[Brightonian]

I don't think the scoreline flattered us at all! If anything it flattered them. It was total domination. It could easily have been 10-1.

Quite. And it was just as one-sided in the first half as the second.

 

[forevrared]

Anyone reckon the Sloth-looking fella on the left is Van Gaal's son? They have the same head. It's in the friends and family section where Rashford ran to, so it could make sense.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Could none of these cnuts have asked about Smalling rather than Vangles sex life.

 

[dsch]

He should be our youth team manager then

Actually, I think he'd be wonderful as youth team manager.

 

[Nathan]

That was an excellent performance from all the youngsters who played last night. Memphis looked lively and got his reward with a goal at the death.

On this performance we have some youth who in years to come can step up. Credit to LVG for his faith & trust.

Over that looked like the united way, we attacked and some of the moves were reminiscent of days gone by.

We into the next round and really that is all that matters.

 

[Organic Potatoes]

Their lack of finishing disturbs me.

 

[Shimo]

We started off with a real purpose and the sucker punch goal - well sucked and thought we'd let up but, thankfully Memphis was really feeling it and got us back on track rather fast. After the saved peno and the Schneiderlin misses/post plus Herrera missing his header, thought it was just going to not happen for us tonight. Up stood young Marcus - what a great debut. Just hope someone shows him a Macheda who was just as heroic on his debut.

Memphis - aya yai yai yai. Think in that kind of mood, he'd have roasted anyone. It's the game we've been all waiting on and truly do think he'll kick on from here till the end of the season.

Screw whatever happens Sunday - we've got one banged up squad but, they stood up today and made it a very fun United game for a change.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Excellent game for Memphis. So that proves that he is better when we are facing real bad opponents like Brugge or Midjyjlland. Hopefully he can do something to better himself in the PL.

 

[Spock]

Hours later, I'm still buzzing about the Marcus Rashford. It was one of those "a star is born" moments that comes along every once in a while and it's going to be a long, long time before I forget that debut performance.

I'm not going to make any predictions about how high this kid's ceiling is but looking at how he approached the game and took those two goals I'm looking forward to seeing where he takes his career.

Whoever handled Macheda all those years ago needs to stay away from Rashford!

 

[Perrick Dubois]

Unfortunately missed this one! I walked past the TV right before Memphis wanged in that goal, chuffed to bits for him. The squad is absolutely obliterated so at least this is a little mini boost before Arsenal at the weekend.

Rashford! Get in my lad!

 

[Spock]

According to Skysports, we might face Liverpool or Tottenham in the next round:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/10181466/can-manchester-utd-draw-liverpool

Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham are through to the last 16 of the Europa League – but can they draw each other?

The answer is yes. The Europa League draw for the last 16 takes place at 12pm on Friday - and there are no seeds or country restrictions.

That means, United, Liverpool or Tottenham could draw either another Premier League side or any of the other 12 qualifiers below for the two-legged ties, which take place on March 10 and 17.

 

[Rednotdead]

If anyone wants to question the value of having a strong Academy setup and investing fully in it, they got their answer right there last night.

Well done to all the players and management team last night, that's the football we want to see played. That's the real Manchester United.

 

[TwoSheds]

You have to get someone scoring penalties, yes it would have been nice for Rashford, but a couple of games time he might not be playing. Ander is now the penalty taker until he misses one. The way he takes them I'm not sure he would miss.

When the pressure's on, Mata is not the man to be taking your pens. Herrera is a much more reliable character even if he's less talented.

 

[chicha14]

I have no fecks to give about who the opposition were, considering we had our backs against the wall from kick off and still suffered first, it was a great show of hunger and fight from the players ( especially the youngsters ) to come back from that and propel us into the next round was a major boost. The last 2 victories were important psychologically. Very clinical performance, what I expect us to do to smaller teams more regularly.

 

[Sunny Jim]

If anyone wants to question the value of having a strong Academy setup and investing fully in it, they got their answer right there last night.

Well done to all the players and management team last night, that's the football we want to see played. That's the real Manchester United.

very good point

 

[Parma Dewol]

Echoing a lot of what's been said above, it was an awesome night. Forget about the uncertainty surrounding the manager, the players and the club for a moment, and just enjoy watching a youthful United side disassemble the champions of Denmark.

We showed a lot of courage having gone a goal down, but fair play to the players and the staff yesterday, they got everything they deserved.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

If anyone wants to question the value of having a strong Academy setup and investing fully in it, they got their answer right there last night.

Well done to all the players and management team last night, that's the football we want to see played. That's the real Manchester United.

Spot on. And before someone responds citing us trimming our squad, our present injury list is not something you can account for. We have most of our first team out, as well as a number of their backups. Merely focusing on "world class" players is as good as being ignorant about the entire holistic purpose of the academy.

 

[VeevaVee]

I don't think the scoreline flattered us at all! If anything it flattered them. It was total domination. It could easily have been 10-1.

They played well for a good amount of the game where we looked threatening without actually really threatening them, then hit us once and scored. Overall it was comfortable but it didn't really feel that way for at least the first half despite us dominating possession. Credit to both them and of course moreso to our youngsters.

 

[FCBarca]

Congrats on qualifying Caf, always good to be involved in a knockout competition - especially one like Europa which is developing a greater atmosphere with each passing year

 

[Grib]

Echoing a lot of what's been said above, it was an awesome night. Forget about the uncertainty surrounding the manager, the players and the club for a moment, and just enjoy watching a youthful United side disassemble the champions of Denmark.

We showed a lot of courage having gone a goal down, but fair play to the players and the staff yesterday, they got everything they deserved.

Yup actual enjoyable game nice change, don't care that it was against minmows, just glad to have enjoyed the match

 

[montpelier]

Giggsy & LVG were laughing and joking with each other - and looked happy together. Not sure I've ever seen that before.

 

[Member 39557]

It was the most enjoyable United game for about 2.5-3 seasons. We played at a decent tempo and kept attacking for the whole 90 minutes. Even when we went behind, I was still confident we'd get back into the game.

 

[Red_Beans]

FFS

He is beginning to sound slightly bitter to me

 

[The Purley King]

The best thing about last night was the energy in the team. The tempo we played at was great. Moved the ball quickly and more importantly generally forward rather than sideways and backwards.
Obviously pretty limited opposition, but this is the sort of attitude I want to see on Sunday vs Arsenal. Much, much more like it, but wonder if we'd have seen the same sort of performance had the usual suspects (Rooney, Fellaini, Schweinsteiger) been out there? I doubt it.....

 

[Norris]

When the pressure's on, Mata is not the man to be taking your pens. Herrera is a much more reliable character even if he's less talented.

Really ? Herrera the less talented ? They both are such different players who offer different t attributes to the team.

And I absolutely love Herrera's pens btw. He really drives them hard!

Oh and can I please please get a tagline change to something Rashford related . I've followed his career for a while now and I have high hopes for him. Whether he makes the grade or not, time will only tell, but I am so happy for the lad.

And lots of credit to van Gaal for giving so many youngsters their debut. Whether it was out of necessity or not is a difderent issue, but he trusts these players and you have to admire a manager who is willing to do that, especially at a club the size of United. We might soon run out of squad numbers to hand out at this rate.

 

[Nik70]

They played well for a good amount of the game where we looked threatening without actually really threatening them, then hit us once and scored. Overall it was comfortable but it didn't really feel that way for at least the first half despite us dominating possession. Credit to both them and of course moreso to our youngsters.

I'll agree they were very organized in defense early on but even then they were riding their luck at times and with the amount of chances we had throughout the game we could have ended up with a lot more goals.

 

[GimmeAKitKat]

I don't think the scoreline flattered us at all! If anything it flattered them. It was total domination. It could easily have been 10-1.

Take away the own goal and it took us 63 minutes to score a goal at home against Midtjylland, and if we hadn't got the own goal, i can fully imagine the crowd being restless and the players as usual buckling under the pressure.

 

[sunama]

Giggsy & LVG were laughing and joking with each other - and looked happy together. Not sure I've ever seen that before.

LVG seems a lot more chilled out now.
Even when we lose these days, he seems quite relaxed about it.
I think he knows he is leaving in May, which could explain his behaviour.

 

[sunama]

It was the most enjoyable United game for about 2.5-3 seasons. We played at a decent tempo and kept attacking for the whole 90 minutes. Even when we went behind, I was still confident we'd get back into the game.

I will agree with this.
The fact that we played with lots of youth players and no Rooney - is this a coincidence?

 

[sammsky1]

Take away the own goal and it took us 63 minutes to score a goal at home against Midtjylland, and if we hadn't got the own goal, i can fully imagine the crowd being restless and the players as usual buckling under the pressure.

Take away the 5 goals we scored and that 18 year old Rashford scored twice on his debut and we would have lost, promoting unprecedented scenes of supporter unrest and moaning!

 

[Varun]

He is beginning to sound slightly bitter to me

Cmon.

 

[Nik70]

Take away the 5 goals we scored and that 18 year old Rashford scored twice on his debut and we would have lost, promoting unprecedented scenes of supporter unrest and moaning!

Total agreement.

 

[mav_9me]

Didn't get a chance to see the game.

Any match compilations of Memphis and Rashford?

 

[Roosney]

...confidence and just a touch of arrogance.

Well said, just the words I was looking for.