To be honest, the Premier League is in transition in general. The two Spanish clubs are on another level (albeit due to inequality in their country) compared to us and City at the moment. You've got a team like AC Milan who are one or two players away from a genuinely quality side, along with Bayern Munich. Borussia Dortmund are also very very impressive at the moment. The Premier League...Arsenal are sh1te, Chelsea are sh1te, Liverpool are sh1te, City aren't as good as people make out and United aren't settled (though I'm a proud of the position we're in)

Very interesting. I think the early exit of the CL made our season look worst than it actually is.

Good post.

me23:

.But how many times have we gotten knocked out of the League Cup,CL Group stage,Europa League and Fa Cup in the same season?

First time in 10 years that we've not had a cup final to look forward to at any point of the season.

Just shows how spoilt we've been at this club under Sir Alex. It's been such a weird season because our league form is as good as ever (if not better). Our form has come in spurts but we've ended up with our second best points haul and largest goals tally after 29 games in the history of the Premier League. Some will obviously say that points to a drop in league quality or whatever else, but it's still an impressive record as far as I'm concerned. It's just a mystery as to why that form hasn't been translated into cup and European form.

I think the problems have been at the back, we'd obviously become heavily dependant on the trio of Van Der Sar, Vidic and Ferdinand, and I think the lack of that experience and knowhow that came from that trio and allowed us to build from is what's cost us in Europe.

JoeYoung:

These are the PL records we could still potentially beat/join this season:

- Most wins in a season 29 [Chelsea] - Need to win 7 in our last 9 to level this record.

- Most away wins in a season 15 [Chelsea] - Need to win all of our next 4 away games to level this record.

- Most consecutive wins in a season 14 [Arsenal] - Need to win all of our next 9 games to Level this record.

- Most goals scored away in a season 47 [Manchester United] Need to score 13 goals in our last 4 away games.

Just for a bit of fun :)

-Most points in a Premier league season 95 (Chelsea) Need to win 8 and 1 draw of our last 9 games to level this record.

mazhar08:

me23:

But overall,it has been a disappointing season,knocked out of all the cups by smaller teams.Dont give the injury exuse,yeah we have had alot of it but a team like United should have qualified for the CL knockoutstage regardless.Especially when you look at the other teams we had in our group

I don't know if getting knocked out of cup tournaments by smaller teams means that we have had a disappointing season (by this, I mean domestic cups). We've had this happen to us countless times in the past, most notably against Southend and Coventry in the Carling Cup for the 2006/07 and 2007/08 season, respectively, when we put up relatively strong sides (Rooney and C. Ronaldo were involved in both fixtures, for example), yet we were embarrassingly defeated.

As for Europe, meh, happened before. 2005/06 season. We had a relatively easy group back then with Benfica, Lille, and Villareal. However, we finished bottom of the group with only one win with the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Neville van Nistelrooy, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Heinze, Solskjaer, and Rooney, with the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Solskjaer, and van Nistelrooy in their peak. Yet we finished bottom of the table with only one win. What happened next season? We made it to the semi-finals against the eventual Champions League winners just because we lacked depth in our team and had to rush our defenders back in from injury against AC Milan away.

In the 1990's, we only made it to the semi-finals twice, once in the 1997/08 season, and once in the 1998/99 season, when we won the Champions League. Other than that, we never reached too far and even got knocked out of the second round at times.

I'm not too worried about what will happen in the future, because as always, Sir Alex has a plan. He knows what he's doing.

Yeah i know its happen before but not with every single cup.But how many times have we gotten knocked out of the League Cup,CL Group stage,Europa League and Fa Cup in the same season? How can you say thats not having a disappointing season? We are great in the league,but cup wise,very disappointing!

ISSYNAZAR:

silvester:

Its still been a bad season for us as we got knocked out of the champions league and the Europa league the carling and FA CUP we only have the premier league to fight for and that for a massive club like us isnt good enough not by the high standereds.I hope we have much better luck next season we do need to improve our squad in the summer.

A bad season or an unlucky season? Given the period of transition (which has been hit and miss) and the countless injuries, being able to compete for the most important trophy to this club and the fans is amazing. At this point, the league is ours to lose. Europe was disappointing yes, but in the context of things it could well be a serious achievement to potentially come away with the big one.

Totally agree last time we were in transistion we didnt win the league for 3/4 years but yet we are top going in to the last 9 games. People need to be patient you cant win everything all the time, big things will come from this team when its fully complete and a little more experienced.

me23:

But overall,it has been a disappointing season,knocked out of all the cups by smaller teams.Dont give the injury exuse,yeah we have had alot of it but a team like United should have qualified for the CL knockoutstage regardless.Especially when you look at the other teams we had in our group

I don't know if getting knocked out of cup tournaments by smaller teams means that we have had a disappointing season (by this, I mean domestic cups). We've had this happen to us countless times in the past, most notably against Southend and Coventry in the Carling Cup for the 2006/07 and 2007/08 season, respectively, when we put up relatively strong sides (Rooney and C. Ronaldo were involved in both fixtures, for example), yet we were embarrassingly defeated.

As for Europe, meh, happened before. 2005/06 season. We had a relatively easy group back then with Benfica, Lille, and Villareal. However, we finished bottom of the group with only one win with the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Neville van Nistelrooy, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Heinze, Solskjaer, and Rooney, with the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Solskjaer, and van Nistelrooy in their peak. Yet we finished bottom of the table with only one win. What happened next season? We made it to the semi-finals against the eventual Champions League winners just because we lacked depth in our team and had to rush our defenders back in from injury against AC Milan away.

In the 1990's, we only made it to the semi-finals twice, once in the 1997/08 season, and once in the 1998/99 season, when we won the Champions League. Other than that, we never reached too far and even got knocked out of the second round at times.

I'm not too worried about what will happen in the future, because as always, Sir Alex has a plan. He knows what he's doing.

I get your point and am not complaining about our season as such hell I remember a time when even being in the running was an acheivement! but stats don't tell half of the story, it's like saying Westlife are musical genius' because they have sold so many records, it belies the fact that the are meat puppet sacks of shyte (Westlife may be subsituted for any number of other such derivative wastes of skin)

This season our historical rivals have all performed woefully, even Spurs who are playing nice football are taking advantage of this, place this years UTD, City and Spurs teams into the league of three or four season back or most of the seasons before that and we would all probably be fighting for fourth place, this season the Premier League has taken a step backwards in quality just look at the performance of all English clubs in Europe, it's not fluke or a blip, DGMW I do not see a crisis there is too much money in the English game for the clubs not to bounce back and re-assert themselves next season or the season after.

All I'm saying is our record has to be taken in context, the league and the other teams hell even the weather and how the fixtures fall all have a massive influence on our stats, we will have had a good season and maybe will win something, it doesn't mean that we were attractive to watch or that we exerted ourselves as a dominant force within the league.

it's pretty much the same as last season, in the league at least, we havn't really played well but fergie has a way of getting his teams to grind out results and thats seen us through.

When we lock in number 20 trust me we won't be sitting here saying its been a disappointing season, we won't be talking about the 1-6, we won't be talking about the group we should of won with our eyes closed in the UCL, we won't be talking about anything but THE FACT NO.20 WOULD BE REMEMBERED AS THE MOST TRIUMPHANT, it was won against all odds, it was won in a season which was suppose to be the transitional season! This will hurt Sh1tty very much so!

There's no doubt it's been a disappointing season in respect of the way we went out of Europe twice and the domestic cup competitions but that has been tempered by us managing to still be there in the EPL. But it's nowhere near as bad as watching Law backheel us into relegation and the 2nd division as it was then!

only one milestone im interested in this season - 20 times

And we just broke a record when we beat Wolves.We are the first and only team to have scored 73 goals after 29 games.Chelsea,Arsenal held the previous record of 69 goals in 29 games.We have better that record with 4 goals.But overall,it has been a disappointing season,knocked out of all the cups by smaller teams.Dont give the injury exuse,yeah we have had alot of it but a team like United should have qualified for the CL knockoutstage regardless.Especially when you look at the other teams we had in our group

ISSYNAZAR:

silvester:

Its still been a bad season for us as we got knocked out of the champions league and the Europa league the carling and FA CUP we only have the premier league to fight for and that for a massive club like us isnt good enough not by the high standereds.I hope we have much better luck next season we do need to improve our squad in the summer.

A bad season or an unlucky season? Given the period of transition (which has been hit and miss) and the countless injuries, being able to compete for the most important trophy to this club and the fans is amazing. At this point, the league is ours to lose. Europe was disappointing yes, but in the context of things it could well be a serious achievement to potentially come away with the big one.

Yeah i know what you mean man.Winning the 20th title is the big 1 but i still think we should have done much better in Europe that was a huge disappointment to be honest.Yes we have done very well to stay in touch at City at the top of the league and now we have over taken them its ours to lose now and yes we have been so unlucky with the amounts of injuries that we have had to contend with this season all credit to our squad for that.I think winning the league is important but a club like ours shouldnt have failed that badly like we have done this season in the champions league that is what im disappointed with mainly.I hope we win the league which im sure we will then improve our squad next season then have a good old crack next season know what i mean.

JoeYoung:

These are the PL records we could still potentially beat/join this season:

- Most wins in a season 29 [Chelsea] - Need to win 7 in our last 9 to level this record.

- Most away wins in a season 15 [Chelsea] - Need to win all of our next 4 away games to level this record.

- Most consecutive wins in a season 14 [Arsenal] - Need to win all of our next 9 games to Level this record.

- Most goals scored away in a season 47 [Manchester United] Need to score 13 goals in our last 4 away games.

Just for a bit of fun :)

That would be brilliant if we were to win the league and break some of these records!