[jymufc20]

Fair point, you're probably right.

I could be wrong come to think of it, don't away teams in the champions league usually train at the home teams ground the day before the game ?

We might of actually travelled tonight.

 

[breakout67]

I am surprised more people aren't more encouraged by the fact that PSG has on more than one occasion completely buckled in these knockout stages. In fact, can anyone tell me when PSG last made a semi final in the Champions League? That's right, never.

If we had a full squad then that would be fine. The problem is that we have no Pogba and loads of injuries. Who exactly is going to score 2-3 goals for us? We will have 1 player in the whole squad that has scored a goal in the knockout stages of the CL and that's Lukaku with 1. Rashford got a knock against Liverpool and hasn't looked right coming back, Martial, Lingard and Mata are injured.

 

[Canagel]

If we had a full squad then that would be fine. The problem is that we have no Pogba and loads of injuries. Who exactly is going to score 2-3 goals for us? We will have 1 player in the whole squad that has scored a goal in the knockout stages of the CL and that's Lukaku with 1. Rashford got a knock against Liverpool and hasn't looked right coming back, Martial, Lingard and Mata are injured.

and Fred last year against Rome.

 

[breakout67]

and Fred last year against Rome.

My apologies, I forgot Fred existed because he seems to be behind McTominay and Pereira in the pecking order

Hopefully he scores a brace and follows the path of Lindelof next season

 

[RyRy11]

Would love a typical PSG capitulation but a miracle would have to happen.

 

[DLE]

Our biggest benefit against PSG is probably that nobody thinks we can beat them. Not even on here.

For the players it takes pressure off them, for Solskjær it gives him fuel for his pre match motivational speeches and for PSG they might come in expecting an easy run.

I’m excited for a dramatic evening.

 

[Canagel]

My apologies, I forgot Fred existed because he seems to be behind McTominay and Pereira in the pecking order

Hopefully he scores a brace and follows the path of Lindelof next season

I have faith in him to play well if selected. he will be familiar with continental style of football and a European game could suit him more than the PL one.

 

[JMack1234]

So i'd assume we'll be going into this with a midfield of Fred, McTominay and Pereira.

Hail Mary full of Grace
The Lord is with thee...

 

[Giant Midget]

I’m actually really excited for this game, one early goal could make things very interesting.

DDG

Young Smalling Lindelof Shaw

Pereira McTominay Fred

Dalot Lukaku Rashford

 

[Red Dreams]

we have nothing to lose.
Give it everything.

You never know.

 

[predator]

I'm happy to see that a lot of United fans see this game how it is. What really annoys me though is so many writing us off, given it's only a 2 goal difference.

I know our squad is that depleted but as cliché as it is, unexpected series of events have occurred countless times in football, especially in Europe. If it was a 3 or 4 goal margin then I would be not even considering the forementioned 'upset'.

If they dont take the piss and we don't go for it then I won't criticise Ole. If they do then I'll just convince myself that we were never good enough anyway to win a CL but also remember we are unbeaten in the league under new management.

 

[edcunited1878]

Play free and don't be afraid of the occasion. It will be interesting to see if Ole goes with 3 at the back which is what PSG did in the first leg, which restricted the midfield space and marked out Pogba.

Just don't see enough quality in the midfield, unless Andreas has a similar position/role against PSG as he did in the second half again Soton. But then the two holding midfielders would be McTominay and Fred. Fred has the better passing range, but is short on confidence. Not enough quality in the second leg to turnover PSG, but crazier shit has happened.

 

[Paolo Di Canio]

Is Lingard fit for this?

 

[Sterling Archer]

If we had a full squad then that would be fine. The problem is that we have no Pogba and loads of injuries. Who exactly is going to score 2-3 goals for us? We will have 1 player in the whole squad that has scored a goal in the knockout stages of the CL and that's Lukaku with 1. Rashford got a knock against Liverpool and hasn't looked right coming back, Martial, Lingard and Mata are injured.

If you don't dream it, it doesn't even have a chance to happen. So think of it this way: if a full strength Barca never had a chance but comes back from 4 nil down against PSG, maybe our half strength team coming back from 2 goals is in the same realm.

I'm not concerned about any one player scoring a goal. But to that point, Lukaku has started to gain some really good form. He's the main man in two nights time and his presence alone is going to open chances for Rashford. If Romelu had a mediocre last few games it's maybe more of a question. But in a short time I've seen his confidence grow, weight drop and his link up play and touch improve considerably. Then add the dynamism we saw from Dalot and we might have just enough width and delivery to give us a chance of nipping a goal .

Probably most important, as is the case with the Champions League, will be the referee. And none of sides can control the level of incompetence that will be on show to turn the match.

 

[PieCrust]

I don't expect a result in the match, let alone somehow winning the tie. But what I do expect is to put out the best team we can and go for it. A team like United should be able to compete on all fronts. This current injury situation is absurd to be sure, but I still expect Ole will put out the best 11 he can which give us the best chance to advance, no matter how low that actual chance is.

Throwing in the towel before the match even starts doesn't promote the right attitude or desire that a club like United should be showing.

I don't think it's too much to think we can score 2 away goals. I find it much more unlikely that we will be able to shut out PSG at home, which even if they only score 1, makes it so much more difficult to overcome than it already is.

I've never understood and I don't agree with the attitude that top 4 is so important for the qualification, but not putting 100% in the actual tournament that you qualified for.

 

[saivet]

I am surprised more people aren't more encouraged by the fact that PSG has on more than one occasion completely buckled in these knockout stages. In fact, can anyone tell me when PSG last made a semi final in the Champions League? That's right, never.

Have they buckled at home before though?

 

[Red Royal]

Its an almost nothing to lose game. Most pundits and fans are expecting us to lose, half our preferred starting XI is out and we cant affird to concede against a team that will include Mbappe.

This would be the great escape if we can pull it off. If not, it will at the very least be a learning experience for some of our younger squad. I am not optimistic but go in at half time 1-0 up somehow and who knows? One of the academy could announce themselves in this match. Come on United!!!

 

[Chaky_Best]

It will be difficult tbh. Even with our first XI it would have been impossible when you saw how much PSG were better than us. We didn’t tested Buffon, Thiago Silva and Kimpembe were cool, when Marquinhos and Verrati controlled everything.

We missed our chance in the first game and now we just have to pray to not concede 4/5 goals (Imagine that Southampton scored 2… just look at what Snakeman and Mbappe can do….)

So I really hope that we will park the bus, have a few counters and that’s it.

Turning point of the season is this game against Arsenal. If we can manage to get a result there to consolidate the fourth..


My team 3-5-2


De Gea

Bailly
Smalling
Lindelof


Young
Mc Tominay
Fred
Pereira
Shaw

Rashford
Lukaku

Psg 3-0 Manchester United

 

[JPRouve]

I am surprised more people aren't more encouraged by the fact that PSG has on more than one occasion completely buckled in these knockout stages. In fact, can anyone tell me when PSG last made a semi final in the Champions League? That's right, never.

The answer is 1995.

 

[Massive Spanner]

The answer is 1995.

Yeah but apart from that.

 

[Havak]

It will be difficult tbh. Even with our first XI it would have been impossible when you saw how much PSG were better than us. We didn’t tested Buffon, Thiago Silva and Kimpembe were cool, when Marquinhos and Verrati controlled everything.

We missed our chance in the first game and now we just have to pray to not concede 4/5 goals (Imagine that Southampton scored 2… just look at what Snakeman and Mbappe can do….)

While Southampton scored two and their overall play was pretty good, the goals were actually just absolute worldies. Valery won't hit another strike like that for years and those kind of free kicks happen probably 1 in every 10. Southampton scoring two goals in that game was flattering to them in terms of chances created. They were two wonder strikes and the luck was with them. That doesn't happen often, our general defensive capability in open play has been good and was good at the weekend.

In terms of this game, I do agree that we will do well to escape with a defeat in the region of 1- to 3-0, but who knows, we might surprise people and PSG could get complacent.

I think Young should be rested for Arsenal, so we bring him back in and a fresh Pogba for one of our most important remaining games (Arsenal and Chelsea the two biggest now). However, I'm not fully sure that Ole will do this due to the injuries. The line-up will be one of these three for sure:

de Gea
Bailly Smalling Lindelof
Dalot Pereira McTominay Fred Shaw
Lukaku Rashford

de Gea
Bailly Smalling Lindelof
Young Pereira McTominay Fred Shaw
Lukaku Rashford

de Gea
Young Smalling Lindelof Shaw
Pereira McTominay Fred
Dalot Lukaku Rashford​

I'm a very strong advocate of going three at the back here with the first line-up using Dalot.

PSG will be compact IMO, they won't exert themselves too much and try not to give away needless fouls when we get forward. They'll keep possession and try to make the game slow, prevent any counter attacks on our part by not playing too high of a line. They don't really need to score and a single goal for them actually does nothing in the grand scheme of things, since we're probably going to need to score three to get through and avoid penalties. Set pieces and counter attacks are our only real chance IMO and I expect us to get very little opportunity at either. If we can score a goal and not get our confidence dampened then it's been a decent night. Oh, and no new injuries is a must!

 

[NJM78]

We will definitely concede at least one goal in my opinion, can we score four? very doubtful, still as long as we do not get humiliated I will be fine with us going out. PSG are several steps up on Sevilla.

 

[Havak]

We will definitely concede at least one goal in my opinion, can we score four? very doubtful, still as long as we do not get humiliated I will be fine with us going out. PSG are several steps up on Sevilla.

We need three goals to win the game in normal time (or extra time if it finished 2-2). If they score, we still need three as as we'd trump them on away goals.

Obviously, it doesn't make much difference in the end as it's extremely unlikely. But PSG 1-3 Man Utd is probably over 50/1

 

[JPRouve]

Yeah but apart from that.

Apart from that it's barely relevant because the players that we are going to field barely have CL experience while PSG will have CL winners and multiple finalists. Which in theory put PSG in a better position if we are using the experience and in particular the players history as an argument. And I probably need to say that none of it will guarantee PSG's victory, iirc prior to last season Roma only had one C1 semi final appearance.

 

[Havak]

Is the presser at 10am or so today? I'll be interesting to see what kind of squad we can take if we assume no one else is fit that wasn't fit for the Southampton game:

GK: de Gea, Grant
DF: Young, Dalot, Shaw, Smalling, Lindelof, Bailly, Rojo
MF: Fred, Pereira, McTominay, Garner
FW: Lukaku, Rashford, Chong, Gomes

That's only 17 and Romero recovering won't change anything. I would assume Darmian and Jones are the most likely to be fit, with Martial the next most likely on the list. If none of them make it though, then I don't have a clue who would be added

 

[Alemar]

If none of them make it though, then I don't have a clue who would be added

Greenwood. We need a striker on the bench

 

[NJM78]

We need three goals to win the game in normal time (or extra time if it finished 2-2). If they score, we still need three as as we'd trump them on away goals.

Obviously, it doesn't make much difference in the end as it's extremely unlikely. But PSG 1-3 Man Utd is probably over 50/1

True, got my away goals all confused, but yeah 1-3 would be a huge shock based on our available team and PSG' home form.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Apart from that it's barely relevant because the players that we are going to field barely have CL experience while PSG will have CL winners and multiple finalists. Which in theory put PSG in a better position if we are using the experience and in particular the players history as an argument. And I probably need to say that none of it will guarantee PSG's victory, iirc prior to last season Roma only had one C1 semi final appearance.

I was just messing mate!

 

[JPRouve]

I was just messing mate!

I know, I just used your post to add something.

 

[MUM]

"Mountains are there to climbed" was Ole's response when asked about this game, we held them in the last half hour of the last game, belief is in the squad, let's just go out there and give PSG the hardest 90mins they have ever had to play.
Hopefully we can get an early goal and then anything could happen. Tough ask on the lads, but not impossible, and the sweetest thing would be that if we did do it? PSG would never live it down.
2-3.

 

[Mcking]

We won't even have a sub bench for this one.

 

[Drawfull]

We won't even have a sub bench today.

We might have one tomorrow, though

 

[roonster09]

 

[Mcking]

We might have one tomorrow, though

 

[roonster09]

 

[VP89]

Ole bringing the big guns

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

I want to believe an Ole-inspired miracle is just around the corner but I'm not feeling it to be honest. We're depleted with an eye on a key league game this weekend (regardless of Ole's 'one game at a time' mantra) and I can just see them controlling us without too much trouble.

I would very much love to be proved wrong but I don't see an upset.

 

[Mcking]

 

[Bola]

No Garner?

 

[roonster09]

OUR CONFIRMED TRAVELLING SQUAD

De Gea, Romero, Grant; Bailly, Dalot, Lindelof, Rojo, Shaw, Smalling, Williams, Young; Fred, Garner, Gomes, McTominay, Pereira; Chong, Greenwood, Lukaku, Rashford.

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/deta...d-for-man-united-champions-league-trip-to-psg