[stw2022]

Disciplined first half. Good second half

 

[Gorse Hill Red]

Struggled in the beginning with Villareal’s press but grew into the game. A solid 2nd half and a deserved goal for Sancho.

 

[Tarrou]

largely rubbish but finished great

result is all that matters anyway

 

[PaulScholes99]

Last 25 minutes were really good. The 65 before...yeah, let's better not talk about them.

Important win, happy for Sancho!

 

[Heardy]

Gif of Sancho goal anyone?

it’s in the match thread

Sancho
0-2

 

[smi11ie]

First half was ugly but Utd didn't give Villareal any guilt-edged chances. Villareal looked tired in the second half. Tactically I thought Utd were excellent. I liked both goals. Fred pinching it for the first and a beauty from Sancho. Good team performance

 

[bosskeano]

that reminded me of the fergie days when we would play away in europe and he would play Scholes wide left in a 442....keep it tight with two banks of four and play on the counter to nick a goal

 

[meamth]

Love that 2nd half we turned Villarreal into proper Villarreal.

 

[3vra]

2 nd half was quite nice, Fred won us the game with his pressings.

McTominay is still Championship level player and needs to be replace as soon as possible because we are so unstable in the centre of the park It is laughable.

We have good players who needs more directions and plan and we will be good but need to buy anyone who can play DM instead of Scott.

Sancho is great but we somehow wants our wingers to cross or shoot the ball from 20 metres instead of trying to play like we did with Bruno and Jadon.

 

[ohhrooney]

Clean sheet. Finally.

 

[joedirt87]

despite the weak 1st half where they could barely get out of their own half they seemed to stay compact at the back and not get pulled out of position much. De Gea made big saves and they were able to weather Villareal's attacks. Carrick made good changes and got the goals needed when the game flow swung their way. it's a quality away win in Europe and with your ticket punched to the knockout round it lets them rotate some against young boys.

 

[Pronewbie]

Typical performance similar to those under Ole prior to this season TBH.

 

[yipthatman]

So happy. De Gea, Ronaldo and Sancho. Wow. Poch can focus on the league now if the rumours are true.

 

[Canucantona20]

It’s carrrick you know

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Born midfielders were solid. McTominay looked like he knew where to be and Fred was amazing for both goals. Chuffed for Sancho!

 

[tomaldinho1]

@GifLord for a feel good moment for the caf. Can you find the bit where Donny was loving up Sancho at full time, Carrick was trying to congratulate Sancho but couldn’t get a word in.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

Good result in the end, a big improvement on what we’ve seen in the last couple of months. Let’s be honest though, if Villarreal had some quality up top they’d win that.

 

[redshaw]

Decent plan really two days after ole getting the sack, keep calm for 60 mins, utilize the squad and put on for me our two best in Rashford and Bruno. Bruno very good in possession as well as creating. Fred and McTom combining well in a great move all round for Sancho's goal.

Villarreal had a couple of chances but really most of it half chances, not like OT were they should've been 4-0 at half time. It did look like a fairly decent steady 2-0 win that you'd expect considering, not getting carried away with Hollywood balls from the off, take a bit to feel the game out.

A calm Carrick always communicating with his team , not sat crossed legged staring at his laptop.

 

[RedIan]

Dour first half, VR had some decent chances, DDG on top form again kept us in it.
We Grew into the game and once Bruno and Rashford came on we had them on the ropes. Delighted for Sancho, great game and what a finish, he was unlucky not to score before that. His best game for us.

I hope ole was cheering.

 

[Nick7]

Good second half. Not a great performance overall but given the circumstances all that was needed was the result.

 

[Plant0x84]

Great result, nice to see VDB and Sancho perform, glad that we weren’t massively improved performance wise - proves the players hadn’t downed tools. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

You take the win and progression to the next stage.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Quite terrible in possession that first half, mainly down to our backline and McT passing it horrifically and being pretty cowardly against the press put us up against a wall. Felt like our attackers looked decent all game, but they were starved of any sort of controlled possession until Bruno came on. Sancho motm easily.

Also thought that was the best Bruno performance I've seen in a long time. When he plays within himself he's absolute class. Less potshots and attempted assists every 2 seconds, more control please. That was great.

Also didn't think Martial and VdB were "bad" per se, but both just aren't going to thrive when we can't ever get possession because they are more auxiliary type footballers.

 

[bosskeano]

Not a fan of bringing on Matic though....he's too bloody slow as evident right near the end when he couldn't get across to cover and they almost got in behind

if you're going to sub there and take off ronaldo, bring on Lingard at least

 

[Ixion]

If we'd conceded early we'd have crumbled. It was really important to keep that clean sheet in the first half, doesn't matter if it was dull. It gave us a bit more confidence. Got what we needed and used more of the players in the squad, good result all round.

 

[Ekeke]

Good result, a few good moments too. Performance leaves plenty to be desired but job done

 

[always_hoping]

A win and a clean sheet goes to show what can be achieved when the players give the required effort and Maguire doesn't gift a goal to the opposition.

It was a much improved 2nd half performance especially when the subs was made

2nd half stats

Shots on goal
United 9 Villarreal 4.

Shots on target
United 5 villarreal 1

Will be no harm if Uniteds two wins against Villarreal are key to knocking the poxy feckers out.

 

[glazed]

Carrick for permanent manager!

Instant ban for anyone who says this. Just in case

 

[SAFMUTD]

De Gea in God mode, Bruno made quite an impact when coming as a sub and good game from Sancho.

Underserved victory, but much needed.

 

[thegregster]

No Europa league this season.

 

[Chairman Steve]

Yay a fecking dead rubber CL game for the first time in what feels forever. Perfect game to rest key players.

 

[United492]

Maybe raises more questions than answers about Ole's tenure, who knows.

Ropey first half, good second half, good (and timely) subs. Fred and Lindelof did very well. Great goals and Sancho scoring and gettingsome confidence. Not a lot to be unhappy about really, other than my 1st paragraph. BUT.....let's see and take it for what it is, 1 game. Avoid defeat on Sunday (or, even if we lose, lose fighting) and it'll be a good week.

 

[Dahmmy]

get back to basic, keep it simple and tight and the goals will come your way

just how SAF used to do it in the away games in Europe

 

[stu_1992]

Very good result, especially in the circumstances. Very nice feeling to have qualification wrapped up and a nice confidence boosting win hopefully.

As for the performance, I thought we grew into the game after a poor first half. Standard enough for us at this point, at least we go 1-down. Obviously our first goal was a gift, but still good work by Fred and Ronaldo. Delighted for Sancho to get his first, and that was a very well worked goal. I'm sure we all hope he can kick on from here. Clean sheet is a massive bonus as well, as those have been at an absolute premium lately. A result to build on hopefully anyway.

 

[OT1214]

Lindelof played well. Finally ketchup out of the bottle for Sancho!!

 

[Scarlett Dracarys]

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone...somebody pinch me.

 

[cyberman]

De Gea in God mode, Bruno made quite an impact when coming as a sub and good game from Sancho.

Underserved victory, but much needed.

We should have scored 4 in those last twenty minutes. That timeframe is too long to say we didn’t deserve it.

 

[tomaldinho1]

De Gea in God mode, Bruno made quite an impact when coming as a sub and good game from Sancho.

Underserved victory, but much needed.

None of DDG’s saves were that crazy were they? A number of low saves but nothing I can remember which I wouldn’t expect Lee Grant to make.

 

[BorisManUtd]

Excellent result. We're through to last 16 now and only need a point against Young Boys to finish 1st in our group (provided they beat both YB and Villarreal).

Brings back some confidence to players before Chelsea. They are big favourites and expect them to beat us but getting us through group stages already makes Carrick's caretaker roll successful already. Hopefully we have a new manager before Arsenal game though, whether it's Pochettino or an interim for rest of the season.

 

[JinnerJamie]

Not getting carried but we’re gonna win the Champions League!!!