Champions League Group A

Benfica 0:1 Manchester United

Estádio da Luz

Kick-off
Wed, 18 October 2017 @ 7:45pm BST
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Discussion Your Lineup Prediction

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    Can't make it for sure that we're going three at the back, might be giving too much respect to Benfica. And if so, a 3-5-2, with Lingard or Mkhitaryan through the middle, would be more interesting, since Benfica are having troubles in their centerback pairing. Maybe we should stick to 4-2-3-1 and play cautiously. But it's true we don't have any player to turn it into a more defensive 4-3-3, if needed.
     
    I think that lineup does look quite likely actually. Maybe not Akinfeev in goal. I guess there's also a chance that Jones might be rested, but maybe not if Rojo is not ready to play as not sure Mourinho would let Tuanzebe have a game, even though I think he would be fine.
     
    Wonder if Jones might sit this one out with the Spurs and Chelsea games coming up. Actually finding it hard to predict the starting XI, JM might want to rest a few players, but a win tonight almost certainly guarantees first or second place in the group. I think Blind might play in a three man central defence, wonder if he might be alongside Smalling and Lindelof. Mourinho saying it's easy to predict United's lineup tonight might be just that, or he has something of a surprise planned.
     
    ZAGREB RED said:
    Wonder if Jones might sit this one out with the Spurs and Chelsea games coming up. Actually finding it hard to predict the starting XI, JM might want to rest a few players, but a win tonight almost certainly guarantees first or second place in the group. I think Blind might play in a three man central defence, wonder if he might be alongside Smalling and Lindelof. Mourinho saying it's easy to predict United's lineup tonight might be just that, or he has something of a surprise planned.
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    I’d definitely play Lindelöf instead of Jones tonight.
     
    I predict 3-1 to us. Mourinho will try to get qualification as quickly as possible and concentrate on Premier league.
     
    Matic will start for sure.

    Maybe we will play three at the back again, but I think the main reason José does that is when the opposition does. Benfica don't, so I'm no sure we will. I am not sure Jones is exactly 100% and with Bailly and Rojo unavailable (I think they might be out until towards the end of this month at least, Rojo might make the bench at Swansea), it makes sense to just try and play Smalling & Lindelof. I'm hopeful Blind plays Left Back to get a fresh player in, he hasn't actually played for us since the Burton game on 20th September (bar a minute cameo against Southampton three days later). He did play the internationals though, so its not like he's going to be rusty.

    It's a bit of a catch 22 with José questioning the energy of our players last time out (how much do we freshen up here?), and you'd probably have to say Huddersfield should be the easier game and we could risk resting a couple of players there, but I'd only really be looking at Valencia missing one of the next two games in order to be at full whack for Spurs. If we don't play a back three, Jones should miss at least one of the next two before Spurs as well. José said Rashford was injured even though he brought him on against Liverpool, so I think we're more likely to see Martial continue and hopefully Rashford is fully fit by the Spurs game as well. Being able to hopefully bring a fresh Valencia, Bailly, Jones, Young/Darmian, Mkhitaryan, and Rashford into the Spurs match will be of huge benefit.

    de Gea
    Valencia Smalling Lindelof Blind
    Herrera Matic
    Lingard Mata Martial
    Lukaku
    ---
    Romero; Jones, Darmian, Shaw; Young, Mkhitaryan; Rashford​

    Maybe Tuanzebe or McTominay will get in over Darmian - probably best to have someone else who can play central midfield on the bench in case of further injuries (Jones, Lindelof, or Blind can probably be moved there at a push). Hopefully a few players come back soon, but I don't think anyone from our injury list will be back by the weekend so the squad for Huddersfield will likely be the same. Ideally we'll get Shaw on the pitch tonight.

    Hope we do the business and win both games against this lot, that should be group done and dusted.
     
    I think I'd rather Mourinho was smart with this fixture over Huddersfield which has banana skin written all over it.
     
    Play the strongest XI and try our best to kill the game asap then rest the key players.

    If we win this, we can rest players @ Carabao before Spurs, and @ Benfica (2nd leg) before Chelsea.

    Plus a confidence boost after Liverpool game.

    Definitely the best case scenario.
     
    I wonder if Mourinho sees this as an adequate game to explore Mata's qualities. Probably not, but he might go for him if we stick to 4-2-3-1.
     
    Havak said:
    Matic will start for sure.

    Maybe we will play three at the back again, but I think the main reason José does that is when the opposition does. Benfica don't, so I'm no sure we will. I am not sure Jones is exactly 100% and with Bailly and Rojo unavailable (I think they might be out until towards the end of this month at least, Rojo might make the bench at Swansea), it makes sense to just try and play Smalling & Lindelof. I'm hopeful Blind plays Left Back to get a fresh player in, he hasn't actually played for us since the Burton game on 20th September (bar a minute cameo against Southampton three days later). He did play the internationals though, so its not like he's going to be rusty.

    It's a bit of a catch 22 with José questioning the energy of our players last time out (how much do we freshen up here?), and you'd probably have to say Huddersfield should be the easier game and we could risk resting a couple of players there, but I'd only really be looking at Valencia missing one of the next two games in order to be at full whack for Spurs. If we don't play a back three, Jones should miss at least one of the next two before Spurs as well. José said Rashford was injured even though he brought him on against Liverpool, so I think we're more likely to see Martial continue and hopefully Rashford is fully fit by the Spurs game as well. Being able to hopefully bring a fresh Valencia, Bailly, Jones, Young/Darmian, Mkhitaryan, and Rashford into the Spurs match will be of huge benefit.

    de Gea
    Valencia Smalling Lindelof Blind
    Herrera Matic
    Lingard Mata Martial
    Lukaku
    ---
    Romero; Jones, Darmian, Shaw; Young, Mkhitaryan; Rashford​

    Maybe Tuanzebe or McTominay will get in over Darmian - probably best to have someone else who can play central midfield on the bench in case of further injuries (Jones, Lindelof, or Blind can probably be moved there at a push). Hopefully a few players come back soon, but I don't think anyone from our injury list will be back by the weekend so the squad for Huddersfield will likely be the same. Ideally we'll get Shaw on the pitch tonight.

    Hope we do the business and win both games against this lot, that should be group done and dusted.
    Click to expand...

    I'd say the Huddersfield match is more important than this one - so any resting should happen tonight and against Swansea in the Carabao Cup.
     
    We really should be winning this. They lost at home to CSKA and were hammered 5-0 by Basel in the last round.
     
    The key is simple: take advantadge of both slow center backs, exploiting the space between the side backs and center backs and make through balls.

    If we shut the wings we will cut Benfica main supply, since their manager prefers to open space through the flanks.
     
    Any idea which channel the game is on in Canada? At the moment, all I can find is that it's possibly on BEIN Sports Online. But hopefully it's also on TSN or one of the major channels.
     
    VanGaalyTime said:
    Any idea which channel the game is on in Canada? At the moment, all I can find is that it's possibly on BEIN Sports Online. But hopefully it's also on TSN or one of the major channels.
    Click to expand...

    It's not on any channel. I checked.
     
    I want Martial to start this. He's perfect to run at continental defenders, has a bit more nous in that respect than Rashford (not to start that whole debate again).

    Anyway, hoping for this:

    --------------de Gea
    Valencia--Jones--Rojo--Young
    ---------Matic--Herrera
    ----Mata--Mkhitaryan--Martial
    ------------Lukaku

    Maybe a bit optimistic to expect Rojo to start, more likely he'll start on the bench. Lingard and Rashford to replace Martial and Mata at some point. Also a good chance of Blind/Darmian starting because both are tactically very reliable and the European games are usually more tactical.
     
    Harry190 said:
    It's not on any channel. I checked.
    Click to expand...

    It’s on a couple of the apps available in Canada such as FuboTV, BeIN Sport Connected and I believe on BeIN Sports as well.

    Not sure about DAZN, as they have BeIN as part of their streaming package so that may be another option.
     
    Harry190 said:
    This match is not on tv nor online here. Very strange.
    Click to expand...

    Will be streamed on Fox Sports Champions League facebook page.

    Apparently Facebook is paying Fox to stream a CL game each matchday. Today they have United/Benfica
     
    You know I am actually a little concerned about this game. Hope we can the job done. Be great for someone to hit a 'rich' vein of form and destroy a few teams, a la De Bruyne, Hazard, Aguero, Sanchez, Kane.. they hit form and look unstoppable, and the result is lots of goals. We have Lukaku, who probably could do with a break soon, but no one else, consistently smashing it.

    This is not a criticism of the players, as we have been scoring goals as a team, which is great, so understand me here.. it's more of a hope and observation... because at some stage, we will need to see some magic from some other players, where we see a return in goals, for a good few weeks. We need Lindgaard to score a few goals, Mata score a few goals, Miki score a few goals, Martial to score a few goals... goals from nowhere, goals from complete inspiration... thing is I don't think these players see themselves as match-winners, which simply isn't right at all and puts pressure on the rest of the team. They should see themselves as match-winners every single game.
     
    Are Benfica likely to sit back even at home? I think we meed Mata back in the team to offer us a bit more control.
     
    haram said:
    Are Benfica likely to sit back even at home? I think we meed Mata back in the team to offer us a bit more control.
    Click to expand...
    If they have possession we need the absence of Mata to counter-attack.
     
    notcool said:
    If they have possession we need the absence of Mata to counter-attack.
    Click to expand...

    I dont think we need our entire forward line to be the paciest players to pull off a counter. Lukaku, Mkhi +1 should be enough.
     
    Is it absolutely certain Fellaini is out for this game?

    Jose might experiment with Lindelof tucked in behind Matic and Herrera.
     
    haram said:
    I dont think we need our entire forward line to be the paciest players to pull off a counter. Lukaku, Mkhi +1 should be enough.
    Click to expand...
    Wait, were you saying that they'll sit back and allow us to come on to them?
     
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Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

Nemanja Matic image Nemanja Matic 42% of 556 votes

Runners-up

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Player Ratings

6.1 Total Average Rating

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Compiled from 392 ratings.
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Score Predictions

544,25,75
  • Man Utd win
  • Benfica win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 32% Benfica 0:2 Man Utd
  • 12% Benfica 0:3 Man Utd
  • 12% Benfica 1:2 Man Utd
  • 11% Benfica 0:1 Man Utd
  • 9% Benfica 1:3 Man Utd
  • 8% Benfica 1:1 Man Utd
  • 6% Benfica 0:4 Man Utd
  • 2% Benfica 0:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Benfica 0:5 Man Utd
  • 1% Benfica 2:1 Man Utd
  • 1% Benfica 1:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Benfica 1:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Benfica 2:2 Man Utd
  • 0% Benfica 3:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Benfica 2:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Benfica 2:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Benfica 3:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Benfica 2:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Benfica 5:0 Man Utd
Compiled from 644 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Benfica
  2. Man Utd
Possession
36% 64%
Shots
11 10
Shots on Target
0 4
Corners
6 9
Fouls
10 12

Referee

Felix Zwayer

Man Utd Lineup

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