5 at the back
Manchester United to face Real Sociedad in the last 32 of the Europa League
- Thread starter Damien
- Start date
Not enough to get the toughest CL group, now we get the La Liga leaders who've only lost once all season. Meanwhile, having played Estonia under-11s in the group stage, City now get Solihull Motors' eighth team in the knockout stages.
Don't think we'll need to worry about any Brexit travel restrictions for long...
Don't think we'll need to worry about any Brexit travel restrictions for long...
The problem is us, not them. We have a crap record against most LA Liga sides.
Best draw we could get. Great team, great place and lovely people. If we lose we lose. I'd still play fringe players if I was Ole but he would get panned so he can't really afford to. If we get knocked out we can properly focus on an actual shot at winning the league, if we go through there's not much in the way of good sides left to beat.
Yea it's annoying. We seem to have a mental block because in quite a few of those matches we've gone out against la Liga sides we've been the better team. They let you play a bit of football.
Going to be that obnoxious fan and say it - the sooner we're out of the competition the better. We're not winning it, hence our best chance of CL football next season is a top 4 finish, so I'd rather we focus entirely on that while our rivals get encumbered with a heavy European schedule.
I'll be pissed if Ole selects his best team for these games and one of our key players gets injured.
I'll be pissed if Ole selects his best team for these games and one of our key players gets injured.
feck it, I’d rather this than a depressing couple of fixtures against a mid table Russian side or a knock off Wolfsburg
Good chance to see what Isak’s like up close
Good chance to see what Isak’s like up close
Rubbish! Watched most of their games last season and a few this season. They are top 6 Spanish side - with potential for top four. Young squad, but also a few quality older ones. Januzaj was mostly on the bench last year. Oyarzabal is quality and they have some pace with Isak. Playing Barca on Wednesday, if you like to scout. Drew against Real, if memory serves me right.
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Nightmare draw. Need Bruno and best 11 to stand a chance.
If we get knocked out surely Ole is gone after that?
If we get knocked out surely Ole is gone after that?
It’s sooo good
We will be out in the next round then, I can't see ole guiding us to win over one of the best sides in la liga when we couldn't do Sevilla last season and we have a really poor record against Spanish clubs in europe for years and years now.
I can see oyarzable's profile shooting up by the end of the two legs, he's a Brilliant player.
I can see oyarzable's profile shooting up by the end of the two legs, he's a Brilliant player.
Probably one of the toughest games we could have gotten. Certainly won't be one to play the youth players in unless we're intending to completely throw away this competition, which I doubt. We should have enough to beat them of course but my concern with the Europa League as always is that we may not be bothered and that they may want it more than us.
Good. Make or break. Will be ok if we go out against them, no shame and I have little interest in thursday games.
Excellent draw imo. Win win for us.
Watched them too. Inconsistent, short bench. Currently three draws in a row, they are top because they have played 2 games more than Atletico.
Come Christmas period they will be stretched and will lose points, especially in the next 4-5 games.
Ugghh.. Spanish teams.
Do they roll over and wave imaginary cards while crying like someone broke their legs into two?
Do they roll over and wave imaginary cards while crying like someone broke their legs into two?
While I am still disgusted by dropping out of the CL I hope we can win the EL. I do not share the opinion that it is an unimportant Micky Mouse cup.
Will be a very tough ask. Seems a bit more competitive than previous years.
Good draw I’m looking forward to this game
The bottom sentence sounds like us on occasions.
We could also be in the bottom half in all fairness. We still have to play Liverpool twice and Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and City away. Plus the rest of our home games and when considering we have won only 11 of the 25 we have played since the beginning of last season, it's not guaranteed points. I'm actually not fancying us getting much more than 50 points this season.
We may have a new manager by this match though and be doing better.
If we have a new manager I have no doubt we will beat them. Under our mediocre manager, nothing is given of course..
Our standards have truly hit rock bottom though. Shitting ourselves at facing a midtable Spanish side.. Ole and Woodward have done a grand job lately to make them so low, we should take everything as positive and be happy about every single win..
Loving the tie, it helps to end the weird talks of how we should play the kids in EL knock out rounds.
The good thing is, by the time this comes around we'll know whether we are in a title race or not.
He's a squad player for them but has been starting reasonably regularly in last few weeks, set up the goal that got them into knock outs.
Usually rotates with Portu and the young lad with the impossible to spell surname .
Mikel Oryazabal always starts when fit on the other side and they rotate regularly between Isak/Willian Jose for the central CF role.
La Real got some real quality in midfield and attack but not quite sure how their defence will hold out against your forward especially as they leave space behind full backs. Will be two very entertaining ties though although they've been more disciplined in the europa so far so they can grind out a 1-1 if they need to.
love this
Damn, I was hopeful we were done with D.Silva for good!
The player to watch out for is Mikel Merino. He'll dominate our midfield. I've liked him going back to his Newcastle/Dortmund days, and whilst everyone was raving over Weigl who I never rated, I was getting confused looks by saying Merino was easily the better player. He should've been the type of midfielder we got instead of wasting £40m on Donny.
I'm expecting us to get knocked out by them.
The player to watch out for is Mikel Merino. He'll dominate our midfield. I've liked him going back to his Newcastle/Dortmund days, and whilst everyone was raving over Weigl who I never rated, I was getting confused looks by saying Merino was easily the better player. He should've been the type of midfielder we got instead of wasting £40m on Donny.
I'm expecting us to get knocked out by them.
They took 4 points off Atletico Madrid last season. Drew with Real Madrid 0-0 on first night. Also won at Betis 3-0 who are a decent team.
In terms of football I think they were stronger slightly last season with Odegaard in wonderful form centrally up to lockdown alongside Mikel Merino who's a very underrated central midfielder.
Edit: Of course Yaga beats me to the Merino mention by 10 minutes!
Silva's still feeling his way back into La Liga and picked up an injury in last few games aswell.
On current form Real Sociedad should beat Manchester United but who knows how interested they are in Europa League or to keep their form in the league.
It's not a short bench, club policy to promote many young players to the team. So far likes of Guevara, Lopez, Zubimendi have all started a decent chunk of league matches to give their first choice rest from playing europa on a Thursday (would be like Man. United giving regular starts to likes of Garner and Gomes if they'd stayed in premier league after europa) so think that's a reason why they haven't got as many wins recently.
Overall their forward options are pretty good considering they don't have anywhere near the budget of even a mid table prem team that can sign a player for 30m, getting Isak from Dortmund for about 7m was just incredible business as they could sell him for 4-5 times that in the next window if they wanted to.
Glad to see optimism is alive and kicking
Guaranteed win.
We only go out in the semi-finals.
We only go out in the semi-finals.
I’m happy... feels like a champions league fixture. Hope we play well and win.
We are getting knocked out. Any decent manager Ole faces he is clueless most of the time.
play the kids
the competition is more trouble than its worth, even if we win it people will be underwhelmed
in this season having more rest is going to be a bigger advantage than ever, it could be the difference between mid-table or top 4, or top 4 and winning it.. anything can happen this season
I think it's stupid if we are even contemplating putting the first team out
the competition is more trouble than its worth, even if we win it people will be underwhelmed
in this season having more rest is going to be a bigger advantage than ever, it could be the difference between mid-table or top 4, or top 4 and winning it.. anything can happen this season
I think it's stupid if we are even contemplating putting the first team out
Ole Solskjaer must have a rotten luck.
He endured the toughest Champions League group, got knocked out and ended in the most difficult Europa cup edition in modern history. We are facing Sociedad(the current leaders of La Liga).
I wonder how many folks are aware that all the current leaders of the European's top 5 leagues are currently in Europa league. I doubt it has ever happened this way.
Real Sociedad - La Liga
Tottenham - Premier League
Leverkusen - Bundesliga
AC Milan - Serie A
Lille - Ligue 1.
Going by Ole's bad luck, United could beat Sociedad and then get Tottenham or AC Milan in the round of 16.
Man Utd can't just catch a break.
He endured the toughest Champions League group, got knocked out and ended in the most difficult Europa cup edition in modern history. We are facing Sociedad(the current leaders of La Liga).
I wonder how many folks are aware that all the current leaders of the European's top 5 leagues are currently in Europa league. I doubt it has ever happened this way.
Real Sociedad - La Liga
Tottenham - Premier League
Leverkusen - Bundesliga
AC Milan - Serie A
Lille - Ligue 1.
Going by Ole's bad luck, United could beat Sociedad and then get Tottenham or AC Milan in the round of 16.
Man Utd can't just catch a break.
Wow that is some stat.
Our really poor record against Spanish teams really doesn't help us either:
In 2003 Beckham came off the bench at Old Trafford and helped us to a 4-3 victory over Real Madrid (wasn't enough as we were beaten 6-5 on aggregate)
Following that game, we then went on to score 1 goal in our next 7 fixtures against Spanish teams (the Scholes worldie against Barcelona)
In more recent times, in our last 11 matches against Spanish teams we have recorded just 1 win (a 1-0 victory away to Celta de Vigo in the Europa League in 2017)
Just realized Silva plays for Real Sociedad now. Didn't know Januzaj was there either.
The tie is of course 2 months away so a prediction is difficult but it was definitely the toughest opponent we could get.