[Lucky McLuckerson]

...

VS

Date - Thursday, February 16 2017
Kickoff Time - 2005 Hrs GMT
Venue - Old Trafford, Manchester

Europa League form guide

Manchester United: WWLWW

Saint-Étienne: DWWDW


Previous Meetings

Manchester United 2 : 0 Saint-Étienne

Saint-Étienne 1 : 1 Manchester United


All-Time Record

Manchester United wins: 1
Saint-Étienne wins: 0
Draws: 1


Pre-Match Pressers

José Mourinho



Christophe Galtier





Team News

Manchester United

Joel Pereira, Phil Jones (recovering), Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney (both minor muscle problems) out injured. Marcos Rojo available.

Saint-Étienne

Alexander Søderlund, Cheikh M’Bengue and Oussama Tannane out injured. Robert Berič doubtful (injury).


Know the opposition

Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (commonly known as AS Saint-Étienne, ASSE, or simply Saint-Étienne) is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, playing in the Ligue 1. AS Saint-Étienne was founded in 1919 by employees of the Saint-Étienne based grocey store chain Groupe Casino under the name Amicale des Employés de la Société des Magasins Casino (ASC). The club adopted green as its primary color mainly due to it being the principal color of Casino.

Saint-Étienne is, arguably, the most successful club in French football history having won ten Ligue 1 titles, six Coupe de France titles, a Coupe de la Ligue title and five Trophée des Champions. The club's ten league titles are the most professional league titles won by a French club, while the six cup victories places the club third among most Coupe de France titles. The club achieved most of its honours in the 1960s and 1970s when the club was led by managers Jean Snella, Albert Batteaux, Robert Herbin - and players like French legend Michel Platini, Dominique Rocheteau, Bernard Bosquier and Hervé Revelli.

Saint-Étienne's most prominent rivals include Olympique Lyonnais (with matches between them referred to as the Derby Rhônealpin) and Nantes. They play their home games at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.


Referee

Pavel Královec.


Nostalgia Avenue

Manchester United played the home leg of the 1977/78 Cup Winners' Cup clash at Plymouth Argyle's Home Park after crowd troubles in the first leg in France. The club was disqualified from the competition - only to be reinstated on appeal on condition that they played their home tie 200 km from Old Trafford - with United ultimately choosing to play in Plymouth.



​

 

[Antisocial]

Be interesting this one - been a long while since we've played in a competition where penalties could possibly be awarded in our favour, potentially brings a new dimension to the game.

 

[bosnian_red]

Same lineup as today. Get a nice advantage going into the second leg hopefully.

 

[Irrational.]

Same lineup as today. Get a nice advantage going into the second leg hopefully.

I'd probably change Smalling for Rojo and Darmian for Blind at the back.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Will Jones be back?

 

[Raw]

Hopefully we can win the tie in this leg and concentrate on the League Cup final.

We won't though, we'll miss a billion chances and win by 1 goal.

 

[Womp]

Smack them silly in the first leg, chill in the second leg.

 

[charlenefan]

Same XI as today, get a good lead then we can rest these players till the cup final

 

[Sandikan]

Same XI as today, get a good lead then we can rest these players till the cup final

That is the plan!

 

[Offside]

Same XI as today, get a good lead then we can rest these players till the cup final

What about the Blackburn game?

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Let's kick some ASSE

 

[Blatzo]

Be interesting this one - been a long while since we've played in a competition where penalties could possibly be awarded in our favour, potentially brings a new dimension to the game.

 

[Android1974]

I'd probably change Smalling for Rojo and Darmian for Blind at the back.

Darmian for Blind, with 5 days rest, what for?

 

[paulscholes18]

DDG
Valencia Smalling Bailly Blind
Herrera Pogba
Mata Mkhitaryan Martial
Zlatan

 

[IrishRedDevil]

I thought the game changed to Wednesday? Or am I making things up?

Edit: seems I made it up.

 

[Android1974]

Exactly the same team, please! Hope Mourinho doesn't rotate too much again and drain the tempo out of the team. I think exaggerated rotation was one of the causes for our January slump.

 

[charlenefan]

What about the Blackburn game?

Romero, TFM, Rojo, Shaw, Carrick, Fellaini, Basti, Lingard, Rooney, Rashford and one other

 

[prateik]

Have no idea how they are.. No clue what to expect.

 

[Android1974]

If we stop with the strings of draws we can definitely get 2nd.

Leicester and Watford games showed a new maturity in our play and being able to score in the first half is a major novelty.

 

[Pexbo]

3-0 at home, early away goal and canter to the next round.

 

[Bwuk]

same as today, rotate more against Blackburn. Hopefully win the tie in first leg.

 

[Giggs86]

So are we taking this thing seriously this time?

 

[RedTiger]

Let's kick some ASSE

Very good

 

[charlenefan]

I thought the game changed to Wednesday? Or am I making things up?

Edit: seems I made it up.

That's the second leg

 

[Raw]

They're currently 5th, won 9, drawn 9 and lost 6. Scored 26 and conceded 19 in 24 games, so I'm expecting a pretty dull game, maybe 1-0 or 2-0.

 

[Android1974]

Have no idea how they are.. No clue what to expect.

5th in the French League, can't be that bad, with the 3rd best defense, and balanced home and away. Just lost 1-0 away to Balotelli's Nice, playing apparently in a 4-2-3-1.

 

[Red Dreams]

Jose will go for a two goal margin to kill the tie.

 

[RedTiger]

Romero, TFM, Rojo, Shaw, Carrick, Fellaini, Basti, Lingard, Rooney, Rashford and one other

RoShaun alongside rojo

 

[ChaddyP]

a clean sheet is a must in this.

 

[Catt]

I know Aleksander Søderlund plays for them but that's it. How good they are and how they've done in the league I've now idea.

 

[Android1974]

Hoping for an unchanged team (or just with Jones/Rojo instead of Smalling) but expecting more changes for Mourinho. He likes to mix his teams now, and we shouldn't expect the a complete second team to face Blackburn, but one with several from the first team.

 

[NYAS]

They play tomorrow so we have an extra day advantage.

 

[Catt]

FA-cup next weekend right?
Anyone know if Rojo's injured and when Jones is back?

 

[Android1974]

FA-cup next weekend right?
Anyone know if Rojo's injured and when Jones is back?

I personally feel Rojo is definitely injured, otherwise he would not be left out of the squad. Jones was supposed to be recovered, don't know what happened.

 

[Android1974]

Mourinho's talking about Pogba play very much improved in the last two games, where he played in a midfield two, so I guess we'll see much more of that in the future, instead of the 4-3-3 with Carrick.

 

[Godfather]

Mourinho's talking about Pogba play very much improved in the last two games, where he played in a midfield two, so I guess we'll see much more of that in the future, instead of the 4-3-3 with Carrick.

quite rightly so as well

 

[Gerald G]

De Gea
Valencia--Smalling--Bailly--Blind
Herrera--Pogba
Mata--Mkhitaryan--Martial
Ibrahimovic

Then rotate vs Blackburn. We've got to make use of the squad.
​

 

[LuisNaniencia]

De Gea
Valencia--Smalling--Bailly--Blind
Herrera--Pogba
Mata--Mkhitaryan--Martial
Ibrahimovic

Then rotate vs Blackburn. We've got to make use of the squad.
​

Agreed.

 

[ElQuesoGrande]

Ive no idea how St Etienne play or how they are playing. The only change that should need making is Fellaini for Mata if we need to go 4-3-3.

Jose's post match comments make me think Rashford will play again, but I really hope he doesn't

 

[2 man midfield]

Be interesting this one - been a long while since we've played in a competition where penalties could possibly be awarded in our favour, potentially brings a new dimension to the game.