Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Read Mod Warning in OP 7/1/15

That was an absolutely massive 2 points lost for City yesterday; It effectively deals a near-fatal blow to their hopes of retaining the title and opens up their 2nd place as a realistic target for at least the next 4 teams below them. Dead fúcking on.

Southampton are currently proving me wrong, and I'd enjoy watching them do it if we were in Chelsea's place, i.e. all but out of sight, and not in direct contention with them for a Top 4 spot. I thought they'd have long subsided by now and I was very wrong. What's more, they deserve to be still in the Top 4 and I'm done ruling them out. Nerves of steel and proven experience are of utmost importance to holding 1st place and seeing out a title challenge triumphantly, but for Top 4 in a season where all the top contenders are dropping silly points, they are are not as vital. Europa or C.L., Southampton are going to Europe next season.

Spurs are the next team after Southampton to give me some jitters. Their performances are starting to click these last 5-6 weeks and they really do have most of the parts to comprise a perfect beast if those parts were to start working in true harmony. However, ascending to a lofty height and then capitulating at the important stage of the season is not something uncommon at Spurs, I worry about Southampton as contenders more than them for mainly this reason. Also, like RVP that season for us, Harry Kane has been a points-grabber for them. Him picking up an injury would be detrimental to their Top 4 chances.

Every season Arsenal get Top 4 somehow, and until their defeat to Spurs yesterday I was sure they'd get in somehow in the next month or 2. Unfortunately for them (and all teams competing for Top 4) the competition has gotten so much tighter in recent years especially this one, with the rise of Southampton and Spurs and the reemergence of Liverpool. Speaking of Liverpool, not 2 months ago I personally was enjoying the bad run of results they were enduring and had gleefully written them out as Top 4 contenders. Even they, after a terrible start to the season, now have rightful cause to flirt with Top 4 notions.

Definitely the tightest and most unpredictable season I can remember in a long time, as regards Top 4 anyway. Whether City do get 2nd or not, I can't see them completely falling out of the Top 4, so it's pretty safe to assume that 2/4 spots are going to Chelsea and City. So that leaves United, Southampton, Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool to pick up the other 2 spots.

Later today, we have the best chance yet of putting a real grip on one of those spots. We have a very good shot at putting some space between us and the rest of the hungry pack on the fringes of the Top 4. I've seen some posters say 'This is not a must win game', and it's not in terms of us still being in the mix if we don't win. However, if we don't win, it will be the biggest missed opportunity for us so far this season as far as capitalising on other results goes. We are giving far too much respect to the opposition lately, and that isn't unusual in this post-Moyes time I know, but "Oh West Ham have come on, they're hard to beat at home etc." Fúck that shít, with our team we should be beating them to nil later today. That isn't to say I'm confident of a win, I'm actually a bit nervy, but we definitely should be winning this game.

Top 4 - I think it will happen for us, but a win vs West Ham today would make me believe.

TL:DR; Competition for Top 4 is tighter than it has been in years. We have a very good chance at getting one foot in the door with a win today. Anything less than a win is a missed opportunity, one we would definitely rue by the end of the season. 2nd is there for the taking but we could just as easily, if not easier, fall out of the Top 4 if not careful. Just take one game at a time, and most of all...