[Havak]

I haven't seen much of this team in recent years admittedly but a quick check shows they've been slightly off it in Romania after missing out on the league title for about six years, but I imagine they might play relatively cautiously for most of the first half unless they smell that they can start quick. They need to win this game if they want to get into the top 8. However, I wouldn't go as far as to say they expected to be in this kind of position. Hard to speak for other teams and their ambitions, but they were probably just expecting to make the next stage of the tournament. A draw will almost certainly do it for us if my maths is right? If we get to 16 Points, only the three teams above us and then Lyon, Spurs, Anderlecht, Galatasary, and Bodo/Glimt can match us. That's nine teams but I think our record is good enough. We'd be really unlucky to finish 9th on 16 points, but it is possible so to make it 100% in our own hands, we need to win.

I'd go as far to say that Lazio, Frankfurt, and Athletic are through regardless of the last result. Viktoria Plzen might fancy it against Bilbao to get to 15 points and have a chance for that reason.

Interesting potential scenario though:

If Frankfurt & Athletic avoid defeat, then we draw. It would be:

1. Lazio - 19 Points+ (Their result doesn't matter)
2. Frankfurt - 17 Points+
3. Athletic - 17 Points+
4. Man Utd - 16 Points

But if Lyon, Spurs and Anderlecht won, they go to 17 points knocking us to 7th in this example.

We have a GD of 5.

Galatasary have 13 Points and a GD of 4, while Bodo/Glimt have 13 Points and a GD of 3. If they can both win by a few goals then it definitely would be squeaky bum time! Fingers crossed we can just put in a solid display and get the win to avoid those extra games! I really think it will do us a massive amount of good to avoid those fixtures and get a few extra training sessions.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

need to rest Amad and Bruno. They've been playing a lot lately.

Then one or both can be subs for the Palace home game.

This final EL group game, that decides whether we finish top 8 or not, is far too important to start resting two key players like that.

And it's no easy game - Steaua Bucharest are in the top 8 themselves, and travelling away to play them is similar to visiting Turkey grounds as regards travel, ability level and intimidating atmosphere. A crucial game, and not one to take lightly with team selection.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Think we need at least 1 point to secure the 8th spot, but no one will say no to a victory.

I would rotate anyway for this game as I think we have enough good players in the team to have a strong squad.

------------------------------------------Bayindir-------------------------------------------------
---------------------Yoro-------------Lindelof------------Martinez------------------------
Dalot----------------------Casemiro----------Collyer--------------------------Malacia
------------------------------Eriksen--------------Garnacho----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------Zirkzee---------------------------------------------------

 

[BorisManUtd]

Think we could possibly drop out of top 8 even with a draw if other results don't go our way. Should go for a win. Make ourselves firm at the back like last night and try to create more this time.

Players playing for last 16 of Europa but also to get some rest in February for a change.

 

[Havak]

Think we could possibly drop out of top 8 even with a draw if other results don't go our way. Should go for a win. Make ourselves firm at the back like last night and try to create more this time.

Players playing for last 16 of Europa but also to get some rest in February for a change.

Posted above, it is both very possible but also quite unlikely at the same time!

For us to finish 9th with a draw it would require:

Frankfurt and Athletic to avoid defeat.

Lyon, Spurs, and Anderlecht to win.

Galatasary to win by 2+ Goals.
Bodo/Glimt to win by 3+ Goals.

 

[BorisManUtd]

Posted above, it is both very possible but also quite unlikely at the same time!

For us to finish 9th with a draw it would require:

Frankfurt and Athletic to avoid defeat.

Lyon, Spurs, and Anderlecht to win.

Galatasary to win by 2+ Goals.
Bodo/Glimt to win by 3+ Goals.

Lyon, Spurs and Anderlecht all at home and should be be able to beat their opposition (Ludogorets, Elfsborg, Hoffenheim). But yeah, Galatasaray winning with 2+ goals at Ajax and Bodo/Glimt winning with 3+ goals at Nice, seems unlikely both will happen (good chances neither will actually).

But definitely shouldn't be thinking about other teams. FCSB only have 1 point less than us and will be at home. For them draw probably wouldn't be enough so they'll want nothing less than 3 points.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

I haven't seen much of this team in recent years admittedly but a quick check shows they've been slightly off it in Romania after missing out on the league title for about six years, but I imagine they might play relatively cautiously for most of the first half unless they smell that they can start quick. They need to win this game if they want to get into the top 8. However, I wouldn't go as far as to say they expected to be in this kind of position. Hard to speak for other teams and their ambitions, but they were probably just expecting to make the next stage of the tournament. A draw will almost certainly do it for us if my maths is right? If we get to 16 Points, only the three teams above us and then Lyon, Spurs, Anderlecht, Galatasary, and Bodo/Glimt can match us. That's nine teams but I think our record is good enough. We'd be really unlucky to finish 9th on 16 points, but it is possible so to make it 100% in our own hands, we need to win.

I'd go as far to say that Lazio, Frankfurt, and Athletic are through regardless of the last result. Viktoria Plzen might fancy it against Bilbao to get to 15 points and have a chance for that reason.

Interesting potential scenario though:

If Frankfurt & Athletic avoid defeat, then we draw. It would be:

1. Lazio - 19 Points+ (Their result doesn't matter)
2. Frankfurt - 17 Points+
3. Athletic - 17 Points+
4. Man Utd - 16 Points

But if Lyon, Spurs and Anderlecht won, they go to 17 points knocking us to 7th in this example.

We have a GD of 5.

Galatasary have 13 Points and a GD of 4, while Bodo/Glimt have 13 Points and a GD of 3. If they can both win by a few goals then it definitely would be squeaky bum time! Fingers crossed we can just put in a solid display and get the win to avoid those extra games! I really think it will do us a massive amount of good to avoid those fixtures and get a few extra training sessions.

Yep, good summary.
And also add that a defeat would almost certainly see us knocked out the top 8 - as there'd also be two more teams who could overtake us with a win (Plzen and Olympiacos) and Galatasaray and Bodo/Glimt would just need any kind of win rather than by a certain amount of goals.

A draw should prove enough, but leaves it out of our hands; and only a win guarantees it. Which is no guarantee in a tricky away game - especially as we've proven over recent years how we're well capable of losing to anyone. So there shouldn't be any talk of a dead rubber, or rotating players, etc.

It's a really important game - and getting top 8 gets the whole squad a rest, instead of having to play a two legged extra round in February. So we need to go strong on Thursday and try and get the job done there and then.

 

[tenpoless]

Remove the S for a champions league night

 

[Red00012]

Looking forward to this , I fly to Bucharest in the morning let’s keep the good run going

2-0 United

 

[Gordon S]

Can we play any exciting young lads here)

Personally like Ibragimov, Would not mind to see him on the bench. Most probably too early yet but he looks like a baller.

 

[always_hoping]

Steaua Bucharest are joint top in their own league and won it last season.

In Europe this season.

Champions League
First qualifying round - 7-1 and 4-0 winners v Virtus
Second qualifying round - 1-1 at hone v Maccabi Tel Aviv and beat them 1-0 away
3rd Qualifying round - 1-1 away to Sparta Prague and lost to them 3-2 at home

Europa League
Play off round
1-1 away to LASK and beat them 1-0 at home

Group stage
4-1 winners at home to RFS
1-0 winners away to PAOK
4-0 defeat to Rangers
2-0 winners at home to Midtiylland
0-0 at home to Olympiacos
0-0 away to Hoffenheim
3-2 winners away to Qarabag

Man United had three trips to Romania in the past and was three wins

2004 v FC Dinamo Bucuresti 2-1, 2011 v Otelul Galati 2-0 and 2013 v CFR Cluj 2-1.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Gonna be a tough one. I’m going for a 1-1 draw.

 

[UTD_Since_1978]

Got to win this one to keep that winning feeling going.

 

[Shane88]

Trying to get some consistency going in the league is more important. Palace at home is a decent chance to win back to back league games for the first time this season.

Rest players and try to squeak a draw here with a view to being fresh for Palace.

 

[Ayoba]

OMG I finally realised this is Steaua Bucharest!

 

[Red in STL]

Trying to get some consistency going in the league is more important. Palace at home is a decent chance to win back to back league games for the first time this season.

Rest players and try to squeak a draw here with a view to being fresh for Palace.

That would be really stupid, only a win guarantees a top 8 finish and avoiding the play-offs - 2 games we really don't need, whilst a draw will probably be good enough the higher we finish the better draw we are likely to get

 

[Westerkerk]

This is a nice stadium. I watched Ajax lose there in a friendly about 10 years ago.

Bucharest is a great city, travelling fans will have a great time whatever the result. But I expect us to win, and should win comfortably - on paper.

 

[RuudTom83]

United's underperforming CF duo both need a goal...so maybe try them both!

- Hojlund -
Zirkzee - Amad
Bruno - Collyer*

*Ugarte, bless him, he can't play 2 games in a week

 

[El-Manos]

Bayindir
De Ligt. Maguire. Martinez

Amad. Toby. Ugarte. Garnacho


Bruno Rasmus Erickson

Christ

 

[Ole'sgunnarwin]

To hell with resting anyone. This is more important than our league match

 

[Adz_99]

Would be happy with a draw.

Getting through the "league stage" (or whatever it's called now) without losing a game would be a nice achievement

 

[Charlie Foley]

Any advantage to finishing as high in the table as possible, or is it simply Top 8 that's important?

Where we finish in the top 8 does have an impact, looking at the Wikipedia page.

For the playoff round, it’s split so that the top half (9-16) players the bottom half (17-24) but it’s not absolutely guaranteed who each plays.
The team in 9th plays either 23 or 24, and 10 plays the other, determined by a draw.
11/12 play 21/22
13/14 play 19/20
15/16 play 17/18.

Once that round is done, we have to see who remaining plays whom from the top 8.

The top 2 teams each play a winner of the 15/16 vs 17/18 games.
The teams in 3rd and 4th each play a winner from the 13/14 and 19/20 games
The teams in 5th and 6th each play a winner of the 11/12 and 21/22 games
The teams in 7th and 8th each play a winner of the 9/10 and 23/24 games.

The first and second teams are kept opposite side of the draw to each other, likewise 3/4, 5/6, and 7/8 respectively.

First and second can’t meet until the final therefore, and 1/2 can’t play 3/4 until the semi final.

So where in the top 8 you finish is significant. Though there are still too many moving parts to say what the best spot is.

The TLDR is
The top 2 can’t meet until the final
The top 4 can’t meet until the semis.
Finishing top 4 means the highest seed you can face in the last 16 is the 13th team.

Also in the last 16 the seeded team (top 8) plays at home second). In the QF/SF there’s a draw to determine this

 

[Charlie Foley]

If the league stayed as it is right now us or bilbao would each play one of rangers/alkmaar/midgetland/elfsborg. We wouldn’t play Lazio or Frankfurt until the semi final at the earliest

 

[sepulturite]

Trying to get some consistency going in the league is more important. Palace at home is a decent chance to win back to back league games for the first time this season.

Rest players and try to squeak a draw here with a view to being fresh for Palace.

Disagree completely with this. This game is way more important than the league game at the weekend.

 

[Orange Tree]

Bayindir
De Ligt Maguire Yoro
Dalot Ugarte Collyer Malacia
Bruno Mainoo
Hojlund

Rest Amad and Garnacho for Palace. Coming from the bench if we are chasing a result.

 

[Red00012]

Disagree completely with this. This game is way more important than the league game at the weekend.

Seeing as a defeat could possibly still get us through as automatic qualification I would say no , Palace is much more important .

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

Great, we get to go to Transylvania and look toothless

 

[Squeaky_Bum_Time]

Tempted to rest a few who have played a lot. Have them on the bench if needed.

Bayindir
Lindelof - De Ligt - Yoro
Mazraoui - Mainoo - Collyer - Malacia
Zirkzee - Eriksen
Hojlund
​

Probably this team can get us a 0-0 which is all we need most likely. It’s hard to see how we score without Bruno, Martinez, and Amad. They can come on against tired legs in the second half (and Garnacho).

 

[Denis' cuff]

You’d think them needing a win (?) would suit us

1-2 the Reds

 

[bb8]

Trying to get some consistency going in the league is more important. Palace at home is a decent chance to win back to back league games for the first time this season.

Rest players and try to squeak a draw here with a view to being fresh for Palace.

Could not disagree more. This game is more important than vs Palace, and exponentially so frankly.

A very good outcome for the Prem this year would be a 9th place finish. Oddsmakers give us about a 1% chance of finishing in the top 5. Versus in Europa you can get 5 to 1 odds on United to win the whole thing. That would give us a trophy, UCL next year, and another ~£70M to spend in the summer from the future anticipated money.

Europa is far more important than the league at this point. Not to mention we win and the entire team has to play two fewer matches. That will be a lot more rest than any rotation we do in this game.

 

[lex talionis]

I could have my facts wrong, but winning the EL is our only realistic passport to the CL next season and with CL qualification comes many good things, whereas not qualifying for the CL would be further humiliation. Not hyperbole.

We have no realistic shot at top 5 in the PL. we should be able to scrape 8th place but at this point whether it’s 7th or 10th is hardly relevant compared to the one competition left where glorious triumph means re-entry into the CL club.

Play the strongest XI possible.

 

[sepulturite]

Seeing as a defeat could possibly still get us through as automatic qualification I would say no , Palace is much more important .

That's not true at all though, someone has explained above how it's very very likely if we lose that we'll end up outside the top 8. And we can't afford those two extra games. What are we playing for in the league that's makes the Palace game more important?

 

[Annihilate Now!]

"United’s dramatic late win over Rangers elevated them to fourth in the table, though the fact they face FCSB – who are only a point below them in eighth – next week has presumably impacted their top-eight finish probability slightly.

They take one of the eight automatic last-16 qualification spots in 89.8% of the simulations. If they were to lose and five of the eight teams directly below them were to win, United could drop out of the top eight (it would come down to goal difference for Plzen and Olympiakos).

Similarly, there’d still be a chance of them dropping out of the top eight if they drew, but that would require Lyon, Tottenham, Anderlecht, Galatasaray and Bodø/Glimt all winning (the latter by two goals)."

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2025/01/europa-league-permutations-every-teams-chances-opta-supercomputer

We should be fine.

 

[Gordon S]

That's not true at all though, someone has explained above how it's very very likely if we lose that we'll end up outside the top 8. And we can't afford those two extra games. What are we playing for in the league that's makes the Palace game more important?

"very very likely" is a stretch, we would be very unlucky to be pushed out of top 8, even losing this game.

 

[bringbackbebe]

Great, we get to go to Transylvania and look toothless

Genius

 

[deef]

Maybe rest amad or bruno but other than that would also go full strength. it's not like the others can train much because they still have to travel with the squat. Get a win and try to focus on new aspects of the formation.

Good results at home. 4:0 away loss to Rangers is the only one that stands out.

FC FCSB 4 : 1 RFS
PAOK Thessaloniki FC 0 : 1 FC FCSB​

Rangers 4 : 0 FC FCSB​

FC FCSB 2 : 0 FC Midtjylland​

FC FCSB 0 : 0 Olympiacos​

Hoffenheim 0 : 0 FC FCSB​

Qarabag FK 2 : 3 FC FCSB​

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Is this a must-win game for us?

Probably more a must not lose game than a must win game for us. If we leave Bucharest with a point then that will be enough for a top 8 finish and avoids those two extra play-off games in February.

 

[Hughes35]

A little rotation is probably needed but we still need to go strong in this one and get the points.

-------------------------------Bayindir----------------------------
------------Yoro---------Maguire--------Martinez----------------
Dalot--------------Casemiro---------Collyer---------------Malacia
--------------------Mainoo-----------------Bruno--------------------
---------------------------------Garnacho----------------------------

I don't think we will see this but it's what I'd like to see (Or Ugarte partnering Collyer with Mazz playing somewhere). I'd love to see Garnacho tried up top as he is always a threat with his movement and intensity.

I'd rest Amad for his one.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

I really don't get these comments about rotation and 'resting' key players for a crucial, and final, EL group game in favour of Sunday's PL match.

This is a tricky game. We've lost away to just as similar a standard clubs in recent years - Copenhagen, Young Boys, Istanbul - and can't afford a defeat this time in an important match that is the final group game.

Meanwhile, the PL game at home to Crystal Palace is just a mid season, mid table game. We're 12 points off the CL spots with no chance of getting them; and 13 points clear of the relegation spots with no chance of going down.

Yes, by the end of the season it would be good if we've got some consistency going in the league and showing positive signs for next year. But as regards this year's league campaign, there's very little to play for and, right now, the final EL group game is of far more importance than the Palace league game. So if we're going to 'rest' key players like Amad and Ugarte for either of those matches, it should be for Palace not Bucharest.

 

[Overhaul FC]

Onana
Yoro De Ligt Martinez
Mazraoui Fernandes Ugarte Dorgu
Amad Garnacho
Zirkzee
​

It just looks better already doesn't it with a left footer incoming.