Villarreal - Manchester United | EL Final Build-up Thread

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SAFMUTD

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Why are you bothering watching it then or posting about it?

Let us fans who are interested in the trophy and want to win it enjoy the build up please and leave us alone. Ta.
How does that has anything to do with my point? You must be one of those who answer to any critique with the "go support another club" argument.
 

TheReligion

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How does that has anything to do with my point? You must be one of those who answer to any critique with the "go support another club" argument.
You don't have a point to make. Least not one that is interesting or relevant to this thread.

If you're not interested in the game I'm sure you can find better things to do with your time that telling people who are interested, and looking to get behind the club, they shouldn't be.
 

SAFMUTD

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You don't have a point to make. Least not one that is interesting or relevant to this thread.

If you're not interested in the game I'm sure you can find better things to do with your time that telling people who are interested, and looking to get behind the club, they shouldn't be.
Never said I wasn't interested in the game, I said it's a lose lose situation to be in this tournament. Anyway I don't think we are getting any where, have a nice one pal.
 

TheReligion

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Never said I wasn't interested in the game, I said it's a lose lose situation to be in this tournament. Anyway I don't think we are getting any where, have a nice one pal.
I just don't get the mentality. The club is in a cup final and winning the trophy would be huge to this group of players and Ole.

Would be nice for the fans too given his many semi finals we've been in of late without getting over the line.

Not sure why the negativity and this lose lose situation bollocks. We've had no silverware since 2017. Just enjoy the build up, get behind the lads and try and have some fun. It's nice to win trophies.
 

BlueHaze

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I've many times been incredibly critical of Ole but at the same time given credit whenever it's been due. Finished 2nd, I'm okay with that even though at many times we played terrible and had some really bad results 2nd in the end I'll give him credit for that definitely. However if we do not win this I'll start to heavily doubt him again. He has to take this home to prove he has the ability to win something.
 

SAFMUTD

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I just don't get the mentality. The club is in a cup final and winning the trophy would be huge to this group of players and Ole.

Would be nice for the fans too given his many semi finals we've been in of late without getting over the line.

Not sure why the negativity and this lose lose situation bollocks. We've had no silverware since 2017. Just enjoy the build up, get behind the lads and try and have some fun. It's nice to win trophies.
I agree, it would help the squad with some self believe. But let's not fool ourselves it's minor silverware. I think most of us would be happier if we had progressed further in the UCL rather than winning the EL.

It's a consolation price, I don't know man I just can't be truly excited about this one, most my mates support Madrid and Barca they don't even play at this level, nor should we.

The fact that we end up playing this tournament because we failed in another one takes the magic from it I guess. As if saying "we are the best of the losers". The least we can do is win it, but even then I wouldnt be excited as if this was a top title.
 

TheReligion

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I agree, it would help the squad with some self believe. But let's not fool ourselves it's minor silverware. I think most of us would be happier if we had progressed further in the UCL rather than winning the EL.

It's a consolation price, I don't know man I just can't be truly excited about this one, most my mates support Madrid and Barca they don't even play at this level, nor should we.
Well Madrid and Barcelona have won nothing this season.

United played at CL level but dropped out and can end the season with a trophy. If they win it sets up a Super Cup final with City or Chelsea too.

Just get behind the team and stop over thinking it.
 

SAFMUTD

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Well Madrid and Barcelona have won nothing this season.

United played at CL level but dropped out and can end the season with a trophy. If they win it sets up a Super Cup final with City or Chelsea too.

Just get behind the team and stop over thinking it.
Yeah I guess winning something it's better than winning nothing, even if it's a consolation tournament. Anyway hope we win it, for us and to keep the rivals of saying shit about it.
 

TheReligion

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Yeah I guess winning something it's better than winning nothing, even if it's a consolation tournament. Anyway hope we win it, for us and to keep the rivals of saying shit about it.
It's a consultation tournament for us yes but for other clubs it's huge. Don't forget that.
 

Ali Dia

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I’m psyching for it! Yes it’s not a glorious CL but the lads badly need to get the feeling of winning again. They also deserve something from this season for their improvement and fighting spirit. I think our current squad is still too short on quality to do damage later in the CL and mount a serious title challenge but winning this certainly isn’t going to do us any harm :)
 

xtal191

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I want us to win every cup we're involved in but I hope this is the last time we ever play in the Europa.

I'd rather finish last in the Champions League group stage than 3rd again.
 

Speako

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I’m psyching for it! Yes it’s not a glorious CL but the lads badly need to get the feeling of winning again. They also deserve something from this season for their improvement and fighting spirit. I think our current squad is still too short on quality to do damage later in the CL and mount a serious title challenge but winning this certainly isn’t going to do us any harm :)
100% this. Fergie’s United started with the Fa Cup and then the Cup Winners Cup. Look what happened. I didn’t miss a game in 89/90 and remember how bad we were at times, but the confidence picking up a trophy made to the team and club overall cannot be underestimated. This side do need to learn what it’s like to win, get the bit between their teeth, and go on to build their own destiny.
 
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032Devil

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I just don't get the mentality. The club is in a cup final and winning the trophy would be huge to this group of players and Ole.

Would be nice for the fans too given his many semi finals we've been in of late without getting over the line.

Not sure why the negativity and this lose lose situation bollocks. We've had no silverware since 2017. Just enjoy the build up, get behind the lads and try and have some fun. It's nice to win trophies.
Couldn't agree more.
 

TheReligion

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I’m psyching for it! Yes it’s not a glorious CL but the lads badly need to get the feeling of winning again. They also deserve something from this season for their improvement and fighting spirit. I think our current squad is still too short on quality to do damage later in the CL and mount a serious title challenge but winning this certainly isn’t going to do us any harm :)
That's the spirit mate!

And @032Devil.

Let's get it
 

Scorpy

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Very excited about this one. Would be fantastic to see this group of players lift a European Trophy. Hopefully it'd then be the much-needed push towards the next level character-wise.

Winning this would also secure us a chance to win the European Super Cup along with a spot in pot 1 of the CL group stage draw next season, so it's obviously a very important game.
 

VidaRed

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-------------------------- Henderson--------------------------
AWB--------Lindelof---------- Maguire --------Shaw
--------------------------------VDB-------------------------------
Greenwood-----Bruno-------Pogba-----Rashford
------------------------------Cavani----------------------------

Too attacking for ole's liking ?
 

el3mel

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Thinking about it our final vs Ajax ended up being pretty easy even though we were pretty worried about it before due to our CL qualification issue.

Hopefully this one follows the same way and be easier than what we are all expecting and that we are worrying for nothing.
 

el3mel

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-------------------------- Henderson--------------------------
AWB--------Lindelof---------- Maguire --------Shaw
--------------------------------VDB-------------------------------
Greenwood-----Bruno-------Pogba-----Rashford
------------------------------Cavani----------------------------

Too attacking for ole's liking ?
No way. Ole has shown several times his preferred lineup is Fred, Scott, Pogba, Bruno, Rashford and Cavani.
 

always_hoping

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He threw away the tournament the only time when we played it under him, that's how much he valued it. No matter what he says now it's clear he thought this was a second string tournament, which it is.
Threw away nothing. Not even the great Ferguson could win every cup competition he wanted to win. Could say United was caught on the hop with Bielsa tactics but Athletic Bilbao fully deserved the win and went on to reach the final.

Ferguson never treated any European knock out game in the manner of the early rounds of the FA and league Cups (playing 2nd string sides) and his cup winners cup success with Aberdeen would be up there with the best trophies won in his management career.
 

SAFMUTD

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Threw away nothing. Not even the great Ferguson could win every cup competition he wanted to win. Could say United was caught on the hop with Bielsa tactics but Athletic Bilbao fully deserved the win and went on to reach the final.

Ferguson never treated any European knock out game in the manner of the early rounds of the FA and league Cups (playing 2nd string sides) and his cup winners cup success with Aberdeen would be up there with the best trophies won in his management career.
Every man and his dog knew we werent interested in that competition, yeah Bilbao deserved the win but we all know our efforts werent in the EL.
 

el3mel

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Threw away nothing. Not even the great Ferguson could win every cup competition he wanted to win. Could say United was caught on the hop with Bielsa tactics but Athletic Bilbao fully deserved the win and went on to reach the final.

Ferguson never treated any European knock out game in the manner of the early rounds of the FA and league Cups (playing 2nd string sides) and his cup winners cup success with Aberdeen would be up there with the best trophies won in his management career.
The guy is right though. Ferguson considered Europe League a punishment for us after the CL failure. He really didn't care about it at all. This is an era in which we reached 3 CL finals in 4 years before getting KOed from the group to EL. At this point it was a huge failure for our standards.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/16080661
 

always_hoping

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Every man and his dog knew we werent interested in that competition, yeah Bilbao deserved the win but we all know our efforts werent in the EL.
The guy is right though. Ferguson considered Europe League a punishment for us after the CL failure. He really didn't care about it at all. This is an era in which we reached 3 CL finals in 4 years before getting KOed from the group to EL. At this point it was a huge failure for our standards.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/16080661
Punishment it was but every man and his dog knew that Ferguson didn't like to lose a game of cards with his friends nevermind a European knock out tie.
 

el3mel

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Punishment it was but every man and his dog knew that Ferguson didn't like to lose a game of cards with his friends nevermind a European knock out tie.
I won't say he deliberately wanted to lose it. No manager deliberately wants to lose a game, but he definitely didn't care that much about it either and the mentality approaching it for him and the players wasn't the same mentality we approached the league or CL with.
 

Mr Smith

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A lot of people saying the EL is minor silverware (it is) but that doesn't mean winning it isn't a significant achievement. There are good teams in it every year, as well as some not as good but very awkward teams. More to the point, it's long. The Europa League campaign is one of the most grueling cup competitions in world football, both in terms of travel and the sheer number of matches. Winning if while also maintaining progress in the league is genuinely representative of resilience.

Is it testing yourself against the very best? Of course not. But is it a respectable achievement? Absolutely.
 

Longshanks

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This is a must win. It will cement our progress if we do.
Similarly lose and it will be a big set back.

Need the trophy monkey off of our back badly.

It's about the best final you could ask for in terms of how winnable it is. Short of getting a Cityesesque domestic final against a lower league side we most probably won't have a better chance next season.

This is a big moment and this summer is a big summer. Could easily be what makes or breaks this team long term
I think you might be over playing it somewhat. Its a one off cup final anything could happen, we should win and hopefully we do but if we don't it isn't some massive setback. Win or lose we have seen enough progress this season to be satisfied, winning just give us something to show for it.

You are right about this summer transfer window though, that is big for us gotta get a couple quality signings in the right positions in this summer otherwise our progress this season could be halted. A poor summer transfer window would be a much bigger setback than the result of wednesdays Cup final.
 

Coops73

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Double exited for this, would be great to get a trophy, worried about Maguire not playing but hopefully Bailey, Lindelof or Tuanzebe have a good game.

A few beers round me bros and a gin for a win at the end will make work on Thursday a little tricky but feck it, it’ll be worth it.
 

Tom Cato

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I hope Sir Alex stands around and looks all Scottish at the lads in the dressing room before kickoff.
 

Burhani53

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Might not be the best thread but anyone sorted their PCR tests yet? Few dodgy reviews on Biograd putting me off but listed on govt website so presume all good:confused:
Yes need that mate
Wolstenholme pharmacy in OL2 are good at this and have a record of delivering
Check them out on google
 

Ladron de redcafe

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Punishment it was but every man and his dog knew that Ferguson didn't like to lose a game of cards with his friends nevermind a European knock out tie.
I don't know whether that's completely true. Ferguson did prioritize competitions that mattered more to him than others. He routinely fielded weaker teams in cup competitions, which saw us eliminated. I still remember the team against Barnsley in 98 that lost 3-2.
 

always_hoping

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I don't know whether that's completely true. Ferguson did prioritize competitions that mattered more to him than others. He routinely fielded weaker teams in cup competitions, which saw us eliminated. I still remember the team against Barnsley in 98 that lost 3-2.
He prioritize regularly for the early rounds of the domestic cups when United was challenging for PL and CL. He rarely if ever did that for a European knock out tie. And Ferguson knows better than most what a trophy especially a European one can do for the confidence of a group of players. The cup winners cup success in 1991 although a "secondary" trophy it gave the platform towards future success.
 

Inigo Montoya

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He prioritize regularly for the early rounds of the domestic cups when United was challenging for PL and CL. He rarely if ever did that for a European knock out tie. And Ferguson knows better than most what a trophy especially a European one can do for the confidence of a group of players. The cup winners cup success in 1991 although a "secondary" trophy it gave the platform towards future success.
It was 8 years though. Whether it was the foreign players rule or something else, we didn’t use the ECWC win as a platform
 

Iron

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Completely meaningless historical statistics. We're the better side.
tell that to leipzig or Bilbao. How many times we lost being the better team. 24-2 is meaningless to you, ok then.
 
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24-2, conveniently grouping all teams from a single country (and two of them just happen to be the best in Europe for much of the last two decades), padding the numbers with Super Cup games? Yeah, that's hardly Undertaker at Wrestlemania stuff is it.

And yes, it means absolutely nothing. Probably more relevant to say "Villareal have never won a Champions League or Europa League final in their entire history".

Pretty sure you haven't even got the random stat right, because Milan didn't beat a Spanish team in the final in 07, nor did Bayern beat a Spanish team last season. Off the top of my head the two losing sides would be Atletico, both times against Real. So clearly the only way to beat a Spanish side in a final is to ... be a Spanish side :wenger:
 

always_hoping

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It was 8 years though. Whether it was the foreign players rule or something else, we didn’t use the ECWC win as a platform
It was platform towards domestic success. Champions league proved to be a step up in the early 90s and the foreign player rule certainly didn't help. 97 and 98 was two years that United was more that capable of winning that competition but was left with plenty of what ifs after the exits to Monaco and Dortmund.
 

el3mel

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He prioritize regularly for the early rounds of the domestic cups when United was challenging for PL and CL. He rarely if ever did that for a European knock out tie. And Ferguson knows better than most what a trophy especially a European one can do for the confidence of a group of players. The cup winners cup success in 1991 although a "secondary" trophy it gave the platform towards future success.
As we said this was a different era in comparison to now or even the 1991. This team reached 3 CL finals in 4 years before dropping to EL the next year. Winning EL would have done shit to the confidence of this group back then.

Currently of course it's more important for United. We haven't won a trophy in 3 years and aren't really doing much in CL so winning EL will be pretty important for this group of players and Ole, but back in 2012 ? No it was just a shit feeling to be in it after being a consistent competitive presence in CL the previous 4-5 years. I have no doubt that not just Fergie, but even the players themselves back then didn't have much motivation to go far into it.
 

DSG

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I agree, it would help the squad with some self believe. But let's not fool ourselves it's minor silverware. I think most of us would be happier if we had progressed further in the UCL rather than winning the EL.

It's a consolation price, I don't know man I just can't be truly excited about this one, most my mates support Madrid and Barca they don't even play at this level, nor should we.

The fact that we end up playing this tournament because we failed in another one takes the magic from it I guess. As if saying "we are the best of the losers". The least we can do is win it, but even then I wouldnt be excited as if this was a top title.
‘Actually, we stand to make a lot of money off this final and hopefully win of the Europa League. Financially, it’s worth much more than the FA Cup and Carabao Cup combined. Of course, we’d all like to be in a CL final and win the PL, but it’s the 3rd most prestigious trophy we can win.

I guess if making money to fund transfers and squad building is meaningless, you may be right, but that’s just ignorant. Furthermore, SAF’s first European trophy at Man United kickstarted an incredible run for us — do you think it was important to him?

This is the BUILD UP thread, not the shit on the trophy thread....
 

Red Royal

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Starting to get excited for this now with just over 24 hours to go. Whatever the final XI is hope we play on the front foot and we end this season on a high. Come on Ole!
 
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