another season under Van Gaal and Giggs.

Today shows just how costly our draw at Chelsea could be, as if we had just held on, then we really could have been pushing City further and harder, but then again,this season had far too many "what it's" for my liking.

Or more likely today just shows how costly it was in December and January to get 2 points out of 15, when United had been top in mid November. That in a way killed off the season. Not to mention going out of the Ch League when part of an 'easy' group.

Any other manager of a top club would have been sacked with those results. But he stayed on and it's just got worse.

Yeah very true, such a season of missed opportunities throughout, so very annoying.

Another 13 points, we'd be second!

And it's having an inept manager that's led to these 'missed opportunities' We have the players, I'm sure they're more than good enough. We just don't have a manager capable of doing the job.

Another season with him in charge, with the other big clubs probably getting stronger, and we'll be dropping so far behind it could take years to get back to where we were 3 years ago.

Yes I am in full agreement with you over this.

This summer is a huge one for the club, make the right decision and we could be in with a chance of competing with the best clubs in the league, the wrong one, well it doesn't warrant contemplating about, as we could be really off of the pace.

Scraping two 1-0's over the worst team in the league is just not good enough at all,and neither has LvG's whole period at the club, we need to make the change very shortly indeed, if there is to be any hope, not just for next season, but the next few after that.

Another shite 1-0 at home.

Hanging on for dear life again at the end.....AGAINST VILLA.

Was only watching text commentary but deary me this was the time to attack. He just doesn't have it in him, the cretin.

James Ducker: United scored their 40th league goal today - April 16. They reached that total on Dec 9 in Ferguson's final season at #mufc

That's criminal.

Number 40 must have been RVP's winning goal v City the day before.
Sigh. Happy days!

It was a 'big summer' last year and the year before.
And it will make no difference if Van Gaal's still in charge. I remember someone saying we could get Ronnie and Messi and he'd turn them into Championship level players!

Sobering stats

I thought the terrible injury to Luke Shaw was a harbinger of things to come. Much more expensive than the defeat at Eindhoven

City are ahead of mufc as they have strength of
In depth. De Bruyne has come back from injury and made an immediate impact. City have had awful league results as well but are hitting form at the right time. Impressive win at Chelsea today. Mufc have no one like De Bruyne.

I think only West Brom has scored fewer goals over the course of two league matches vs. Villa this season.

Absolutely staggering to think what this season could've been like if not for the likes of Rashford and Martial having to produce quickly.

City should be just as embarrassed by their season as we are, Champions League aside.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have been awful too, by the expected standards.

There was a thread on here in the summer, asking fans of all teams what they wanted to see from their side in 15/16. I said more goals as 62 in a season, our 14/15 tally was unlikely to be enough to put us in a title race. Think the average winner has scored over 80 in the Premier League era. Scoring more was no guarantee of anything of course, but it would have least been more entertaining.

Turns out Leicester could actually win it with 62 in the end, (although they're on course for about 66), and we're going to struggle to reach 50. Our goals output, already disappointing last season is only getting worse.

Not that surprising, were not creative enough. Job done I suppose, good to see Rashford on the scoresheet again.

I was watching some old goals earlier - just to remember when we actually scored goals in a game, and won games comfortably - and came across the 7-1 win against Blackburn in 10/11.

7-1 . Imagine such a thing these days!

79 PL goals scored that season. And only 3 of the games were 1-0!

That was the game when Berbatov got five goals wasn't it?

Unbelievable to think how far we have sunk since then.

We would be lucky to have seven shots on target in seven games nowadays!