EL W Europa League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Granada 0:2 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Thu, 08 April 2021

TwoSheds

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Wan Bissaka easily the best player on the pitch. Lindelof, Rashford and De Gea did fairly well, most of the rest were incredibly underwhelming although I did love Maguire selling Granada's defenders the dream when he went forward.

Thought Greenwood and Shaw were very poor and James doesn't believe he's as good as the guys around him, which is true of course but doesn't matter, you should still believe in your ability if you want to play for Man Utd. If you're in a better position than your teammates just take the ball and have a dip.
 

MrBest

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Jaysus mate, maybe you should take a break and just watch the highlights.

You're aware we're coming to the end of one of the most grueling schedules these lads have ever been through?

It's over a year now with no real break, no crowds, no normal life. A bit of perspective wouldn't go astray ffs :lol:
I get your point on the current climate, but I have never been a fan of Ole's way of football. My opinion and I have consistently felt that for longer than COVID. 300 millions fans globally, there will always be those who like and those who dont.
 

cj_sparky

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Overall it just seemed like a typical away European night in Spain, many of our games under Sir Alex in Spain had the same feel.

I don't like how we perform often, but we still find a way to win and that is a pretty useful attribute to have.

Tonight was just a professional performance in an away tie.
 

always_hoping

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And the evidence on his face? You could see that on your potato stream could you?
I get the impression that some watched that incident on the radio.

As I said on the match thread Bruno shouldn't have taken that penalty after the bang he got under his eye. Lucky he scored it.
 

Withnail

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I get your point on the current climate, but I have never been a fan of Ole's way of football. My opinion and I have consistently felt that for longer than COVID. 300 millions fans globally, there will always be those who like and those who dont.
I understand that absolutely and obviously you're entitled to your opinion.

However, there is the reality of the covid shit show and I don't feel a lot of people are taking this into account and tempering their criticism even a little.

It's an extremely difficult time for all of us but especially so when you're expected to perform physically at an elite level every three days.
 

Withnail

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I get the impression that some watched that incident on the radio.

As I said on the match thread Bruno shouldn't have taken that penalty after the bang he got under his eye. Lucky he scored it.
I couldn't really see what happened on the replay but you could see the evidence on his face.

Unless he was doing a WWE and causing the damage himself when he was on the deck.
 

2 man midfield

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Seemed like that was harder to watch than it was to play in. feck me we can be boring to watch.
 

Robertd0803

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That will do nicely. The second goal was a big bonus considering the keeper should have saved it.
 

Siorac

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That's an embarrassing dive from Bruno, which is about as dirty as a team can play.
No, diving is nowhere near 'as dirty as a team can play'. Kicking the living shit out of the opponent, for one, is far dirtier. Or a constant stream of niggly 'tactical' fouls.
 

Rightnr

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Another boring to death performance. But I guess we watch football for the numbers up in the top left/right nowadays. Can't wait for someone to come and lecture me I am not a 'true' fan.
 

Irrational.

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I think that was the worst European ref we've had since the twats that got Nani sent off against Real, Rafael against Bayern and failed to send off the wanker who snapped Shaw's ankle in half against PSV.
 

smi11ie

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Ref seemed to let Granada off with alot. In the first half there were a couple of very nasty challenges on Rashford that deserved cards. Lots of people think it was a soft penalty but he stuck his hand directly into Bruno's face right infront of the referee. Bruno was quite right to go down and look for the pen considering Granada's shithousery.
 

simplyared

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Well that was some spectacle! The sooner that was over the better. Some of these less known teams in La Liga are a bunch of feckin bandits. The guy who lunged in on James and got himself injured should have seen red. Lucky we escaped without more injuries. Nightmare of a team to meet on their own patch. 2 away goals will see us through but an ugly game of football nonetheless!
 

GazTheLegend

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Another boring to death performance. But I guess we watch football for the numbers up in the top left/right nowadays. Can't wait for someone to come and lecture me I am not a 'true' fan.
Well, what DO you watch for? Like - I remember plenty of shite games under Alex Ferguson. They're not all going to be classics are they, but what do you get out of moaning about it? I've looked at your postings and you have like 50 pages worth of bitching and whining. You have 50 pages of posts without a single nice thing to say about Manchester United, you know, the club you 'support'? You're calling people "top reds" for calling you out, but the limit of your contribution to Redcafe seems to be calling every single one of our players "atrocious" or any one of a hundred synonyms, slating the manager, and avoiding anything positive to do with the club.

And I'm sure you'll attack me for saying it but well, we won against a really dirty side? Can us top reds be happy about that please?
 

alexthelion

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Well, what DO you watch for? Like - I remember plenty of shite games under Alex Ferguson. They're not all going to be classics are they, but what do you get out of moaning about it? I've looked at your postings and you have like 50 pages worth of bitching and whining. You have 50 pages of posts without a single nice thing to say about Manchester United, you know, the club you 'support'? You're calling people "top reds" for calling you out, but the limit of your contribution to Redcafe seems to be calling every single one of our players "atrocious" or any one of a hundred synonyms, slating the manager, and avoiding anything positive to do with the club.

And I'm sure you'll attack me for saying it but well, we won against a really dirty side? Can us top reds be happy about that please?
Have a "Like"
 

MrBest

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Another boring to death performance. But I guess we watch football for the numbers up in the top left/right nowadays. Can't wait for someone to come and lecture me I am not a 'true' fan.
You are not a true fan, blah blah blah.

i totally agree with you though
 

glazed

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Found it hard to care about this game. EPL and UCL are the only two competitions that matter.
 

Sylar

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The ref was total shite but somehow ended up a blessing in disguise
He booked all the players who will miss the next leg then gave us a penalty to hopefully kill the tie

It now means the players aren't at risk of missing the semi final, will get some much needed rest and we have a healthy lead
 

SirScholes

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I get the impression that some watched that incident on the radio.

As I said on the match thread Bruno shouldn't have taken that penalty after the bang he got under his eye. Lucky he scored it.
HHaha what! Mate it was a gentle knock and he made the meal of it for a pen
He was fine just too short and run up
 

Bilbo

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Christ the tone of this thread is beyond moronic. I've been on this site almost 20 years but it really is getting strangled to death by the idiots now. Mods - save this forum before it disappears up its own arse

2-0 away win in the quarter finals. Completely professional and mature performance. Couldn't have asked for much more.
 

city-puma

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Well, what DO you watch for? Like - I remember plenty of shite games under Alex Ferguson. They're not all going to be classics are they, but what do you get out of moaning about it? I've looked at your postings and you have like 50 pages worth of bitching and whining. You have 50 pages of posts without a single nice thing to say about Manchester United, you know, the club you 'support'? You're calling people "top reds" for calling you out, but the limit of your contribution to Redcafe seems to be calling every single one of our players "atrocious" or any one of a hundred synonyms, slating the manager, and avoiding anything positive to do with the club.

And I'm sure you'll attack me for saying it but well, we won against a really dirty side? Can us top reds be happy about that please?
I really want to “like” this post but I guess only admins can do it?
 

noodlehair

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I feel like the fact a naked fan managed to carry out a pitch invasion despite the fact there were no fans in the stadium deserves more attention.

Also very glad BT Sport decided that showing 50 slow motion replays of the ball rolling off the pitch was more important than showing live footage of someone scoring a goal.

Bit baffled at people being so determined to pretend it wasn't an awful game. I mean, it clearly was. There was one bit of quality football in the game and no one got to see it. I'll take the result all day long but most games in general (not just ours) seem so lethergic and devoid of quality at the moment. It was a slog really. Think we just need to drag ourselves over the line this season and think the same applies to a lot of teams.
 
Last edited:

MrBest

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I understand that absolutely and obviously you're entitled to your opinion.

However, there is the reality of the covid shit show and I don't feel a lot of people are taking this into account and tempering their criticism even a little.

It's an extremely difficult time for all of us but especially so when you're expected to perform physically at an elite level every three days.
I totally get what you are saying which is why I am so confused with the lack of rotation and rest some of our players are getting. For me, that is a management problem, either with a lack strategy or lack of trust for his squad. Many other teams at our so called level, rotate. We have DVB on the bench most of the time, Amad not given a run of minutes and plenty of matches with no changes in the 90. I find it hard sympathise with the management but I do feel for many of our players who have been run into the ground. The atrocious football I personally feel we have playing for months, could be a direct consequence of that or instructions from Ole to preserve enegery. We will never know, so all we can do is assume and debate :D:wenger:
 

Rightnr

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Well, what DO you watch for? Like - I remember plenty of shite games under Alex Ferguson. They're not all going to be classics are they, but what do you get out of moaning about it? I've looked at your postings and you have like 50 pages worth of bitching and whining. You have 50 pages of posts without a single nice thing to say about Manchester United, you know, the club you 'support'? You're calling people "top reds" for calling you out, but the limit of your contribution to Redcafe seems to be calling every single one of our players "atrocious" or any one of a hundred synonyms, slating the manager, and avoiding anything positive to do with the club.

And I'm sure you'll attack me for saying it but well, we won against a really dirty side? Can us top reds be happy about that please?
Look, I appreciate you have taken the time to explore my posting history and I also appreciate your little passive aggressive approach to 'showing me up' but I can see how I come across with my posts (which is why I've been trying to stay away from here a bit more). Most of my 'aggressive' posts are in response to some utter tosh where people are trying to claim some higher moral ground instead of holding this club - manager, CEO and owners - to the standard we should. And that is play well, win trophies and entertain the fans. The emphasis being on the last one.

I can take a scrappy win in Europe. Hell, I became a fan of United what feels like a lifetime along because we'd come through some crazy tight spots. However, the win today is just another one in a string of poor, poor performances. It doesn't matter if it's league, cup, EL or a local garden friendly game. Manchester United are playing dire football. And that is because we have inadequate staff, who fail to set us up properly, manage our squad well and just generally have no place at our club because they have no credentials.

Now you can try and spin as much as you want but this is not how we used to play under Fergie. We were exciting against some of the dead teams and would be practical if the oppposition was on or above our footballing level. In any case, we were fearless, risk-taking and aggressive in our approach. OGS and this current era doesn't have to be like the Fergie one but please don't compare it to SAF because that's just an insult.

If you can sit down and watch game after game after game of this crap where we struggle against some no-name team and cannot entertain at a basic level, more power to you. But I didn't start supporting this club because I want to fall asleep while watching them play.
 

Withnail

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I totally get what you are saying which is why I am so confused with the lack of rotation and rest some of our players are getting. For me, that is a management problem, either with a lack strategy or lack of trust for his squad. Many other teams at our so called level, rotate. We have DVB on the bench most of the time, Amad not given a run of minutes and plenty of matches with no changes in the 90. I find it hard sympathise with the management but I do feel for many of our players who have been run into the ground. The atrocious football I personally feel we have playing for months, could be a direct consequence of that or instructions from Ole to preserve enegery. We will never know, so all we can do is assume and debate :D:wenger:
Yeah I hear ya. I'd have a couple of points to make regarding the performances of other teams not being fantastic and the reasons why the two you've mentioned haven't had many minutes but it's all I can do to keep my eyes open so I'll leave it there and say good night..
 

Foxbatt

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HHaha what! Mate it was a gentle knock and he made the meal of it for a pen
He was fine just too short and run up
What about his black eye? I even mentioned it in the match thread immediately. He in fact seems to indicate that he couldn't see properly.
 

Chairman Steve

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This game felt like one of those deliberately conservative “try win the game in 2nd gear” matches. I have a feeling despite the strong XI put out, they had an eye on Spurs this weekend and therefore weren't throwing all the force they could have on it.
 

Okey

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Underwhelming, scrappy game, from both sides to be fair. But great win! We'll beat Granada, but need to the better for the next rounds. I think it's actually a good thing the suspensions will force those players to rest. On to Spurs! Revenge is mandatory.
 

Ali Dia

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Covid... small squad and lowish on quality backup. Got the result. Give the lads a long rest once we nail down top 4 and get them fresh for the EL. I hope Ole doesn’t just do what he did last season again and run everyone into the ground. That would annoy me a lot. We have VDB and the kids and a few defenders, use a few of them.
 

The Brown Bull

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Good result but poor performance. No real spark to us, no rythem. It was fitting that we got a jammy penalty which we were lucky to score at the end which probably puts us through.
We need to improve. Improve a lot.
 

tjb

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It somewhat feels like we don't have the right elements but are cruising waiting for next season improve our parts. Something is really wrong in how we operate in our front 5. Never really been a fan of a 4231, looks like a tshirt in which the midfield has too much to do as they are so high up the pitch. Works well if you have the right midfielders, but can be terrible without them. Unlike with Fergie in which our wingers supported the midfield, this genuinely feels like we only have two men operating in the middle...which allows us to go countless games without the majority of our front 6 actually getting involved, whereas that should be the case sometimes only for the striker.
 

always_hoping

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HHaha what! Mate it was a gentle knock and he made the meal of it for a pen
He was fine just too short and run up
As Solskjaer said after the game Bruno scored that penalty with basically one eye.

One of Fernandes’ eyes was bloodshot after the final whistle. I’ve just seen his eye when he came off and that he got hit,” “Mike Phelan was sat behind me in the dugout and said he took one in the face. His eye is red and to score with one eye open is also a skill.”
 

Litch

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I blame Fred today. Slow, poor passing and giving the ball away....oh
 

Player Ratings

6.0 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 193 ratings.

Score Predictions

160,7,16
  • Man Utd win
  • Granada win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 33% Granada 0:2 Man Utd
  • 22% Granada 0:3 Man Utd
  • 13% Granada 1:2 Man Utd
  • 9% Granada 0:1 Man Utd
  • 6% Granada 1:1 Man Utd
  • 4% Granada 1:3 Man Utd
  • 4% Granada 0:4 Man Utd
  • 2% Granada 0:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Granada 2:1 Man Utd
  • 1% Granada 1:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Granada 2:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Granada 1:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Granada 2:2 Man Utd
  • 1% Granada 1:5 Man Utd
  • 1% Granada 0:5 Man Utd
Compiled from 183 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Granada
  2. Man Utd
Possession
33% 67%
Shots
11 13
Shots on Target
3 3
Corners
11 5
Fouls
14 12

Referee

Artur Manuel Soares Dias