Play the kids for Europa [Poll added]

What strength team should we play in the final rounds of the Europa League?


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Hernandez - BFA

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First team gets a good couple of weeks break now which is much needed.

Play the kids in the second leg - we won’t bottle a 5-0 win. Then roll out the big dogs again for the remaining games. At the end of the day, it’s 3 games (I think) after the second leg to win a European trophy.
 

simonhch

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The players had three months off. They are tired from a run of games in a short space of time, but not over trained. A week or so of rest and they’ll be good. The Europa league can serve as our preseason. I’d go to win the trophy and use a decent amount of rotation. We should always try and win everything we’re in.
 

Betson

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Les us win a bloody title! Our fans are worse than Arsenals being happy about top 4 only.
I don't think we will win it, but we should try.
Agree , when did we get out of the Trophy winning business , these days we have some fans we don't even want them to try and win silverware be it FA cup , Europa etc. Yes they are not the very big ones but ffs we should still try and win them , getting top 4 should be a relief not a celebration.

We need to get back into the habit of winning things.
 

Withnail

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Lask doesn't count so the first XI have two weeks off, play a max of 3 games over 10 days and then have a full month till the new season starts.

The lads have been off for three months and there's also the seeding to think of as others have said.

I've no idea why we'd bin this off as we'd need to be in pre-season when the tournament is on anyway.
 

RashyForPM

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I was in the play the kids camp, but have just realised that winning this tournament puts us in pot 1 for the CL next year. We should rest one or two here and there, but mostly go strong (aside from LASK). That way, we’ll easily get through the groups next year with plausibly some Europa League-like games along the way.
 

cyril C

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We can afford to rest a few players against LASK. But the Finals should be full strength. I am amazed by the fact that some fans claimed FA is so important hence we should (have) play our best 11, even at the expense of failing EPL. On the other hand someone would claim Europa is unimportant, even though it could bring in a trophy.

IMO Europa is important, not so much for the trophy, but to re-vitalise our winning form, as we had fallen so much in past few games (I hope no-one claim the Leicester Win as a true win, result-wise yes but initial 60min was heart-attack stuff). Get back into smooth winning form, get ready for the new season.
 

reddevilchennai

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The winners of Europa league gets 8.5 million. Why don't the club want to get that money.

I think we will field second 11 vs LASK in 2nd leg and from then on we will field the 1st 11. Winning a trophy boost squad morale going on to next season. I don't know if we can win CL or PL or even FA cup next season. So we should go all in and try winning this cup now.
 

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3 games to win the second biggest European trophy. We get 2 weeks rest and those games will be in place of pre season friendlies. We then get another 3-4 weeks off after it. Why would we not try and win it?!
:lol: You are aware that there are only 2 European club competitions?
 

croadyman

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The winners of Europa league gets 8.5 million. Why don't the club want to get that money.

I think we will field second 11 vs LASK in 2nd leg and from then on we will field the 1st 11. Winning a trophy boost squad morale going on to next season. I don't know if we can win CL or PL or even FA cup next season. So we should go all in and try winning this cup now.
I agree with you about the second leg against LASK,however think we may field a mix of youth and experience in the quarter final against that turkish side. I am not going to tempt fate by looking any further ahead than that for now.
 

tjb

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I would rest most of our first team because I think we can win it without them. Maybe use Greenwood upfront and some fringe youngsters
 

Scholsey2004

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It needs to be a mixed team or it's pointless. The kids need integrating with the senior players at least as much as they need big game experience. Great opportunity to play Greenwood up front at senior level.
 

adexkola

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Playing the kids is nice... But I would rather give the second string some legs underneath them: Ighalo, James, Scott, Fred, Romero... Depending on how they perform, we can consider leveraging them in latter ties if rest is so important

Again, we're more likely to win the EL this season than we are to win the league or CL next season (by any reliable forecast)... So I'm not sure what's so important about next season that we forfeit closing the trophy gap with Liverpool

And isn't it ironic that on a forum that's bashed Wenger for years for worrying about top 4 over trophies... That's bashed Pochettino for not winning an FA cup, despite his top 4 finishes and a trip to the CL final... This thread exists?
 

Revan

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Playing the kids is nice... But I would rather give the second string some legs underneath them: Ighalo, James, Scott, Fred, Romero... Depending on how they perform, we can consider leveraging them in latter ties if rest is so important

Again, we're more likely to win the EL this season than we are to win the league or CL next season (by any reliable forecast)... So I'm not sure what's so important about next season that we forfeit closing the trophy gap with Liverpool

And isn't it ironic that on a forum that's bashed Wenger for years for worrying about top 4 over trophies... That's bashed Pochettino for not winning an FA cup, despite his top 4 finishes and a trip to the CL final... This thread exists?
Not sure we should give minutes to players that are gonna leave. Give minutes to the kids and second string who will be here next season, but any player that we might want to sell, should not get minutes.

Then for the last 3 matches, full strength and bring the trophy to Manchester. It isn't the league or UCL, but it is a decent trophy, and the last one we got was 3 years ago, so we are hardly winning much.
 

Joseunited

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I would rest most of our first team because I think we can win it without them. Maybe use Greenwood upfront and some fringe youngsters
You think our second string can beat the likes of Leverkusen,Roma Wolves and Inter
 

KeanoMagicHat

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The players just had months off...then they have a 2-week break now until the quarter-final. Then 3 games away from a trophy.

Play the youngsters against Lask, they're 5-0 up. But otherwise, no reason at all not to go full team and stupid to play the youngsters. One of the reasons you'd play weakened teams would be to save for league games at the weekend after playing late on Thursday. But there are no other distractions. Doesn't make sense to me, throwing away a legitimate trophy opportunity would be madness.

Players are damn tired. And the next season will be here soon. Play lots of usual subs and if we get to the semis, then yes bring in some of the starters. Pre-semi/final players:

Romero
Dalot - Bailly (is he fit) TFM Williams
McTom - Mata - Fred
Greenwood - Ighalo - James

Subs: Rashford, Lingard, Pogba, Bruno, AWB, Lindelof, DeGea

Edit: looks like Bailly is out so i dont know who, Lindelof looks really tired.
Why would you play that team in the quarter-final but not the semi-final? Also if you played that team in the quarter-final, more than likely there wouldn't be a semi-final. One extra game isn't going to ruin the players who have week breaks between games
 

mad1max954

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Anyone who wants us to win this needs to accept that we'll struggle with burnout in the PL next season if we play our first team.

Really the only benefit of the EL is that it gets you CL, now that we have that it really doesn't matter at all.
I back this 100%. Let them get to the beach and recover to be ready next season. Give this to the kids and a few of the squad players, be good experience for them.

we could achieve something special next season with the right additions. We should be giving them the best possible chance to do so.

Grinding the first team into the ground achieves nothing - it’s a second rate cup.
 

EwanI Ted

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Lask doesn't count so the first XI have two weeks off, play a max of 3 games over 10 days and then have a full month till the new season starts.

The lads have been off for three months and there's also the seeding to think of as others have said.

I've no idea why we'd bin this off as we'd need to be in pre-season when the tournament is on anyway.
The players had three months off. They are tired from a run of games in a short space of time, but not over trained. A week or so of rest and they’ll be good. The Europa league can serve as our preseason. I’d go to win the trophy and use a decent amount of rotation. We should always try and win everything we’re in.
It can’t work as preseason because, we’ll be having a break after the tournament ends. We’ll still need to give the players a break and fit in a preseason before next season.
 

Wumminator

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I don’t think some people know how much these athletes will struggle without a proper rest and pre season. We always struggle with injuries and this whole situation will exacerbate everything.
I trust the club to look after the players. For me Pogba, Bruno, Maguire and AWB look tired. I’d be sending them off till next season now.
 

In Rainbows

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People are overlooking the impact this will have on our season. I'm of the opinion that we should go full strength to win the trophy btw (apart from LASK). But I'm realistic and it's a fact that it will affect next season.

A normal season runs from August 11 to May something. That's about 55 fixtures in about 40 weeks. Next season will potentially be 70 matches in 50 weeks.

Some of you guys are ignoring the fact that next season is essentially a combination to this end of the season, which is obviously abnormal. We're already essentially in the start of the next season already as we're not going to have a preseason or a good amount of time off. Sure, our players might not be tired to start the next season, but they will get tired at the end of next season more so then they would in a normal season.


Still think we should go all out and win the trophy after LASK, but I'm not going to pretend like there will be no effect on next season. That would be delusional.
 
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KeanoMagicHat

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Chelsea have to play a Champions League game (no more than one more than likely), Man City have the Champions League, Wolves have the Europa League.

Beating say Inter Milan would do more positive to the team's confidence than any burnout (again it's 3 isolated games, not 5 in between league games from Thursday to Sunday).
 

Danish Wizard

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The LASK match is more than a week away. Give a rest to the usual starting line up for the next seven days, to make them get some energy back after an intense period.
Then play most of the reserves and some of the youngsters vs LASK, we are already 5-0 up.
Then you have a quarter final vs Copenhagen or Basaksehir, where you have the opportunity to play most of the first eleven and mix it with a few fresh faces. Then all out for semi and final, hopefully..

We are United, we go for the title. I really don't get this talk about throwing away FA Cup semi and Europa League etc, loser mentality..
 

Nou_Camp99

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10 days till LASK which means the players will only get a few days off now at max.

Then the Europa starts and there will be at max a 2 week break after the final before pre season as we will have to come back and play 1 or 2 friendlies you'd think.

These players are going to be be dead physically. People saying City will be playing in CL too so what's the problem. City can freshen their team up more than us during the season without being much worse off. We can't. Look at our bench.

I hate that I think this way as trophies breed success but I think likes of Bruno n Martial need a break.

And don't forget there's the Euros next summer too. Shorter break again.
 

Champ

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10 days till LASK which means the players will only get a few days off now at max.

Then the Europa starts and there will be at max a 2 week break after the final before pre season as we will have to come back and play 1 or 2 friendlies you'd think.

These players are going to be be dead physically. People saying City will be playing in CL too so what's the problem. City can freshen their team up more than us during the season without being much worse off. We can't. Look at our bench.

I hate that I think this way as trophies breed success but I think likes of Bruno n Martial need a break.

And don't forget there's the Euros next summer too. Shorter break again.
There would have been the euros this off season, the rest these players would have got would have been shorter than this Covid ruined season.
If we win we will have three weeks off, that's plenty of time, with a couple of pre season games thrown in, the team will be refreshed.
Don't forget they've just had two months or so off....
 

The Red Thinker

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The Europa League Final is on Aug 21st (EDIT)

The Premier League Season starts on Sep 12

That is not good at all. Barely any time to rest properly if we play full strength all the way. No way should we play full strength throughout.



LASK - do not play a single first teamer. Let them rest.

QFinal - Stick our best boys on the bench and add a smattering of elite players in the team

Semi's and Finals - Treat them as pre-season matches for Sep 12 - Play full strength.

This is how we should approach this. Rest is as important as anything else. Our boys just played a very intense 45 days with barely any pre-season. 11 matches to be exact with many of them clustering within days of each other.

Now time for the boys to relax at home for a bit. Recover. Train and condition.

By the Time, the quarters come they are back in full first team training and good to go.

Then we build towards PL with some new players in the squad.
 
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Nou_Camp99

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There would have been the euros this off season, the rest these players would have got would have been shorter than this Covid ruined season.
If we win we will have three weeks off, that's plenty of time, with a couple of pre season games thrown in, the team will be refreshed.
Don't forget they've just had two months or so off....
They had 3 months off yet have looked absolutely dead mate the last 3 games. These players are going to suffer with fatigue next season and injuries even if they have the whole summer off now. This football season started over a year ago now and it's still got 3 to 4 more weeks to run for teams in Europe.

I'm amazed how people think we will be fine. This is a risk going for the 2nd rate Europa League when we now don't even need to win it. Yes it's a trophy and that's all good but ultimately I think the negatives far out weigh the pros.

I'd give Bruno, Maguire, AWB and 1 or 2 more the summer off. I'd play a mixture of the first team and ressies in it and see how we go.

We've got a 50 game + season basically weeks away again. These lads aren't machines.
 

Nou_Camp99

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The Europa League Final is on Aug 29

The Premier League Season starts on Sep 12

That is not good at all. No way should we play full strength throughout.



LASK - do not play a single first teamer. Let them rest.

QFinal - Stick our best boys on the bench and add a smattering of elite players in the team

Semi's and Finals - Treat them as pre-season matches for Sep 12 - Play full strength.

This is how we should approach this. Rest is as important as anything else. Our boys just played a very intense 45 days with barely any pre-season. 11 matches to be exact with many of them clustering within days of each other.

Now time for the boys to relax at home for a bit. Recover. Train and condition.

By the Time, the quarters come they are back in full first team training and good to go.

Then we build towards PL.
Correct.
 

SirAnderson

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5/6 August: Round of 16, second legs and one-off ties (home teams' stadiums) - play the kids

10/11 August: Quarter-finals (Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen)
- Mixture of starting 11 and second string (e.g. Ighalo, James, Mata)

Then if we get through that...

16/17 August: Semi-finals (Cologne & Düsseldorf)
Main 11

And if we past that test...

21 August: Final (Stadion Köln, Cologne)
Main 11


Kids and second string can share subs if and when we clearly ahead by 60 mins of each game.
 

SirAnderson

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The Europa League Final is on Aug 29

The Premier League Season starts on Sep 12

That is not good at all. No way should we play full strength throughout.



LASK - do not play a single first teamer. Let them rest.

QFinal - Stick our best boys on the bench and add a smattering of elite players in the team

Semi's and Finals - Treat them as pre-season matches for Sep 12 - Play full strength.

This is how we should approach this. Rest is as important as anything else. Our boys just played a very intense 45 days with barely any pre-season. 11 matches to be exact with many of them clustering within days of each other.

Now time for the boys to relax at home for a bit. Recover. Train and condition.

By the Time, the quarters come they are back in full first team training and good to go.

Then we build towards PL.
It's the 21st August, and CL is the 23.
 

RkkMan

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We should take the Europa League seriously and try to win it with a "weakened" team, but not necessarily the u23's.

Romero
TFM Bailly Maguire Williams
Fred Mctominay
Mata/Lingard Pereira James
Martial/Rashford/Greenwood/

If we go with that we have an amazing bench and I reckon Fred and McTominay should be enough to handle most of the Europa League teams.
Is this the team you want to play from the QFs onward or vs LASK? I dont see how we need any of our starters for the LASK game where we`re already 5-0 up
 

Eire Red United

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So we’ve to play the second leg, then 4 more games potentially? Would be great to win something, maybe if we’d won the FA Cup I’d be saying give lads a rest, but a trophy would be massive. Theres no way that Bruno, Pogba, Rashford etc don’t start from the next round on.

Second leg is perfect time to see likes of Chong, TFM, Tuanzabe, Laird etc if fit.
 

Withnail

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It can’t work as preseason because, we’ll be having a break after the tournament ends. We’ll still need to give the players a break and fit in a preseason before next season.
They've had three months off.

Also it's impossible to have a break and a preseason in a month.

Any break after the Europa will be more like a mid-season break, they'll still need to be keeping their fitness up.
 

EwanI Ted

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They've had three months off.

Also it's impossible to have a break and a preseason in a month.

Any break after the Europa will be more like a mid-season break, they'll still need to be keeping their fitness up.
So did every other team in the league. We're still at a disadvantage compared to most of our rivals.
 

DRM

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The Europa League Final is on Aug 21st (EDIT)

The Premier League Season starts on Sep 12

That is not good at all. Barely any time to rest properly if we play full strength all the way. No way should we play full strength throughout.
Not for us I don't think. We get an extra 2 weeks rest due to the Europa League. Can someone confirm this?
 

eire-red

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Ask the players would they rather have an extra week off of win a trophy. If any of them wanted the rest, I'd boot them out of the club.

We should be absolutely going for EL. Rotate for the second leg against LASK and then go for it from there. Winning trophies is always good, no matter what. And it's important for the development of this group that the win things together.
 
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