Europa League Round of 32 2nd Leg

Manchester United 0:0 Real Sociedad

Old Trafford

Kick-off
Thu, 25 February 2021 @ 8:00pm GMT
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Discussion Your Lineup Prediction

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    Strats said:
    Fernandes looked incredibly tired at the end of last season after being overplayed.

    Was hoping Ole would learn from this for this season, but obviously he hasn't. If he goes down injured tonight or looks knackered on Sunday it's all on Ole.

    This is exactly the type of game where you rest him. Baffling decision.
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    Rest him for whom exactly? There is no direct replacement with Mata not in the squad. The guy wants to play and United are short on options.

    The other way to look at it too is that the team without it's captain (Maguire) and vocal leader (Bruno), would be spineless and an early couple of goals would rattle them a la RB Leipzig.

    You know Bruno is smart and professional enough to keep it in 3rd and 2nd gear with the intention of him coming off at halftime or early in the second half.
     
    SATA said:
    The Caf has an unhealthy and bizzare obsession with resting players whom the fitness team and management deem fit and fresh enough to play
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    Not bizarre if your memory is not that short. Do you remember how was he by the end of last season? Never heard of the word 'burned out'?
     
    SATA said:
    Mate i don't defend anything. I just trust whatever team the manager puts out deem good and fresh enough to get through the tie. At least he's resting Maguire, Shaw and Rashford if you like to see players being rested
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    No one said Bruno isn't fresh. Running your main player to the ground in dead rubbers will be a problem comes the end of the season. This was the perfect opportunity for us to rest everyone including Bruno who has played pretty much every game. We will probably not get another chance to rest him with the upcoming schedule.
     
    el3mel said:
    Meanwhile some here have an obsession to defend anything in team selection even if it's obviously wrong.
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    Defending Ole has become a religion, apparently he has never made a mistake in his life.
     
    All the talk about our line up, what do we know about Sociedad? Does anyone know of their line up suggests their going for it ?
     
    el3mel said:
    Meanwhile some here have an obsession to defend anything in team selection even if it's obviously wrong.
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    The arrogance of declaring a decision about a player's condition 'obviously wrong'. You know absolutely nothing about how tired or in need of rest any of these players are.
     
    Bissaka starting is disgraceful. How many consecutive games has he played and this was the perfect opportunity to rest him. Bruno starting is also a weird one.
     
    EliotTheRed said:
    I’m assuming you mean Telles as a left wing back and Williams right?
    Amad is a wide player, where wouldhe fit in? And I don’t think Shoretire is ready to start against a team who are chasing Champions League football in La Liga. He got pushed off the ball by Newcastle players on the weekend, let the kids come on when there’s little to no pressure.
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    If it were me I’d play Amad wide and Greenwood up front with Martial, both are used to dropping deep and receiving the ball into feet. Its not a perfect solution and there’s isn’t a direct replacement with the midfield injuries and now Mata out as well but any solution sounds better than playing Bruno into the ground in a meaningless game.
     
    Absolutely mental stuff to be playing Fernandes here. There's no need for it. Asking for trouble. Wan Bissaka I understand more as there's less cover but ideally he'd rest too. The 3 gks in the bench is bizarre too.
     
    RashyForPM said:
    Right I’m second guessing myself now :lol: Greenwood definitely shouldn’t start but if you look at Bruno, after Luton, he’s been rested against Brighton (Carabao), Leipzig, West Ham and Pool. In the game right after those, against Spurs, Arsenal, Leipzig away and Sheff U respectively, he’s had his worst games of the season. He’s the type who needs momentum I think, besides the fact that he would play a match every 5 hours if you asked him to.
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    The only insightful respond is yours.
     
    Fernandes shouldnt be starting this game. Feck sake. Bloody Ole and his mgmt team.
     
    el3mel said:
    No one said Bruno isn't fresh. Running your main player to the ground in dead rubbers will be a problem comes the end of the season. This was the perfect opportunity for us to rest everyone including Bruno who has played pretty much every game. We will probably not get another chance to rest him with the upcoming schedule.
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    Rest him against Chelsea, they are shit.
     
    Bruno should not be starting this game, but its an opportunity for him to pad his numbers. Let's see if he can get a couple of goals and assists in the first 45 and then take an early shower. Fingers crossed.

    VDB - especially in Europe - would not have been that big an issue but looks like he is injured.
     
    Still, I'm more confident in progressing with Bruno in the team than not.
    And yes even with a comfortable lead.

    He'll probably come off around the 60min mark anyway.
     
    Brightonian said:
    The arrogance of declaring a decision about a player's condition 'obviously wrong'. You know absolutely nothing about how tired or in need of rest any of these players are.
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    I know enough to say playing your main player in dead rubber game is obviously wrong.
     
    I would have rather Bruno come on 2nd half when we tend to struggle without him and also if we were to concede a goal or 2.
     
    I would rather have seen Bruno not playing. Not out of concern for his fitness. A man his age shouldn't have that much trouble. Im more worried about him picking up a stupid injury.
     
    el3mel said:
    No one said Bruno isn't fresh. Running your main player to the ground in dead rubbers will be a problem comes the end of the season. This was the perfect opportunity for us to rest everyone including Bruno who has played pretty much every game. We will probably not get another chance to rest him with the upcoming schedule.
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    Still 90 mins to go so it's not really a dead rubber. The same lot who moan about resting players will go into panic mode if we go 2-0 down early on. Let's score one or two more to completely kill off the tie and Bruno can be brought off to rest. Think the manager is seeing this way
     
    SATA said:
    Still 90 mins to go so it's not really a dead rubber. The same lot who moan about resting players will go into panic mode if we go down 2-0 down early on. Let's score one or two more to completely kill off the tie and Bruno can be brought off to rest. Think the manager is seeing this way
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    We can lose this 3-0 and we'll go through. Not really it's as dead rubber as it can get.
     
    stu_1992 said:
    Absolutely mental stuff to be playing Fernandes here. There's no need for it. Asking for trouble. Wan Bissaka I understand more as there's less cover but ideally he'd rest too. The 3 gks in the bench is bizarre too.
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    Unfortunately we've no cover at all for Bruno. None of Pogba, VDB and Mata are fit.
     
    Hi
    el3mel said:
    I know enough to say playing your main player in dead rubber game is obviously wrong.
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    Do you honestly believe he’d be playing if we weren’t so short in midfield? Only a moron would think that but this is the match day thread
     
    JTW95 said:
    I would rather have seen Bruno not playing. Not out of concern for his fitness. A man his age shouldn't have that much trouble. Im more worried about him picking up a stupid injury.
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    This - seems an unnecessary risk when we're already 4-0 up on aggregate.
     
    Brightonian said:
    The arrogance of declaring a decision about a player's condition 'obviously wrong'. You know absolutely nothing about how tired or in need of rest any of these players are.
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    At this stage of a season it’s probably a good idea to take the chance to rest players when you can. Regardless of whether they need it or not. This game is as close to a perfect opportunity for that as you can get.

    People can quibble about Bruno but it’s ridiculous to have both Williams and Tuanzebe on the bench and still select AWB.
     
    Inigo Montoya said:
    Hi

    Do you honestly believe he’d be playing if we weren’t so short in midfield? Only a moron would think that but this is the match day thread
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    So what ? Playing a youngster instead of him in a game we can lose 3-0 and go through won't be a disaster.

    Beside, didn't we agree to put me on your ignore list last time we talked ?
     
    Withnail said:
    Unfortunately we've no cover at all for Bruno. None of Pogba, VDB and Mata are fit.
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    Change the formation? It'll be beyond stupid if Bruno picks up an injury that causes him to miss any important game.

    We're 4 goals up in this tie, he should be rested and ready to go for the league game and not this game.
     
    Just realized Mata isn't even on the bench. Guessing he's injured and that's why Bruno is in.
     
    AgentSmith said:
    At this stage of a season it’s probably a good idea to take the chance to rest players when you can. Regardless of whether they need it or not. This game is as close to a perfect opportunity for that as you can get.

    People can quibble about Bruno but it’s ridiculous to have both Williams and Tuanzebe on the bench and still select AWB.
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    Have to agree with this. Could have easily rested 3-4 players for the PL. We are 4-0 up and will have them on the bench if needed.
     
    stu_1992 said:
    Absolutely mental stuff to be playing Fernandes here. There's no need for it. Asking for trouble. Wan Bissaka I understand more as there's less cover but ideally he'd rest too. The 3 gks in the bench is bizarre too.
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    I don't think we have any good options to play in the Bruno role. Three GK's on the bench indicates the problem.

    Personally I would have played almost anyone in Bruno's role to give him a rest, but my head is not on the line if this goes somehow did go pear shaped. Of course, if Bruno gets injured tonight...... :eek:
     
    dove said:
    Bruno surely must have a contract clause to start him every game.
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    He has not started any of our FA Cup games. He was on the bench for the EFL game against Luton.
     
    el3mel said:
    So what ? Playing a youngster instead of him in a game we can lose 3-0 and go through won't be a disaster.

    Beside, didn't we agree to put me on your ignore list last time we talked ?
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    I'd guess Hannibal is that youngster who is also injured. So we have Pogba, Van de Beek, Mata, Hannibal all injured. At that point I get it. It is what it is for Bruno. We could've played a winger as a 10 and thrown on a youth winger to start, but I can see why he wouldn't do that.
     
    SATA said:
    Still 90 mins to go so it's not really a dead rubber. The same lot who moan about resting players will go into panic mode if we go 2-0 down early on. Let's score one or two more to completely kill off the tie and Bruno can be brought off to rest. Think the manager is seeing this way
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    It's as dead rubber as you're ever likely to get at this stage of the season. A season that is long and taxing, even moreso given the influence of covid. Nothing to be lost by giving players like Bruno and Wan-Bissaka some time off.
     
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Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

Eric Bailly image Eric Bailly 32% of 157 votes

Runners-up

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Player Ratings

5.9 Total Average Rating

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Compiled from 149 ratings.
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Score Predictions

128,22,39
  • Man Utd win
  • Real Sociedad win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 28% Man Utd 2:1 Real Sociedad
  • 17% Man Utd 2:0 Real Sociedad
  • 13% Man Utd 1:1 Real Sociedad
  • 7% Man Utd 3:0 Real Sociedad
  • 7% Man Utd 3:1 Real Sociedad
  • 7% Man Utd 1:2 Real Sociedad
  • 5% Man Utd 2:2 Real Sociedad
  • 3% Man Utd 1:0 Real Sociedad
  • 2% Man Utd 0:0 Real Sociedad
  • 2% Man Utd 4:0 Real Sociedad
  • 2% Man Utd 4:1 Real Sociedad
  • 2% Man Utd 1:3 Real Sociedad
  • 2% Man Utd 0:2 Real Sociedad
  • 1% Man Utd 0:5 Real Sociedad
  • 1% Man Utd 3:3 Real Sociedad
  • 1% Man Utd 4:3 Real Sociedad
  • 1% Man Utd 5:0 Real Sociedad
  • 1% Man Utd 3:2 Real Sociedad
Compiled from 189 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Real Sociedad
Possession
57% 43%
Shots
11 9
Shots on Target
4 1
Corners
4 7
Fouls
12 13

Referee

Lawrence Visser

Man Utd Lineup

Substitutes

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