The way I see this is that Real Madrid have got us out of jail quite a few times over the last few years by beating the scousers and City to stop them winning trophies. Its now the time for this Utd team to step up and stop City, its a great chance to mess them up and the team should relish the opportunity and grab it.
FA Cup Final: United v City
- Thread starter PoTMS
- Start date
Counterattack and plenty of pace up top. Rashford, Martial, Garnacho front 3. If we have any hope of winning this it will have to be an ugly, gutsy performance. <30% possession. ETH hasn’t shown he’s capable of doing that.
What has been the biggest FA Cup final win in history? We’d top that against City by being on the receiving end.
That's exactly how we won against City before.
https://www.google.com/search?q=man...F-8#sie=m;/g/11t3cw_sn2;2;/m/02_tc;ms;fp;1;;;
29% possession, Rashford / Martial upfront leading the counter, bruno dropping central to provide the outlet.
Need Antony and Casemiro to smash into some of their players - maybe step on their toenails - keeping them out just for a week or so. Even better if they are only at 75% fitness and are rushed back and mismanaged.
Their players have a track record of winning while ours of bottling, not looking forward to this, we barely scraped a cup win against Newcastle.
Martinez out too, meaning either Maguire at CB or Malcia at left back.
Martinez out too, meaning either Maguire at CB or Malcia at left back.
To think some United are living in the fantasy that SJR can come here and compete with city, Newcastle.
This is the pinnacle for city but it’s been over 10 years in the making - years of arriving for perfection, ruthless investment and moving players on who weren’t up to it. We need similar wealth and investment to have a chance of upstaging them - and that’s before you consider renovating OT etc.
Qatar literally your only hope of building something like what city have and competing for the biggest prizes. It’s a sad but pertinent reality.
Well I don’t think ETH will overlook that to be fair. Ole did it several times too and his credentials as a manager are as we know.. Finals are about finding a way to win, not exhilarating football, so have to hope our manager has that front and centre of his thinking.
In fairness your post was clearly not one of those which I was referring to. I'm sure you will appreciate there is quite the difference between saying it'll be a difficult game and a win would be an amazing result, versus saying "It will be a massacre", "Shame on you for even thinking we can take it to extra time", "It will be a blood bath", "This team will be demolished in 25 minutes" and a particular highlight, "Anything under five goals and I'll be happy".
You missed out literally cheating the system btw.
Seems, this far at least, that it doesn’t make one iota of difference as they won’t be prosecuted. I’d take trophies and no moral high ground over languishing 3rd-8th. Football is entertainment to me and I’d like to see my team win.
I think we'll have to play as aggressive as the ref allows. I doubt there'll be another Rudiger smash that avoids red, but that's what got Chelsea over the line. It's such a shame Martinez is not available for this.
Best bet is surely to setup like Ole did. Defend, defend, defend, and make sure there's plenty of pace on the break.
------------------------de Gea
AWB--------Varane-------Shaw------Dalot
--------------Casemiro---Fred
Antony-------------Bruno
---------------Rashford------------Garnacho
Best bet is surely to setup like Ole did. Defend, defend, defend, and make sure there's plenty of pace on the break.
------------------------de Gea
AWB--------Varane-------Shaw------Dalot
--------------Casemiro---Fred
Antony-------------Bruno
---------------Rashford------------Garnacho
Agreed with bolded but Antony isn’t the guy for that.
?
there’s a guy called Varane who played at the weekend with Lindelof ?
Jesus
I think we'll need him for his tracking back and for the out ball. Whom would you rather have start?
until city are made an example of and appropriately charge for their breaches of the rules, it’s all irrelevant.Jesus
Some of the comments on here are pathetic, the history of football, including cup finals, is littered with teams that have won whilst every "expert" said they'd be smashed by a vastly superior team
1976 cup final, United lost to Southampton despite being a vastly better team and a division above
1977 cup final, United beat Liverpool and stopped them doing the treble
2013 cup final Wigan beat City whilst being relegated from the PL the same season
There are loads of other examples
1976 cup final, United lost to Southampton despite being a vastly better team and a division above
1977 cup final, United beat Liverpool and stopped them doing the treble
2013 cup final Wigan beat City whilst being relegated from the PL the same season
There are loads of other examples
No, it's really not irrelevant.
They were fined £60m and had their squad capped in 2014 for cheating. They were banned from the Champions League in 2020 for cheating, later overturned on a flimsy technicality, after which they still willingly paid a fine despite supposedly claiming their innocence. They're currently being investigated for 115 violations of financial fair play rules across a 9 year period alongside allegations of not complying with investigations from both the FA and UEFA. Since City supposedly cleaned up their act, over the past 5 years, their "parent company" who own several relatively small clubs alongside City, have lost nearly £500m, strange coincidence, don't you think?
But yeah, all that is completely irrelevant because "yay trophies".
It’s irrelevant because they haven’t been convicted or punished. That’s the fault of the authorities for not ensuring that happen. It’s irrelevant in stopping them doing whatever the hell they want.
I ensure you that the media coverage tomorrow will be 100% about how majestic city played last night and nothing to do with the above nefarious rules breaches. That’s why it’s irrelevant.
Oh that's alright then. The lack of media coverage will mean it's all irrelevant, because that's how it works apparently. Just entertainment isn't it.
The only way we win is soak the pressure and break. Martial is actually the key to it as on form, he’s the player that can roll a defender and set Rashford off. Whether he can be in any sort of form in time is anyone’s guess.
I’d go front three of Rashford, Martial and Bruno right, midfield three of Case, McT and Fred. This is not a game for Eriksen sadly. We need all the legs we can get in there.
I’d go front three of Rashford, Martial and Bruno right, midfield three of Case, McT and Fred. This is not a game for Eriksen sadly. We need all the legs we can get in there.
God help us if Martial is any sort of key
The point is that until it’s taken seriously and they are punished, then being sat on a forum slating them and talking about how ‘football is more than that’ in the face of the fact it clearly isn’t anymore, whilst that team is lifting trophies and they are exhalted for doing so, is an utterly futile exercise.Oh that's alright then. The lack of media coverage will mean it's all irrelevant, because that's how it works apparently. Just entertainment isn't it.
Er, the last game between the teams was won 2-1 by United, with two rapid fire transitions from our half to theirs. Couple of similar chances before that.
Victories this season over Liverpool, Arsenal and City were not that dissimilar to any of Ole's former wins against City.
Have a feeling we might see Bruno on the wing again which will send fans into a meltdown but the tricky part for EtH is to strike a balance between being solid, having aggression and energy, and also carrying a counter-attacking, pacy threat with players that can pick that pass.
DDG
AWB Varane Lindelof Shaw
Casemiro Fred Eriksen
Bruno Martial Rashford
Garnacho and Antony might have a big part to play from the bench. Sancho to score the winner against his old club
DDG
AWB Varane Lindelof Shaw
Casemiro Fred Eriksen
Bruno Martial Rashford
Garnacho and Antony might have a big part to play from the bench. Sancho to score the winner against his old club
I haven't said football is more than anything, what a frankly bizarre take. I've said they are cheats. Which they are. You don't happily pay two separate fines for cheating if you're not cheating. You don't refuse to fully comply with investigations from two separate governing bodies if you're not doing something at least a little be suspect. Literally nobody else gets charged with 115 separate breaches of FFP spanning a decade; smoke, fire etc. If you'd be happy to support that, what's stopping you?
If the final was this weekend I think we'd be in big trouble but a lot can change over 2 weeks.
We need a few things to go in our favour I think over the next couple of weeks.
We need to secure top 4 so the players are going into the final with some confidence and without the pressure of knowing the season has collapsed and is about to get worse. We need a couple of good performances and wins in our final league games to suggest we're carrying some sort of form into the final, Rashford and Martial scoring.
No more injuries, fully fit squad for the final and pray that somehow City pick up a couple of key injuries.
If we limp over the line for top 4 with 3 poor performances, 2 close horrible wins and a loss isn't going to full anyone with much confidence. If we blow top 4 I don't see us redeeming ourselves in the cup final, the players confidence will be shot.
We need a few things to go in our favour I think over the next couple of weeks.
We need to secure top 4 so the players are going into the final with some confidence and without the pressure of knowing the season has collapsed and is about to get worse. We need a couple of good performances and wins in our final league games to suggest we're carrying some sort of form into the final, Rashford and Martial scoring.
No more injuries, fully fit squad for the final and pray that somehow City pick up a couple of key injuries.
If we limp over the line for top 4 with 3 poor performances, 2 close horrible wins and a loss isn't going to full anyone with much confidence. If we blow top 4 I don't see us redeeming ourselves in the cup final, the players confidence will be shot.
The first half performance against City at Old Trafford was about as good as it's going to get for us, so we have to try recreate that as much as possible I think. That means bringing Fred in for the extra running in midfield, pray Martial has a good day with his back to goal to hold the ball up and try to feed Rashford on the counter. In the 1st half we were dangerous in transition, got Rashford in behind their defence multiple times but just didn't score, and we kept City from creating any clear chances.Have a feeling we might see Bruno on the wing again which will send fans into a meltdown but the tricky part for EtH is to strike a balance between being solid, having aggression and energy, and also carrying a counter-attacking, pacy threat with players that can pick that pass.
DDG
AWB Varane Lindelof Shaw
Casemiro Fred Eriksen
Bruno Martial Rashford
Garnacho and Antony might have a big part to play from the bench. Sancho to score the winner against his old club
2nd half it was falling apart because Martial went off injured and we played with no striker for most of the half so we couldn't hold onto the ball, the game only swayed back in our favour when we finally put Rashford up front and Garnacho came on.
For me the result doesn't matter much. I want us to win obviously but expect us to lose.
But how we play is very important. This is our chance to stop them from winning the Treble, so the players need to play with 150% strength, no matter what. They have a CL final to look forward to, so we should have an advantage physically wise since they would not want an injury before that. We need to be more aggressive than them, more hungry than them, no excuse. I remember Liverpool almost always give us a hard game during SAF, and it's our time to do the same.
If we play like vs Liverpool away, no amount of player's PR about how they love United or how they bleed red or whatever should matter in the future.
But how we play is very important. This is our chance to stop them from winning the Treble, so the players need to play with 150% strength, no matter what. They have a CL final to look forward to, so we should have an advantage physically wise since they would not want an injury before that. We need to be more aggressive than them, more hungry than them, no excuse. I remember Liverpool almost always give us a hard game during SAF, and it's our time to do the same.
If we play like vs Liverpool away, no amount of player's PR about how they love United or how they bleed red or whatever should matter in the future.
The first game against Liverpool?
And against Arsenal, the 3-1 win. We did play some good stuff in both those games but they were defined by extremely pacy, rapid attacks and soaking up pressure.
They are going to feel complacent and tired from partying after winning CL final, that will give us chance.
Which is our only chance of winning. Hopefully the team have one last burst of energy to do it.
The Fa Cup final is a week before the CL final
The thing is this City team have got better and better over the last couple of months. You cant compare past wins we had as this City team today would beat any City team previous. Unless we have a miracle and a dozen or more are sick on the day, I can see a humiliation.
Yeah they are our only hope
You will be waiting forever for that to happen
They bring a world cup winner in alvarez and we start with Martial or Weghorst
F eck it. All to play for, let it fly, etc.... etc.... Can't wait. Why whinge about this? Let's shock the world!