Not what I wanted, but I'm pretty happy - lowkey liked AC Milan back in their Maldini, Gullit ect days, so nice to see them relevant again and fun meeting them.
Europa League Round of 16 Draw | United vs Milan
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Dalot isn't their starting RB though, Calabria is.
Quite possible that Dalot started most games in Europa League though, but then again Ibrahimovic would also have been on the bench for most, given the rotation.
Dont know why any fan would moan about this draw when fans are always moaning about the Europa league being a pointless competition where you have to face some obscure team from a farmers league.
We need these type of matches to know where we are at as a club under ole
We need these type of matches to know where we are at as a club under ole
Probably the hardest game we could have gotten, perhaps excluding the 2 English teams despite their shite form. It's an exciting one though, I'll definitely be looking forward to it. It isn't often you get excited about a tie in the Europa league. But yeah, definitely could have done with an easier tie considering the games that this lies in between.
Another tough cup draw. AC Milan currently second in Serie A shows they are not as washed up as some will make out. At least makes the tie interesting to be drawn against another glamour club, albeit not the force of old.
Note Jose sneaking through these cup competitions with easy draws. This is what he does using the luck of the draw to his advantage. Don't be surprised to see Spurs in another final........
Note Jose sneaking through these cup competitions with easy draws. This is what he does using the luck of the draw to his advantage. Don't be surprised to see Spurs in another final........
Good thing imo to get them now than later. If we defeat them we will only have Spurs and Arsenal to worry about.
Beside I'm actually excited to face them.
Beside I'm actually excited to face them.
I think Maguire will actually enjoy that battle as there's no pace element to it
Love it.
Such an agreement is expressly against UEFA's rules so only some unwritten gentlemen's agreement could prevent Dalot from playing. Basically, it's up to Milan.
No we don't.
He has even fallen below Kalulu. The 3rd pick at this moment.
Shows how much you know.
Like shit.
Players are coming in and out of the lineup due to injuries, corona, suspensions and unnecessary rotation. It's a mess. The team does not look like a team in any part of the pitch. Some key players are injured or not fully recovered from their injury.
All that could change in a matter of weeks. It's a very volatile situation. The team is capable of great performances because we have a very good squad and a tactical approach that gets the best out of most of them. But right now they're capable of losing to any team. It could get really ugly even, 4-0, 5-0, because this team does not stop chasing after goals when they're down 2-0. They'll continue pushing and rather risk a huge defeat than giving up.
Smart arse response there, not like I gave the reasoning of league position as to why Milan is the toughest draw. I’ll give you a green smiley -
Roma are way lower than Milan in Serie A, Ajax and Shakhtar have infinitely worse squads than Milan (former didn’t even register their main striker), Rangers, come on let’s not take the piss here, and Spurs and Arsenal are 9th and 10th in the PL. Also, tell me where I said I expected easy draws to the finals, even though that actually happened for us in 2017? It was a one liner saying that we got the toughest draw.So awful in the league that you couldn't beat them in 3 meetings, and lost 2 of them at home?
Great occasion, fun to see Zlatan again (hopefully not too much fun for him). I'm happy we didn't draw Arsenal or Spurs, just to keep this more interesting. And this is probably as box office as Europa can get, so not bad.
We definitely should be favourites for the tie.
We definitely should be favourites for the tie.
Yes, a lot of the other teams would've been easier draws, but Arsenal and Spurs would be very very difficult. Mourinho knows our team and we've been struggling to get a good result against Tottenham under him, even under their current form I still rate their squad over AC Milan. Same goes for Arsenal.Smart arse response there, not like I gave the reasoning of league position as to why Milan is the toughest draw. I’ll give you a green smiley -
Roma are way lower than Milan in Serie A, Ajax and Shakhtar have infinitely worse squads than Milan (former didn’t even register their main striker), Rangers, come on let’s not take the piss here, and Spurs and Arsenal are 9th and 10th in the PL. Also, tell me where I said I expected easy draws to the finals, even though that actually happened for us in 2017? It was a one liner saying that we got the toughest draw.
It's a tough draw against a tough team, but one that suits us better than a lot of the others since they struggle with quick-passing teams.
Very very bad as I wrote yesterday, but the most worrying thing is that we've looked really tired in the last few weeks and we've got outplayed several times.
The problems started 1 month ago against Atalanta, they battered us 3-0 and looked much more in form than us. We weren't very worried and the general feeling was "well we know Atalanta is a pain in the ***, good that we won't have to face them until May" but same thing happened 3 days later when we met Inter in Coppa Italia (after a good 30 minutes from us, we collapsed and in the second half we passed the halfway line like 4-5 times). After that game we got a couple of wins against relegation sides that weren't able to expose our limits, until Spezia, 2 weeks ago.. Awful awful game from us, we barely created 2 chances while they could have scored much more but the most surprising thing it was to see that Spezia looked much fresher and were able to play at a much higher tempo than us (very slow and predictable), shocking given that they're pretty much a mediocre team.. It wasn't an random accident because the following games against Red Star (both) and Inter were tragic
My prediction, if we play our strongest line-up:
- Donnarumma - Calabria - Kjaer - Romagnoli- Theo Hernandez - Bennacer - Kessie - Saelemakers - Calhanoglu - Rafael Leao - Ibra.. I'd say our chances to qualify are around 20%. If we play something like this (as I expect and as happened so far in UEL):
- Donnarumma - Dalot- Tomori- Romagnoli - Theo - Meite- Kessie - Castillejo - Krunic - Rebic- Ibra... Then not more than 10%..
PS: Sorry for my english, I'm not used to writing so much..
PPS: Imho the next day, after Milan vs Roma, you will all say: "well we avoided the toughest italian team"
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Roma are just 5 five points off Milan in Series A. What?Smart arse response there, not like I gave the reasoning of league position as to why Milan is the toughest draw. I’ll give you a green smiley -
Roma are way lower than Milan in Serie A, Ajax and Shakhtar have infinitely worse squads than Milan (former didn’t even register their main striker), Rangers, come on let’s not take the piss here, and Spurs and Arsenal are 9th and 10th in the PL. Also, tell me where I said I expected easy draws to the finals, even though that actually happened for us in 2017? It was a one liner saying that we got the toughest draw.
We should be beating these.
You watch the press constantly link us to Donnarumma in the lead up to both games!
At a certain point in a cup every opponent is a tough opponent. We made mincemeat of Real Sociedad, but going into it most of us saw them as a tough opponent. I expect us to go through, but we’re not going to make mincemeat of Milan.
Yes and Leicester can fully prepare for that FA Cup tie as they are out of Europe.
Was a simliar situation last season when a well rested Chelsea fared off against United a few days after important PL game and had no choice but to rest key players.
I might actually be bothered to tune into this one.
All this insightful stuff “you have to play the best sides anyway if you want to win the competition” completely ignores that especially in such a congested season the more competitive teams you keep playing in the earlier stages, the more players will get physically and mentally tired as the season progresses.
To make it worse Leicester had to go out yesterday and will now be in a great position to take advantage of our tiredness when we play them in the FA Cup.
To make it worse Leicester had to go out yesterday and will now be in a great position to take advantage of our tiredness when we play them in the FA Cup.
Really happy with Milan. A proper tie!
Agree, I’m delighted with the draw.
Just a pity that there will be no fans as this would have been a fantastic game to attend.
But we though Socieadad wplould have been a tough tie as well?
Milan arent in grest form and dont have much pace, with Ibra up top we can push up the pitch without fear of anything over the top.
Maybe itll bite me in the ass but I think this is easier than a lot of lesser named sides would have been
Yep, the last time we played was in the CL when they had Beckham and Ronaldinho right? think that was the season Rooney was absolutely world class as a 9 and destoyed Thiago Silva
then he got his ankle injury against Bayern in the next round I will be if we can get all players back fit and firing for this and the fa cup tie
Remember it well mate. Also Park was absolutely phenomenal that night. Had Pirlo marked out the game.Yep, the last time we played was in the CL when they had Beckham and Ronaldinho right? think that was the season Rooney was absolutely world class as a 9 and destoyed Thiago Silva
What a night!
Ah yes that was the infamous Park/Pirlo match, what a job he did! people were stunned that he managed to pretty much make the best playmaker in europe disappear
classNice draw! We might even forget that this is not CL for a second bring it on!
bring it on!The team is meant to pressure high, force itself on the opponents, attack quickly and in great numbers. When it clicks, it's devastating. Theo Hernandez, Rebic, Calhanoglu, Kessie and Saelemaekers all coming running at you in full pace, and then there's Zlatan winning every battle in the air.
But that's not the Milan we've seen lately. Calhanoglu has been very poor since his return from corona. Our key man in the midfield Bennacer has had recurring injury problems for almost 3 months. The team is struggling to keep possession ever since. The others have also been going in and out of the lineup for different reasons. And then there's Rafael Leao who's an enigma. He's fast, he's skilled, he's tall, he's strong, he's a good finisher. But he's also lazy and unfocused when he doesn't have the ball. He can single-handedly win you games but he's bad for the high pressure strategy.
Doesn't matter, we will be out by the semis anyway
Happier with us playing somebody interesting tbh. AC Milan are full of old men so it shouldn't be too hard.
Hoping to us play our U-8s team and Henderson of course.
Hoping to us play our U-8s team and Henderson of course.
He typically does well against these types of players, except for last time out, he usually does a number on Kane.
Was that really necessary.
I'm old and I found that comment very offensive.
Bring it on! Good draw. I am not going to stay up late to watch some team whose name I can't pronounce. This is worth watching.
I do hope Arsenal and Spurs meet each other at some point though, that would help us a lot.
I do hope Arsenal and Spurs meet each other at some point though, that would help us a lot.
AC Milan is still one of the biggest names in world footy, so it's a superb draw.
Just a shame it's a bit earlier than the stage it befits really.
Just a shame it's a bit earlier than the stage it befits really.
Yep.
It's also not true that you have to play all the best sides if you want to win the trophy.
Ideally, you keep getting decent draws while the other strong teams draw each other and one goes each time, or fall victim to an upset. As Jose's sides tend to benefit from.
Eventually you might have to face some tough teams by the S/F, Final stage. But much better not to have had to do it at every other stage in the competition as well and been able to rest players more often throughout the season.
Stand by it. I'm surprised they haven't been put on display at a museum.