Manchester United 0:1 Barcelona

Sandikan · Apr 7, 2019

Holocene said:
Pogba will be key in this tie. Barca won't man mark him like PSG did, they'll be coming to Old Trafford to play their football. There will be space for him to carry the ball and play passes in behind. I hope he plays further forward and doesn't get stuck too deep.

He'll be one of many elements that will be key.

Martial and Lingard (presumably) will be the wide players, and they'll need to do the pressing they were doing v PS at home, without getting injured this time. That broke our tactic that night.

Herrera and Matic will have to be superb, and disciplined. No early bookings that put them on a knife edge.

Needless to say the defence will have to have big nights as well.

And on top of the above, we have to somehow find a goal threat from our 25% possession.

DancingPanda · Apr 7, 2019

DRM said:
Hi guys i'm in vegas this week, where can I watch this match or what channel? Thanks in advance.

I'll give you a personal live commentary through skype if you want

Dve · Apr 7, 2019

DRM said:
Hi guys i'm in vegas this week, where can I watch this match or what channel? Thanks in advance.

DancingPanda said:
I'll give you a personal live commentary through skype if you want

Everyone has to start some where.

MrSingh2002 · Apr 7, 2019

De Gea
Young Jones Lindelof Shaw
Herrera McTominay Pogba
Lingard Rashford Martial

Romero
Dalot
Smalling
Matic
Fred
Mata
Lukaku

The only decisions for me at the moment are whether I go with Romero over a currently seemingly distracted De Gea and whether it's time for Dalot to come in for Young at RB.

I can genuinely see us winning with the above lineup.

buckooo1978 · Apr 7, 2019

MrSingh2002 said:
De Gea
Young Jones Lindelof Shaw
Herrera McTominay Pogba
Lingard Rashford Martial

Romero
Dalot
Smalling
Matic
Fred
Mata
Lukaku

The only decisions for me at the moment are whether I go with Romero over a currently seemingly distracted De Gea and whether it's time for Dalot to come in for Young at RB.

I can genuinely see us winning with the above lineup.

yes to Dalot over Young, no to Romero over De Gea

dunno about Jones in that side either

jderbyshire · Apr 7, 2019

If Matic is in that starting line-up and not McTominay, I think I might cry.

Macern · Apr 7, 2019

I’ve got no hope at all. We’re going to get destroyed if we play like we’ve been doing recently.

DeGea · Apr 7, 2019

We will get humbled unfortunately. Not enough desire in the team.

DRM · Apr 8, 2019

DancingPanda said:
I'll give you a personal live commentary through skype if you want

Sounds good

Dolf · Apr 8, 2019

pocco · Apr 8, 2019

Really torn on what to expect/hope for from this one. I've noticed over the years that we do better in the big games when we're underdogs, and vice versa. When people start believing we have a chance then that's when we disappoint, but when we're written off then we can spring a surprise.

Brain says 2 or 3 nil to Barca, heart is saying we can find some motivation and dig deep to deliver a win, perhaps 2-1.

Josh 76 · Apr 8, 2019

First leg will be a draw. Second leg we will get hammered.
Then Liverpool with will beat these and we will realise again just how far behind we are from those Scousers.
Hope I'm wrong!

JJ12 · Apr 8, 2019

2-1 us first leg

2-0 them second leg

Ahsan_6386 · Apr 8, 2019

This will be a very tough game for us for sure and it's possible Barcelona might destroy us at home . We still have a strong team and we should put up a good resistance . The way things are going and as someone put up the stats of how blunt the team has performed at home in UCL this season . So the team owes the fans a big performance at Old Trafford this season and this is the most opportune moment for the team to do that .

johanovic · Apr 8, 2019

4-1-2-1-2 Diamond system with the strikers dropping to the wings when defending. Set pices could also prove important. Barca perhaps are not at the strongest when defending corners against a big team like the one here below. Pogba playing a free role, marking Busqets and driving from midfield to the box as often as possible would be interesting to see.

De Gea
Dalot Smalling Lindelof Shaw
McTominay
Herrera Fred
Pogba
Lukaku Rashford

Trizy · Apr 8, 2019

Holocene said:
Pogba will be key in this tie. Barca won't man mark him like PSG did, they'll be coming to Old Trafford to play their football. There will be space for him to carry the ball and play passes in behind. I hope he plays further forward and doesn't get stuck too deep.

This is exactly what I'm thinking. Will be a nice open game with Barcelona with most the possession which should suit us fine.

Herrera will be a key man but he might not even make the bench if his rumors and the Wolves game are anything to go by.

We'll win at Old Trafford, just to be embarrassed at Camp Nou.

Ish · Apr 8, 2019

Josh 76 said:
First leg will be a draw. Second leg we will get hammered.
Then Liverpool with will beat these and we will realise again just how far behind we are from those Scousers.
Hope I'm wrong!

Yeah, so do I but Pool seem to have the best style & personnel to counter Barca. Team full of pace, mad dogging in the middle and even more pace and physicality on the counter.

I best bet is to try and sit deep and hit them on the counter.

Litch · Apr 8, 2019

Glad this games come around as since the PSG game, I think this game as amounted to us taking our eye off everything else....

MonkeysMagic · Apr 8, 2019

Not sure whats going on with Herrera state of mind but ideally he should be the defensive anchor along with one of McTominay/Fred so Pogba can play in Adv role. I suspect we will be playing deep defensive line and given our utter lack of creativity through the middle, there will be long diagonals both wings so would prefer Martial and Lukaku with Rashford to run on to through the middle.

Tiber · Apr 8, 2019

Young v Messi. What could go wrong?

Wallez · Apr 8, 2019

We have to attack at home, and I hope we don't fall for the temptation of some stupid 5 at the back formation. I would go with:

De Gea
Young - Smalling - Lindelöf - Shaw
Herrera - McTominay - Pogba
Lingard - Lukaku - Rashford

If Herrera has turned his head towards Paris, bring in Fred.

@Tiber Why on earth would Messi play LW? On paper he will play RW, but in practice he will fall deep and retrieve the ball like a quarterback. I have no doubt that Shaw will cope with Messi, but I fear that Pogba will have to defend against him as well, when Messi drops deep and Alba runs up the field. Actually, I think the best way to stop Messi is to switch Herrera and Pogba, as playing Herrera to the left will allow him to close down Messi.

roonster09 · Apr 8, 2019

Tiber said:
Young v Messi. What could go wrong?

Positioning.

SSSSnake · Apr 8, 2019

Messi hat-trick and our fans will do a standing applause when he goes off in the 85th minute.

haram · Apr 8, 2019

Wonder if we’ll man mark Messi. When he dances across the edge of the box to find space it is quite terrifying. Fouling him in that position at the moment is even worse.

Handré1990 · Apr 8, 2019

Not particularly looking forward to this.

AaronRedDevil · Apr 8, 2019

We will lose. But we will lose together

King7Eric · Apr 8, 2019

There is one clear weakness in Barca's game that we can exploit. The midfield trio of Rakitic, Arthur and Busquets, while being brilliant on the ball are susceptible to runners going through them. When Barca lose the ball high up the pitch, they immediately try to foul you because none of their 3 midfielders have the legs to track runners through the middle of the pack. Against Atletico at the weekend there were atleast 4 occasions when an Atletico player was able to break through the lines deep from their own box and totally bypass their midfield. Pogba and Fred could take advantage of this.

Pique could be another weakness, trying to get Rashford/Lukaku running behind him can be effective as he no longer has the legs to keep up. Playing one of Lukaku/Rashford on the right could be another way of pushing Alba back as Coutinho isn't gonna track back much.

haram · Apr 8, 2019

King7Eric said:
There is one clear weakness in Barca's game that we can exploit. The midfield trio of Rakitic, Arthur and Busquets, while being brilliant on the ball are susceptible to runners going through them. When Barca lose the ball high up the pitch, they immediately try to foul you because none of their 3 midfielders have the legs to track runners through the middle of the pack. Against Atletico at the weekend there were atleast 4 occasions when an Atletico player was able to break through the lines deep from their own box and totally bypass their midfield. Pogba and Fred could take advantage of this.

Pique could be another weakness, trying to get Rashford/Lukaku running behind him can be effective as he no longer has the legs to keep up. Playing one of Lukaku/Rashford on the right could be another way of pushing Alba back as Coutinho isn't gonna track back much.

I think we may see Jesse false 9 again with Lukaku and Rashford either side as inverted forwards trying to exploit the spaces with their pace. We have a huge weapon in Pogba with his ball carrying and long range passing but obviously he needs to remain switched on defensively when we are deep. Of course Jesse is our best runner and in central areas can exploit the Barca midfield when they are caught higher up the pitch. If we can win the ball deep on the left hand side I think Lindelof, Shaw and Pogba have the capability to ping a direct ball across field into Lukaku who can use his physicality and pace.

Cloud7 · Apr 8, 2019

DancingPanda said:
I'll give you a personal live commentary through skype if you want

Can I get in on this? Or would that not make it personal anymore?

Cait Sith · Apr 8, 2019

The Roma debacle last season minimizes United's (already slim) chances of progressing, as far as I'm concerned. It can happen once, but twice in a row?

haram · Apr 8, 2019

Cait Sith said:
The Roma debacle last season minimizes United's (already slim) chances of progressing, as far as I'm concerned. It can happen once, but twice in a row?

Happened to PSG twice...

King7Eric · Apr 8, 2019

haram said:
I think we may see Jesse false 9 again with Lukaku and Rashford either side as inverted forwards trying to exploit the spaces with their pace. We have a huge weapon in Pogba with his ball carrying and long range passing but obviously he needs to remain switched on defensively when we are deep. Of course Jesse is our best runner and in central areas can exploit the Barca midfield when they are caught higher up the pitch. If we can win the ball deep on the left hand side I think Lindelof, Shaw and Pogba have the capability to ping a direct ball across field into Lukaku who can use his physicality and pace.

I agree with most of what you say, but don't you think Martial would be better in the central role than Lingard. Jesse of course is better at cutting out spaces for the opposition and winning the ball back higher up the field, but I think Martial can drive forward with the ball better and can also hold up the ball better than Lingard. Both bring different things to the table and its a toss up between who to play.

Anyway, its nice to see at least there's someone on here who doesn't think its a lost cause and actually believes we can do some damage, rather than the resigned majority on here.

Wednesday at Stoke · Apr 8, 2019

haram said:
Wonder if we’ll man mark Messi. When he dances across the edge of the box to find space it is quite terrifying. Fouling him in that position at the moment is even worse.

Got to cut down the supply channels in midfield and make him drop deeper for the ball.

King7Eric · Apr 8, 2019

Wednesday at Stoke said:
Got to cut down the supply channels in midfield and make him drop deeper for the ball.

This. When he starts running at us, he is gonna beat players, so the deeper we can push into his own midfield the better it is for us. Our wide men then need to make sure not to give Alba/Roberto any free space and leave Messi with no option but to try to go through the middle.

haram · Apr 8, 2019

King7Eric said:
I agree with most of what you say, but don't you think Martial would be better in the central role than Lingard. Jesse of course is better at cutting out spaces for the opposition and winning the ball back higher up the field, but I think Martial can drive forward with the ball better and can also hold up the ball better than Lingard. Both bring different things to the table and its a toss up between who to play.

Anyway, its nice to see at least there's someone on here who doesn't think its a lost cause and actually believes we can do some damage, rather than the resigned majority on here.

I think Lingard would be more comfortable in midfield spaces. I think his higher work rate will be valuable.

King7Eric · Apr 8, 2019

haram said:
I think Lingard would be more comfortable in midfield spaces. I think his higher work rate will be valuable.

Let's see what Ole decides, though he does to trust Lingard more in big matches so I guess he will start.

BrianMcClair'sBarnet · Apr 8, 2019

I'm only nervous if we get a great result (at home) heading into the reverse fixture at the Nou Camp.
At the moment I'm in a state of acceptance of our capabilities,which aren't of a particularly high standard unfortunately.

jderbyshire · Apr 8, 2019

Hope we give Suarez a nice respectful welcome.

Sarni · Apr 8, 2019

Hope we can get a good result here. I’ll be at Camp Nou for the return leg and I don’t want to be going there without hope.

.Rossi · Apr 8, 2019

Imo, our last CL match at OT for a few years.

Enjoy it. Easier said than done with the Chuckle Brothers and My Consistency on the pitch but, try anyways

Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Manchester United 0:1 Barcelona

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