Champions League Group F

laughtersassassin

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So not a great result for Us.

Atleast Atalanta and Villarreal drew with Coquelin getting sent off meaning he will miss the game against us.

Safe to say it's a must win with hopefully a draw between Atalanta and Young Boys

UEFA Champions League - Group F 2021/22
#TeamPlGDPts
1Young Boys113
2Atalanta101
3Villarreal101
4Manchester United1-10
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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So not a great result for Us.

Atleast Atalanta and Villarreal drew with Coquelin getting sent off meaning he will miss the game against us.

Safe to say it's a must win with hopefully a draw between Atalanta and Young Boys
Atalanta will smash Young Boys.

Our best chance is to just let Ronaldo & Varane come up with the plan. Actual winners. Let Ole just be the figurehead.
 

talking robot

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Yeah good result for Atalanta against Villareal. That increases our odds of still being able to win the group, but agreed that the home match against Villareal is a must win.
 

WeePat

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The thing with United is, I could easily them winning every remaining game 4 or 5-1, but I could also easily see them dropping points in pretty much every remaining game. Incredible firepower up front, excellent defence in terms of individuals, but you just cannot control the midfield, almost regardless of who the opponent is and that's a bit of a problem.
 

edcunited1878

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The thing with United is, I could easily them winning every remaining game 4 or 5-1, but I could also easily see them dropping points in pretty much every remaining game. Incredible firepower up front, excellent defence in terms of individuals, but you just cannot control the midfield, almost regardless of who the opponent is and that's a bit of a problem.
It's a problem because they don't go 3 central midfielders who can play as a unit or if they play with only two central midfielders in front of two center backs, they will have at least one clear weakness as a duo that holds them back.
 

redshaw

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Good outcome for us, a chance to restart.

Said before the Young Boys game an away win could be really important though, it feels like last years CL already, we lost comically to Istanbul away which ultimately cost us, we're already seeing Ole having a nightmare. Villarreal and Atalanta are very capable sides.
 

WeePat

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It's a problem because they don't go 3 central midfielders who can play as a unit or if they play with only two central midfielders in front of two center backs, they will have at least one clear weakness as a duo that holds them back.
It's why I sometimes feel sorry for Fred when he gets dunked on so much. He's not the greatest player to have in that role, that's obvious but from the outside looking in, he seems like a very serviceable player who can do a decent job if the conditions around him are also good. In the Wolves game for example, it felt like he was set up to fail when he is the lone DM playing behind 5 attacking players who leave huge gaps around him for Wolves to counter into. You don't seem to get countered on as much with McTominay is in there next to Fred but then you're sacrificing something in the attack and it's that balance that I think Ole struggling to find.

At Chelsea we seem to have a bit of everything in that area - the aggressive ball winner, the ball dominant dictator and the press resistant dribbler. I United can be OK with Fred or McTominay going forward, if they had Jorginho alongside them, for example, who also good at closing gaps and squeezing the space out to win the ball back. You already have two ball playing CB's, and Shaw is excellent at bringing the ball out too.
 

Offside

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If we get 7 points from our next 3 we will be in a position where a win against Young Boys will see us through. We should be in that position. Atalanta away scares me though.
 

Nick7

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Win the three home games, get a result against either Atalanta or Villarreal away and we will get through. I’d fancy us to beat both of them away if we don’t have any mental breakdowns like last night.
 

TrustInOle

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Missed the second half as was rushed into hospital, fecking stomach ulcers. Desperately bad last night from the highlights. I know we lost AWB in the first half, but to only then have 2 shots against their 19 is criminal. Still have faith we get out the group, but horrible start, unlucky from Jesse but a little more composure and we get out the game with a point.
 

BorisManUtd

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Now we have to win all of our home games + 1 away game. Won't be easy at all, both Villarreal and Atlanta are solid teams.
 

Markolan

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2 draws away from home will be enough.. Manchester United will most likely only need 4 points against Atalanta and 4 vs Villarreal in the next four games to be top of the group
Assuming both Atalanta and Villarreal get 6 points vs YB then, at the end of Matchday 5:
Manchester United: 8
Atalanta: 8
Villarreal: 8
(Manchester United v Young Boys, Atalanta v Villarreal will be the final matchday, competition schedule is a bit different this season)

Manchester United are still favourite to finish top of the group imho
 

redrobed

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This was always going to be an extremely tough group. Anyway who thought we could go to Young Boys and comfortably win doesn’t watch enough Austrian football. They’re a cracking side. Still confident we’ll go through. Home wins all round and snatches points away to the other 2 teams and we’ll be fine.
 

Siorac

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Anyway who thought we could go to Young Boys and comfortably win doesn’t watch enough Austrian football.
What's the right amount of Austrian football to watch in order to have enough information about the Swiss champions?
 

Hughes35

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Still very confident. I think 9 points will be enough.

We will beat young boys at Old Trafford and we should be getting at least 2 more wins.
 

Cantonagotmehere

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Can I complain about the plastic pitch in this thread? Still makes me mad.

Agreed, we should still be OK and our loss sure adds some nice angst to every Group F game from now on.
 

Momochiru

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This was always going to be an extremely tough group. Anyway who thought we could go to Young Boys and comfortably win doesn’t watch enough Austrian football. They’re a cracking side. Still confident we’ll go through. Home wins all round and snatches points away to the other 2 teams and we’ll be fine.
What does Austrian football have to do with it?
 

BluesJr

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This was always going to be an extremely tough group. Anyway who thought we could go to Young Boys and comfortably win doesn’t watch enough Austrian football. They’re a cracking side. Still confident we’ll go through. Home wins all round and snatches points away to the other 2 teams and we’ll be fine.
Had a mare there mate.
 

SATA

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We all love United
This was always going to be an extremely tough group. Anyway who thought we could go to Young Boys and comfortably win doesn’t watch enough Austrian football. They’re a cracking side. Still confident we’ll go through. Home wins all round and snatches points away to the other 2 teams and we’ll be fine.
I think you need to get your basic fact right first before you go about lecturing someone, mate. Other than that, you’re right that we will most likely get through, and no they are not a cracking side for me. We made them look good than they really are
 

united_99

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I hope Ole has learnt from the EL final and won’t start every big name attacking player again against Villarreal.
Start McFred in midfield, Pogba left, Ronaldo upfront and Greenwood or Sancho right.
 

giorno

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We made them look good than they really are
You didn't make then look good, you just looked bad. Young Boys looked like exactly what they are, a side that will most likely lose every other game in this group
 

groovyalbert

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This was always going to be an extremely tough group. Anyway who thought we could go to Young Boys and comfortably win doesn’t watch enough Austrian football. They’re a cracking side. Still confident we’ll go through. Home wins all round and snatches points away to the other 2 teams and we’ll be fine.
Who the feck watches "enough" Austrian football??
 

Jericho

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Not a great result but we were down to 10 men and it can happen. We lost 1-0 away to Zalaegerszeg in a champions league qualifier in 2002. I'm hoping this is just an early season kick up the arse.
 

tomaldinho1

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This was always going to be an extremely tough group. Anyway who thought we could go to Young Boys and comfortably win doesn’t watch enough Austrian football. They’re a cracking side. Still confident we’ll go through. Home wins all round and snatches points away to the other 2 teams and we’ll be fine.
You have watched *so* much Austrian football you didn't even know YB were Swiss :lol:
Young Boys are not a 'cracking side', they were poor and we were playing badly even before the red yet still ahead.
 

edcunited1878

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I hope Ole has learnt from the EL final and won’t start every big name attacking player again against Villarreal.
Start McFred in midfield, Pogba left, Ronaldo upfront and Greenwood or Sancho right.
Fred was injured and couldn't start, thus Pogba had to play CM and not on the left.
 

united_99

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Fred was injured and couldn't start, thus Pogba had to play CM and not on the left.
He could have started VdB instead or at least brought him on. Instead he started all his attacking players (not only a bad move but this also left us with no attacking option on the bench).
 

edcunited1878

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He could have started VdB instead or at least brought him on. Instead he started all his attacking players (not only a bad move but this also left us with no attacking option on the bench).
VDB had not started any meaningful game and he's not suited to play an orthodox central midfield position. He never played that at Ajax.

The lack of attacking option on the bench was because of injury and lack of squad depth, something he and the coaching staff knew all along and that was part of the squad building. Martial was out, Rashford was injured but could barely get through it, Cavani started. Maguire was out. All these things limited what the manager could do and he did the best he could to put his team in a position to win. That's all you can ask for.
 

edcunited1878

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It's why I sometimes feel sorry for Fred when he gets dunked on so much. He's not the greatest player to have in that role, that's obvious but from the outside looking in, he seems like a very serviceable player who can do a decent job if the conditions around him are also good. In the Wolves game for example, it felt like he was set up to fail when he is the lone DM playing behind 5 attacking players who leave huge gaps around him for Wolves to counter into. You don't seem to get countered on as much with McTominay is in there next to Fred but then you're sacrificing something in the attack and it's that balance that I think Ole struggling to find.

At Chelsea we seem to have a bit of everything in that area - the aggressive ball winner, the ball dominant dictator and the press resistant dribbler. I United can be OK with Fred or McTominay going forward, if they had Jorginho alongside them, for example, who also good at closing gaps and squeezing the space out to win the ball back. You already have two ball playing CB's, and Shaw is excellent at bringing the ball out too.
Fred hasn't had a good start to the season, except for yesterday, which I thought he did himself well. McTominay and Fred function the best together, even if they are lacking that ability to pass at an above average capacity. The balance you speak of just isn't in the team at the moment for selection. Chelsea have got it right and when Lampard was managing, it drove me up the wall because he was wasting the talent at his disposal. He had no clue.

Chelsea are able to mix and match their central midfield against particular opponents or if there's a slight tweak in the positions ahead of their central midfield. Having that flexibility at a quality level is great for them. United are somewhat able to do it, but it's always lacking something because the weakness of players individually is still visible when looked at as a midfield (two) unit.

The group stage is still all to play for, but United have to win their home games, but that's usually how the formula has been anyways. Win at home, draw on away = great chance to advance.