You are pretty much correct.This was our first away victory in the CL knock-out stages since 2015, and it showed. After we played a hard physical game against Athletico just this weekend, we only had 1 ojective: score a away goal. We did so already in the 11th minute and after that the game was done and dusted for us. We played in 2nd gear all game, and it was without any danger: United had 0 shots on target.
Yes, you created some chances, but you were never dangerous. We were obviously happy with the 0-1 and even 1-1- would have been a good result to take back home.
Our intent was very obvious: score a goal and keep control of the game. While you had some good spells of possession we werent in danger one bit. We didnt press high until the final third (until the 70th minute), we didnt counter attack when there was numeral disadvantage (we only counter 3v3 or 4v4) and our backline wasnt very high. Alba and Semedo were playing very deep, even in attack they didnt rush forward, and Pique and Lenglet held a deep backline.
Part of our game plan is to soak up some pressure and sit deep - tire the opposition by passing the ball around (meaningless vertical) and shift up a gear around the 70th minute mark. You could see Roberto and Vidal coming on the pitch and the tempo being upped by 1 gear.
We had some troubles getting the ball out of our defense, due to your great pressing. We never had any troubles with the incoming attacks and crosses. Lenglet and Pique were outstanding, and pocketed all of your attackers around the box. For those who were saying Barca's defense is "vulnerable" and "weak": it didnt show yesterday. We held a clean sheet and Pique and Lenglet have played 31 games together and conceded 26 goals. They average less then a goal conceded per game! Its a myth Barca's defense is vulnerable or weak.
Messi's eye has suffered blood clotting (hematoma) and it was obvious he was struggling with it. He might miss the games against Huesca and the return-leg. Also, in the return leg, we will rather play Dembele over Coutinho - who again was non-existent.
All in all we can congratulate you on your fighting spirit and hard work, but I dont think any Barca fan was really impressed by the technical, tactical or talented character of this United team. I would place this team in the same bracket as Valencia/Sevilla, Inter/Milan, Dortmund, etc. Tier 3 at most. Europa League really. Its a shame what has happened to your club. I can see some posters saying the standards have dropped and it really has: when you congratulate your team on the "hard work" in a losing game, it says alot about how good the team is. You dont win matches in Europe based on "hard work" alone. You also need to be better technical, better tactical and be smarter on the ball and defensive. It showed United is none of that at this point.
Pretty fair summary of the game. Only thing I'd add is that your passing was uncharacteristically poor at times (mainly in the first and final thirds) and we did manage to capitalise on that to win the ball back, but we didn't do anywhere near enough with it when we got it.This was our first away victory in the CL knock-out stages since 2015, and it showed. After we played a hard physical game against Athletico just this weekend, we only had 1 ojective: score a away goal. We did so already in the 11th minute and after that the game was done and dusted for us. We played in 2nd gear all game, and it was without any danger: United had 0 shots on target.
Yes, you created some chances, but you were never dangerous. We were obviously happy with the 0-1 and even 1-1- would have been a good result to take back home.
Our intent was very obvious: score a goal and keep control of the game. While you had some good spells of possession we werent in danger one bit. We didnt press high until the final third (until the 70th minute), we didnt counter attack when there was numeral disadvantage (we only counter 3v3 or 4v4) and our backline wasnt very high. Alba and Semedo were playing very deep, even in attack they didnt rush forward, and Pique and Lenglet held a deep backline.
Part of our game plan is to soak up some pressure and sit deep - tire the opposition by passing the ball around (meaningless vertical) and shift up a gear around the 70th minute mark. You could see Roberto and Vidal coming on the pitch and the tempo being upped by 1 gear.
We had some troubles getting the ball out of our defense, due to your great pressing. We never had any troubles with the incoming attacks and crosses. Lenglet and Pique were outstanding, and pocketed all of your attackers around the box. For those who were saying Barca's defense is "vulnerable" and "weak": it didnt show yesterday. We held a clean sheet and Pique and Lenglet have played 31 games together and conceded 26 goals. They average less then a goal conceded per game! Its a myth Barca's defense is vulnerable or weak.
Messi's eye has suffered blood clotting (hematoma) and it was obvious he was struggling with it. He might miss the games against Huesca and the return-leg. Also, in the return leg, we will rather play Dembele over Coutinho - who again was non-existent.
All in all we can congratulate you on your fighting spirit and hard work, but I dont think any Barca fan was really impressed by the technical, tactical or talented character of this United team. I would place this team in the same bracket as Valencia/Sevilla, Inter/Milan, Dortmund, etc. Tier 3 at most. Europa League really. Its a shame what has happened to your club. I can see some posters saying the standards have dropped and it really has: when you congratulate your team on the "hard work" in a losing game, it says alot about how good the team is. You dont win matches in Europe based on "hard work" alone. You also need to be better technical, better tactical and be smarter on the ball and defensive. It showed United is none of that at this point.
Yeah the biggest problem is our attack. Our midfield can win the battle in the middle and I do think and we can defend well enough to stop them (even if Messi always can do something crazy good particular at home). Although we will need to score two goals to beat them and I struggle to see how we will do it with all our forwards in poor form and Pogba not doing it either. Ter Stegen is also bloody brilliant which makes it harder.Having watched it over our defensive shape and pressing was really good but we didn't do anything really to disorganize their backline. A more cohesive attacking unit like City and Liverpool will have scored 2/3 goals yesterday-a real pity. The door seemed to be open and we didn't take advantage.
It's still possible to overturn 1-0 in the second leg but we must score the first goal.
Pretty much agree.This was our first away victory in the CL knock-out stages since 2015, and it showed. After we played a hard physical game against Athletico just this weekend, we only had 1 ojective: score a away goal. We did so already in the 11th minute and after that the game was done and dusted for us. We played in 2nd gear all game, and it was without any danger: United had 0 shots on target.
Yes, you created some chances, but you were never dangerous. We were obviously happy with the 0-1 and even 1-1- would have been a good result to take back home.
Our intent was very obvious: score a goal and keep control of the game. While you had some good spells of possession we werent in danger one bit. We didnt press high until the final third (until the 70th minute), we didnt counter attack when there was numeral disadvantage (we only counter 3v3 or 4v4) and our backline wasnt very high. Alba and Semedo were playing very deep, even in attack they didnt rush forward, and Pique and Lenglet held a deep backline.
Part of our game plan is to soak up some pressure and sit deep - tire the opposition by passing the ball around (meaningless vertical) and shift up a gear around the 70th minute mark. You could see Roberto and Vidal coming on the pitch and the tempo being upped by 1 gear.
We had some troubles getting the ball out of our defense, due to your great pressing. We never had any troubles with the incoming attacks and crosses. Lenglet and Pique were outstanding, and pocketed all of your attackers around the box. For those who were saying Barca's defense is "vulnerable" and "weak": it didnt show yesterday. We held a clean sheet and Pique and Lenglet have played 31 games together and conceded 26 goals. They average less then a goal conceded per game! Its a myth Barca's defense is vulnerable or weak.
Messi's eye has suffered blood clotting (hematoma) and it was obvious he was struggling with it. He might miss the games against Huesca and the return-leg. Also, in the return leg, we will rather play Dembele over Coutinho - who again was non-existent.
All in all we can congratulate you on your fighting spirit and hard work, but I dont think any Barca fan was really impressed by the technical, tactical or talented character of this United team. I would place this team in the same bracket as Valencia/Sevilla, Inter/Milan, Dortmund, etc. Tier 3 at most. Europa League really. Its a shame what has happened to your club. I can see some posters saying the standards have dropped and it really has: when you congratulate your team on the "hard work" in a losing game, it says alot about how good the team is. You dont win matches in Europe based on "hard work" alone. You also need to be better technical, better tactical and be smarter on the ball and defensive. It showed United is none of that at this point.
It is, our attack was not good enough to capitalize it. Afforded so much space to young all game, and he is our worst player in the team and pretty much screwed every cross. Barcelona also gave away 3-4 free kicks in dangerous areas where an in form team would capitalize on, while we missed some good chances via dalot and Martial too. Busquests was lucky not to be sent off for a handball and yellow card where VAR failed to review it.For those who were saying Barca's defense is "vulnerable" and "weak": it didnt show yesterday.
There isn’t a team/player anywhere on the planet with a freekick conversion rate as high as 1 in 3 or 1 in 4. Not even close.It is, our attack was not good enough to capitalize it. Afforded so much space to young all game, and he is our worst player in the team and pretty much screwed every cross. Barcelona also gave away 3-4 free kicks in dangerous areas where an in form team would capitalize on, while we missed some good chances via dalot and Martial too. Busquests was lucky not to be sent off for a handball and yellow card where VAR failed to review it.
A proper team with much better wide players would have scored 2-3 goals against Barcelona yesterday.
Obviously we wouldnt allow so much space when we would have played against a "proper team with much better wide players". We knew Young is terrible, so he can have all the space he wants.It is, our attack was not good enough to capitalize it. Afforded so much space to young all game, and he is our worst player in the team and pretty much screwed every cross.
A proper team with much better wide players would have scored 2-3 goals against Barcelona yesterday.
Not even the dalot header chance? I think the result flatters them, they were atrocious besides the half chance they scored from and mistake from lindelof which gave coutinho a chance they showed nothing.Decent result.
Never looked like scoring. Not even for a second.
Can't help but feel that was an awful performance from Barcelona rather than us doing better than expected.
At least you can test the keeper, earn corners and score from it as well. Good teams and ruthless teams don't need enough chances to score.There isn’t a team/player anywhere on the planet with a freekick conversion rate as high as 1 in 3 or 1 in 4. Not even close.
Lionel Messi himself averages less than 1 in 10.
We didn't neutralize him, they literally didn't even try and get out of first gearGotta say, we did a really good job neutralizing Messi. That’s one huge positive takeaway from this match.
Almost agree accept I thought Dalot did ok seeing he was playing out of position. He should have got that header on target though. Play him in the same position and let him settle there and he will be ok.Thought the midfield and Smalling played really well, Fred and McTominay especially.
Young was hopeless , so much wastage , Dalot as well, Rashford not calm enough although the forwards pressed well, Pogba did ok but giving it to Young or Dalot brought the movements to the end.
Second half I thought we would equalise and played well. Then Lingard came on and all hope died, two fouls, one yellow card and unmarked in the box hits the first player, that was his contribution, and the attacking momentum died and Barcelona dominated possession after he came on - had enough of Lingard.
Tactically most managers would do the same as Ole in terms of how we set up. People think it’s a Mourinho thing, they are wrong.Very Jose like performance and just shows it will take time to get fully rid that of that mindset out of our team. Very timid first 15 mins than concede goal than try to attack without much success. Good to see McT do well, that's 2 of the biggest teams we've played this season in PSG and Barca and he has stood up in both. I don't think Ole would have played him had Matic been fully fit.He needs to start being braver in his selections. Young has to stop being a starter, I appreciate we don't have much options at right back but it isn't working. I'm not a huge fan of Dalot at right back, his lack of pace is a concern, but give him a run of games there and I think he'd be a better option, at least going forward anyway. Can I just add that is not a great Barca team ,certainly not in comparison to recent teams anyway, still very good, but I'd fancy Liverpool or City to beat them.
Young was a waste last night, lots of crosses, all not anywhere near where they should have been. Sorry young but you need to be reserve only. Thanks . Dalot can cross and should becgiven the right back slot to grow into.I think around the 65 minute mark some good play by us worked Young into a good crossing position on the right and he duffed it by scudding a low ball across the box behind everyone? It was awful and deflated us.
What the hell do we do in training? Certainly not work on our crossing.
Yes but most of our attacks broke down through Young or Dalot , Dalot is 19 and will learn , Young gets worse every match. We needed someone else on the left and Dalot on the right for that match.Almost agree accept I thought Dalot did ok seeing he was playing out of position. He should have got that header on target though. Play him in the same position and let him settle there and he will be ok.
Of note was that barca did most of their attacking against our weakest link Young.
Not necessarily as long as the lads hold their nerves.Having watched it over our defensive shape and pressing was really good but we didn't do anything really to disorganize their backline. A more cohesive attacking unit like City and Liverpool will have scored 2/3 goals yesterday-a real pity. The door seemed to be open and we didn't take advantage.
It's still possible to overturn 1-0 in the second leg but we must score the first goal.
What does that last sentence even mean?At least you can test the keeper, earn corners and score from it as well. Good teams and ruthless teams don't need enough chances to score.
we're the home team. When we sat back we conceded, When we went at them we caused them some problems. We played Spurs who I think are a better team than Barca, we went at them from the off. This sitting back is a Jose thing, it is him all over, don't start playing until we concede. You think City or Liverpool would be so timid in their home leg until they conceded, not a chance.They have better squads but we started that team yesterday with Rashford, Lukaku, Pogba. We'd no shots on target. We are going to have to attack in 2nd leg, we've no choice now. Why not do that at home?Tactically most managers would do the same as Ole in terms of how we set up. People think it’s a Mourinho thing, they are wrong.
Keeping a defensive shape is fine. Even Barca do it. When Barca fall into a defensive shape then yes we can get on the ball. We lack quality on it anyway which is why we didn't capitalise. Not because of the defensive shape we picked up after Barca had advanced past the first phase of their build up.we're the home team. When we sat back we conceded, When we went at them we caused them some problems. We played Spurs who I think are a better team than Barca, we went at them from the off. This sitting back is a Jose thing, it is him all over, don't start playing until we concede. You think City or Liverpool would be so timid in their home leg until they conceded, not a chance.They have better squads but we started that team yesterday with Rashford, Lukaku, Pogba. We'd no shots on target. We are going to have to attack in 2nd leg, we've no choice now. Why not do that at home?
It wasn't the back five IN ITSELF I minded, more the personnel. Why not play Dalot, Smalling, Lindelof, Jones, Shaw.... that puts players in most common positions.Tactically most managers would do the same as Ole in terms of how we set up. People think it’s a Mourinho thing, they are wrong.
After a bit longer to think about it I think these are my thoughts too. Well said.Great effort. No quality. The workers stepped up, our best players didn’t. Rashford was atrocious and Pogba anonymous.
Fred, McTominay and Smalling all played really well.
Young is finished.
Yes perhaps he could have done something about Young. The person was claiming the tactics were a Jose thing, when in reality that's how you set up against a team like Barca. I'm talking about the shape of the team and where you close out the spaces and passing lanes for example.It wasn't the back five IN ITSELF I minded, more the personnel. Why not play Dalot, Smalling, Lindelof, Jones, Shaw.... that puts players in most common positions.
Once we saw how poor Young was, putting Jones on (and reshuffling as above) or Martial on and going to a back four seemed right move.
I guess Ole scared of conceding two+ but with Young on we were basically playing with ten men - he killed move after move and wasted positions like free kicks (as did Rashford).
I hope Ole can be more tactically flexible in future and really hoping he doesn't have a blind spot over some players. We all screamed at Bailly v PSG... Young was as bad last night.
(@WhoAreYou? Like your posts about Barca.)
Agree on everything. Barcelona didn't need to raise their level really because all our supposed pressure was pointless. Also, we do need to improve as a collective whether it's technically or tactically.This was our first away victory in the CL knock-out stages since 2015, and it showed. After we played a hard physical game against Athletico just this weekend, we only had 1 ojective: score a away goal. We did so already in the 11th minute and after that the game was done and dusted for us. We played in 2nd gear all game, and it was without any danger: United had 0 shots on target.
Yes, you created some chances, but you were never dangerous. We were obviously happy with the 0-1 and even 1-1- would have been a good result to take back home.
Our intent was very obvious: score a goal and keep control of the game. While you had some good spells of possession we werent in danger one bit. We didnt press high until the final third (until the 70th minute), we didnt counter attack when there was numeral disadvantage (we only counter 3v3 or 4v4) and our backline wasnt very high. Alba and Semedo were playing very deep, even in attack they didnt rush forward, and Pique and Lenglet held a deep backline.
Part of our game plan is to soak up some pressure and sit deep - tire the opposition by passing the ball around (meaningless vertical) and shift up a gear around the 70th minute mark. You could see Roberto and Vidal coming on the pitch and the tempo being upped by 1 gear.
We had some troubles getting the ball out of our defense, due to your great pressing. We never had any troubles with the incoming attacks and crosses. Lenglet and Pique were outstanding, and pocketed all of your attackers around the box. For those who were saying Barca's defense is "vulnerable" and "weak": it didnt show yesterday. We held a clean sheet and Pique and Lenglet have played 31 games together and conceded 26 goals. They average less then a goal conceded per game! Its a myth Barca's defense is vulnerable or weak.
Messi's eye has suffered blood clotting (hematoma) and it was obvious he was struggling with it. He might miss the games against Huesca and the return-leg. Also, in the return leg, we will rather play Dembele over Coutinho - who again was non-existent.
All in all we can congratulate you on your fighting spirit and hard work, but I dont think any Barca fan was really impressed by the technical, tactical or talented character of this United team. I would place this team in the same bracket as Valencia/Sevilla, Inter/Milan, Dortmund, etc. Tier 3 at most. Europa League really. Its a shame what has happened to your club. I can see some posters saying the standards have dropped and it really has: when you congratulate your team on the "hard work" in a losing game, it says alot about how good the team is. You dont win matches in Europe based on "hard work" alone. You also need to be better technical, better tactical and be smarter on the ball and defensive. It showed United is none of that at this point.
United are not street smart we know that, but surely Barcelona are vulnerable and beatable. Team's with better creative forwards would have taken some of the chances Barcelona gave away. There are other street smart teams out there in champions league, and I hate to say it but one of them are our bitter rivals Liverpool, who play on possession too.Obviously we wouldnt allow so much space when we would have played against a "proper team with much better wide players". We knew Young is terrible, so he can have all the space he wants.
I see alot of people say things like that. "A good team would have dominated them". We wouldnt give a good team so much space. Spurs scored 2 against us, but by doing so, they gave us space: enough to score 4 on them. Sevilla also scored 2 against us, but we also scored 4 against them. Why? Because playing progressive forward creates spaces behind you. So, City wouldnt have scored 2, Spurs wouldnt have scored 2, Liverpool wouldnt have scored 2, Juventus wouldnt have scored 2. We are solid defensive. If there was any danger of conceding 1 or 2 we would take control of the ball again and slow the game down. People really underestimate how streetsmart this team is.
I cant believe the arguments I see here. 'We could have', 'We should have', 'If we did (..)'. All hypothetical and holds no value whatsoever.
I can see some posters saying the standards have dropped and it really has: when you congratulate your team on the "hard work" in a losing game, it says alot about how good the team is. You dont win matches in Europe based on "hard work" alone.
We didn't press at the start and brought it on to us. Immediately after the goal we started playing and pressing, keeping the ball better and restricted their dangerous attacks to absolute minimum.Keeping a defensive shape is fine. Even Barca do it. When Barca fall into a defensive shape then yes we can get on the ball. We lack quality on it anyway which is why we didn't capitalise. Not because of the defensive shape we picked up after Barca had advanced past the first phase of their build up.
Im sure we would have had time periods managing the amount we were pressing and also a plan if we scored or conceded. Barca would have also changed how they conducted themselves after either scoring or conceding, it’s just game management.We didn't press at the start and brought it on to us. Immediately after the goal we started playing and pressing, keeping the ball better and restricted their dangerous attacks to absolute minimum.
Fred
Chris Smalling
David de Gea
Ashley Young
Paul Pogba
Diogo Dalot
Victor Lindelof
Luke Shaw
Scott McTominay
Ashley Young
Gianluca Rocchi
replaced by Jesse Lingard
replaced by Anthony Martial
replaced by Andreas Pereira
