[nick2004]

Just imagine...

Great scenario - PSV, Olympiakos and Astana

Not so great - Barcelona, Roma and Wolfsburg

That's the boring scenario and the exciting scenario!

Give me the second scenario please! And I have no doubts that we'd advance, since Roma and Wolfsburg are nothing special. And yes, we can beat Barca, too!

 

[Rich_H_1989]

That's the boring scenario and the exciting scenario!

Give me the second scenario please! And I have no doubts that we'd advance, since Roma and Wolfsburg are nothing special. And yes, we can beat Barca, too!

As LVG said... Teams will be looking at the draw today and nobody in that first group will want to face us. Just like people have been saying about City for some time now. We could end up with a very tough group but you have to beat the best to be the best.

It's better to get Barca, beat them twice and potentially knock them out in the groups than meet them in the final!

 

[Sereques]

I find it very cute when we were 1 goal up, passing the ball at the back and Brugge fans were whistling and booing. I was like are you all in a hurry to get whooped?

 

[RedDevil@84]

I think we started passing the ball once Brugge were down to 10 men with an injury rather than sending off.
More of a friendly gesture. Though Chicha tried a late sitter.

 

[Varun]

Steward attempted to tackle a pitch invader and he slipped while trying to do it.

Our fans chanted 'are you Gerrard in disguise'.

 

[GloryHunter07]

Steward attempted to tackle a pitch invader and he slipped while trying to do it.

Our fans chanted 'are you Gerrard in disguise'.

Was that what Owen was chuckling about?

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Was that what Owen was chuckling about?

Don't know didn't watch the show, just heard it happened and saw a video of the guy going down.

 

[Kant-ona]

Brugge was the weakest team I have seen in a while. They let us space and were physically "inexistent". However, the lads made a good match with a few very good combinations.

By the way, it's weird to see Smalling ruling the defence. His whole body language totally changed over the last two years.

The only thing I would critize is our missing ability to make good shots from the second row. First, we hardly ever try. Second, if we try the shots always got blocked.

 

[Rozay]

Judging by the MOTM top 4, doubt many agree - but I gave Daley Blind probably my first ever 10 for last night. He is channeling some sort of De Boer/Koeman at the moment, and was taking the piss last night. Won every battle, and his passing from the back was something else. They were actually really creative and ambitious, and seemed to all be successful.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Judging by the MOTM top 4, doubt many agree - but I gave Daley Blind probably my first ever 10 for last night. He is channeling some sort of De Boer/Koeman at the moment, and was taking the piss last night. Won every battle, and his passing from the back was something else. They were actually really creative and ambitious, and seemed to all be successful.

Daley has been a real surprise to me playing at CB. He is building a good partnership with Mike. The more that defence can play together the better for us. Shaw and Darmain are also playing really well.

 

[IwatUwat]

Shaw was excellent last night. Thought our passing and surprise surprise Herrera in a 3 in midfield actually ran beyond Rooney which was good to see. Still think more can be done with Depay and Mata running beyond but a good result.

Unsure why Rooney gave his pen to Hernandez goal stats is where he's gonna be judged as a number 9 and he's potentially lost one there. Fair enough Hernandez getting a goal would be good, but not sure a pen is gonna help him that much.

 

[Tincanalley]

was 50% joking but I think it's kinda real we are getting him next year .-)

I would like to see him here; think he would develop well under Louis

 

[siw2007]

Very good performance last night. Brugge attacked well but without their first choice team they just couldn't cope.

Really pleased for Rooney as it was a well taken hat trick and hopefully he will continue it in the premiership. Good to see Herrera back too, he was poor in the first half but as soon as he stepped up the pitch in the second half he was excellent.

Tough opponents on Sunday so lets hope we bring our best game.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Here's the video I was mentioning. Don't have sound at work so don't know if our fans can be heard.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Here's the video I was mentioning. Don't have sound at work so don't know if our fans can be heard.

What a nightmare by the steward. Slips and then his walkie talkie starts following him.

I was wondering what Luke Shaw was laughing at.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Just want to add how impressed I was with the way we countered in the second half yesterday. More often than not, we had our attacking quartet of Rooney, Herrera, Mata and Memphis all running at Brugge, which was a joy to watch. If anything broke down we had the cover of Carrick and Schweinsteiger, who recovered the ball very quickly. Despite it only being Brugge, it was really good to watch.

 

[m1y2]

Just want to add how impressed I was with the way we countered in the second half yesterday. More often than not, we had our attacking quartet of Rooney, Herrera, Mata and Memphis all running at Brugge, which was a joy to watch. If anything broke down we had the cover of Carrick and Schweinsteiger, who recovered the ball very quickly. Despite it only being Brugge, it was really good to watch.

that second half was probably the best we've seen this season and it was away which is a good sign, the first half was typically boring away game from last's season..

 

[bosnian_red]

Judging by the MOTM top 4, doubt many agree - but I gave Daley Blind probably my first ever 10 for last night. He is channeling some sort of De Boer/Koeman at the moment, and was taking the piss last night. Won every battle, and his passing from the back was something else. They were actually really creative and ambitious, and seemed to all be successful.

Think he misplaced 1 pass all night

 

[hbgreg]

Makes me think we're playing the wrong game really. Our defence has been solid so far, and we have a lot of players who can play brilliant passes on the counter. We'll never do it, but it would be nice to see Van Gaal try a strategy where we soak up pressure and then play in the space left behind.

We've already done it

 

[Adnan]

Brugge are a very poor team so not really looking too much into our performance.

Glad we're through to the group stage.

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

Brugge are a very poor team so not really looking too much into our performance.

Of course they are a small club, but they were Europa League quarter finalists last year and were unlucky to go out to the later finalist Dnipro. so they are not that bad and 7-1 on aggregate after them scoring first is a nice result.

 

[Adnan]

Of course they are a small club, but they were Europa League quarter finalists last year and were unlucky to go out to the later finalist Dnipro. so they are not that bad and 7-1 on aggregate after them scoring first is a nice result.

The Result is all that mattered but it was the easiest tie we could've got and they were hit pretty badly with injuries.

 

[marlowe78]

They were really rubbish, but then again, this is how United are supposed to look against inferior teams.

2nd half was a lot of fun. Brugge were cooked by then, but I liked how Mata and Depay switched off at times and ran cuts in behind. Mata looked like he was having a party with the space he was being given.

I do think our defence was often poor, TBH. Not sure if it's because we had the cushion in aggregate and our focus dropped off. We looked too open when Carrick defended alone and Shaw kept getting pulled into the middle to make up the numbers we were missing. We really need 2 back there, preferably Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin.

So glad to be back in CL. Seems like ages.

 

[Rich_H_1989]

Daley Blind has been superb this season and quite the revelation! Who knew that he would be this good... Well other than LVG of course!

His distribution from the back really gives us a good platform to build on. I just wish that he would put more pace on more of his passes. When he does that we really look a threat going forwards.

His reading of the game is brilliant and because of that he seems to know when to go in for an aerial challenge and then to drop off.

Definitely feels good to be back in the champions league though!

I have to give credit though to Brugge who came out to play! They could have kept it tight for an hour or so in the hope that they could work an opening but instead they really came at us. In the end it meant there was more space for us. Goes to show sometimes in the Premier league we need to draw teams on to us.

 

[Ryan7]

Great performance but, Brugge were appalling. Can't take a whole lot from the match. Their defending was ridiculous.

 

[Rich_H_1989]

Great performance but, Brugge were appalling. Can't take a whole lot from the match. Their defending was ridiculous.

See I'm actually going to be really positive at this point... I think we can learn a lot from that game.

For a start we can take away that Herrera in the number 10 option is not just our best option but he's a quality option.

Despite their awful defending I'm not sure they could have done much about a couple of the goals? Rooney's first was great play by Memphis and a great finish. Herrera's was a great pass by Schweinsteiger who completely fooled the defender.

We also learnt that if teams come at us we will hurt them... I expect Swansea to do just that on Sunday. We can take confidence from yesterday on that.

 

[Ryan7]

See I'm actually going to be really positive at this point... I think we can learn a lot from that game.

For a start we can take away that Herrera in the number 10 option is not just our best option but he's a quality option.

Despite their awful defending I'm not sure they could have done much about a couple of the goals? Rooney's first was great play by Memphis and a great finish. Herrera's was a great pass by Schweinsteiger who completely fooled the defender.

We also learnt that if teams come at us we will hurt them... I expect Swansea to do just that on Sunday. We can take confidence from yesterday on that.

Aside from Rooney's first goal I think the other three were poor from a Brugge perspective. The second goal Herrera has a free run and the left back jogs back. The third is good play from Mata, but the defence doesn't even look like they're trying. The marking is awful. The fourth is a fantastic pass from Schweinsteiger, but the defender slips and again Herrera is totally unmarked.

It was a weird performance from Brugge, imo. They never looked like a team that needed to win. At stages in the second half they just couldn't even be bothered. Men stopped marking and chasing down.

Herrera improved in the second half in the number 10 position but, we all know he'll be back on the bench. Which is unfortunate.