[GlasgowCeltic]

Surely can’t be many occasions a club technical director has received a booking

 

[Matt007a]

We started really brightly and Elanga was really unlucky with his effort hitting Oblak on the head.

After that though we slowly reverted back to our slow and lethargic play against a side renowned for being hard to break down. We didn't use nearly enough width. Sancho always wants to cut in, which is fine if the full back overlaps but it never really happened. Same on the other side, we never utilized the 2v1 effectively.

We were so naive towards the end as well. You know Atletico will waste time on every set piece, yet we kept fouling them in nothing areas of the pitch. Felix is running into the corner with 3 players around him and McTominay just bundles into the back of him deliberately to concede a free kick, which uses up a full minute of time. We have some real brain dead players out there, which is why our game management is so poor. It's why we don't hold leads or maintain control of matches. No one seems to use their experience to look at the bigger picture. It's always panic and short term reaction.

 

[James Peril]

I was angry with De Gea’s performance tonight. He just stood rooted to the spot whilst that header came towards him in slow motion.
Any half decent keeper would have reacted to that as there was plenty of time to do something. He really has to go soon.

Ridiculous post. A keeper needs to cover both left and right, in most cases the attacker heads in the other corner, it was a smart header and de Gea just didn't have the right footing there and then.
If the player heads into the other corner he might have saved it, who knows. The problem here was atrocious defending.

 

[Reynoldo]

We didn’t do enough to win over the two legs, but you have to say.. that was probably the worst refereeing performance we’ve ever come up against in Europe, the decisions were absolutely baffling.. it was basically playing against 12 men

Over a whole game then probably yes but in terms of context I think the Nani sending off tops it as you actually felt we were building towards something special that year in the CL and potentially winning it.

 

[MancFanFromManc]

Wow. Our end of season party in mid-March! Isnt that abuse that's always been aimed at other teams!

How we go from 2nd in the Prem, then adding 3 amazing signings, to this! I know some say we overachieved by coming 2nd, but who cares. Confidence is king and that "should" have given us a platform to push on. The reasons are blindly obvious to me (and I'm sure many of you too) - the defensive side of our club is a shambles. Who are our defensive coaches and what the hell are they doing? Maybe they're actually good but dont have the right tools to work with? Whatever the reason this was painfully obvious last summer and simply wasnt resolved. Playing Fred as a DM is just plain embarrassing. He's a tidy player in possession and brings real energy, but he IS NOT a defensive player in any way. Not strong enough and cant tackle. He's been asked to do a job because we dont have anyone else. Matic is done, Pogba is also an attacking mid. We only have McT and he's more than decent. In an ideal world, if the defence was up to the task we'd only need Scott in there, but Maguire is a feckin disaster and sadly Varane misses too many games (Rolls Royce of a player when available of course). Our full backs are all capable but inconsistent. Lindelof gets bullied. I dont need to discuss the rest.

Sort out our defensive side and we will challenge next season. Dont and expect more of the same. Rant over.

 

[Reynoldo]

We started really brightly and Elanga was really unlucky with his effort hitting Oblak on the head.

After that though we slowly reverted back to our slow and lethargic play against a side renowned for being hard to break down. We didn't use nearly enough width. Sancho always wants to cut in, which is fine if the full back overlaps but it never really happened. Same on the other side, we never utilized the 2v1 effectively.

We were so naive towards the end as well. You know Atletico will waste time on every set piece, yet we kept fouling them in nothing areas of the pitch. Felix is running into the corner with 3 players around him and McTominay just bundles into the back of him deliberately to concede a free kick, which uses up a full minute of time. We have some real brain dead players out there, which is why our game management is so poor. It's why we don't hold leads or maintain control of matches. No one seems to use their experience to look at the bigger picture. It's always panic and short term reaction.

We are just so naive and dumb and really really immature. Bruno is the best example of this, he is an amazing player but you cant let your emotions get the better of you such that you get so worked up and spend all your energy whinging and moaning to the ref instead of channeling it back into your game to get the win. We are the complete antitheses of AM really, our players turn into scorned teenagers as soon as anything goes against them and you just knew before the tie that they'd win over 2 legs due to their street smarts without even need to being that good footballing wise, we probably were the easiest team left in the competition for AM to play against in this regard to be be honest.

 

[NiceGuyEddie]

I didn’t think it was right, he’s just doing his job

I don't condone lowering ourselves to the level of Atletico, but Simone is an absolute rat who actively encourages his team to engage in underhand shithousery. He's about as unsporting as you can get.

 

[Giggsyking]

were there bottles thrown at Simeone when he ran to the dressing room after the end of the match?

 

[Whatsername]

were there bottles thrown at Simeone when he ran to the dressing room after the end of the match?

I saw a video showing that

 

[Giggsyking]

I saw a video showing that

It looks like it yes

 

[NiceGuyEddie]

were there bottles thrown at Simeone when he ran to the dressing room after the end of the match?

More like half-empty cups of warm beer. You see him dodging them as he hauled ass back to the dressing room. In a post match interview he claimed not to be aware of it and that he was running back to celebrate in the dressing room because he was happy(!). A likely tale. More like he knew his shithousery had stirred up a hornets nest and he sensed danger.

 

[Jacko21]

Last night highlighted just what little part United have played on the European stage in the last decade.

Our first experience against Simeone's Atletico and we display the kind of staggering naivety that he and his team have preyed on for so long.

I can take the rough with the smooth, football being cyclical yade yade yada... but it's miserable how irrelevant we are at this moment in time.

 

[miked99]

I thought we played alright last night, especially in the first half where we didn't deserve to be trailing at the break.

Second half was symptomatic of our problems. We've known for ages we lack the guile to break down well organised defences, and that was the case once again last night.

We were never going to win the CL, not a chance. We acheived what you'd expect overall, last 16 is about right for where we're at.

 

[Hughie77]

Athletico played a weak ref well, that's it seen it before in Europe and Simeones side are the worst at it, 1st leg the players didn't stop badgering the ref the manager the same on side lines, they question every decision throw in corner its to unsettle the ref, it worked he was All over the place.
Persistent fouling is a yellow, Athletico in a space of 3 to 4 mins in 2nd half did it, no Yellows? A stronger ref knows what there doing, a books one of them. They would not leave the game go more than a few mins before a stoppage of some sort. When you got a ref like that you take advantage of it away from home.

The off the ball blocks taking out was blatant, he some how left these go, Fred was taken out just before there goal, VAR deemed that OK?
Elangas chance goes in instead of hitting the keeper on his head, game is different and I think we go on and win . Small margins and average team better coached in the Dark arts win. It's shows how average UTD are ATM.
Hope those cups were full of piss they threw at him , but the officials should have had the golden shower . Well played Athletico

 

[Giggsyking]

More like half-empty cups of warm beer. You see him dodging them as he hauled ass back to the dressing room. In a post match interview he claimed not to be aware of it and that he was running back to celebrate in the dressing room because he was happy(!). A likely tale. More like he knew his shithousery had stirred up a hornets nest and he sensed danger.

Exactly.

 

[Hughie77]

Last night highlighted just what little part United have played on the European stage in the last decade.

Our first experience against Simeone's Atletico and we display the kind of staggering naivety that he and his team have preyed on for so long.

I can take the rough with the smooth, football being cyclical yade yade yada... but it's miserable how irrelevant we are at this moment in time.

Agree, imagine that with SAF in the dugout, the officials even in the prem show no respect to the staff, Same as last night.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Wow. Our end of season party in mid-March! Isnt that abuse that's always been aimed at other teams!

How we go from 2nd in the Prem, then adding 3 amazing signings, to this! I know some say we overachieved by coming 2nd, but who cares. Confidence is king and that "should" have given us a platform to push on. The reasons are blindly obvious to me (and I'm sure many of you too) - the defensive side of our club is a shambles. Who are our defensive coaches and what the hell are they doing? Maybe they're actually good but dont have the right tools to work with? Whatever the reason this was painfully obvious last summer and simply wasnt resolved. Playing Fred as a DM is just plain embarrassing. He's a tidy player in possession and brings real energy, but he IS NOT a defensive player in any way. Not strong enough and cant tackle. He's been asked to do a job because we dont have anyone else. Matic is done, Pogba is also an attacking mid. We only have McT and he's more than decent. In an ideal world, if the defence was up to the task we'd only need Scott in there, but Maguire is a feckin disaster and sadly Varane misses too many games (Rolls Royce of a player when available of course). Our full backs are all capable but inconsistent. Lindelof gets bullied. I dont need to discuss the rest.

Sort out our defensive side and we will challenge next season. Dont and expect more of the same. Rant over.

Not sure if it was overachieving or other teams underachieving. Bit of both. The perfect scenario. Think we were also one of the teams who benefited greatly from no crowds. No pressure away from home and definitely no crowd pressure at home.

 

[golden_blunder]

were there bottles thrown at Simeone when he ran to the dressing room after the end of the match?

Yes

 

[golden_blunder]

I don't condone lowering ourselves to the level of Atletico, but Simone is an absolute rat who actively encourages his team to engage in underhand shithousery. He's about as unsporting as you can get.

The thing is, you know what you’re gonna get with them every time. No excuses for our boys and no excuses for the fans to think it’s ok to engage in that

 

[DomesticTadpole]

People moaning about United rhythm, it is difficult to get a rhythm going when Atletico insisting of falling over and rolling around and then the referee falling for it each time. It makes sure there is no flow to the game. Like City fouling opposition players to stop them getting going. They are a poor side and this is the only tactic they have. That was why we needed to score the first goal. They are cynicism at it's worst.

 

[Dans]

Disappointing result, despite playing some decent football first half.
I'm always very loathe to blame players, and to say that player X or Y should be dropped, transferred out or left out of the squad. Maguire seemed to be targetted, especially first half, with the ball in behind, and I finally feel that it's probably time for Maguire to be left out, he seems more and more a liability in a back four, he may be better in a back three, but I think his race is run.
I really don't know what's happened to Rashford, he's just a shadow of the player we had a couple of years ago, shouldn't be anywhere near the squad at the moment. Why Sancho and Elanga didn't swap positions several times during the game I'll never know, also, apart from Matic, the subs didn't work at all, thought Fernandes was doing ok, but we certainly lost midfield when all three were subbed. Thought Mctominay did ok today, Fred very good again. Varane, De Gea, Telles all did ok.

For me Ronaldo was the more likely candidate to be subbed first. Matic was good I agree, but none of the others had any positive effect.

 

[steffyr2]

I noticed they didn't come up with a name of a new manager. What's the betting they would say go after Conte, who I doubt would fit in with Rio's description of what a manager needs to be.

Didn't see this, but I'm assuming they want a buddy of their -- Giggs, Fletcher, you know -- a good old boy.

 

[L1nk]

Disgusting team full of disgusting players

 

[christinaa]

United should issue a formal complaint about this disgusting and atrocious refereeing from this referee and also another one with the English FA about the constant line of PL referees who hate us - each and every game.

 

[BusbyMalone]

Our defensive shape before the goal

 

[Red Devil 26]

Disgusting team full of disgusting players

This points to wider issues in terms of officiating and the game as a whole needing to do more to stamp out time wasting and shithousery. Added time is clearly broken and doesn't compensate for the amount of time wasted in games.

Not a fan of Atletico's antics, but heck, if it's so easy to get away with it, I don't blame them for incorporating it in to their game plan. Especially when up against a team as naive as ourselves.

 

[Smithy89]

The club is filled with charlatans, most of them don't even look like they want to play for us or enjoy it like it's an effort. They're an absolute disgrace and apart from the younger lads like Elanga and Sancho, i can't stand any of them. Do they know what privilege they have to play for united?

 

[UnofficialDevil]

We started really brightly and Elanga was really unlucky with his effort hitting Oblak on the head.

After that though we slowly reverted back to our slow and lethargic play against a side renowned for being hard to break down. We didn't use nearly enough width. Sancho always wants to cut in, which is fine if the full back overlaps but it never really happened. Same on the other side, we never utilized the 2v1 effectively.

We were so naive towards the end as well. You know Atletico will waste time on every set piece, yet we kept fouling them in nothing areas of the pitch. Felix is running into the corner with 3 players around him and McTominay just bundles into the back of him deliberately to concede a free kick, which uses up a full minute of time. We have some real brain dead players out there, which is why our game management is so poor. It's why we don't hold leads or maintain control of matches. No one seems to use their experience to look at the bigger picture. It's always panic and short term reaction.

True. Thin margins, if that Elanga clear goal chance had gone in we would probably be in the last 8 now.
First 30 minutes was really nice football. Last 15 minutes with Cavani and Rashford and Co on the pitch was messy football, awful.

 

[Stretfordender786]

The fact Liverpool might win a quad is heartbreaking I can’t imagine it man

 

[Redfrog]

How many of these players today should be in our first 11 lineup next season?

Sancho
Telles
Varane
Dalot
Fernandes
DDG

6!

We still need a CB, CDM, CM, RW and ST.

Akanji, Rice, Tchouameni, Antony/Raphinha and Lewandowski would be my signings.

Lewandowski
Sancho Fernandes Raphinha
Rice Tchouameni
Telles Varane Akanji Dalot
De Gea

We still need an overhaul and there's ALOT of aging players and players at the end of their contracts or should be sold:

Matic
Jones
Lingard
Henderson
Bailly
Maguire
Fred
Ronaldo
Cavani

We need 9 out and 7 in over the next year.

Dalot and Telles ? How the standards have dropped. They are both average at best.

 

[Maticmaker]

We wuz robbed!
How did the ref only get 1 minute extra time for first half, after all the stoppages?
We got what was expected from Atletico, but we had no answer except for Varane, he's played these guys before and it showed, he was the only one of our lads who responded in kind to the personal provocations, but he kept it sweet and on the blind side of the ref. MOTM for me for that aspect of his play alone.

Some poor performances again from Cavani and Rashford, this lad is really in trouble, he doesn't know what to do when the ball arrives at his feet,; Cavani's sulking and rightly so, but why Ralf keeps picking him is a bit of a mystery.
Fred looks a different player when he is 10 yards further forward and McT did some gut-wrenching running all through. With the subs, only Matic and Mata looked as though they were up for it.

Slightly disappointed with Sancho after his recent run outs, last night at times he started to do the old Martial trick of wanting to do his 'party piece', take the ball to feet and then 'front up' the defender, instead of running in behind and taking the ball on the run, unfortunately two defenders 'fronted' him almost every time; hope he shakes this habit soon, because he was coming to the boil nicely in previous games.

Don't believe Maguire is as bad as others make out, but he is suffering from a loss of form and confidence and he is definitely no captain!

Bet Atletico will be requesting this ref for all their remaining matches, I don't even think they could believe their luck, they had him on toast!

 

[djembatheking]

Last night panned out as expected really, started well but failed to score , AM slowly came into it, scored then sat back and broke up play with well organised gamesmanship while we made changes , lost our shape and never really looked like getting back into it. The new United Way .

 

[Che Guevara]

This is the first time in 16 years that Ronaldo has failed to win a trophy.

 

[fastwalker]

You mean like when we beat PSG and decided to hire Solskjaer for 3 years? Yeah I'd like us to stop being so reactionary too

Exactly that!

 

[MrSingh2002]

Dalot and Telles ? How the standards have dropped. They are both average at best.

If you think it's feasible to change a whole starting 11 in one summer. Then fair play.

 

[redmanx]

The club is filled with charlatans, most of them don't even look like they want to play for us or enjoy it like it's an effort. They're an absolute disgrace and apart from the younger lads like Elanga and Sancho, i can't stand any of them. Do they know what privilege they have to play for united?

Well said! Playing for Manchester United is a privilege and everybody who plays for us should know that!

 

[giorno]

Big regression from Shaw and Maguire, Rashford's continued struggles and The Scumbag scumbagging himself out of a career have left you with team that is at this point, nothing special

Atletico Madrid are a better team than you. They were the better team in the tie. They won it. No shame in that

 

[Tom Cato]

Disgusting team full of disgusting players

Casual reminder that the referee is the person responsible for adding minutes. He relays the added time to the 4th referee over microphone and that is how the number is put on the board.

4 minutes added time is a travesty, one of many the ref was responsible for on the night.

It will take me a long time to get over that he ran over to give Fletcher a yellow card moments after Dalot was punched in the face as he tried to stop Atleticos player from going past him. When the ref started to run I instantly thought he was going to give the Atletico player a red card, but no, yellow for Darren.

Atletico is a disgusting anti-football team, but the ref was entirely incapable fo managing the game due to the everlasting antics of players rolling around on the grass after every touch.

Meanwhile back in the 90s, Eric Cantona takes a fist to the face and stands around rubbing his chin, wondering if he is going to get a free kick or not. (He didnt)

 

[redmanx]

It's the hope that kills....I thought we started great then poof it was over when the ref did not call the 2 or 3 fouls on Elanga.

The 2 was awful. How can he take Elanga?

Fred and Varane were good.

Pogba can leave tomorrow if he wants, one of the best things about today was him not starting.

Saddest part is I am not upset really. Jaded.

Heres what former France Internation star Marcel Desailly has to say about Pogba - "When it goes well he is fantastic but if it doesn't go well, offensively he has not brought what everyone was expecting. And at the same time he will cheat a little bit. He will not drop back and not drop back and help with the midfield with the defensive intensity the team is looking for."

Marcel Desailly criticised Paul Pogba for being ‘lazy’ and ‘cheating’ his defensive responsibilities as Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League at the hands of Atletico Madrid.

I and many, many others have been saying this for the last 4/5 years, but the Pogba fan club simply do not accept it.
I pray that our board is not so stupid that they offer Pogba another contract, and I hope he leaves asap.

 

[SATA]

The only consolation out of this is that Atletico are one of the remaining teams in this competition who can stop the dippers from winning it. So go on Simeone and do your shithousery tactics on them this time