[Class of 63]

You sure like to torture yourself.

True, but it's less painful than self-flagellation

 

[VorZakone]

Fecking Ben Yedder scoring 2 goals after he got subbed in. Shit, shit, and more shit.

 

[Catt]

Thanks @Fitchett for the insight. It's interesting to hear what the mood is at OT because if the crowd turns I don't see Mourinho surviving. I think most fans share the same concerns you mention in your post but I just can't see Mou suddenly change his ways. The football being played now is not in any way acceptable.

 

[Catt]

My reaction has been totally different to previous exits. I've been mad for days about incidents such as Rafael's stupidity in getting red carded against Bayern Munich, the ref cheating us in sending off Nani against Real Madrid. Last night, I just gave up, I wasn't angry. For the first time in 55 years of watching United, I got up and left the ground before the end of a match (immediately after the second goal). I've just taken the view of if they can't be arsed to try and win a game, why should I be arsed when they lose. The players and manager get paid millions each year, I pay to watch them not try to score a goal until it's too late. All new territory for me - I have no idea how I will feel on Saturday.

I'd probably done the same thing and watching from home I'm not mad about going out but about the football.

 

[PoTMS]

Not sure why I decided to traumatise myself and watch the highlights but feck me we got owned. What sort of performance was that on what was the biggest night of our season. I haven't been hurt by defeat as much as yesterday's.

 

[desmondisback]

Any decent Sports Psychologist knows this and Jose seems to have no idea. He's no master psychologist or genius IMO. Maybe he was once , but not any more.....

from http://www.sportsconfidencetips.com/119/mental-focus-in-sports/

"One reason athletes lose confidence and choke in competition is because they focus on the wrong things. Focusing on outcomes, who the competition is that day or other distractions can pull your attention away from what is important. Effective mental focus in sports can be learned. By learning to focus on the right things, an athlete can keep or regain confidence in her game and avoid choking. The most effective mental focus is what many mental game specialists call a process focus. By focusing on the process of doing your sport, you leave less room for doubts and distractions to creep into your mind.

First, let me explain a little more about unproductive focus before I turn to forming a more effective mental focus for your sport. When an athlete is too concerned about adding an L or W to the win/loss column or worries too much about achieving a particular score or thinks he must run a perfect race, the athlete puts negative pressure on his performance. When the game isn’t going your way, when it looks like you cannot achieve the outcome you’ve decided you must achieve, you start to get tense, play tentatively or become afraid of making mistakes. As soon as an athlete becomes more focused on avoiding mistakes than on striving for success, his focus has become much less effective.

Another unproductive focus is letting distractions, doubts, or errors dominate your thoughts. If you find yourself thinking, “I can’t”, or “what if…”, or “I can’t believe I dorked up that last play”, you’ve allowed your mind to stray from the task at hand. To regain a better mental focus, you have to remember why you are there. The answer is: I’m here to compete and play my sport the best I can play today!!

How do you do that? By focusing on the process. That means focusing on things that will contribute to you performing the tasks of your sport in the present moment—hitting the three-pointer, ripping the dive, throwing the pitch, sinking the putt, running the pass pattern… Any thought that does not directly contribute to completing that task is unproductive, ineffective, and may undermine confidence. To achieve effective mental focus for your sport, you must focus on thoughts and actions that are relevant to you completing the tasks of your sport. It may be helpful to make a list of relevant vs. non-relevant inputs. Then when you recognize that your thoughts have wandered to the irrelevant, you can stop and refocus on the relevant. As you learn to focus on the process of your performance, you will find the end results take care of themselves. The worries and what-ifs will fade. You will play more relaxed and be more effective."

 

[Web of Bissaka]

 

[TMDaines]

One Mistake! You're joking. Apart from the first few games on his arrival we have been playing the same old negative rubbish. Where have you been for the last two years. It's apparent now that this is largely due to the man in charge.

I've been at Old Trafford.

 

[Tahiri]

I clearly think that Mourinho wanted MU to loose ! Playing recently injured Fellaini in midfield and Rashford on the right was clearly not the right tactic ! His reaction shows also that he's not that upset.

I think he knew his teams was to be eliminated in later stages + to send a message to the board "Buy more players we are not good enough"

 

[Manny]

I clearly think that Mourinho wanted MU to loose ! Playing recently injured Fellaini in midfield and Rashford on the right was clearly not the right tactic ! His reaction shows also that he's not that upset.

I think he knew his teams was to be eliminated in later stages + to send a message to the board "Buy more players we are not good enough"

Seriously, where is this nonsense coming from? Is it Twitter?

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Tonight was the first time I got a proper Van Gaal vibe off this team. Some of our football was as excruciating as the dullest shite the last manager served up. That’s not good. Not good at all.

Glad you agree Pogue.

 

[#07]

 

[Godfather]

Tonight was the first time I got a proper Van Gaal vibe off this team. Some of our football was as excruciating as the dullest shite the last manager served up. That’s not good. Not good at all.

Tbh van Gaal didn't have the squad Mou has now. The performance against Sevilla was van Gaal football without the possession. Even worse imo.

 

[Judas]

I think we'd have won the game with LVG in charge, I don't think that's saying much though.

 

[Kapardin]

I think we'd have won the game with LVG in charge, I don't think that's saying much though.

Erm, no. PSV home draw, remember that?

Under LvG, think it would have been something like that with us registering one shot on target max in 90 minutes and going out either in regular time or (if the possession game allows us to defend better by keeping the ball), going out on pens after 0-0 for 120 mins. We were (and probably are) atrocious at taking pens.

 

[Judas]

We'd have controlled the game much better, and we've got a far better team than what he had. I hated LVG, everything about what he stood for, but with his tactics, I don't think what happened the other night would have happened. Of course its nothing but a theory.

 

[cyril C]

It looked like a 433 to me, Fellaini didn't play that game as a sitting midfielder. He and Lingard were ahead of Matic.

When Pogba starts he doesn't sit back neither. Only McTom would stay back.

If you look at the heat map, you will find Fellaini / Lingard / Lukaku, Sanchez and Rashford all cramped into the same spot. Fellaini and Lingard I can understand, which was their area of responsibility, but Rashford and Sanchez? All Seville needed was to put 3 players guarding this spot and MU would guarantee to come through it.

 

[Jacko21]

Having had some time to reflect, I don't think it's our exit from the Champions League that hurts (nobody anticipated we'd win it), it's the manner of the performance and knowing that on that evening that would've been the most watched football game on the planet. Millions upon millions of football supporters would've watched that game to see the once great Manchester United - a European giant and England's most successful club - be dismantled by a terrible Sevilla team in their own backyard. All to the backdrop of a silent Old Trafford.

That's what hurts. That's what's embarrassing. Seeing Manchester United put in one of the worst displays you'll ever have the misfortune of witnessing.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Says it as it is.

“There is no excuse. There is no excuse,” said Matic. “We had a big game, as you know, against Liverpool. We won.
With high confidence we came to play this game, but today they played better than us and they deserved [to win]."

“We know that our supporters are sad because of this result. We are also sad, and we have to win to go back to winning ways, so I hope that the team reaction is going to be good.

“We have to forget this. We have to review our mistakes, to see what we have to do better and on Saturday is a new game.

“Life goes on and this is football, we have to accept that.”

http://www.goal.com/en/news/man-utd-beaten-by-the-better-team-matic/1f1icee76ht4k112s8o98at31r

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Someone have to say it.

“I always felt when you put on the jersey that you enjoyed the pressure, the history, the badge, the expectations. I get the impression with this team, they don’t look like they are enjoying that pressure.

“[Mourinho] knows they are short, we have seen that for the last three of four years. I know people say that isn’t always the answer, but they are short three or four players and some of the players playing for Manchester United are not good enough. If they are selected they will play, but they are not good enough."

 

[groovyalbert]

Having had some time to reflect, I don't think it's our exit from the Champions League that hurts (nobody anticipated we'd win it), it's the manner of the performance and knowing that on that evening that would've been the most watched football game on the planet. Millions upon millions of football supporters would've watched that game to see the once great Manchester United - a European giant and England's most successful club - be dismantled by a terrible Sevilla team in their own backyard. All to the backdrop of a silent Old Trafford.

That's what hurts. That's what's embarrassing. Seeing Manchester United put in one of the worst displays you'll ever have the misfortune of witnessing.

Totally agree with this. It's been a while since we've experienced a defeat that's genuinely taken me a few days to get over. To know that that was the impression of the club we put out for the whole of Europe to see, on a night where no other "big" European club was playing, is truly embarrassing.

That said, I am glad to read some of the reactions of the players on social media. They seem to be genuinely upset by it, and maybe it was just a terrible day at the office. We've not had many of those at OT under Jose - it's perhaps a shame that it had to coincide with arguably our biggest match of the season. I hope the manager has instructed them to never let that feeling of being knocked out of the biggest club competition in world football in such a manner escape them. It should be at the back of the mind of every player involved in future European knock out games.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

I'm still really fecking annoyed with this. The fact there really is no ifs and buts about it, no dodgy decisions going against us, no hard luck, we were just fecking terrible in a game we had to win. We did nothing in 160 or so minutes of football then had to try to scramble to get two goals (as if we were somehow surprised that could be a result of doing bugger all previously).

I'd always thought when the chips were down Jose and these players would at least give a good account of themselves and that if it didn't go to plan we'd be looking at minor details, bits of hard luck and poor reffing. What we got was a total shitshow from start to finish, which is 100% on our manager, our players and our coaching staff.

Then again it could be worse:

23 hours on and having watched it three times(and i'll probably watch it again tonight @ 00:00) i'm still numb, and I thought once the draw was made if we did go through it would be by an odd goal, God knows how those of you that thought it was only Sevilla, and we'd win Home and Away are feeling.

Good Lord man!

 

[Parma Dewol]

I'm still really fecking annoyed with this. The fact there really is no ifs and buts about it, no dodgy decisions going against us, no hard luck, we were just fecking terrible in a game we had to win. We did nothing in 160 or so minutes of football then had to try to scramble to get two goals (as if we were somehow surprised that could be a result of doing bugger all previously).

Feel the same way. Had time to mull it all over but I'm still in a state of disbelief. How can the players not turn up for the biggest game in years at Old Trafford? You could argue that Spurs were unlucky against Juve, Chelsea's scoreline against Barca didn't look good but they showed plenty of fight and hit the woodwork numerous times. We're the only British side to exit the Champions League with barely a whimper.

We started the game okay, but the nerves seemed to kick in and as Sevilla grew we just withdrew into our shells. Thought a half-time team talk could change it, but we were even worse after the break.

Back in the day, after a disappointment like that, I'd be well up for the next game as some poor opponent would typically feel the full force of a United retaliation. Does anyone honestly expect us to blow Brighton away on Saturday?

 

[Jacko21]

Totally agree with this. It's been a while since we've experienced a defeat that's genuinely taken me a few days to get over. To know that that was the impression of the club we put out for the whole of Europe to see, on a night where no other "big" European club was playing, is truly embarrassing.

That said, I am glad to read some of the reactions of the players on social media. They seem to be genuinely upset by it, and maybe it was just a terrible day at the office. We've not had many of those at OT under Jose - it's perhaps a shame that it had to coincide with arguably our biggest match of the season. I hope the manager has instructed them to never let that feeling of being knocked out of the biggest club competition in world football in such a manner escape them. It should be at the back of the mind of every player involved in future European knock out games.

Agreed. These days I'm good at rationalising defeats and moving on immediately, but this one has left a really bad taste in the mouth.

Can only recall two games in which the result has stung for a few days afterwards - the 6-1 defeat to City and the 1-0 defeat to Celtic when Saha missed a penalty. No idea why the second one sticks in my mind so much!

For a fifth consecutive year, I want the season to end prematurely. How depressing.

 

[Cee90]

I'm still annoyed, it's honestly been years since I've still felt this way this long after a game. I thought I'd grown up, but now I'm not so sure.

I feel exactly the same.

I think this loss hurts more than other bad results over the past few years, not only because of the importance of the match, but also because on paper we have an amazing squad that is not fulfilling its potential.

 

[mitchmouse]

He may have looked disgusted at himself after that second goal.

agreed... but I'd seek cover if I was you. no one here allows any criticism of DDG...

 

[Josh 76]

Agreed. These days I'm good at rationalising defeats and moving on immediately, but this one has left a really bad taste in the mouth.

Can only recall two games in which the result has stung for a few days afterwards - the 6-1 defeat to City and the 1-0 defeat to Celtic when Saha missed a penalty. No idea why the second one sticks in my mind so much!

For a fifth consecutive year, I want the season to end prematurely. How depressing.

I totally understand. I'm still trying to come to terms with that shocking performance and Mourhinos post match interviews are not helping. As everyone is trying to recall games in the past which has made them feel so low, I'd add the 4-1 defeat at home to the Scousers in 2009 and the the 2009 defeat to Barcalona in the CL final.

 

[Jazz]

Sitting at my desk at work and still thinking about this. Feels like it's deeper than just losing a game.

Then you've got all this coverage everywhere, even I don't read it, it just bothers me seeing the dreaded 'senior sources' said this and that. I'm still not used to this crap whenever we lose. It's been awful in more ways than one losing Sir Alex.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Sitting at my desk at work and still thinking about this. Feels like it's deeper than just losing a game.

Then you've got all this coverage everywhere, even I don't read it, it just bothers me seeing the dreaded 'senior sources' said this and that. I'm still not used to this crap whenever we lose. It's been awful in more ways than one losing Sir Alex.

Yeah, I'm pretty good at rationalising losses and moving on. This should be an easy one to get over too. Knocked out of a competition we weren't going to win, more time to focus on nailing down 2nd place in the league and (hopefully) win an FA Cup. But I'm almost as pissed off now as I was at the final whistle. The post match comments, the evisceration we've been getting in the press (which I've tried avoiding, as per usual after a defeat), the whole Pogba/Sanchez both playing shite thing and the fact there's been nagging doubts about where we're going under Mourinho for a while now. It's like a perfect storm of managerial discontent.

Sure it's only one game but I honestly can't remember the last time one game has wrecked my head so badly. Actually, I can remember. It was when we were annihilated by City last season after starting off with three wins in a row. Sat down to watch it full of hope but felt completely crushed by the final whistle. This has a similar vibe. Hope (Liverpool game) followed by a brutal realisation we're just not very good and still miles away from knocking anyone off their perch. Which is all the more painful coming almost two years into the Mourinho project.

I've also lost almost all hope that signing new players will fix things. I'm sick of signing new players. I just want our current players to play better. Is that too much to ask?

 

[minoo-utd]

Players we isolated. Jose was a coward. Shit game shit season.

 

[elnorte]

Yeah, I'm pretty good at rationalising losses and moving on. This should be an easy one to get over too. Knocked out of a competition we weren't going to win, more time to focus on nailing down 2nd place in the league and (hopefully) win an FA Cup. But I'm almost as pissed off now as I was at the final whistle. The post match comments, the evisceration we've been getting in the press (which I've tried avoiding, as per usual after a defeat), the whole Pogba/Sanchez both playing shite thing and the fact there's been nagging doubts about where we're going under Mourinho for a while now. It's like a perfect storm of managerial discontent.

Sure it's only one game but I honestly can't remember the last time one game has wrecked my head so badly. Actually, I can remember. It was when we were annihilated by City last season after starting off with three wins in a row. Sat down to watch it full of hope but felt completely crushed by the final whistle. This has a similar vibe. Hope (Liverpool game) followed by a brutal realisation we're just not very good and still miles away from knocking anyone off their perch. Which is all the more painful coming almost two years into the Mourinho project.

I've also lost almost all hope that signing new players will fix things. I'm sick of signing new players. I just want our current players to play better. Is that too much to ask?

Sorry to pick up on just a couple of parts of your post but sadly you are right in both instances. We're an entirely average team at best and there is no excuse for that given the amount of money we've spent in recent years. So many of these big name signings have meant to have been game-changers but have either failed to live up to expectations or have been dragged down into the malaise which currently inhibits the club.

 

[Jacko21]

Yeah, I'm pretty good at rationalising losses and moving on. This should be an easy one to get over too. Knocked out of a competition we weren't going to win, more time to focus on nailing down 2nd place in the league and (hopefully) win an FA Cup. But I'm almost as pissed off now as I was at the final whistle. The post match comments, the evisceration we've been getting in the press (which I've tried avoiding, as per usual after a defeat), the whole Pogba/Sanchez both playing shite thing and the fact there's been nagging doubts about where we're going under Mourinho for a while now. It's like a perfect storm of managerial discontent.

Sure it's only one game but I honestly can't remember the last time one game has wrecked my head so badly. Actually, I can remember. It was when we were annihilated by City last season after starting off with three wins in a row. Sat down to watch it full of hope but felt completely crushed by the final whistle. This has a similar vibe. Hope (Liverpool game) followed by a brutal realisation we're just not very good and still miles away from knocking anyone off their perch. Which is all the more painful coming almost two years into the Mourinho project.

I've also lost almost all hope that signing new players will fix things. I'm sick of signing new players. I just want our current players to play better. Is that too much to ask?

Also not being helped by the fact that things are going to get worse before they get better - we'll have to watch City enjoy a title parade, potentially off of the back of sealing the title against us - imagine what a rough few days that'll be. And as for the Champions League, City or Liverpool could win that. You couldn't really script a worse scenario for United fans.

The World Cup can't come soon enough. We need to regroup. Again.

 

[Handsome Devil]

The next few days are going to be interesting to say the least....
Jose's press conference - how is he going to come across? His "defiant but not particularly humble" stance post match on Tuesday did not cut it with anyone, even his supporters on here.
The team selection. How can you motivate this bunch to pick themselves up after that performance? Do they really care? Does Jose care anymore?

 

[Zlatan 7]

The next few days are going to be interesting to say the least....
Jose's press conference - how is he going to come across? His "defiant but not particularly humble" stance post match on Tuesday did not cut it with anyone, even his supporters on here.
The team selection. How can you motivate this bunch to pick themselves up after that performance? Do they really care? Does Jose care anymore?

I know
I feel just as shit about it today. And it’s not even about not liking mourinho or being knocked out, as pogue said we were hardly going to win the tournament, it’s just the manner of it, the post match comments, his smug attitude, the constant loop of shitness followed by hope followed by shitness.

Hopefully professional footballers can dust themselves off and crack on easier than some of us fans. I should imagine so as I think a lot of us are a lot more emotionally invested than some/most players.

 

[Jazz]

Yeah, I'm pretty good at rationalising losses and moving on. This should be an easy one to get over too. Knocked out of a competition we weren't going to win, more time to focus on nailing down 2nd place in the league and (hopefully) win an FA Cup. But I'm almost as pissed off now as I was at the final whistle. The post match comments, the evisceration we've been getting in the press (which I've tried avoiding, as per usual after a defeat), the whole Pogba/Sanchez both playing shite thing and the fact there's been nagging doubts about where we're going under Mourinho for a while now. It's like a perfect storm of managerial discontent.

Sure it's only one game but I honestly can't remember the last time one game has wrecked my head so badly. Actually, I can remember. It was when we were annihilated by City last season after starting off with three wins in a row. Sat down to watch it full of hope but felt completely crushed by the final whistle. This has a similar vibe. Hope (Liverpool game) followed by a brutal realisation we're just not very good and still miles away from knocking anyone off their perch. Which is all the more painful coming almost two years into the Mourinho project.

I've also lost almost all hope that signing new players will fix things. I'm sick of signing new players. I just want our current players to play better. Is that too much to ask?

I think that the club appointed both LVG and Mourinho with the best of intentions - given the limitations of getting a manager to take on United and all the shit that comes with the job - but we've appointed them at the end of their game so to speak, and in Jose's case, his insecurities seemed to have gone into overdrive in this role. We can't seem to get the right personality at the right time.

I think this job is a terrible one. No one can get it right, and I also feel that the pressure and expectations are at an unprecedented level and it makes these managers extra cautious as they don't want to lose and have to face the barrage of the press, pundits and everything else. LvG has played attacking football in his past, if not consistently. He even started out the first couple games once Di Maria came in I believe and we were doing well until that game at Leicester and we went super cautious from thereon in.
We can't underestimate the task of this job.

Having said that, I believe the board needs to just settle down and first of all, get a DOF in - one that has a similar philosophy to United (attacking football, youth etc etc), and who knows how to implement it. I think we should get a low key manager with the skillset of say Sarri, someone without any drama (and not very well known to our shitty press) and who will get on with the task in hand.

His first task would be to implement a style of play consistent with the club's philosophy, but also making sure that we keep up with current and future changes in the game. Then if the trophies come great. However we need to stick to a plan like that and get the foundations right before thinking of anything else imho.

In the meantime, I think the club should stop Jose from selling any of our young players and just give him a fullback and a midfielder or two, and let him get on with it and prove that he can come up with a cohesive plan of getting the players he has at his disposal to perform. They should also stop any transfer for crazy money on players close to 29 or 30 years old (as Jose uses these players as his comfort blanket). We should buy no one over 25 or 26, they should be technically sound (as that never goes out of fashion), no more lumps. Let's just get the right players, not flashy players.

If the club could just show they have some sort of plan I think it would calm a lot of us down. But everything from the manager, board, and players just seems so disorganised - and that really depresses me.

 

[Jazz]

The next few days are going to be interesting to say the least....
Jose's press conference - how is he going to come across? His "defiant but not particularly humble" stance post match on Tuesday did not cut it with anyone, even his supporters on here.
The team selection. How can you motivate this bunch to pick themselves up after that performance? Do they really care? Does Jose care anymore?

With the amount of unearned cash they get every week, they better bloody finish the season well.

We need to win I believe 5 more games to ensure top four and they bloody well better make sure that happens.

 

[Speedy30]

If Liverpool get knocked out in the next round, it'll be disappointed but at least I know that the team will give their all and we'll be knocked out fighting.
Mourinho is serving up shit at the moment and that happens with a club sometimes. The football isn't always going to be great but when it's not, you still expect your players to fight for the name on the shirt.
Lukaku threw all of his frustration into that rocket that he hit on Tuesday night and I think that a lot of your so called superstar players could take a leaf out of his book. He's a great striker and fights for everything which is what you want from every player privileged to play football for a living

 

[tomaldinho1]

Its the opposite.

Ed isn't going to be more likely to spend money on manager who couldn't get past Sevilla in the RD16 at home. On other hand, if he got them into SF, Ed would be more willing to splurge us over the line.

Seriously, these stupid conspiracies need to stop.

FYI I wasn't saying I agree with the conspiracy theory but I think it's the opposite.

Man Utd want to be the biggest and best - currently we're not. If Mou had reached the semis and than demanded 4 high profile players again I think Woodward would be less motivated than he will be now, after an awful exit to a poor Seville team because the gulf in quality between us and the top European teams is so apparent. Anyway, it's a moot point because we went out and Mou will try to sign big names regardless.

 

[Hansa]

The next few days are going to be interesting to say the least....
Jose's press conference - how is he going to come across? His "defiant but not particularly humble" stance post match on Tuesday did not cut it with anyone, even his supporters on here.
The team selection. How can you motivate this bunch to pick themselves up after that performance? Do they really care? Does Jose care anymore?

I have no idea how the last few months of the season will unfold. Do they step it up and finish on a high? Another run of half-decent football for 30 minutes here and there? Or will it get really nasty, both on and off the field?

Really feels like a watershed moment. Either this is Mourinho's nadir before getting it right, or it's the beginning of the end.

 

[Catt]

Really feels like a watershed moment. Either this is Mourinho's nadir before getting it right, or it's the beginning of the end.

One would hope so because what's been served up during much of the season isn't cutting it. Lumping the ball and being unable to impose our play on opponents isn't something I want to watch.