EL D Europa League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Anderlecht 1:1 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Thu, 13 April 2017



I can't ever recollect a United side which was as wasteful in front of goal as this side. What's more, our egregious inefficiency somewhat masks the fact that we do regularly create very good chance, a major improvement on last season.


Story of the season. Create enough chances to get a comfortable win. Fail to finish them. Opponents score off 1-2 chances.

Draw.

Repeat.

United 2016-2017
 
Is the return leg set up perfectly for Anderlecht?

They can sit back, frustrate our attackers (easy to do) by flooding their own box and hit us with a sucker punch against the run of play.

Everton, Stoke, Burnley, West Brom, Hull and West Ham have used the blueprint effectively, I'm sure Anderlecht will do the same.
 
But haven't most of the goals been 'easy mistakes'? Or do I remember incorrect?
I am not sure what does that mean anymore. It seems we live in an age where every goal is "Sunday league defending" and "shocking defending". I am not saying that this is you in particular, I just feel that due to the endless replays and analysis mixed in with the general frustration, every mistake is magnified to extreme levels as though it is some sort of one off. Look at the CL games over this week for example and tell me you can't argue the goals conceded by the best teams in the planet were not easy goals? There is only ever one indicator of the quality of a defence and that's the against column. If that is low, whether through dogged last ditch defensive heroics à la Vidic or Terry, or through keeping possession and working as a team, then you are doing a good job defensively.

The other issue is a question of focus. Even if our defence needs to be worked at, it distracts from the real issue, the more urgent one which is the shocking for column. Don't also forget that if your attack is playing well. your defence has an easier job as you need to commit less men forward and therefore can afford more protection. Basically, look at the best teams around, they score goals and plenty of them, we don't.
 
My rating for the match
Romeiro 5 - might as well fielded an extra outfield player.
Darmian 0 - No attacking threat at all ffs. We are not fecking stoke. Our left back attack more than defend. Why could Evra stay young forever.
Baily 4 -Where was he when we conceded? His area! At least Rojo was marking someone
Rojo 4 - Smalling reincarnated on the pitch suddenly. Hoofs it blindly every time.
Valencia 5 - Not the usual self, but he alone possesses more threat than Darmian and Martial combined.
Lidgard 3 - I honestly did not realise he played this game.
Rashford 5 - Nothing specific to mention (c) Football Manager 2015
Pogba 6 - Better than usual, but not 90M
Carrick 8 - Rock solid. Always right time in the right place. Why is Fellaini getting more mins?
Mikhi 3 - I know he scored the goal, but absolute crap apart from that. In the first half worst player on the pitch, in the second read comment for Lidgard.
Ibra 7 - motd for me. Carries our team in attack. Otherwise we have 6 Tevezes in attack aka headless chickens.
Lidgard 0 - Absolute shite. I might have mentioned him already but ffs we are playing with 10 men here every game. 100k a week? 100k Zimbabwean dollars is what he deserves.
Martial 0 - Worse performance I have seen from him. Their right back absolutely owned him. It is as if he was a dog on a retractable leash when he came on.
Fellani 0 - Oh Iam just not gonna bother to mark the goalscorer, I don't want to run today. Let Darmian who played a full 70 mins more than me take care of that guy.
Fosu Mensah - N/A
You obviously weren't watching when he got to the byline and created a great chance for Mhiki
 
If we could kill teams we would be so much better. Just not taking our chances when the pressure is on us to take them.

Its psychological.

Makes the return tie trickier.
 
My rating for the match
Romeiro 5 - might as well fielded an extra outfield player.
Darmian 0 - No attacking threat at all ffs. We are not fecking stoke. Our left back attack more than defend. Why could Evra stay young forever.
Baily 4 -Where was he when we conceded? His area! At least Rojo was marking someone
Rojo 4 - Smalling reincarnated on the pitch suddenly. Hoofs it blindly every time.
Valencia 5 - Not the usual self, but he alone possesses more threat than Darmian and Martial combined.
Lidgard 3 - I honestly did not realise he played this game.
Rashford 5 - Nothing specific to mention (c) Football Manager 2015
Pogba 6 - Better than usual, but not 90M
Carrick 8 - Rock solid. Always right time in the right place. Why is Fellaini getting more mins?
Mikhi 3 - I know he scored the goal, but absolute crap apart from that. In the first half worst player on the pitch, in the second read comment for Lidgard.
Ibra 7 - motd for me. Carries our team in attack. Otherwise we have 6 Tevezes in attack aka headless chickens.
Lidgard 0 - Absolute shite. I might have mentioned him already but ffs we are playing with 10 men here every game. 100k a week? 100k Zimbabwean dollars is what he deserves.
Martial 0 - Worse performance I have seen from him. Their right back absolutely owned him. It is as if he was a dog on a retractable leash when he came on.
Fellani 0 - Oh Iam just not gonna bother to mark the goalscorer, I don't want to run today. Let Darmian who played a full 70 mins more than me take care of that guy.
Fosu Mensah - N/A

Just no
 
I agree we dominated them and, for an hour or so, played well. The problem is even when we play "well" we don't win convincingly.

Now, we're at home where we are notoriously poor, where, like this game, if we give them that one chance it could kill us. I'm not confident at all but I'm not completely writing us off like it's an impossible task.
Not in Europe we aren't. We are notoriously good.

Our home results in Europa thus far:

5-2 Galatasary
1-0 Zoyra
4-1 Fenerbache
4-0 Feyenoord
3-0 St Etienne
1-0 Rostov

That's a 100% record in Europa at home, scoring 18 goals and conceding 3 in the process. It's away from home with have struggled in Europe.
 
Are these people actually promoted to the mains? :wenger:

Lidgard..twice?
Completely intended to mention Lidgard twice mate! I have said that I mentioned him already. Read the bloody post, you should be put back to noobies for not bothering to read before you post.
 
Right because no other teams draw or lose games or drop points or concede late goals.

Not as often and as much as we do

The mere fact we are struggling so hard to get a win versus such crappy opponents week in week out is a clear sign Mou ain't doing a good job.

You would almost think he doesn't have quality players, but at the start of the season everyone was convinced we had a strong squad and I'am still convinced we have good players but Mourinho just isn't using them effectively at all.
 
Sigh. I actually thought we were ok for about 55 minutes today.

But good grief. We should have scored 3 tonight. Weve now turned what could have been a comfortable home fixture into a tricky tie with a team who can sniff the semi. Zlatan was good regardless.

If Ferguson was instructing the second half tonight we would have won about 4-0. That team we played against tonight were absolute dross.

I dont buy this. This team are unbeaten at home in 11.
 
Is the return leg set up perfectly for Anderlecht?

They can sit back, frustrate our attackers (easy to do) by flooding their own box and hit us with a sucker punch against the run of play.

Everton, Stoke, Burnley, West Brom, Hull and West Ham have used the blueprint effectively, I'm sure Anderlecht will do the same.

Well i hope we are smart enough to realise we are ahead in the tie.

Early goal would be nice for us.
 
This has been the big criticism of Jose for me. His blind loyalty to Fellaini, Darmian (even though he played well tonight) and Lingard. It's costing us big time yet he doesn't seem to ever learn from his mistakes regarding these players.
But what's Mourinho supposed to do? He doesn't have a lot of players. Herrera can't play all the time, so he must use Fellaini some times. Shaw is apparently not 'intelligent' enough for Mourinho so he uses Darmian or Blind that presumably understands his tactics. Martial looks lost this season, dribbling and running into the opponent so he uses Lingard who at least has the right work-rate and movement - too bad he can't score more.

So it's not his fault. If the 'better' players would just take their Place he'd not use them that as much as he does. Well all except Fellaini, since there aren't that many CM's - at least not any he wants to try, no Blind or TFM, not sure if they'd be good enough but he could test them at least.

So I'm expecting Mourinho to buy more players this summer than he said (think he mentioned something like 3-4 players). So I'd think 5-6 players will be bought. And all of them will likely be starters.
 
Carrick looks real pissed off.
I'm not surprised. When you think of some of the forward lines he's had in front of him in the past compared to our current set that can barely play simple passes never mind take chances when they get near the goal.
 
Is the return leg set up perfectly for Anderlecht?

They can sit back, frustrate our attackers (easy to do) by flooding their own box and hit us with a sucker punch against the run of play.

Everton, Stoke, Burnley, West Brom, Hull and West Ham have used the blueprint effectively, I'm sure Anderlecht will do the same.

They need to score. We've been good at making sure nobody scores at old Trafford haha
 
I guess so. Far too sloppy and plenty of misplaced passes, combined with our inability to hit a cow's arse with a banjo cost us a really positive result.

PS. What's happened to Martial's ability to beat a man? He's worse than Valencia in that regard now. Tackled every time.
He's really struggling this season.

Last season it was almost like the ball was stuck to his foot.
 
My rating for the match
Romeiro 5 - might as well fielded an extra outfield player.
Darmian 0 - No attacking threat at all ffs. We are not fecking stoke. Our left back attack more than defend. Why could Evra stay young forever.
Baily 4 -Where was he when we conceded? His area! At least Rojo was marking someone
Rojo 4 - Smalling reincarnated on the pitch suddenly. Hoofs it blindly every time.
Valencia 5 - Not the usual self, but he alone possesses more threat than Darmian and Martial combined.
Lidgard 3 - I honestly did not realise he played this game.
Rashford 5 - Nothing specific to mention (c) Football Manager 2015
Pogba 6 - Better than usual, but not 90M
Carrick 8 - Rock solid. Always right time in the right place. Why is Fellaini getting more mins?
Mikhi 3 - I know he scored the goal, but absolute crap apart from that. In the first half worst player on the pitch, in the second read comment for Lidgard.
Ibra 7 - motd for me. Carries our team in attack. Otherwise we have 6 Tevezes in attack aka headless chickens.
Lidgard 0 - Absolute shite. I might have mentioned him already but ffs we are playing with 10 men here every game. 100k a week? 100k Zimbabwean dollars is what he deserves.
Martial 0 - Worse performance I have seen from him. Their right back absolutely owned him. It is as if he was a dog on a retractable leash when he came on.
Fellani 0 - Oh Iam just not gonna bother to mark the goalscorer, I don't want to run today. Let Darmian who played a full 70 mins more than me take care of that guy.
Fosu Mensah - N/A
well done,now go and play FIFA.
p.S. it is Lingard, not Lidgard
P.S.2 is it 0 or 3 forLidgard? Choose one!

fecking football Einsteins, these days, ffs.
 
I'm a massive Jose fan and I do not want him sacked or anything stupid like that but he's not above criticism. The constant bashing of players is fecking terrible man management. You know maybe if our strikers had some confidence, maybe just maybe they'd start killing games off.
 
Rashford should start every game until the end of the season, only player who provides a bit of spark. Zlatan was his usual self, excellent hold up play but not getting a lot of chances. Like people have said Martial is a concern, wouldn't be surprised if he's sent on loan in the summer or sold if the right offer is made.
 
Even at 0-1 it would be a poor result because all they need is a flukey goal in the return leg to cancel that goal. What we needed was 2 or 3 goals.

A 1-2 to us would have been very good.
 
You know...just looking at Jose's post match and his reaction to the Chelsea game coming up....he looked and sounded like a guy who doesn't hold much hope. I'm sure I'm wrong....but it wasn't battling...it was....'hey...we have try'...

I don't blame him considering...and I'm thinking he may be putting all his eggs into the EL...which probably makes his disappointment tonight more realistic.
 


I can't ever recollect a United side which was as wasteful in front of goal as this side. What's more, our egregious inefficiency somewhat masks the fact that we do regularly create very good chance, a major improvement on last season.

What is this "simulation" bollox?
 
My rating for the match
Romeiro 5 - might as well fielded an extra outfield player.
Darmian 0 - No attacking threat at all ffs. We are not fecking stoke. Our left back attack more than defend. Why could Evra stay young forever.
Baily 4 -Where was he when we conceded? His area! At least Rojo was marking someone
Rojo 4 - Smalling reincarnated on the pitch suddenly. Hoofs it blindly every time.
Valencia 5 - Not the usual self, but he alone possesses more threat than Darmian and Martial combined.
Lidgard 3 - I honestly did not realise he played this game.
Rashford 5 - Nothing specific to mention (c) Football Manager 2015
Pogba 6 - Better than usual, but not 90M
Carrick 8 - Rock solid. Always right time in the right place. Why is Fellaini getting more mins?
Mikhi 3 - I know he scored the goal, but absolute crap apart from that. In the first half worst player on the pitch, in the second read comment for Lidgard.
Ibra 7 - motd for me. Carries our team in attack. Otherwise we have 6 Tevezes in attack aka headless chickens.
Lidgard 0 - Absolute shite. I might have mentioned him already but ffs we are playing with 10 men here every game. 100k a week? 100k Zimbabwean dollars is what he deserves.
Martial 0 - Worse performance I have seen from him. Their right back absolutely owned him. It is as if he was a dog on a retractable leash when he came on.
Fellani 0 - Oh Iam just not gonna bother to mark the goalscorer, I don't want to run today. Let Darmian who played a full 70 mins more than me take care of that guy.
Fosu Mensah - N/A
Match of the day?

If you mean man of the match, you gave Carrick a higher score?

Apart from that, a quite ........ amazing post.

Edit.... oh yes, meant to say I'd love Tevez right now.... someone who tried.
 
That "weakness" is maroune fecking fellaini. Twice now he is brought on to defend/kill off the game and twice he has failed miserably just like against everton.

Such a rubbish player that brings our level down significantly.

Come on mate, that was absolutely nothing to do with Fellaini.
 
Jose comes on his interview and blames the forwards. Yes Pogba has to score his chance but

1) We were doing okay in the first half, so his half time team talk must of been keep it tight and don't concede

2) His subs were appalling, why oh why does he put on Fellaini again. He cost us the game in end

3) How are we meant to score when the full backs don't come forward and we still have no natural wingers on the pitch. This has been our major problem for 3 seasons and still not sorted.
 
Mourinho said it all post match. Just a lack of quality. Half chances ruined by a bad touch, a bad pass, a bad decision. They're all guilty of it, have been all season. Simple really.

Just got to make a decision as to why. Are they just not good enough, do some just need time etc.
 
Is this team ready to go up against Europe's elite in the CL next season? :confused:

Need 2 more big signings IMO.

They will come and that should make the difference for our inability to score more.

We were comfortable and played the usual European away tie we always hated under Fergie as well. Hell of a cross, unlucky, otherwise we would be laughing.

No injuries and no overexertion, all well and good.
 
My rating for the match
Romeiro 5 - might as well fielded an extra outfield player.
Darmian 0 - No attacking threat at all ffs. We are not fecking stoke. Our left back attack more than defend. Why could Evra stay young forever.
Baily 4 -Where was he when we conceded? His area! At least Rojo was marking someone

Rojo 4 - Smalling reincarnated on the pitch suddenly. Hoofs it blindly every time.
Valencia 5 - Not the usual self, but he alone possesses more threat than Darmian and Martial combined.
Lidgard 3 - I honestly did not realise he played this game.
Rashford 5 - Nothing specific to mention (c) Football Manager 2015
Pogba 6 - Better than usual, but not 90M
Carrick 8 - Rock solid. Always right time in the right place. Why is Fellaini getting more mins?
Mikhi 3 - I know he scored the goal, but absolute crap apart from that. In the first half worst player on the pitch, in the second read comment for Lidgard.
Ibra 7 - motd for me. Carries our team in attack. Otherwise we have 6 Tevezes in attack aka headless chickens.
Lidgard 0 - Absolute shite. I might have mentioned him already but ffs we are playing with 10 men here every game. 100k a week? 100k Zimbabwean dollars is what he deserves.
Martial 0 - Worse performance I have seen from him. Their right back absolutely owned him. It is as if he was a dog on a retractable leash when he came on.
Fellani 0 - Oh Iam just not gonna bother to mark the goalscorer, I don't want to run today. Let Darmian who played a full 70 mins more than me take care of that guy.
Fosu Mensah - N/A
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:
 
Michael Owen ra

Isn't having one of the best defenses in Europe a 'strength'.

Reducing a side to one chance a game is a positive thing, yes.
But is the 'reduction' due to good defending or because the players have a lot of possession? So isn't it because of the offensive players instead? Would this defence keep it at 1 shot even when playing against Bayern Munich-type of teams (top class teams)? Just my thoughts, or am I thinking wrong?
 
Even the blind can see that we're lacking 1 or 2 quality attacking-players with end product. Players like Rashford, Lingard, and this years version of Martial doesn't do it enough. Rashford had a very good game today, but needs more time to develop. Martial looks lost at the moment.
 
You should be ashamed of yourself...I mean ffs.....
Zenit St fecking Petersburg beat them 3-1, why should I not criticize our players? I have aspirations unlike you.. I want us to compete with the best. And if we can't beat comfortably Anderlecht I will criticize. To summarize my post in one line we need to get better fast.
 
Fellani who was at fault for the goal is not the worst player- Martial it is for failing to beat his man. The caf has found the new scapegoat! :D
 
Mate I dont think anyone is worried about this tie. We played them off the park at their own stadium.

Nothing is for certain, but if we turn up at OT, we will walk through them.

Its the nature of us letting a lead slip away via shite players coming on, and also not finishing easy chances and being more ruthless is whats bothering most of us.

Yep. This can happen in Europe though.

But yes, the whole finishing aspect all season is a huge issue to sort. It has been farcical at times.
 

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.
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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