EL W Europa League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg

Manchester United 2:1 Anderlecht

Post-match discussion


Thu, 20 April 2017

They looked excellent tonight, loads of battle. Watched the games side by side. We also looked very poor tonight
They lost 3:2 to Schalke. We looked poor in some parts of the game but even then we had about 6, 7 big chances to score. It will be a different game and I wouldn't fear them.
 
Happy our lads' heads didn't drop.

Though I think we won mostly because of Anderlecht's subs. They surrendered possession to us after that.

Football, fecking hell. United never do things the easy way.

:devil:
 
Mentally weak players. It's the only explanation for constantly missing chances at key moments.
 
3 in 3 for Rashford is a good sign.

Winning whilst playing terribly also a good sign.

We never know how to do things the easy way though do we? Always gotta ramp up the stress levels for the fans but I suppose that's why we love this club.

Felt like a proper knockout tie in Europe and I'm glad we went through but bloody hell we need to shape up and get this done with.
 
We're going into semantics indeed now but I'd go even further with praise for them (if I were a neutral, I'd be fecking mad if we lost to them) if they'd done us over.

Let's agree to disagree and just enjoy the fact that we're through. I'll proceed to be a miser cnut somewhere else I promise.
:lol: Fair enough. Makes sense. Have a good night or as you might say have a good good night.
 
First time this season I can say - Pogba was great. (apart from his finishing, goes without saying though)

Worked his arse off and was everywhere. Rashford, Fellaini, Mkht, Baily were also great. Ibra was atrocious (get well soon, pls)
 
Shaw was awful first half hour, but managed to improve. One of the worst performances by Valencia is a long time. Blind was shaky too.

Finishing terrible. Pogba, Rashford were good.

Agree. Also Ibra was looking like a 35 year old who has played hundreds of minutes for us.

It's good to get the job done, but I must say if we'd have come unstuck I'd be blaming the missed chances over anything else. The team looked ok up to the goal so I wouldn't blame the manager/coaches, a couple of players were poor but Christ the finishing at this club has been woeful this season.
 
Carrick was amazing.

At his age, he ran for 120 minutes - cutting off passing lanes, winning the ball and always making the right decision to pass the ball forward. If only we can replace Pogba's head with Carrick's.
 
Mentally weak players. It's the only explanation for constantly missing chances at key moments.

I'd be intrigued to see what our conversion stats were in comparison to other European 'super clubs' because ours must be miles behind.
 
And you cannot really compare standards of both teams either, can you?

I know that in the match it should be a level playing field but in the end different things are expected of us and them. Hence for me they've done well and we haven't. Credit where it's due that we got through but that wasn't down to us being anywhere near the expected level (and I'm talking this year's level, not Fergie times level).

fair enough
 
Really? Somewhere on these boards are a couple of posts from me saying Rashford is overrated and not very good. If someone on the caf wants to bake a humble pie with an extra serving of short and curlies baked in I'll take my large slice. I thought he looked mustard tonight.

Are you hungry ?

No seriously I don't think you can say he played a very good game for the simple reason he messed up far too many chances. Ok he scored the final goal which is majorly important but if he had done the basics right he could and should have finished that game already long before the final whistle, he missed an insane amount of chances tonight. You can say it is pretty nice he is involves in so many chances but lets not forget the quality of opposition tonight we were up against. He is a very talented player but he needs to be more clinical infront goal. There will be big games where we are the underdog and will need a goal, you need your strikers to be clinical, Rashford was far too wastefull with many good chances today to say he had a very good game.

Ibrahimovic in that department was even worse, his performance infront of goal was outright abysmal. Rashford still has the excuse of being 19 years old but for Ibra there is simply no excuse, today was quite easy his worst display in a very long while.
 
Harder work than it should have been, some of the chances missed tonight were scandalous. Job done in the end though.Rashford stepping up again, he might be needed to do it a lot more if Ibrahimovic's injury turns out to be a bad one. I actually thought when Fellaini came on the more obvious change was Herrera for Ibrahimovic and push Rashford up front and Pogba a bit further forward, Zlatan looked a bit out of sorts tonight. Hopefully his injury isn't too bad though.
 
Frustrating night. Buzzing for Rashford and think it will do him the world of good that tonight but some of the performances of the other players leave alot to be desired, yet again. The amount of chances we miss is absolutely atrocious and I really fear we will struggle to get by Celta Vigo or Ajax in the semi's (if we draw them).
 
Frustrating night. Buzzing for Rashford and think it will do him the world of good that tonight but some of the performances of the other players leave alot to be desired, yet again. The amount of chances we miss is absolutely atrocious and I really fear we will struggle to get by Celta Vigo or Ajax in the semi's (if we draw them).

We might have to win away from home to be absolutely sure of going through. This bunch of players cannot finish their dinner at Old Trafford.
 
Well done Lads,very wasteful but kept on going till the end.
It's going to be a tough game on Sunday
 
Play the side that beat Chelsea with Shaw at LB, Miki RW and probably Blind at CB if Rojo doesnt recover, against Burnley and see what happens. If we win keep the same side with Rashford at CF I got a good felling about this. Even if Ibra comes back - which I doubt - then bring him on as a sub if needed.
 
Congrats chaps, get the feeling your name is on the cup though expect more nail biting moments.
 
Shaw did well and the Pobga pass for the first goal was a great pass but Ibra was looking very bad out there tonight but hopefully his injury will not be to bad as I really like the player. Herrara is so important for us and for me is the heartbeat of the team. We need players like Dembele,Mbappe,Griezman in the summer plus a really strong DM. It will be interesting to see what happens in the summer.
 
I know this is slightly controversial but I've actually enjoyed the Europa League this year. If we don't win it and end up playing in it again next year, personally I wouldn't be devastated.

Simple fact is, and as somebody else said on the match thread, we're not ready to play the likes of Bayern and Madrid just yet and regardless of how good our summer is in terms of recruitment we won't be next year either. I've got no interest in us doing an Arsenal and getting humbled 10-1 by Bayern and don't think it would be helpful on any level.
 
There must have been a lot of low scores for Pogba. Personally, I thought he was incredible tonight. Worked his socks off, all over the pitch, never gave up. Shame about the disallowed goal, that was harsh.

Was shaping up to be my man of the match, until Rashford scored.
 
Great games but once again missing chances. Rashford was running everywjere, he was immense! I am a bit worried we've lost Rojo if we don't get Smailing back soon!
 
Bloody hell, we couldn't have made that tie any harder. They're an alright side but we dominated the majority of that tie and it still took a late extra time to get us through. Marcus Rashford is absolutely brilliant though, what a well taken goal.
Certainly don't fear Lyon, Celta Vigo or Ajax but we really need to start killing games off. Especially in this competition, we'll put ourselves under pressure with the away goals rule in the semi-finals if we don't.

Interested to see who we get tomorrow.
 
Well feck me did we make hard work of that. Worst team left it in beside Genk and we scraped through. A little less confident about our chances of winning the EL than I was before the Anderlecht games.

Maybe we are about to be like Germany that usually explodes in the latter stages of tourneys.

Semi finals are where Jose often stumbles though. But once he gets to the finals, he hardly ever loses.
 
Happy our lads' heads didn't drop.

Though I think we won mostly because of Anderlecht's subs. They surrendered possession to us after that.

Football, fecking hell. United never do things the easy way.

:devil:

I'am actually really worried and really ashamed United had to go this deep to get the victory.

Anderlecht has crucial title deciding play offs ongoing in this period which is more important for them then the semi final of the EL. They are aslo a team who simply aren't that good and have blatant shortcomings in some crucial areas of their games, their defence being the biggest one as they easily concede goals and they are also simply not used to be playing the underdog position. I was overjoyed with the draw because I tought it was going to be a walkover, surely if United took it serious it just had to be an easy win.

Bu my god how difficult we made it for ourselves over those 2 games, I still can't believe it.

We really really need to step up big time if we want to win this EL because the other teams left are miles better than Anderlecht or anything we have been served up before in this EL. From the semis it will be the first time this campaign we will have a "strong" opponent. We simply can not afford to be this wastefull against those teams or we will be punished for it.
 
Last edited:
If they play like this and win the damned thing I won't mind... But if they don't... :mad::mad::mad:

I feel like I've been running after the ball for 120 minutes.
 
Had to work late so sickly pleased I got to see half an hour of extra time, I'm sorry for you guys who got to watch it all tho
 
I know this is slightly controversial but I've actually enjoyed the Europa League this year. If we don't win it and end up playing in it again next year, personally I wouldn't be devastated.

Simple fact is, and as somebody else said on the match thread, we're not ready to play the likes of Bayern and Madrid just yet and regardless of how good our summer is in terms of recruitment we won't be next year either. I've got no interest in us doing an Arsenal and getting humbled 10-1 by Bayern and don't think it would be helpful on any level.

What nonsense is this? Don't want to be in the CL because we might get thrashed? Have a word lad.
 
Let's see, how many chances did the lads miss today that should have been buried?

Zlatan missed two (or was it three?).
Lingard missed one
Rashford missed two
Pogba missed one
Shaw missed one

If we had scored only half of those, the scoreline could have been at least 5-1.

Zlatan going out turned out to be a good thing though. Martial added some energy and cutting edge.
 
Are you hungry ?

No seriously I don't think you can say he played a very good game for the simple reason he messed up far too many chances. Ok he scored the final goal which is majorly important but if he had done the basics right he could and should have finished that game already long before the final whistle, he missed an insane amount of chances tonight. You can say it is pretty nice he is involves in so many chances but lets not forget the quality of opposition tonight we were up against. He is a very talented player but he needs to be more clinical infront goal. There will be big games where we are the underdog and will need a goal, you need your strikers to be clinical, Rashford was far too wastefull with many good chances today to say he had a very good game.

Ibrahimovic in that department was even worse, his performance infront of goal was outright abysmal. Rashford still has the excuse of being 19 years old but for Ibra there is simply no excuse, today was quite easy his worst display in a very long while.

Just personal opinion. I genuinely think he looked decent tonight. People extend forgiveness to Martial due to second season syndrome but not to Rashford. Hes 19 ffs, very few player are clinical at his age, and even the ones that are often don't amount to much.

I didn't mention Ibra. He's scored most of our goals this year but given his age and experience he should have chipped in with an RvP level of goals. Should be on 30 as a bare minimum now with no excuses.
 
Firstly, hats off Michael Carrick playing 120mins tonight and helping us get through.

Rashford nicely taken goal but he needs to be less hesitant like the one where he rounded the keeper and just shoot but overall a very good game.

Zlatans injury could be a blessing in disguise because I thought we played better and quicker without him, personally think playing every game in the season earlier has caught up with him and should be utilized better.
 
Hope Rojo isn't badly injured, most improved player under Mou for me.

Let's not pretend we breezed through europe when SAF was in charge, but they did put us through the wringer.
 

Player Ratings

6.2 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 510 ratings.

Score Predictions

575,11,14
  • Man Utd win
  • Anderlecht win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 41% Man Utd 2:0 Anderlecht
  • 26% Man Utd 3:0 Anderlecht
  • 8% Man Utd 1:0 Anderlecht
  • 8% Man Utd 2:1 Anderlecht
  • 6% Man Utd 3:1 Anderlecht
  • 5% Man Utd 4:0 Anderlecht
  • 2% Man Utd 5:0 Anderlecht
  • 2% Man Utd 0:0 Anderlecht
  • 1% Man Utd 4:1 Anderlecht
  • 1% Man Utd 0:1 Anderlecht
  • 1% Man Utd 2:2 Anderlecht
  • 1% Man Utd 1:2 Anderlecht
  • 0% Man Utd 0:3 Anderlecht
  • 0% Man Utd 0:5 Anderlecht
  • 0% Man Utd 1:1 Anderlecht
  • 0% Man Utd 1:3 Anderlecht
Compiled from 600 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Anderlecht
Possession
60% 40%
Shots
22 18
Shots on Target
10 6
Corners
12 6
Fouls
14 11

Referee

Alberto Undiano Mallenco