[Coops73]

Reckon we will lose 4-0 minimum tonight.

We are awful and we should only focus on Everton this weekend.

First 20 mins will be horrible to watch!

That’s the spirit!

 

[Kapardin]

I agree, but who would you start ahead of him on the right flank?

Mata, Lingard and Sanchez are the alternatives and none of them looks up to scratch. It's a crime that the right-wing position has gone untended for so long now.

Lingard would be my choice. He isn't on form, but he also has a chance of actually doing ok as well. Whereas with Rashford, we don't even have that tiny chance, it will be a confirmed 3/10 game from him.

 

[Jeffthered]

I would also play Lindgard tonight.... he's a frustrating player, and his season has been pretty poor. But, I am just hoping he may score one of his very important goals (as he does a couple of times a season.. ). He has to do something soon.

Lindgard, Rashford (if fit.... because if he isn't we should bring him on with 30 to go if we are still in the tie...). Seems like Lukaku will play. This could be his night...

I am being hopeful, but we have to be. You never quite know...

 

[youngrell]

Hoping for a good game. Some more happy tears such as against PSG would be more than welcome

 

[Pass and Move]

Juventus lost 1 game in 9 years before we played against them? We're not required to do something that never has done before. Hardly a miracle to me. They're very strong favorites that's all.

Not to mention the fact that Barca have never been poorer in the last 9 years than they are now. I honestly think we've a decent enough chance.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

I think we'll get comfortably beaten. Prove me wrong United, if you can.

 

[The Red Roman]

Firstly I have to admit it’s fantastic to be at this stage of the Champions League again and whatever happens tonight United must give everything to ensure we have the opportunity to have these nights again next season, you simply can’t beat playing against a big opponent in Europe. It’s another big ask tonight after losing the 1st leg 0-1, Mission Improbable rather than impossible. We have already produced a miracle in the round of 16, overcoming a 2-0 first-leg defeat at home to Paris Saint-Germain by winning 3-1 so no doubt the players can draw confidence and belief from that night, but the form of the team since that game is a big worry. United go into the game as big outsiders, but what’s more important here is that Barcelona will cope with the pressure of expectation better than PSG did, they have greater experience and resilience than the French side. For them the pressure comes from the concept of a third Treble, which is genuinely within reach, ending the season with anything less would be enormously deflating. There is a romantic in me that hope’s 20 years on from the Treble, United somehow lift the Champions League again and with Solskjear as coach, it would be so beautiful, but as Ole points out we can’t rely on this idea alone. "I've heard a lot of people saying this might be our year, because it (Treble win) was 20 years ago," he said. "I wear number 20 and we are back at the Nou Camp, but we have to earn it and deserve it. You can't rely on fate. "I believe you get what you deserve in sports -- if you give it everything you have, you get what you deserve.” My suspicion is that this United team is not ready, not good enough yet to overcome this sort of challenge. I felt the same before we played PSG and we still went through and that’s the beauty of this competition, you don’t need to be the best team to win it, but luck and mentally flaky opponent was a big part of the PSG win, United can’t count on the same things this time. Barcelona aren't on their most fluent, most dangerous form right now, but they are unbeaten in 30 Champions League matches at the Nou Camp -- a run stretching back to a 3-0 semi-final defeat against Bayern in 2013 -- and have won 27 and drawn 3 during that span.

A 0-1 loss in the 1st leg means United’s task is simple, win the game, we don’t need to win by a certain amount like in Paris, just beat Barcelona by any scoreline and we are through or in extra-time (if we win 0-1). Barcelona are great at home, but rarely do they play opponents as good as United in La Liga, my hope whatever happens is that we don’t make things straight forward for them. That requires us scoring probably more than once, we will need to show more quality than we did last week to do that. “We are going to build the confidence, belief and a game-plan around going through,” added the manager. “We know we need to win this game. We need more quality in the last third,” he told MUTV in an interview, “With crosses and finishing. Maybe we need more belief in what we did - we had too much respect in the first 15 minutes and never really won the ball off them.”

Tactically there was a little bit of surprise that Solskjear went with a 5-3-2 formation last week. I thought the move produced mixed results, it allowed us to play with two strikers Lukaku and Rashford who in theory could cause Barcelona problems on the counter-attack with their speed and runs into the channels, partictluary as Barcelona are relient on their full-backs providing width and pushing forward. I thought we managed to compete well in midfield as it was esstiannly 3v3 in that zone and 1v1 down the flanks with Dalot against Semedo and Young against Jordi Alba. The problems with the set-up were using Shaw as a third centre-back instead of as the left wing back and having Dalot and Young on the wrong sides which limited our attacking play down the flanks where we had to most space to create something. It has become increasingly common to see full-backs tucking inside to play as part of a three-man defence: Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta did it brilliantly under Antonio Conte, and Kyle Walker made the shift well for England at last summer's World Cup. Shaw, however, looked desperately uncomfortable. Shaw was slightly unfortunate to turn the ball into his own net for Barcelona's opener, after Luis Suarez's header across goal deflected off his shoulder and bounced in, but Shaw had lost Messi in the build-up to the goal, allowing the Argentine to collect Sergio Busquets' chip over the top and then cross. Things did not particularly improve afterwards. He lost Suarez midway through the second half, when the Uruguayan should have done better than thumping the ball into the side-netting. A first-half booking means Shaw misses the second-leg and Ole will have to decide whether to stick with the cautious system or return to back four. I see no reason to really open up and go for the game straight away so I personally would use the 5-3-2 again but introduce Jones as the third centre-back as I think he was our man of the match against West Ham and should be more than comfortable on the left side of a three-man defence. I would use Dalot and Young as wing-backs again, but have Dalot on the right and Young on the left. Young was awful last week, but we have no other options for this role and I find he delivers better balls on the left rather than the right. Dalot on the right gives us much better balance, so many times last week he had to cut back onto this right foot which slowed our attacks down. On the correct flank he can cross early when needed and advance play up the pitch quicker too. The rest of the side I would keep the same although I would consider Lingard over Lukaku as I don’t see much of relationship between Lukaku and Rashford as a partnership. They kind of want to do the same things and neither are that good at linking play with each other. Lingard could also drop deep to disrupt Busquets in deeper positions before making runs forward. Starting with this system also gives us plenty of option’s from the bench as there will probably be a point in the game when we need to be more attacking.

Subs – Romero, Matic, Rojo, Mata, Martial, Sanchez, Lukaku.

 

[pauldyson1uk]

FFS some of the posts in here are shocking !
I really wonder if some are even fans or just on for the wind up.
Need to be positive, far too much negativity on here.

 

[SSSSnake]

I expect to see us chasing shadows a lot and getting maybe 20% possession if that. Rashford fluffing some guilty chances also. You heard it here first. 2-0 Barcelona. Ole crashing us at the wheel.

 

[Florida Man]

Firstly I have to admit it’s fantastic to be at this stage of the Champions League again and whatever happens tonight United must give everything to ensure we have the opportunity to have these nights again next season, you simply can’t beat playing against a big opponent in Europe. It’s another big ask tonight after losing the 1st leg 0-1, Mission Improbable rather than impossible. We have already produced a miracle in the round of 16, overcoming a 2-0 first-leg defeat at home to Paris Saint-Germain by winning 3-1 so no doubt the players can draw confidence and belief from that night, but the form of the team since that game is a big worry. United go into the game as big outsiders, but what’s more important here is that Barcelona will cope with the pressure of expectation better than PSG did, they have greater experience and resilience than the French side. For them the pressure comes from the concept of a third Treble, which is genuinely within reach, ending the season with anything less would be enormously deflating. There is a romantic in me that hope’s 20 years on from the Treble, United somehow lift the Champions League again and with Solskjear as coach, it would be so beautiful, but as Ole points out we can’t rely on this idea alone. "I've heard a lot of people saying this might be our year, because it (Treble win) was 20 years ago," he said. "I wear number 20 and we are back at the Nou Camp, but we have to earn it and deserve it. You can't rely on fate. "I believe you get what you deserve in sports -- if you give it everything you have, you get what you deserve.” My suspicion is that this United team is not ready, not good enough yet to overcome this sort of challenge. I felt the same before we played PSG and we still went through and that’s the beauty of this competition, you don’t need to be the best team to win it, but luck and mentally flaky opponent was a big part of the PSG win, United can’t count on the same things this time. Barcelona aren't on their most fluent, most dangerous form right now, but they are unbeaten in 30 Champions League matches at the Nou Camp -- a run stretching back to a 3-0 semi-final defeat against Bayern in 2013 -- and have won 27 and drawn 3 during that span.

A 0-1 loss in the 1st leg means United’s task is simple, win the game, we don’t need to win by a certain amount like in Paris, just beat Barcelona by any scoreline and we are through or in extra-time (if we win 0-1). Barcelona are great at home, but rarely do they play opponents as good as United in La Liga, my hope whatever happens is that we don’t make things straight forward for them. That requires us scoring probably more than once, we will need to show more quality than we did last week to do that. “We are going to build the confidence, belief and a game-plan around going through,” added the manager. “We know we need to win this game. We need more quality in the last third,” he told MUTV in an interview, “With crosses and finishing. Maybe we need more belief in what we did - we had too much respect in the first 15 minutes and never really won the ball off them.”

Tactically there was a little bit of surprise that Solskjear went with a 5-3-2 formation last week. I thought the move produced mixed results, it allowed us to play with two strikers Lukaku and Rashford who in theory could cause Barcelona problems on the counter-attack with their speed and runs into the channels, partictluary as Barcelona are relient on their full-backs providing width and pushing forward. I thought we managed to compete well in midfield as it was esstiannly 3v3 in that zone and 1v1 down the flanks with Dalot against Semedo and Young against Jordi Alba. The problems with the set-up were using Shaw as a third centre-back instead of as the left wing back and having Dalot and Young on the wrong sides which limited our attacking play down the flanks where we had to most space to create something. It has become increasingly common to see full-backs tucking inside to play as part of a three-man defence: Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta did it brilliantly under Antonio Conte, and Kyle Walker made the shift well for England at last summer's World Cup. Shaw, however, looked desperately uncomfortable. Shaw was slightly unfortunate to turn the ball into his own net for Barcelona's opener, after Luis Suarez's header across goal deflected off his shoulder and bounced in, but Shaw had lost Messi in the build-up to the goal, allowing the Argentine to collect Sergio Busquets' chip over the top and then cross. Things did not particularly improve afterwards. He lost Suarez midway through the second half, when the Uruguayan should have done better than thumping the ball into the side-netting. A first-half booking means Shaw misses the second-leg and Ole will have to decide whether to stick with the cautious system or return to back four. I see no reason to really open up and go for the game straight away so I personally would use the 5-3-2 again but introduce Jones as the third centre-back as I think he was our man of the match against West Ham and should be more than comfortable on the left side of a three-man defence. I would use Dalot and Young as wing-backs again, but have Dalot on the right and Young on the left. Young was awful last week, but we have no other options for this role and I find he delivers better balls on the left rather than the right. Dalot on the right gives us much better balance, so many times last week he had to cut back onto this right foot which slowed our attacks down. On the correct flank he can cross early when needed and advance play up the pitch quicker too. The rest of the side I would keep the same although I would consider Lingard over Lukaku as I don’t see much of relationship between Lukaku and Rashford as a partnership. They kind of want to do the same things and neither are that good at linking play with each other. Lingard could also drop deep to disrupt Busquets in deeper positions before making runs forward. Starting with this system also gives us plenty of option’s from the bench as there will probably be a point in the game when we need to be more attacking.

Subs – Romero, Matic, Rojo, Mata, Martial, Sanchez, Lukaku.

Longest post ever in a matchday thread? @Damien

 

[Random Task]

Lingard would be my choice. He isn't on form, but he also has a chance of actually doing ok as well. Whereas with Rashford, we don't even have that tiny chance, it will be a confirmed 3/10 game from him.

You're exagerating somewhat, he isn't quite that bad

Rashford isn't a winger by trade, granted, but he can still be effective out there when using his abundant pace and trickery. I'd rather have him in the team over Lingard who often finds himself in excellent positions in and around the box, only to pick the wrong option 9 times out of 10. He drives you mad.

 

[Random Task]

FFS some of the posts in here are shocking !
I really wonder if some are even fans or just on for the wind up.
Need to be positive, far too much negativity on here.

This is standard for the matchday thread.

 

[Denis79]

Pace, movement and pressing will be key if we are to stand a chance tonight. Hoping for 1-2

 

[Jake]

2-1 united

We will lose the first half 1-0 and then claw two goals back in the final 20 minutes for another glorious European night in quick succession. Hopefully anyway.

We should be able to cause them some problems tonight so let enjoy the game and hope for a good result.

 

[Vintagered]

Really hoping we can get that vital first goal and not end up losing an early goal and having to chase the game.

Mountains are there to be climbed .

Very nervous but optimistic.

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

What are the odds on a Smalling red card? Can see the ref this time out wanting to make amends for last week.

I think if Barca need it and it's 1-1 or 1-0 to us then I would expect a red card and/or dodgy penalty against us.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Win this to go through and without a doubt our greatest result post Fergie.

Head is saying Barca win but heart says we can beat them tonight.

 

[breakout67]

If we win this we will win the CL. However, I think we will lose this because Barca aren't bottlers like PSG.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Expecting a tight match, could go all the way in which case I'd maginally favour the home team...

but that's enough about Juve-Ajax, we're definitely going out.

 

[Irwin99]

If we win this we will win the CL. However, I think we will lose this because Barca aren't bottlers like PSG.

Genuinely think we'd have a good/even chance in the semi finals against Pool. They weren't up to much at OT a few weeks back and we could have won the game if Smalling had taken that chance in the last few minutes. Have to perform a miracle to beat this Barca team though.

 

[PoTMS]

Need to be clinical tonight. It'd also help if we mustered the energy to have a shot on goal.

 

[ErranMorad]

Don't like 3 at the back but given the quality of our fullbacks that is the best option, imo.

De Gea
Lindelof Smalling Jones
Dalot McTommy Matic Fred Darmian
Pogba
Rashford
​

Unfortunately, can't see us getting through. They'll be fresh after resting most of their starters at the weekend and we have looked knackered this past month or so.

0-3 Barcelona.

 

[OutOfTowner]

I'm not going to make any kind of predictions for this match. All I'm going to say is that if we do actually get a result from this tie, I'm going to lose my shit so completely that I'll never be able to make anything even vaguely resembling a cogent thought for the rest of my life.

 

[Random Task]

If we win this we will win the CL. However, I think we will lose this because Barca aren't bottlers like PSG.

The prospect of facing Liverpool in the semi-finals of CL should be motivation enough for the players.

I honestly believe will pull it off tonight - anything is possible after what we achieved in Paris.

 

[ash_86]

If we can improve on the final balls we'd definitely score.

 

[Canagel]

Firstly I have to admit it’s fantastic to be at this stage of the Champions League again and whatever happens tonight United must give everything to ensure we have the opportunity to have these nights again next season, you simply can’t beat playing against a big opponent in Europe. It’s another big ask tonight after losing the 1st leg 0-1, Mission Improbable rather than impossible. We have already produced a miracle in the round of 16, overcoming a 2-0 first-leg defeat at home to Paris Saint-Germain by winning 3-1 so no doubt the players can draw confidence and belief from that night, but the form of the team since that game is a big worry. United go into the game as big outsiders, but what’s more important here is that Barcelona will cope with the pressure of expectation better than PSG did, they have greater experience and resilience than the French side. For them the pressure comes from the concept of a third Treble, which is genuinely within reach, ending the season with anything less would be enormously deflating. There is a romantic in me that hope’s 20 years on from the Treble, United somehow lift the Champions League again and with Solskjear as coach, it would be so beautiful, but as Ole points out we can’t rely on this idea alone. "I've heard a lot of people saying this might be our year, because it (Treble win) was 20 years ago," he said. "I wear number 20 and we are back at the Nou Camp, but we have to earn it and deserve it. You can't rely on fate. "I believe you get what you deserve in sports -- if you give it everything you have, you get what you deserve.” My suspicion is that this United team is not ready, not good enough yet to overcome this sort of challenge. I felt the same before we played PSG and we still went through and that’s the beauty of this competition, you don’t need to be the best team to win it, but luck and mentally flaky opponent was a big part of the PSG win, United can’t count on the same things this time. Barcelona aren't on their most fluent, most dangerous form right now, but they are unbeaten in 30 Champions League matches at the Nou Camp -- a run stretching back to a 3-0 semi-final defeat against Bayern in 2013 -- and have won 27 and drawn 3 during that span.

A 0-1 loss in the 1st leg means United’s task is simple, win the game, we don’t need to win by a certain amount like in Paris, just beat Barcelona by any scoreline and we are through or in extra-time (if we win 0-1). Barcelona are great at home, but rarely do they play opponents as good as United in La Liga, my hope whatever happens is that we don’t make things straight forward for them. That requires us scoring probably more than once, we will need to show more quality than we did last week to do that. “We are going to build the confidence, belief and a game-plan around going through,” added the manager. “We know we need to win this game. We need more quality in the last third,” he told MUTV in an interview, “With crosses and finishing. Maybe we need more belief in what we did - we had too much respect in the first 15 minutes and never really won the ball off them.”

Tactically there was a little bit of surprise that Solskjear went with a 5-3-2 formation last week. I thought the move produced mixed results, it allowed us to play with two strikers Lukaku and Rashford who in theory could cause Barcelona problems on the counter-attack with their speed and runs into the channels, partictluary as Barcelona are relient on their full-backs providing width and pushing forward. I thought we managed to compete well in midfield as it was esstiannly 3v3 in that zone and 1v1 down the flanks with Dalot against Semedo and Young against Jordi Alba. The problems with the set-up were using Shaw as a third centre-back instead of as the left wing back and having Dalot and Young on the wrong sides which limited our attacking play down the flanks where we had to most space to create something. It has become increasingly common to see full-backs tucking inside to play as part of a three-man defence: Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta did it brilliantly under Antonio Conte, and Kyle Walker made the shift well for England at last summer's World Cup. Shaw, however, looked desperately uncomfortable. Shaw was slightly unfortunate to turn the ball into his own net for Barcelona's opener, after Luis Suarez's header across goal deflected off his shoulder and bounced in, but Shaw had lost Messi in the build-up to the goal, allowing the Argentine to collect Sergio Busquets' chip over the top and then cross. Things did not particularly improve afterwards. He lost Suarez midway through the second half, when the Uruguayan should have done better than thumping the ball into the side-netting. A first-half booking means Shaw misses the second-leg and Ole will have to decide whether to stick with the cautious system or return to back four. I see no reason to really open up and go for the game straight away so I personally would use the 5-3-2 again but introduce Jones as the third centre-back as I think he was our man of the match against West Ham and should be more than comfortable on the left side of a three-man defence. I would use Dalot and Young as wing-backs again, but have Dalot on the right and Young on the left. Young was awful last week, but we have no other options for this role and I find he delivers better balls on the left rather than the right. Dalot on the right gives us much better balance, so many times last week he had to cut back onto this right foot which slowed our attacks down. On the correct flank he can cross early when needed and advance play up the pitch quicker too. The rest of the side I would keep the same although I would consider Lingard over Lukaku as I don’t see much of relationship between Lukaku and Rashford as a partnership. They kind of want to do the same things and neither are that good at linking play with each other. Lingard could also drop deep to disrupt Busquets in deeper positions before making runs forward. Starting with this system also gives us plenty of option’s from the bench as there will probably be a point in the game when we need to be more attacking.

Subs – Romero, Matic, Rojo, Mata, Martial, Sanchez, Lukaku.

Agreed with everything until young and lingard.

 

[shabadu84]

I said at the start of the first leg that Fred was the key for us. But he had a good game and we still didn't get anything from it. Hard to see Barca being as off-form as they were and also easy to see the likes of Rashford, Lukaku, and Pogba remaining out of form. Still, we showed heart and endeavor in the first leg. Will take more of the same, regardless of the result, and hopefully that kicks us on to end the season strongly and get the top 4 spot.

 

[AfroBuffalo]

Whoever is man marking Messi needs to rub his balls when he’s stood next to him. Difficult for the ref/linesman to catch and it will anger Messi. Imagine some dude rubbing your balls constantly when you’re trying to kick ball. You’d be furious. Best tactic. Put Mctominay on it imo as he has big hands. Will throw him right off his game.

 

[Kapardin]

If we can improve on the final balls we'd definitely score.

We have been saying that for 3 years.

 

[DRM]

3-0 Barca, 85% possession.

 

[Raw]

The prospect of facing Liverpool in the semi-finals of CL should be motivation enough for the players.

I honestly believe will pull it off tonight - anything is possible after what we achieved in Paris.

And then City in the final

 

[ash_86]

We have been saying that for 3 years.

It's still valid looking at our FB's

 

[cyberman]

FFS some of the posts in here are shocking !
I really wonder if some are even fans or just on for the wind up.
Need to be positive, far too much negativity on here.

I agree 100 percent. You would think we were 4-0 down instead of having the game on a knife edge going into the second leg.
They haven't shown anything to scare me. We cottoned on to their lack of pace up top that allowed us to push further up and I hope we stand by that tonight.
That's why Messi was ineffective imo. He was basically crowded out and his usual strolling around stifled him.
I'm going 3-1 to us. If we get through it won't be from a narrow win imo. Our game plan will either work or fail, the quality isn't there for inbetween

 

[Buster15]

We need every player to put in as close to a 10 outta 10 performance to give us a chance, and that means taking half chances. We need to be clinical. And we need to score first.

Absolutely agree.

 

[Buster15]

This is standard for the matchday thread.

I think that it is primarily down to our fans being nervous which is understandable.

 

[Tapori]

Whoever is man marking Messi needs to rub his balls when he’s stood next to him. Difficult for the ref/linesman to catch and it will anger Messi. Imagine some dude rubbing your balls constantly when you’re trying to kick ball. You’d be furious. Best tactic. Put Mctominay on it imo as he has big hands. Will throw him right off his game.

Post of the year material.

 

[breakout67]

Forget man marking Messi, ball mark him!

 

[Denis79]

I think if Barca need it and it's 1-1 or 1-0 to us then I would expect a red card and/or dodgy penalty against us.

If we get 1-0 get ready for some Oscar worthy performances from the Barca players. Diving galore inc!

 

[Zoo]

Got a bad feeling we’re going to have someone sent off early. Because of what happened to Messi last week, the crowd and their players are going to get on the refs back with even just the slightest of contact.

 

[Sarni]

Anything can happen in football. We will almost certainly get eliminated tonight and it could get ugly if they play at their best but it doesn’t matter, it’s a CL quarterfinal and we have to enjoy the moment. We have plenty of work to do before we catch up with top European teams but it’s still exciting to be playing against a top 5 team.