Europa League Round of 32 1st Leg

Real Sociedad 0:4 Manchester United

Juventus Stadium

Kick-off
Thu, 18 February 2021 @ 5:55pm GMT
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Discussion Your Lineup Prediction

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    Jaxa said:
    I don't care about any other positions other than I hope it's either Bailly playing alongside Maguire or Bailly alongside Lindelof , not the chuckle brothers playing together, actually i would be very happy to never see those two play together ever again
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    Spoiler alert

    They're both gonna start.
     
    Henderson

    Tuanzebe
    Bailly
    Maguire
    Telles

    Matic
    McTominay

    Amad
    Bruno
    Martial

    Greenwood

    1-1
     
    United58 said:
    Ah right; Shaw's our best player after Bruno IMO but I think Ole will play Telles tomorrow
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    I hope not. The drop in quality when Shaw doesn’t play is almost painful. Which is both praising Shaw and criticising Telles and Williams.

    I feel like I’m the only person that seems interested in winning the EL. Best chance we’ve got of a cup; City are doing a sweep of the others.
     
    Water Melon said:
    I doubt we will win the FA cup with City and Chelsea still being in it. Will be surprised if we get past Leicester. EL is the only cup that we may win this season imo. It also guarantees a CL spot. Go for it. If Real Sociedad manage to knock us out, Ole's seat will be under a real threat.
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    Yeah and winning this trophy would also mean being in pot 1 for the draw
     
    Jaxa said:
    I don't care about any other positions other than I hope it's either Bailly playing alongside Maguire or Bailly alongside Lindelof , not the chuckle brothers playing together, actually i would be very happy to never see those two play together ever again
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    My captain shall always play.

    United58 said:
    Ah right; Shaw's our best player after Bruno IMO but I think Ole will play Telles tomorrow
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    If Ole doesn't select Shaw, it's the wrong decision even if we win. It will show he doesn't care about the competition. Really fear Ole will play a weakened team, lose, and shrug it off saying we were fantastic and need to focus on the League. Let's be real. We'll struggle to a top four finish at best, we need to try and win the cups we're in.
     
    Eternitiy said:
    If Ole doesn't select Shaw, it's the wrong decision even if we win. It will show he doesn't care about the competition. Really fear Ole will play a weakened team, lose, and shrug it off saying we were fantastic and need to focus on the League. Let's be real. We'll struggle to a top four finish at best, we need to try and win the cups we're in.
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    Ole seems to be trying to find games to rest Shaw to help avoid the injury issues that he has had in the past. So far it's been working well. With this being a two legged tie there's a fairly good chance that we'll at least use the first leg as one of those games. Depending on the result he may then be rested for the second leg.

    Alternatively we may play him in the first and just hope we get a good win so can rest him in the second.
     
    Foxbatt said:
    Yes we should try and win this. If we win the EL we have won a trophy and if can maintain top 4 it's an extremely good result

    How good are Sociedad? Isn't that where Phil Neville and Moysie got sacked?
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    Moyes yes. Thought Phil was at Valencia due to their Salford co-owner partner owning Valencia.
     
    Eternitiy said:
    My captain shall always play.


    If Ole doesn't select Shaw, it's the wrong decision even if we win. It will show he doesn't care about the competition. Really fear Ole will play a weakened team, lose, and shrug it off saying we were fantastic and need to focus on the League. Let's be real. We'll struggle to a top four finish at best, we need to try and win the cups we're in.
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    I bet Sociedad won't rotate and they have much more of a reason to do so than us, they are 5th in the league.
     
    Should win this quite easily on paper, especially on neutral ground. But you never know. This team always seems to find a Way to feck up.
     
    They seem to have very good players in attack (assuming Adnan is anything like he was in his youth). If the players think this will be easy, they'll be sorely mistaken.
     
    reddevilz007 said:
    A front 3 of Rashford Greenwood Diallo would be a nice change.
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    There's not been a lot of times, but whenever I've seen Greenwood up top on his own in a first team game, he's looked lost - still requires a bit of physical development to get there I think. I suspect Martial will play (as much as Ole's trying to sell to everyone that he's a doubt)
     
    Glorio said:
    They seem to have very good players in attack (assuming Adnan is anything like he was in his youth). If the players think this will be easy, they'll be sorely mistaken.
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    When the draw vs Sociedad was made, I tried to catch their game that week given they were on a high in the liga, I think it was versus Barca, I don't think Sociedad won, but played very well and were able to be a constant threat to Barca despite less possession, Januzaj came on at the end of the game and did really well i felt, was involved in at least 3 good chances (if my memory is any good) for Sociedad in the few minutes he was on the pitch.
    But not been able to watch more recently, if Sociedad are in form, we will be in for a ride.
     
    I don't know if this is true or not, but I seem to have it in my head that we're always shit in these 6pm kick offs
     
    I’d hope we’d go strong (ish) tonight and get a decent result because if we lose we will have to go full strength next Thursday and we’ve Chelsea the following Sunday. They will have 48 hours rest more than us
     
    Could easily lose tonight but is anyone really that bothered? We really need to get the league form back on track.
     
    KiD MoYeS said:
    Could easily lose tonight but is anyone really that bothered? We really need to get the league form back on track.
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    Fans may not be bothered but the team should be. Winning helps bring that form back, losing, not so much.
     
    KiD MoYeS said:
    Could easily lose tonight but is anyone really that bothered? We really need to get the league form back on track.
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    I'm bothered. We need to go deep in this comp to see where we stand regarding the likes of Henderson, Donny, Diallo etc. Players like Telles and Bailly also need game time.

    If we're eliminated here we'd have one game per week for the next three months with a big squad. We might improve our league form that way but we'd be left with more questions and fewer answers going into the next season.
     
    This game has banana skin written all over it.

    Also 17:55 is a ridiculous time to have a kick odd.
     
    No reason to hold back here. Take some risks and see how we go. Greenwood up top, start Amad and hook him if he looks out of place. Rest AWB.
    ​
    Henderson​

    Williams Bailly Maguire Shaw​

    Mctominay Fred​

    Amad Bruno Rashford​

    Greenwood​
     
    How on Earth can people not care about the Europa League? We are not winning the prem, whereas winning the EL guarantees a CL spot next season. Realistically, it is the easiest trophy l to win for us.
     
    Water Melon said:
    How on Earth can people not care about the Europa League? We are not winning the prem, whereas winning the EL guarantees a CL spot next season. Realistically, it is the easiest trophy l to win for us.
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    I think people underestimate the value of winning as well for the mentality of the side.

    We don’t have many players in our squad who’ve won trophies. That was part of why Ferguson’s sides did so well, the squad knew how to win.
     
    Water Melon said:
    How on Earth can people not care about the Europa League? We are not winning the prem, whereas winning the EL guarantees a CL spot next season. Realistically, it is the easiest trophy l to win for us.
    Click to expand...

    People are worried about the drain on energy the Europa League entails.

    We’re wobbling atm in the Premier League and with a few more bad results we could sink to 5th. The paranoia about dropping out the Champions League places outweighs the benefits of a trophy hunt in the Europa League for some I think.

    Personally I feel we should go for any trophy available to us to the fullest extent we can. There’s a pervading concern with this team that they don’t know how to win when it matters (4 semi finals in 2 years, no finals) and that only ameliorates itself through practice and experience.

    A comfortable top 4 finish with an FA Cup or a Europa League win would be a fantastic season and the perfect springboard for next year.
     
    Last edited:
    AgentSmith said:
    People are worried about the drain on energy the Europa League entails.

    We’re wobbling atm in the Premier League and with a few more bad results we could sink to 5th. The paranoia about dropping out the Champions League places outweighs the benefits of a trophy hunt in the Europa League for some I think.

    Personally I feel we should go for any trophy available to us to the fullest extent we can. There’s a pervading concern with this team that they don’t know how to win when it matters (4 semi finals in 2 years, no finals) and that only ameliorates itself through practice and experience.

    A comfortable top 4 finish with an FA Cup or a Europa League won would be a fantastic season and the perfect springboard for next year.
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    See your point, however, the squad is big enough to compete in several competitions at least for now. I do not see us winning the FA cup to be honest, whereas top 4 will not be an easy walk either as Chelsea are likely to improve under Tuchel and Klopp will get his team back on track sooner rather than later. EL is basically a trophy and a 100% guarantee of Champions League football next season. I would definitely have it as a top priority.
     
    I find it quite difficult to get excited about a EL fixture, however I still want us to win and will be a bit fecked off is we fail to do so.
     
    Water Melon said:
    See your point, however, the squad is big enough to compete in several competitions at least for now. I do not see us winning the FA cup to be honest, whereas top 4 will not be an easy walk either as Chelsea are likely to improve under Tuchel and Klopp will get his team back on track sooner rather than later. EL is basically a trophy and a 100% guarantee of Champions League football next season. I would definitely have it as a top priority.
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    I’d definitely place it above the FA Cup in terms of priority as well because like you say, it’s more than a trophy - it’s a trophy and 4th place in one.

    But I think a basic principle at United is to compete for every trophy within our grasp. Seeing competitions as beneath us is something reserved for fans I think - a professional player wants to win anything and everything they can get their hands on. And our players need to practice the mindset required to do that.

    Also there’s a practical element to taking tonight seriously and playing a strong team - if we blow Sociedad out of the water it means we can rest key players next week in the reverse leg before the Chelsea game.

    Chelsea, conversely, have to play Atletico midweek in Romania; a physically gruelling experience regardless of the result.

    If we rest players tonight and then have to overturn a result next week Ole will undoubtedly have to play our strongest XI and it will be a slog - 3 days before we play Chelsea.
     
    AgentSmith said:
    People are worried about the drain on energy the Europa League entails.

    We’re wobbling atm in the Premier League and with a few more bad results we could sink to 5th. The paranoia about dropping out the Champions League places outweighs the benefits of a trophy hunt in the Europa League for some I think.

    Personally I feel we should go for any trophy available to us to the fullest extent we can. There’s a pervading concern with this team that they don’t know how to win when it matters (4 semi finals in 2 years, no finals) and that only ameliorates itself through practice and experience.

    A comfortable top 4 finish with an FA Cup or a Europa League win would be a fantastic season and the perfect springboard for next year.
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    I disagree winning the EL is CL football next season, FA Cup is always a touch win, the PL OK we are 2nd , but a couple of losses and we tumble down.
    EL is nearly equal to PL for me, strongest available teams for both.
     
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Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

Bruno Fernandes image Bruno Fernandes 76% of 279 votes

Runners-up

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Player Ratings

6.9 Total Average Rating

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Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 256 ratings.
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Score Predictions

92,45,54
  • Man Utd win
  • Real Sociedad win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 23% Real Sociedad 1:2 Man Utd
  • 21% Real Sociedad 1:1 Man Utd
  • 9% Real Sociedad 2:1 Man Utd
  • 8% Real Sociedad 2:0 Man Utd
  • 7% Real Sociedad 0:2 Man Utd
  • 7% Real Sociedad 1:3 Man Utd
  • 5% Real Sociedad 0:0 Man Utd
  • 5% Real Sociedad 0:1 Man Utd
  • 3% Real Sociedad 3:1 Man Utd
  • 3% Real Sociedad 2:2 Man Utd
  • 2% Real Sociedad 2:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Real Sociedad 0:5 Man Utd
  • 2% Real Sociedad 3:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Real Sociedad 1:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Real Sociedad 0:3 Man Utd
  • 1% Real Sociedad 2:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Real Sociedad 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Real Sociedad 4:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Real Sociedad 5:0 Man Utd
Compiled from 191 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Real Sociedad
  2. Man Utd
Possession
59% 41%
Shots
8 13
Shots on Target
2 10
Corners
4 5
Fouls
15 13

Referee

Sandro Scharer

Man Utd Lineup

Substitutes

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