Our record against Spanish teams

PoTMS

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Dec 15, 2016
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It must be fecking awful. I can think of losses to Sevilla, Villarreal, Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and now Real Sociedad all in the last 10 years. Nearly Celta Vigo too if Guidetti wasn't so shite. Even before that, Deportivo La Coruña were a thorn in our side when we were arguably one of the best teams in Europe.
 
We have been knocked out of Europe by Spanish opposition five years in a row.
 
Was thinking about that. If we play in La Liga we'll probably get relegated. We struggle to even defeat the midtable sides there it's ridiculous.
 
Surely at this point it's more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than anything else?
 
It shows up our overall type of football and Spain's clear dominance over the decade or more. ETH is still on the first step in helping us transform. We need a better brand of football and technical players to overcome the issue.
 
It's not only the results either, for the past 20 years or so we've always struggled so much to get our game going against Spanish teams save for the odd game here and there.
 
Pep Guardiola brought spanish football to EPL and nobody could cope.
 
It always helps that games against spanish teams always feel like you're also fighting the ref (this isn't specific to United - other english teams seem to encounter the same)
 
We always struggle against them. ALWAYS.

Most of the time they make us look like mugs. Honestly, sociedad played the better passing/pressing game than we did. On our home turf too no less.

That will continue as long as we still have the likes of Fred, Maguire, Lindelof etc. in the side, down the spine of our team.
 
It makes sense as we have generally been the worst major club around when it comes to possession play and progressive footy. So Spanish teams tend to enjoy playing against our passive style of play.
 
I don't think I witnessed a single win over a Spanish side in the last 15 years. When that happened I always couldn't watch the game for whatever reason. But I agree at this point it's some kind of self fulfilling prophecy.
Frustrating as feck.
 
As many said it’s like a self fulfilling prophecy! We struggle even against mid table Spanish teams, don’t know why.
Have we actually defeated some Spanish team after we beat Barcelona on 08?
 
We always struggle, any team that is capable of keeping the ball on the grass and moving it about with any kind of intensity always gets the better of us. We just look so out dated, especially in possession, the difference in movement off the ball, first touch and passing speed/direction is very visibly leagues below our Spanish opponents.
Our possession is reactive, our players will hang on to the ball for too long, whatever limited passing options there are, will no longer exist because the opposition have now had enough time to get back into shape, and the reason our players don't make the early passes is because neither do they have the vision nor the confidence in their own passing ability and not even confident in the teammate's ability to receive the ball.
This is also why our wingers look worse, because we're not able to feed them accurate balls when the opposition is moving around and not settled, a fullback sprinting to get into position can be beaten far more easily than one who is in position.
Hoping all this can improve under the new coaches, but we're far from it.
 
kthanksbye said:
We always struggle, any team that is capable of keeping the ball on the grass and moving it about with any kind of intensity always gets the better of us. We just look so out dated, especially in possession, the difference in movement off the ball, first touch and passing speed/direction is very visibly leagues below our Spanish opponents.
Our possession is reactive, our players will hang on to the ball for too long, whatever limited passing options there are, will no longer exist because the opposition have now had enough time to get back into shape, and the reason our players don't make the early passes is because neither do they have the vision nor the confidence in their own passing ability and not even confident in the teammate's ability to receive the ball.
This is also why our wingers look worse, because we're not able to feed them accurate balls when the opposition is moving around and not settled, a fullback sprinting to get into position can be beaten far more easily than one who is in position.
Hoping all this can improve under the new coaches, but we're far from it.
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I haven’t seen a United winger take a game by the scruff of its neck in what seems absolutely years. Can’t remember any since Nani in the early 10’s. Maybe Di Maria’s first game that’s it.

Those Robben cut ins at Bayern, he’d win them a game almost on his own with the curling shot into the far corner of the net. Had so much space. United’s wingers always have a defender stood between them and the goal.
 
Son said:
I haven’t seen a United winger take a game by the scruff of its neck in what seems absolutely years. Can’t remember any since Nani in the early 10’s. Maybe Di Maria’s first game that’s it.

Those Robben cut ins at Bayern, he’d win them a game almost on his own with the curling shot into the far corner of the net. Had so much space. United’s wingers always have a defender stood between them and the goal.
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I don't know why, but there number of players beating their man 1v1 on a regular basis has drastically reduced, maybe it has got something to do with teams getting better at defending as a unit, hard to tell.
The other problem is our slow passing and bad first touch, not only are we unable to find our wingers while moving the opposition defense around, they're also forced to come deep and receive the ball with their backs to the goal, from that position any winger will struggle.
 
colombianmancunian said:
As many said it’s like a self fulfilling prophecy! We struggle even against mid table Spanish teams, don’t know why.
Have we actually defeated some Spanish team after we beat Barcelona on 08?
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From memory, we beat Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad away a few years ago on our run to winning the EL. Don't recall any other victories.
 
kthanksbye said:
I don't know why, but there number of players beating their man 1v1 on a regular basis has drastically reduced, maybe it has got something to do with teams getting better at defending as a unit, hard to tell.
The other problem is our slow passing and bad first touch, not only are we unable to find our wingers while moving the opposition defense around, they're also forced to come deep and receive the ball with their backs to the goal, from that position any winger will struggle.
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Dembele for example the other night looked a world beater for Barcelona. Put him in a United shirt I bet he’ll struggle big time.

I wouldn’t mind swapping Lewandoski for Ronaldo though. He would be a massive upgrade to our team. I can’t see us ever signing someone as good as Lewa currently though.
 
colombianmancunian said:
As many said it’s like a self fulfilling prophecy! We struggle even against mid table Spanish teams, don’t know why.
Have we actually defeated some Spanish team after we beat Barcelona on 08?
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We beat Villarreal last season home and away in the CL

We did perform terribly at home though, we won 2-1 thanks to Ronaldo but could've been 4-1 to them, they cut us apart so often but couldn't finish, the first half was a footballing lesson. Then went to Spain and it was an absolute breeze win and they had a lot to play for in the group so very surprising. Carrick was our manager in Spain that day.
 
Yep we are absolutely awful against Spanish sides and always seem to destroy German sides even when we are crap. I struggle to remember losing to a German side that wasn't Bayern. We are good against Italian sides too.
 
justboy68 said:
Yep we are absolutely awful against Spanish sides and always seem to destroy German sides even when we are crap. I struggle to remember losing to a German side that wasn't Bayern. We are good against Italian sides too.
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It kind of makes sense, though? La Liga is the best or second best league, depending on who you ask.

But we do seem to lose or draw annoyingly often against the "weaker" Spanish teams. There's certainly a pattern. If I remember correctly we also struggled against Spanish sides under Fergie? At least near the end, although that Nani red card still haunts me.
 
Our biggest rivals in Spain would be Getafe as we fight for survival
 
amolbhatia50k said:
It makes sense as we have generally been the worst major club around when it comes to possession play and progressive footy. So Spanish teams tend to enjoy playing against our passive style of play.
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This. We have never been as technical as the la Liga giants, even with our best teams of all time, and when it's not been our best team (like our current) we are technically worse than a lot of the la Liga sides.
 
kthanksbye said:
We always struggle, any team that is capable of keeping the ball on the grass and moving it about with any kind of intensity always gets the better of us. We just look so out dated, especially in possession, the difference in movement off the ball, first touch and passing speed/direction is very visibly leagues below our Spanish opponents.
Our possession is reactive, our players will hang on to the ball for too long, whatever limited passing options there are, will no longer exist because the opposition have now had enough time to get back into shape, and the reason our players don't make the early passes is because neither do they have the vision nor the confidence in their own passing ability and not even confident in the teammate's ability to receive the ball.
This is also why our wingers look worse, because we're not able to feed them accurate balls when the opposition is moving around and not settled, a fullback sprinting to get into position can be beaten far more easily than one who is in position.
Hoping all this can improve under the new coaches, but we're far from it.
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Basically this.

Spanish teams are well organised and technically superior quite often. We play ‘Premier League’ football, while these games often have a continental pace to it, which exposes our fundamental inability to pass and move.
 
kthanksbye said:
We always struggle, any team that is capable of keeping the ball on the grass and moving it about with any kind of intensity always gets the better of us. We just look so out dated, especially in possession, the difference in movement off the ball, first touch and passing speed/direction is very visibly leagues below our Spanish opponents.
Our possession is reactive, our players will hang on to the ball for too long, whatever limited passing options there are, will no longer exist because the opposition have now had enough time to get back into shape, and the reason our players don't make the early passes is because neither do they have the vision nor the confidence in their own passing ability and not even confident in the teammate's ability to receive the ball.
This is also why our wingers look worse, because we're not able to feed them accurate balls when the opposition is moving around and not settled, a fullback sprinting to get into position can be beaten far more easily than one who is in position.
Hoping all this can improve under the new coaches, but we're far from it.
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Excellent post. Above all, a significant improvement in this aspect of the game is what I expect from Ten Hag. These foundations are more important than eking out results while playing the same reactive type of football.
 
Siorac said:
Excellent post. Above all, a significant improvement in this aspect of the game is what I expect from Ten Hag. These foundations are more important than eking out results while playing the same reactive type of football.
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This is the key, the conflict of ideas that must give ETH lots of stress
 
It's ridiculous how bad we look against Spanish sides. Was genuinely surprised to see how easily we were outclassed technically and tactically, especially given our recent run of form.

Makes me wonder if the Premier League is not all its made out to be
 
Eleven-Eighteen said:
It's ridiculous how bad we look against Spanish sides. Was genuinely surprised to see how easily we were outclassed technically and tactically, especially given our recent run of form.

Makes me wonder if the Premier League is not all its made out to be
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I have no doubt that if there was a combined league of all the PL teams and all the La Liga teams, the Spanish teams would dominate it comfortably.
Its as if they have a deeper knowledge of all the ins and outs of the game.

The one and only thing that English teams have over Spanish teams is high tempo, Spanish teams would struggle to match the speed and the intensity the premier league is known for, however they know how to slow the game down, all the ins and outs and the shithousery that comes with it, Real Sociedad had complete control of the tempo of the game yesterday from the first minute, and we couldn’t deal with it.

Perhaps that what makes Pep’s City such a ridiculously dominant and probably the best PL side ever, they are practically a Spanish team that can play in Premier League pace, a lethal combination.
 
English teams in general have big issues with Spanish sides. They are just very, very good.
 
CarbonStoolBites said:
I have no doubt that if there was a combined league of all the PL teams and all the La Liga teams, the Spanish teams would dominate it comfortably.
Its as if they have a deeper knowledge of all the ins and outs of the game.

The one and only thing that English teams have over Spanish teams is high tempo, Spanish teams would struggle to match the speed and the intensity the premier league is known for, however they know how to slow the game down, all the ins and outs and the shithousery that comes with it, Real Sociedad had complete control of the tempo of the game yesterday from the first minute, and we couldn’t deal with it.

Perhaps that what makes Pep’s City such a ridiculously dominant and probably the best PL side ever, they are practically a Spanish team that can play in Premier League pace, a lethal combination.
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Most of the you here are probably too young to see the same thing with England. In the 70s or so, England would destroy lesser teams by the pace of the game. Opponents could not simply cope with it. They would try the same with every team but the bigger teams would simply slow it down and pass it around the back and take control of the game.
Technically there are a lot of good clubs outside of the PL.
As you say that is why City is normally so good.
 
justboy68 said:
Yep we are absolutely awful against Spanish sides and always seem to destroy German sides even when we are crap. I struggle to remember losing to a German side that wasn't Bayern. We are good against Italian sides too.
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Remember SAF being knocked out by Dortmund in about 97 but that's the only big one and in a completely different era
 
BehemothTerror said:
Remember SAF being knocked out by Dortmund in about 97 but that's the only big one and in a completely different era
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Leipzig knocked us out of the group stages a couple years ago.
 
In CL and EL finals between Spanish and English teams, it's 9-2, so it's not just a United problem
 
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