Promised I was going to do another thread after the first round of league fixtures as I did months ago . Let’s assess the season so far and what the rest of the season could be like

Did say that we will know more about our team come December . That the very good squad management by Ole will bear fruits come this time of the season . League wise it’s been a bliss with our away from bn as strong as it has ever bn .Our home form ( which I still believe a lot..

... rests on ) even improved . There has been some disappointments in cup competitions. We got eliminated in the UCL when we shouldn’t have and got knocked out of another semi by city in the league cup which begs the question . Come crunch time can this team deliver ?

Hopefully as this team continues to win games , continues to show resilience, get a bit of luck here and there we will cross the white line and bring home some silverware afterall we are still very much in the running for 3 trophies . The league , the FA cup and Europa league

Let’s start with the league . Will drop some stats for good measure . Top of the league after 19 games with 40 points . That’s an average of 2.105 points per game which sets us on course to finish with 80 points this season .We are 12 points better of than we were at the same ..

... stage last season . Also 8 places better of . Marked improvement from last season . A clear sign of progress in terms of the squad , the coaching and the mentality of the football club . Marks another stage of this continuous rebuild .I wouldn’t say we are where we want to...

...be but we are clearly heading in the right direction . How have we managed to get here . Two halves of the league table shows how . United have won games they are supposed to win . Let’s take the bottom half of the table for starters .

United have won games against Villa , Leeds , wolves , Newcastle, Brighton , Burnley, Fulham ,WBA and Sheffield United . That’s 9 out of the bottom 10 with the only blip bn Crystal palace which was the first game of the season. This is in stark contrast to what has ....

...been the case post Ferguson when United drops points regularly to bottom half opponents and newly promoted sides .We seem to have adopted the old fergie model of staging a title charge .There are 28 games against the non - traditional” top 6 “and 10 games against the “top 6”..

If a team is to stage title challenge , that team must win most of the 28 games against the non - traditional top 6 which includes taking maximum points against all bottom half teams home and away . Topping the points table for the traditional top 6 games doesn’t win you titles

Points against the “top 6” are always going to be split amongst those teams . You must do well to win some but what’s most important is winning games that you are supposed to win and those are the other 28 games against the remaining 14 teams in the league .

Let’s look at the top half of the table to just to confirm this . United have only games against Everton , west ham , and Southampton( once again games we should win ) .Lost only 2 to Arsenal and Spurs and drawn against the rest . City , Leicester, Liverpool and Chelsea ...

What does all this mean going forward ? Simple . Keep doing what we are already doing league wise . Keep winning games we are supposed to win . Where we need to slightly improve is winning a few more of the games against “top 6 “ opposition...

...but as long as we keep winning the games we are supposed to win we will be there or thereabout come April . Now the other competitions. The cup and the Europa league . Personally I consider those two as distractions. This is the closest we have come to challenging for the ...

.... league in 8 years and I will much rather prefer we put all our eggs in one basket and play one game per week in order to improve our chances of winning the title but knowing Ole I know he will have a right go at everting . It’s a tough tie in the cup against Liverpool...

... and another tricky tie in Europe against sociedad in the Europa league .I don’t fancy us playing Thursdays and the Sundays in a title run in . If we get past Liverpool and sociedad then one can dream of mutiple trophies.If we get knocked out in both, for me it’s a blessing ..

.... in disguise . Ultimately it makes for an exciting second half of the season with a lot at stake and in store . Hopefully there is a trophy or two at the end of it all but if you asked me to hand pick one , it’s the holy grail . Our trophy . The league title .

Stopping Liverpool from winning title number 20 is imperative . Winning title number 21 will be amazing . I will confess I didn’t expect as to challenge this year .Not just yet but it’s been a funny weird season with the door left ajar.Hopefully we grab the opportunity presented