I think we can cope up with Lyon compared it with Ajax or Celta.
Europa League QFs | Lyon, Celta, Ajax & United through to semis
- Thread starter top1whoisman
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You wouldn't guess. Every home game seems a slog.
The pessimism... you'd probably say the same thing about facing Hazard & co last week.
Bring anyone on.
We should be beating any of them but I expect us to make hard work of it. How nice would it be just to breeze the first leg of something for once?
remaining teams must be afraid of us
Problem with them is that they are save in La Liga (no danger of getting relegated but also no chance of reaching the European ranks) so they can clearly focus on EL - made 10 changes yesterday compared to their last game in La Liga. So they'll propably be the most rested ones since Ajax is still fighting for the title and Lyon needs to secure their place in Ligue 1.
Also they are kind of "game raisers" when it comes to matches against top sites - beat Real over two legs in the cup and won against Barca in La Liga. So I wouldn't underestimate them.
Think we would be best of with Ajax to be honest since they are also an attacking site, thus, we might won't have to run against a wall.
If we play like we did against Chelsea we'll breeze past any of them. If we play like last night and how we usually play, however, we will struggle big time.
That said, I think Celta Vigo would be the easiest opponents.
That said, I think Celta Vigo would be the easiest opponents.
And they play the kind of game that can be very hard to handle for English clubs. Only five years ago they won at Old Trafford and the current Ajax is playing better. United probably isn't. Celta didn't trouble Ajax that much earlier this season, and this Ajax only started playing really well in 2017. They are not without serious vulnerabilities, but they have the tactical guile, the skill and technique and the spirit and fight, just not all of them always at the same time, and they make a lot of errors. It that's exploited well they could be trashed, but if people here think Anderlecht has some great talents and was playing well, wait till you see Ajax firing on all cilinders.
United would probably have a better chance of beating them in one final than over 2 matches with the away goal rule. Of course a final between 2 greats in Football with Zlatan playing against the club where it started for him would be great.
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Every team seemed to do it the hard way in the end, but after the first legs, all four teams I had to go through did. I think Lyon are the best team left bar us, but I'd rather avoid Celta Vigo in the Semis. For some reason I think they'd just pip us.
Celta are the ones I don't want to play away, bearing in mind they crashed Barcelona there twice in a row.
Rather play Ajax, apart from Dolberg they are pretty average.
Lyon are the only side that scares me in a one off match, so I'd rather we played them in the semis.
It does look like it's the four strongest teams remaining. Any one of them can lay a claim to the EL.
Lyon is great. Their attacking players are incredibly sharp. Tolisso is a player that we should take a look this summer. Their only issue seems to be their sloppy defence. But, I wouldn't love playing with them.
That's a good point. Although Lyon probably being the strongest opponent left, we might not make it to the final. I'm quite relaxed as the teams left are even-ish. Ajax perhaps the 'easiest' one, but not easy in any way. Just hope we play the 2nd leg at home.
Chelsea didn't object to Courtois lining up against them a few years ago, so it's not as cut and dried in European comps as it is in PL. Plus, if you are hoping to offload him to Lyon, letting him play might be a sweetner!
The only team that can beat us in the semis is ourselves. Will be the same deal as every other game recently; if we take our chances we'll win easily, if we don't, then we risk draws, which brings the chance of going out on penalties or away goals. I'd be more concerned about the final, should we get there. The League Cup final was the only game I can remember this season where we actually got a better result than we deserved, so I'd be a bit worried about a repeat performance in the EL final.
We won. If we had gotten to the end of extra time at 1-1 it would have been a draw.
Every opponent at this stage will have its pros and cons. It's just really up to us to sort our shit out and start killing teams like we did against Chelsea. If we can just do that, we'll win the tournament easily.
I don't fear any of the remaining teams but I just worry about how we'll go about our business. At least Rashford will get a chance now to establish himself further. Jose just needs to persevere with Tony Martial and just give him a run of games.
Rojo will be a big loss for the rest of the season. Our game changed as soon as he came off. I hope we get Celta Vigo and let Ajax and Lyon slug out the other semi.
I don't fear any of the remaining teams but I just worry about how we'll go about our business. At least Rashford will get a chance now to establish himself further. Jose just needs to persevere with Tony Martial and just give him a run of games.
Rojo will be a big loss for the rest of the season. Our game changed as soon as he came off. I hope we get Celta Vigo and let Ajax and Lyon slug out the other semi.
I am not confident against anyone of those teams.
All the remaining teams are comfortably better than Anderlecht.
All the remaining teams are comfortably better than Anderlecht.
In order of preference...
Celta Vigo
Ajax
Lyon
Celta Vigo
Ajax
Lyon
The transfer is already permanent so it's not a case of a loan player playing against their parent club. I think people are asking about him being cup tied as he has already played for another team (us) in the same competition.
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Watch them regularly myself and you are overrating them. Our defence is a lot better than theirs. We've conceded 13 goals in 2017 while they have conceded 31. Valbuena, Ghezzal and Cornet are all having mediocre/inconsistent seasons. The whole team is dreadful away from home, especially in terms of mentality. Fekir hasn't been quite at the level he was playing at before his knee injury. Lacazette and Tolisso would be the biggest issues, when we'd play them. As Pogba has said, we are our own worst enemy. If we had Mata, Smalling, Jones, Rojo and Ibrahimovic available, I'd be very confident against them. But even without them, we should be confident, since we are good away from home and they aren't that good away from home.
Edit: I know every game is different, but for comparison, they lost 2:0 against St. Etienne and had no chance at all in that game. They were completely outplayed. It's their derby, sure, but it gives a bit of perspective.
Ajax might suit us, since they are a team that want to play and don't just sit back, which is the opposite of what most teams are trying to do against us.
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I know that
I meant, CBs in my opinion for the most part should be takers 9 and 10. Most shootouts I watched ended up having CBs step up and usually miss.
I know that
I meant, CBs in my opinion for the most part should be takers 9 and 10. Most shootouts I watched ended up having CBs step up and usually miss.
Of course it depends on the player, no? Hierro and Unsworth just a couple of good examples.
Yes it's true, but after that poor perf against Hanni and Tielmans we can be pessimist no?
I see your point, but they're really inconsistent and have the quality of motivation this year.
They are usually very good in big games this season. Sevilla, Juve, Paris, Monaco etc.
After our poor display yesterday, I'm sorry but I'm really pessimist about this game.
Lacazette is not the greatest forward, so Tolisso is not the best midfielder, but we're not scoring goals and conceding silly chances every games.
Valbuena is superb at set pieces, and we're usually weak at defending set pieces.
If we had a full defense, I'd say that we'd be ok over two legs, but the fact that they are scoring goals, and we don't make me a bit thinking about a two leg game.
I'd rather play them in Final.
That's just not true. The rest is a matter of opinion. Their defence is definitely something we could exploit.
Hope we avoid Lyon. Don't mind either Ajax or Celta.
Don't know but I think facing Lyon over 2 legs will be better than facing them on the final! I reckon they will be at the final.
What is Celta's current la liga position? Are they under any pressure?
10th. 9 points away from European places(With a game in hand vs. Real Madrid) and safe from the drop. They have nothing to play for in the League
You've lost me entirely, what do you mean?
Cup tied is different from player on loan.
Is that where the confusion is? I was thrown as I was certain Depay had left permanently anyway.
I think the guy I quoted is missing few points. Maybe he don't know Depay left permanently to Lyon and he is cup tied as he played for Manutd.
Didn't they 'beat' us 4-2 over two legs?
Where can i watch the Europa semi draw? SSN doesn't appear to be doing it today