[colombianmancunian]

We were wasteful, should have spanked them.
A tie at the Spotify is nonetheless a good result.

The next match we are at home, Licha, Antony and Sabitzer willbe back. We will beat the cnuts.

As always the referee favouring UEFAlona. What a disgrace.

 

[Jippy]

What a fecking cracker of a match....

I had a video call immediately after the final whistle. I am quite sure my client thought I was doing coke, I was buzzing so hard! Still am right now, 5 hours later.

I love watching this United team play ten Hag ball.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We were wasteful, should have spaniel them.
A tie at the Spotify is nonetheless a good result.

The next match we are at home, Licha, Antony and Sabitzer willbe back. We will beat the cnuts.

As always the referee favouring UEFAlona. What a disgrace.

Hopefully we play as well as we did here. There were times when we had them on the ropes but I don’t think this team is yet at the stage where it can produced a good 90 minutes against other top teams which is why the game at home will be close too. Some of our football was spanking.

I don’t but conspiracy theories but we got a lot of 50/50s given against us today. Hopefully the ref at OT will also cave to fan pressure

 

[amolbhatia50k]

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We deserved that game and we're going to smash them next week.

That gap in XG sums up the balance of the game I saw. Barcelona with a lot of the ball but United the dominant team.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Busquets maybe, Dembele almost certainly out. They also lost Gavi because of booking and Pedri through injury.

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Excellent. If Busquets plays then unleash Fred on him and let’s batter them like their multiple away hammerings in the Cl of the 2015-2020s.

 

[rio vander vidic]

The weakest barcelona team i ever watching..probably we should win

 

[tjb]

Interesting game.

There were some real takeaways that I don't think should be ignored.

1) We played this way in a 4141 with Weghorst playing alongside Fred. Similar to the formation ETH used at Ajax last season. Weghorst wasn't the no.10, he was one of two 8's. My guess is we used him there due to his pressing ability and he seems to have good positioning as well. Moving forward, this may be the play. having two pressing monsters at the 8.

2. Bruno from the right wing would work in this formation as he wouldn't be as isolated on the flanks as he is in a 4231. There was a lot of interchange in that area of the field, which suited him.

3. Rashford up top. He gives us a lot, and now that he has better balance, he's really become a threat. Having Bruno and Sancho feed him from the flanks may really help us.


We have good depth if we play this system out wide and up front. Currently we don't have the midfield for this quite yet, but I do suspect that we will come summer.

 

[Alek M]

We lack finishing. Which will come.

Rashy should have squared one for Weg

Weg should have finished his

Fred should have squared to Weg. All of these should have been a goal.

 

[MileStolar]

This is exactly what ETH will do. We will field our best 11, run 10km and high intensity for 90min. Then all burn out on 27th. Newcastle can probably beat us on Extra Time.

But you know what, most fans would be happy finishing the season above Liverpool, and knocking out Barca. Who needs trophy.

That's the exact reason people hated on Ole before it all went south, Eric has given us so much hope this season that it would be so soul crushing to just wither on all fronts and end our season on our pre season expectations.

 

[Nicoseth]

What a fantastic game! ETH, I mean, what can I say? They guy has worked absolute wonders. Considering where we were last year, it is incredible how far he has brought this team. Bring on the second leg!

 

[Shimo]

I had a long reply typed in the pre-match thread yesterday in response to so many people wanting to play second team and expecting Barca to just be levels above, then just couldn't be bothered. Am not surprised at our performance today which was very good - with ETH we now are confident in possessing the ball but, also are very organized and press with a plan.

I expected us to compete but, not be as dominant in many phases though. We could/should have won for sure, even before their first goal, the chance Sancho really should have been put away. There were others and think maybe Rashford got a bit greedy at the end but, can't blame him I suppose with the way he finished for the equalizer.

As for the return leg, with Pedri/Gavi out, possibly Busquets and Dembele still out and on the flip side we will have minimum Licha/Sabitzer back and maybe others playing OT, we will be seen as favorites which can be dangerous in terms of complacency but, 1000% trust in ETH right now to prepare them right.

 

[Fahad Jawaid]

He’s been a concern for a long time. So poor on crosses and corners. Has great reactive saves but on the basics I think we can get a much better keeper and I’ve been saying that for a while now.

True, the worse part was they did not even block him during corners, in the PL, the defenders block the keeper's movement to ensure he is unable to punch or grab the oncoming corner, he was left alone and still he allowed the looping cross to reach Alonso that was soo poor of him, in addition the header was very feeble and he should have never let it in from that angle.

Plus his distribution vs Ten Stegen, there was a world of difference, if we did not have Wout up top to get flick ons, we would be defending all game, because Barca will be getting all the second balls. If we want to become a top side, which imposes its football on the other team, we need a better keeper who is great on the ball, plus he comes for crosses and corners and sweeps up, so we can play a higher line.

 

[Fahad Jawaid]

What a game, shame we could not win it, we had chances to make it 3-1, specially the Rashford chance where he snatched at the ball and hit it well wide.

Overall very satisfied with the result, InshaAllah we will get them at home.

 

[croadyman]

We were wasteful, should have spanked them.
A tie at the Spotify is nonetheless a good result.

The next match we are at home, Licha, Antony and Sabitzer willbe back. We will beat the cnuts.

As always the referee favouring UEFAlona. What a disgrace.

Licha & Sabitzer will definitely add something,gut feeling is we won't see any of Antony,Martial or McTominay until League Cup Final

 

[The No.10!]

Absolutely love Casemiro, but it was extremely poor of him to give the ball away for their 2nd goal.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

Incredible game and a great performance for us that shows, in spite of missing some key players, we are on the right track.
When is the last time we played so well against Barcelona?

 

[adkb]

My goodness. I have no idea what ETH is made of. This team a year ago was completely devalued of confidence. Couldnt even string 5 passes together. And today this team is literally making me enjoy football while going toe to toe with top teams. It really is amazing. If anyone has any doubts about ETH then I really do not see how we can co-exisit anymore.

Game was absolutely perfect. This team is running on fumes to be honest with the number of games being played, but the players seems to be really sticking to the plan. Everyone is playing as a unit and hence the load is not coming on any one player to foot the efforts.

I love what is going on, and long it may continue. I honestly do not care if we do not do the job at OT in the second leg, just keep the positive front foot football coming and I am sold.

 

[zenith]

What a game. Loved the way we fought and matched barca at home, every step of the way. We deserved to win it with the chances we had.

On another note, this is the level of glory that huge names bring to football. Over 90k in the stadium watching to heavy weights go at it. Something which shitty plastic clubs can only dream of. Money can't buy class

 

[Bestie07]

I understand that this is not a vintage Barcelona side, but it was such a pleasure to see us go toe to toe with them, and actually come away feeling disappointed with a draw.

 

[DJ_21]

You could see a bit of ETH blueprint during the game with that beautiful passage of play that ended up with AWB having a shot.

 

[Dannn411]

Always makes me wonder why we stuck with awful managers in the past that were showing little to no progress, thinking that it would take them at least 12 to 18 months to show tangible progress. Ten Hag has done it in less than 6 months!!!! If you are a good manager, it will show right away. I now look forward to every game we play and I really hope he gets full financial backing in the summer. Could be on the verge of something special.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

The weakest barcelona team i ever watching..probably we should win

The Barcelona who are top of la liga, undefeated in 20 games and barely conceded.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

We lack finishing. Which will come.

Rashy should have squared one for Weg

Weg should have finished his

Fred should have squared to Weg. All of these should have been a goal.

Never square to Weg, he can't finish. It is a conscious decision from our players to not square to Weg because they see his poor finishing every day in training.

 

[Zed 101]

Going into the match I thought we would be out played and would lose, hopefully by 1 or 2 goals and keep the tie alive for the return leg.

I couldn't have been further away from what happened, Utd were the better team, played better football and looked more dangerous, both their goals came from us fannying about in defence ... yet again... I was honestly gobsmacked by how good we were, Rashford is on another planet....

They should have been given a red card, foul by last defender... I do think they should have had a penalty from Fred though!

 

[Ragnar123]

The Barcelona who are top of la liga, undefeated in 20 games and barely conceded.

In our defense, Xavi changed the complete backline yesterday. He switched the position of Araujo and Kounde and he started Alba and Alonso. For weeks we played succesfully with Kounde as full back, Araujo as centre back and Christensen and Balde on the left side.
No culer knows why he changed a well established defense for one game. It reminded me of Pep, who always loses the CL playoffs because of his "genious" ideas, instead of just keep the established team rolling.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

In our defense, Xavi changed the complete backline yesterday. He switched the position of Araujo and Kounde and he started Alba and Alonso. For weeks we played succesfully with Kounde as full back, Araujo as centre back and Christensen and Balde on the left side.
No culer knows why he changed a well established defense for one game. It reminded me of Pep, who always loses the CL playoffs because of his "genious" ideas, instead of just keep the established team rolling.

Make sense.

We also had to play Shaw, a left back as centre back yesterday because we were missing our best player from the season (Martinez), had no striker available and missed Eriksson in midfield.

Will be an interesting second leg.

 

[Orange Tree]

Happy with the performance and result. Going in, I expected us to get outplayed and only try to hit them on the counter.

It's encouraging to see the progress we've made this season.

 

[mshnsh]

This game exposed who should stay and go. We need a striker, a central mid to partner Casemiro, a right back, and a winger who can play either side.

Malacia, Bissaka, wout, Sancho are not upto European football level and therefore Man United level.

 

[andy0]

I didn't see the match.

From reading about it, I hope this can reform the defeatists who wanted to lose this tie so as to concentrate on other competitions.

 

[Memento28]

Just watched one of the most delusional after match interviews from Mr Alonso. He reckons Barcelona "controlled" the game and they were "comfortable" during it meanwhile Man United had just two chances and scored two goals.

I thought only their fans were delusional but now I know almost everyone associated with Barca is delusional, they were only good in the last 8 to 10 minutes and they got a lucky 2nd goal.

 

[Red_Aaron]

I wouldn't say either side totally controlled the game - it was chaotic at times which is why it was so brilliant to watch. I also thought there was great quality on show at times which for 2 somewhat emerging teams is a real compliment. You can see both clubs are committed to not only returning to the top level but playing positive football along the way and kudos to them for that

We definitely had the better chances though and it's frustrating we didn't win as it would've been a great boost to the club. We'll just have to do them at home

 

[Ragnar123]

Make sense.

We also had to play Shaw, a left back as centre back yesterday because we were missing our best player from the season (Martinez), had no striker available and missed Eriksson in midfield.

Will be an interesting second leg.

Yeah, a shame both teams couldn't play with their best players. It will be even worse for us in the 2nd leg without Dembele, Gavi, Pedri and probably Busquets. That's why I expect a lose against you guys next week. We needed a win yesterday to have chances to advance. Still, it was a very exciting game between both clubs as always when we meet. EL doesn't interest both clubs I think.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Rumours that Pedri misses about a month with a thigh injury. In any case, it looked like a muscle thing, that he is not likely to recover from in a week. With both Pedri and Gavi out, but Sabitzer back, we have a great chance of winning the midfield battle on Thursday.

 

[Cantonalegod]

True, the worse part was they did not even block him during corners, in the PL, the defenders block the keeper's movement to ensure he is unable to punch or grab the oncoming corner, he was left alone and still he allowed the looping cross to reach Alonso that was soo poor of him, in addition the header was very feeble and he should have never let it in from that angle.

Plus his distribution vs Ten Stegen, there was a world of difference, if we did not have Wout up top to get flick ons, we would be defending all game, because Barca will be getting all the second balls. If we want to become a top side, which imposes its football on the other team, we need a better keeper who is great on the ball, plus he comes for crosses and corners and sweeps up, so we can play a higher line.

I actually thought de Gea had one of his better games. He came and punched several crosses, not something he is renowned for, and made some decent saves, not worldies, but important, and actually caught a quite difficult shot instead of pushing it away, possibly into a danger zone.

He did play a lot of long balls out from the back, but don't you think he was playing these as instructed by EtH, or do you think he was making up his own game plan?

Regarding Weghorst winning a lot of flickons, I don't think I can remember a bloke as tall being so poor in the air.

The header de Gea let in, has far more blame attached to Malacia for losing his man, and Fred for doing a statue impression at the far post, it wasn't an easy cross to come for, when the ball is headed down it's far more difficult to pick up the flight, hence why strikers are told to head it down. On the second goal he had no chance, had to wait for the possible touch from Lewa, by the time he missed it, it was obviously too late.

De Gea's main job is to keep the ball out of the net, and at that, despite any stats people may have, he is pretty damn good at.

Most people would take ter Stegen over de Gea, but if de Gea had let in the Rashford goal at his near post last night he would have got hammered on this forum. We have a lot more things to sort out in our team than the goalkeeper, and I trust EtH to get it sorted. We will see if ETH is happy in the summer, when de Gea will either get a new deal, or leave on a free.

 

[djembatheking]

Great game, the transformation under Ten hag has been unbelievable.

 

[Pronewbie]

Rumours that Pedri misses about a month with a thigh injury. In any case, it looked like a muscle thing, that he is not likely to recover from in a week. With both Pedri and Gavi out, but Sabitzer back, we have a great chance of winning the midfield battle on Thursday.

Yes. Their midfield is mainly about those 2. Busquets has lost his legs, Frenkie is weak and a defensive liability, while Kessie doesn't seem to be all that especially on the ball. Sergi Roberto is just a body. There will be plenty of dangerous transitions where we press and win the ball high up the pitch and we've got to take those opportunities.

 

[Globule]

It was a fair result. Both teams could have won it.

The encouraging thing is it wasn't what the Ten Hag sceptics would call an Ole performance where we just sit back and counter. We did dominate them for good chunks of the game. They did also dominate us for periods though, which is why I think it was a fair result.

 

[trevor newnham]

Firstly, what a change in this team in that a year ago, I would have viewed this match with trepidation. Now, I'm disappointed that we only drew.
Secondly, what is all the fuss about deJong. He was largely anonymous

 

[Pronewbie]

Actually thought de Gea had one of his better games.

Came and punched several crosses, not something he is renowned for.

Made some decent saves, not worldies, but important.

Actually caught a quite difficult shot instead of pushing it away, possibly into a danger zone.

He did play a lot of long balls out from the back, but don't you think he was playing these as instructed by EtH, or do you think he was making up his own game plan?

As for Weghorst winning a lot of flickons, don't think I can remember a bloke as tall being so poor in the air.

As for the header he let in, far more blame is attached to Malacia for losing his man, and Fred for doing a statue impression at the far post, it wasn't an easy cross to come for, when the ball is headed down it's far more difficult to pick up the flight, hence why strikers are told to head it down.

De Gea's main job is to keep the ball out of the net, and at that, despite any stats people may have, he is pretty damn good at.

Second goal he had no chance, had to wait for the possible touch from Lewa, by the time he missed it, it was obviously too late, no chance.

Most people would take ter Stegen over de Gea, but if de Gea had let in the Rashford goal at his near post last night he would have got hammered on this forum.

We have a lot more things to sort out in our team than the goalkeeper, and I trust EtH to get it sorted.

We will see if ETH is happy in the summer, when de Gea will either get a new deal, or leave on a free.

Pretty much everyone in the match day thread praised Rashford's finishing in the match day thread. It was a low thunderbolt just to the left of Ter Tegen's left leg. It's the worst kind of shot that's within reach to face as a keeper. That, and through the legs are physically hard to contort and react quickly enough unless you've anticipated it. Pretty sure strikers are taught to finish that way in tight angles, too.

Ter Stegen would probably feel like he could have saved it if he'd anticipated it better, but at the same time I wouldn't blame any GK for letting those in at that distance, accuracy and power. It's a bit like rock, paper scissors. I've defended De Gea for letting in those kinds of shots too.

 

[Pronewbie]

It was a fair result. Both teams could have won it.

The encouraging thing is it wasn't what the Ten Hag sceptics would call an Ole performance where we just sit back and counter. We did dominate them for good chunks of the game. They did also dominate us for periods though, which is why I think it was a fair result.

It's what has made us a joy to watch again. Pretty sure Redcafe's traffic volume would reflect that too.