EL D Europa League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Anderlecht 1:1 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Thu, 13 April 2017

You've had a meltdown with these, embarrassing really.
Romero-5? They had one shot on target and they scored, which was from a free header. Apart from the goal he had nothing else to do.
Bailly and Darmian were busy marking their own men, it was Fellaini who let the player have a free header.
Darmian I thought had a solid game, his challenge inside the box when the player was about to have a free shot was a great challenge. Throughout the game he made quite a few nice interceptions which broke up their play and their RM/RW barely had a sniff all game.
Then you give Ibrahimovic a 7, this is definitely were you're on a wum. We played some nice one touch passing and build up play, then it got to Ibrahimovic and it broke down, many of times. Funny you give Ibrahimovic a 7 and motd whatever that is but rate Carrick an 8 which is higher :wenger:
I also thought Bailly Valencia and Darmian had a decent game, (Rojo not so decent) and all stopped potential goals/ or goal chances. Ibra was woeful mainly and with Lingard Rashford Miki and especially Martial were all poor. Carrick was doing ok, the best in Midfield. Fellaini was Fellaini, poor overall.
 
I think we must stop seeing transfers as the solution to performances like yesterday. "We only need XYZ to..."

We see underperforming stars. And buying new stars meant to see more underperforming stars ine the last years.
 
Jose is pass it, he can't build an attack and relies on individuals to come up with something, very poor.

I'm not sure that's a really fair critique. If you say he's been reactive and wholly conservative when we are in the lead, I would agree. But I'm not sure he can be chided for not being unable to build an attack. It's not his fault that the flicks and the cute passing don't come off. What frustrated me last night was the sloppy play between the forward. From the first minute you can just tell they weren't sharp except Rashford (in the first half) who was pretty quick and running directly at people. It's not like we didn't have space. Saw plenty of Carrick passing the ball forward with speed but then the players simply can't make that final quality pass. That's not Mou's fault.
 
I think we must stop seeing transfers as the solution to performances like yesterday. "We only need XYZ to..."

We see underperforming stars. And buying new stars meant to see more underperforming stars ine the last years.
Whats the answer then? We need new players because as a squad these simply are not good enough. Changing the manager wont suddenly turn them into a winning team. Leaving it how it is wont suddenly turn them into a winning team.
 
Not happy at all. Again, especially with the amount of chances created. Any company which sees a weakness tries to rectify it or improve immediately. Why does our beloved UTD never improved their finishing this season?

I don't understand the reason why if we do not score 2 or more goals in the first half, we just go all defensive in the second half, risking a 1-1 draw.

What a cross for their goal though.

We should beat them easily at OT, although we said that many times this season and still drew 1-1. Gutted. I felt sick when their equaliser went in.
 
S
Completely agree and I see the hunger in Rashford to succeed which unfortunately I don''t see in Martial. Things I took note of in Rashford's performance today was his tracking back and willingness to fight for every ball and get possession back. He may have not scored a goal today but i can definitely see that hunger to be better. Martial maybe here next season but if he continues to progress this way, he'll be shown the door real quick.

Spot on about Rashford.

I think people are making too many excuses for Martial and I get tired of it. Putting a great player on the bench usually arouses more hunger and the desperation to prove everyone wrong when an opportunity comes, not the other way round.

This season, he has been given chances but all he has proven is inconsistency. Romero hardly plays but each time he does, he proves he can comfortably take the shirt from De Gea. Now that's a real professional. Rojo bid his time and when Jose gave him chances, he pounced. Lingard has impressed Jose too (sure he hasn't impressed most people here but his manager is the only one he really needs to impress at the moment) and that's why he gets to play more regularly.

Martial needs to earn his stripes when he gets his chances even if those chances come once in 10 games. He has not yet earned the right to be played even when his form is poor. Players earn such rights.
 
I'm already deleting the game from memory but did the keeper make many saves or any particularly brilliant ones? There's the parry from Rashford but we scored from that. Pogba hit his chance right at him. Any others?

I don't think know we can use a brilliant performance from the keeper as the reason for this draw.
I agree Lingard hitting the post was the closest we came to beating him, goal aside. Remember Rashfords long range shot straight at him, and Pogbas miss. Cant remember if Ibra even had a clear cut chance. We simply dont atack fast enough, we peter out in the second half, and we always seem to do the same thing. We either hit it 60 yards hoping Ibra can hold it up, or Rashford if hes up top. Or slow build up with it eventually gets crossed in. Theres still shades of VG in there sometimes.
 
I think we must stop seeing transfers as the solution to performances like yesterday. "We only need XYZ to..."

We see underperforming stars. And buying new stars meant to see more underperforming stars ine the last years.
I'm glqd I'm jot the only one to think this. We buy some good players and turn them into mediocre ones.
It's hard to say what it is that's doing it, seems hard to believe it could be the manager when 2 top class ones have struggled in a row now.
 
I'm frustrated by the fact we turned a potentially good 1 - 0 win into a not so good 1 - 1 draw. Really infuriates me to see us play like that, get to one nil then just play conservative back foot football. I know the team is low on confidence but the way to improve confidence is to put teams away with a top performance.

We definitely should have had more goals, Lingard was a passenger all game and provided next to no threat at all. We were content with one nil then sat back and to make things even worse we brought on Fellaini to play long ball football against fecking Anderlecht....

On the positive side Rashford put in a great performance, looked positive and bright all evening and his shot led to the goal. Pogba and Carrick were also excellent. However there were a few players but at the races as usual.
 
I'm frustrated by the fact we turned a potentially good 1 - 0 win into a not so good 1 - 1 draw. Really infuriates me to see us play like that, get to one nil then just play conservative back foot football. I know the team is low on confidence but the way to improve confidence is to put teams away with a top performance.

We definitely should have had more goals, Lingard was a passenger all game and provided next to no threat at all. We were content with one nil then sat back and to make things even worse we brought on Fellaini to play long ball football against fecking Anderlecht....

On the positive side Rashford put in a great performance, looked positive and bright all evening and his shot led to the goal. Pogba and Carrick were also excellent. However there were a few players but at the races as usual.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I wouldn't be surprised if the squad was set out to nick a 1-0 victory. We have a nightmare run of games coming up, with some of the hardest teams we can face, 2-3 days apart for the rest of this month. Factor in the travel we'll be doing in the Europa league etc. and our players could potentially be playing against some of the best teams in the league with not even 2 days rest. The squad needs to be managed very carefully, we're going to need our best players for the run in, last thing we're gonna need is an exhausted, injury ridden squad.
 
Positive: If we manage to go through a draw does not matter in the Europa League (different to PL where all those draws will cost us a top 4 finish).

There is quite a big gap in Quality between us and Teams like Bayern, Dortmund etc. let alone Real Madrid but also Chelsea, Tottenham right now.
I do not remember our last Performance where I thought that we played really really convincing.

Still chances are good that we somehow will manage to win the Europa league.
We might Play 0:0 or win by 1 Goal at OT and from there it`s only 3 more games against max. decent sides.
 
Somehow i'm not surprised with the scoreline. Been a recurring theme whole season. Slow passing style to play down the clock. Carrick, Zlatan, Pogba and Fellaini being the main culprit in such build up play during the second half. As much as Rashford and Martial like to drive at defenders they got limited ability and whole game i didn't really hope for anything everytime i see them running with the ball.
 
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At times Pogba's touch is unforgivably sloppy. Towards the end when we were pressing looking for a response to their equaliser Fellaini seemed to have more control and composure with the ball as Pogba stumbled around accidentally toe-poking it to just beyond his own control and conceding possession.
 
Really good performance? It was a crap performance. If we want to be elite, this was embarrassing. If we want to be average shit houses, top performance, mint!
It's amusing that people still expect us to be "elite" this season. Have you seen our football this season? It's been average nearly throughout. That's not suddenly going to change in the Europa league. We're poor in attack and it shows nearly every week.

But I'm surprised with the reactions in this thread. We played quite well last night. Unlucky to draw. Like everyone I'm not happy with where we are as an attacking side and think Mourinho should have done much better. But we still played pretty well and should have won that game. Considering the way we've played all season, that's not a disappointing peformance.
 
Whats the answer then? We need new players because as a squad these simply are not good enough. Changing the manager wont suddenly turn them into a winning team. Leaving it how it is wont suddenly turn them into a winning team.
A few changes here and there but most the manager has to get more out of his squad. Massive change, whether it's manager or players is always the answer.
 
Raw stats can't necessarily be taken at face value in this case.

If, for instance, a sample of 100 European ties that finished 0-0 in the first leg are examined, and it's found that the outcome of 55% of those ties is victory for the side that drew away from home in the first leg, that has to be interpreted with caution.

The team that's good enough to get the draw away from home in the first leg is likely to be the better side in the first place.

We're getting there. Baby steps. Sooooooo... Having demonstrated that we're the better side, who is more likely to win the next leg? Us? Or them?
 
I'm already deleting the game from memory but did the keeper make many saves or any particularly brilliant ones? There's the parry from Rashford but we scored from that. Pogba hit his chance right at him. Any others?

I don't think know we can use a brilliant performance from the keeper as the reason for this draw.

His best save of the match was keeping out Ibra's tap in. Jesse hit the post with the rebound. Keeper aside, their central defenders made a host of brilliant last ditch blocks/tackles. We were utterly dominant but frustrated by missed chances and defensive heroics. Story of our season (bar a poor run early on and a couple of leggy performances more recently). Couldn't be more different to the sterile crap of last season. Bizarre the way so many people insist on seeing similarities.
 
I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I wouldn't be surprised if the squad was set out to nick a 1-0 victory. We have a nightmare run of games coming up, with some of the hardest teams we can face, 2-3 days apart for the rest of this month. Factor in the travel we'll be doing in the Europa league etc. and our players could potentially be playing against some of the best teams in the league with not even 2 days rest. The squad needs to be managed very carefully, we're going to need our best players for the run in, last thing we're gonna need is an exhausted, injury ridden squad.

What a stupid approach then. Why not win convincingly here and have players rested for the return leg and play that one at walking place. Whereas now, we'll have to put in a real shift to get over the line missing perfect opportunity to sideline some important players. Poor excuse that.
 
Jose Mourinho has played in Europe almost the same way since his career started: very conservative away but aggressive at home. Yesterday's result did not surprise me at all. United will go through.

Not saying it is the best method at all, but it's Jose's method and it has worked for him a lot.
 
Really good performance bar the finishing yet again. We give them a single chance with a defensive lapse and they bury it. We get half-a-dozen and make their keeper look man of the match yet again. The finishing in our team is horrendous. Quite the cold streak. I mean Jesus Christ look at this:



You look at our team and it is genuinely difficult to put your finger on the problem. We are a top side but just cannot get the ball to go in the net even an average amount of times. Doubt we'll see a season like this for a long, long time.


Exactly.
 
I think we must stop seeing transfers as the solution to performances like yesterday. "We only need XYZ to..."

We see underperforming stars. And buying new stars meant to see more underperforming stars ine the last years.

Well said.
 
I watched the match, very un-Manchester united like, especially in Europe. It's bloody Anderlecht, Wigan would probably beat them. Absolutely woeful seeing a footballing giant take their pedal off the gas when 1-0 up.

I still cannot for the life of me see what Pogba does either. £90m? Marketing yes, as a footballer? I'm baffled
 
I thought we controlled the game quite well, and am increasingly convinced we have several forward players who are not performing to Man Utd standards.

This needs to be addressed in the summer transfer market and I'm sure it will be. I certainly trust Jose's signings.
 
We don't deserve? Barcelona have lost 3 of their 5 away games in the CL, conceding 10 goals in them. Aren't they supposed to be a superior team?

Fellaini didn't come on to protect a lead. Lets stop this nonsense. He came on simply because Rashford was subbed for the weekend. Shaw is going to start that match presumable, so is Herrera. Fellaini was the most attacking option we had on the bench instead and that's why he came on.

Well, there are better players in our squad than Fellaini to come on when we want a goal. Bringing on Fellaini to get a goal never works.


If Jose wanted attacking options till the end then why was Mkhi taken off? He has the pace to trouble the opposition.


Do you seriously think this team is good enough for the CL? Top teams will destroy our team in CL. Barcelona conceded 10, we would have conceded 15 to 20. They are a superior teams that's why they are playing in CL and we are playing in EL.
 
I think we must stop seeing transfers as the solution to performances like yesterday. "We only need XYZ to..."

We see underperforming stars. And buying new stars meant to see more underperforming stars ine the last years.
So true.

I am starting to think the same about managers.

We have changed so much and we have hardly improved results wise over the last 3 years.
 
That result left that old sick feeling in my stomach at the final whistle. But thinking back, some of the stuff we did yesterday was quite pleasing.. In particular Rashford. A few players were not up to speed yesterday but I just keep thinking, some time everyone will be on the same page and we will absolutely obliterate a team.

2 things pissed me off yesterday, Martial getting done by that right back every single time and Fellaini losing that fella for the header. He didn't necessarily have to win the header.. just follow him and put him off and its easy.
 
I think we must stop seeing transfers as the solution to performances like yesterday. "We only need XYZ to..."

We see underperforming stars. And buying new stars meant to see more underperforming stars ine the last years.

We have Lingard and Rashford starting way too many matches. That's no front. I rate Rashford. But he is still a youngster that needs a lot of work. We should have players better than both.
 
Bossing the game is what Keane did vs Inter in 1999.
It was hardly Carrick or Pogba's fault our strikers are impotent. If anything, our midfield has been remarkably good in creating plenty of chances and dominating most games throughout the season. Yesterday was no different.

I'm not comparing Pogba with previous great players, just yet.
 
We have Lingard and Rashford starting way too many matches. That's no front. I rate Rashford. But he is still a youngster that needs a lot of work. We should have players better than both.

We have better players, but those players are low on confidence cause inferior players are being played instead of them and our best players get criticised in public. Lingard, Pogba, Ibra and Fellaini never get criticised in public even after they make mistakes every game.
 
His best save of the match was keeping out Ibra's tap in. Jesse hit the post with the rebound. Keeper aside, their central defenders made a host of brilliant last ditch blocks/tackles. We were utterly dominant but frustrated by missed chances and defensive heroics. Story of our season (bar a poor run early on and a couple of leggy performances more recently). Couldn't be more different to the sterile crap of last season. Bizarre the way so many people insist on seeing similarities.

Yeah very different from last season but equally this wasn't a continuation of the Burnley, Stoke games etc.

We weren't great in the final third and didn't actually create that much. I'd agree with Mourinho in that we had loads of half chances but the opportunities were ruined by a bad decision, bad touch, bad pass.
 
Pisses me off watching Lingard start matches but I'm not so sure how much Martial can complain as his demeanour also stinks.

It does definitely but as i said unless he plays really well he knows he will be out of the side. That can put extra unneeded pressure on a young player. This kid has crazy potential we should be playing him as much as we can to develop that talent, not punishing him for having an off game.

I can't imagine another side anywhere in europe regularly playing Jesse Lingard ahead of one of europes best young players.
 
Remind me how many chances the opposition created throughout the game? We were very comfortable and dictating the match.

Most of the people here agree that our 2nd half was bad. There's no point in dominating teams and drawing matches everytime. Maybe your definition of dominating is different.
 

Player Ratings

5.7 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 352 ratings.

Score Predictions

389,23,85
  • Man Utd win
  • Anderlecht win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 28% Anderlecht 0:2 Man Utd
  • 19% Anderlecht 1:2 Man Utd
  • 14% Anderlecht 0:1 Man Utd
  • 13% Anderlecht 1:1 Man Utd
  • 7% Anderlecht 1:3 Man Utd
  • 7% Anderlecht 0:3 Man Utd
  • 4% Anderlecht 0:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Anderlecht 2:1 Man Utd
  • 1% Anderlecht 5:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Anderlecht 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Anderlecht 1:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Anderlecht 1:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Anderlecht 0:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 2:2 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 3:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 3:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 4:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 2:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 2:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 2:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 1:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Anderlecht 2:0 Man Utd
Compiled from 497 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Anderlecht
  2. Man Utd
Possession
36% 64%
Shots
12 15
Shots on Target
1 7
Corners
6 3
Fouls
17 9

Referee

Dr. Felix Brych