[buckooo1978]

Second Leg in Paris:

Early pressure on our goal from PSG, and Dave is forced into a couple of routine saves.

From some safety first defending from PSG, we get our first corner. Ashley Young swings it in, keeper comes but only gets a hand and Chris Smalling bundles it in at the far post. The equation has changed. One more goal and the game goes to extra time.

The PSG midfield starts making some mistakes. Nothing major, just some passes straight into touch, few miscontrolled passes. Nothing major, but a foreshadowing for events to come. Eventually their quality on the ball begins to tell and they start dominating the game, pinning us back in our own half.

Inevitably, at around 43 minutes, Dani Alves' cross is turned into the back of the net by Kimpembe. (Yes, again. It goes on to become part of the Weird feelings of football thread)

Back to square one.

A quiet opening segues into a good passage of play of play for United. Lukaku isolates Bernat on the right and drives past him to square the ball to Mata on the edge of the box. Mata turns inside to shoot but instead slides a ball through to Lukaku whose miss hit cross wriggles through Buffon's arms at the near post.

One more goal. The crowd is nervous, but PSG are asserting themselves on the pitch, looking for the kill. United still committing bodies forward in numbers but without much luck.

Ball breaks at the edge of the PSG penalty area and a couple of quick passes set Mbappe in a race against Smalling who tries to take him out. Mbappe skips over the challenge and races towards De Gea. Perhaps because of the nervousness of the crowd, he loses his composure and shoots at de Gea instead of passing to Di Maria.

De Gea makes a good save low to his right but the ball bounces to Di Maria who tries to place it. A despairing dive by Lindelof fails to reach the ball but the curling trajectory only hits the outside of the post and bounces out to be cleared by Shaw with his right.

Many posters are wishing Fellaini was still here instead of assembling semiconductors in China, but keep their thoughts to themselves, mentally earmarking the Fellaini thread for the post-game. We are launching balls into their box, but their defenders clear everything.

Lukaku is at the heart of everything. His complete failure as a target man is being revealed in the cruelest possible way. He tries to control a long ball but it ricochets off the inside of his foot and rolls between the two defenders. And running onto it is MATA!

Buffon comes out and makes himself big but Mata slots it past his fingertips to the back of the net.

A few nervy minutes later, it is over. United are through on away goals.

The remaining teams hold a quick meeting and knowing that nothing will ever top this, the Champions League is awarded to United at a special ceremony at Old Trafford where Sir Alex also announces the line of Solskjaer as managers for life.

The rapture occurs and everyone goes to heaven except Liverpool fans, players and sponsors (past and present), with special dispensation for Michael Owen and Busby.


TL;DR

If we can get to 1:1 at 60 minutes, we have a shot.

RAWK at its finest

 

[Foxtrot]

For some reason people tend to forget the absolute garbage Mourinho served us against Sevilla last season.

That Sevilla's defeat is probably more of down to complacency. A Mourinho led team in Europe is always a dangerous team because of Jose's underdog tag/us against the world mentality especially against the big European teams. I have no doubt that if Jose were still managing us, we wouldn't have lost 0-2 at home to PSG.

If there is one team out of the big (ish) European teams to bottle a lead like that in a CL knockout tie, it is PSG. While extremely unlikely, there is still hope.

That's not going to happen this season, precisely because PSG would have learnt from their past mistakes and Ole just don't have the ability and tactical nous to get past a 0-2 deficit.

A 0-0 draw, maybe, but scoring a single goal at home in the Champions League against any team but Young Boys seems highly unlikely. Still, I prefer the 0-0 draw over conceding two away goals.

No matter how you look at it, losing 0-2 at home is an absolute disgrace. I hope Ole never get this job full-time. Poch please.

 

[Sayros]

That Sevilla's defeat is probably more of down to complacency. A Mourinho led team in Europe is always a dangerous team because of Jose's underdog tag/us against the world mentality especially against the big European teams. I have no doubt that if Jose were still managing us, we wouldn't have lost 0-2 at home to PSG.

So the Sevilla defeat has nothing to do with Mourinho, just complacency from the players (because there's nothing the manager can do about that, I'm supposed to believe) but against PSG for sure it would have been a different story?

 

[Buster15]

A reality check we need, both as fans and as a team. People assuming we'd win easily because two of their best players were out, they are a solid team and although I think they are overrated, we are even more so.

Ref was terrible although correct to send Pogba off (he tries to step over the ball like that a lot and it was a studs up foul) - the fact the breakthrough goal came from a player who had committed about 4 yellow card offences was very frustrating.

Disappointing but this is our level. We don't have the players to compete with the top European clubs but we aren't a million miles away.

Excellent summary.
Wonderful as the previous run was, we began to see our true level and that was exposed by PSG.

Ole has done well to paper over the cracks but the cracks are there and need to be resolved before we can seriously challenge for the top honours.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Sick of United getting pummelled in Europe. If we don't improve our team significantly in the summer window we might as well not be in the CL.

 

[shamans]

2 goals in first 45 minutes.

 

[Giggs86]

That Sevilla's defeat is probably more of down to complacency. A Mourinho led team in Europe is always a dangerous team because of Jose's underdog tag/us against the world mentality especially against the big European teams. I have no doubt that if Jose were still managing us, we wouldn't have lost 0-2 at home to PSG.


That's not going to happen this season, precisely because PSG would have learnt from their past mistakes and Ole just don't have the ability and tactical nous to get past a 0-2 deficit.


No matter how you look at it, losing 0-2 at home is an absolute disgrace. I hope Ole never get this job full-time. Poch please.

This "Mourinho lead team in Europe" myth needs to die out, it was relevant maybe a decade ago but Mourinho has lost it and his decade old tactics don't work anymore as we witnessed time and time again on our expense.

Regarding Poch, you think he didn't have his share of failures in Europe in the last 5 years or so? In fact I don't think he ever progressed in a cl knockout tie and against much weaker oppositions than PSG.

 

[vidic blood & sand]

The tie is over. To try and win it now, the team would have to run themselves into the ground and risk more injuries.
Let it go, play the kids to get experience, and concentrate on staying in the top 4.
Hope PSG go on to win it.

 

[buckooo1978]

The tie is over. To try and win it now, the team would have to run themselves into the ground and risk more injuries.
Let it go, play the kids to get experience, and concentrate on staying in the top 4.
Hope PSG go on to win it.

yeah my feeling exactly

i just hope we don't get a gubbing

 

[Bestietom]

The tie is dead now and we should give the fringe players and youngsters a chance in the second leg. We don't need anymore injuries or top 4 place is gone.

 

[Cockney Phil]

We have every chance to rob them in Paris, everyone should show confidence in the players. We gifted them 2 goals, now we have to rob them back then beat them on penalties.

 

[Ish]

We have every chance to rob them in Paris, everyone should show confidence in the players. We gifted them 2 goals, now we have to rob them back then beat them on penalties.

Without Pogba, Martial and Lingard

 

[Zlatan 7]

We have every chance to rob them in Paris, everyone should show confidence in the players. We gifted them 2 goals, now we have to rob them back then beat them on penalties.

I’m surprised with the defeatist attitude too. I know it’s a slim Chance and I’d be shocked if we did get anything, What kind of message does it send if Ole says we’ve lost this now 2-0 down, May aswell not try and get two (ONLY 2) goals back and play a weakened, inexperienced team.

We need to go with the attitude that we can get a goal in that first half, it could come from a corner or anything, it is possible, then PSG May get shaky.

Bottom line, we have to go all out, full strength and try to go through

 

[Cockney Phil]

I’m surprised with the defeatist attitude too. I know it’s a slim Chance and I’d be shocked if we did get anything, What kind of message does it send if Ole says we’ve lost this now 2-0 down, May aswell not try and get two (ONLY 2) goals back and play a weakened, inexperienced team.

We need to go with the attitude that we can get a goal in that first half, it could come from a corner or anything, it is possible, then PSG May get shaky.

Bottom line, we have to go all out, full strength and try to go through

It’s all a bit it too Scouse for me.

 

[Mourinhonista]

The tie isn't over yet. We can definitely score there and this time we have the away goal rule on our side. 0:2 down means that we can't feck around, from the start we really have to go for it. Maybe we go out, but if we get an early goal or two, it's gonna be a tight affair and PSG have to bring everything they have. Actually looking forward to it, Ole knows his stuff.

 

[wolvored]

I’m surprised with the defeatist attitude too. I know it’s a slim Chance and I’d be shocked if we did get anything, What kind of message does it send if Ole says we’ve lost this now 2-0 down, May aswell not try and get two (ONLY 2) goals back and play a weakened, inexperienced team.

We need to go with the attitude that we can get a goal in that first half, it could come from a corner or anything, it is possible, then PSG May get shaky.

Bottom line, we have to go all out, full strength and try to go through

Any team he picks will be a weakened team anyroad. Playing Mata Lukaku and Sanchez wont achieve a thing.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Any team he picks will be a weakened team anyroad. Playing Mata Lukaku and Sanchez wont achieve a thing.

I understand that, we shouldn’t be dropping fit first teamers for youth though, that is what’s been suggested here and what I disagree with.

Apart from what I mentioned above, I couldn’t think of anything worse than starting greenwood or Chong in a 2-0 down against PSG in a champs knockout game. Bit harsh on them.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Having slept, I still share the same opinion. PSG did nothing of note before the goal. The two opportunities they had were offside.

First goals are massive, and I maintain that had we been the team to score first, we'd have seen a complete different game.

Just reverse the situation. If we go to Paris and produce a performance akin to PSG's, we'll be talking about how it was a great away performance where we stifled the strong home team. After about 10 to 15 minutes, we never once looked like creating a chance.

This talk about "PSG doing nothing of note before scoring two away goals" is silly. They were the away team. It was quite literally the perfect away performance.

 

[Cockney Phil]

I understand that, we shouldn’t be dropping fit first teamers for youth though, that is what’s been suggested here and what I disagree with.

Apart from what I mentioned above, I couldn’t think of anything worse than starting greenwood or Chong in a 2-0 down against PSG in a champs knockout game. Bit harsh on them.

Sink or swim - backed up with mega bonuses for their parents.

 

[Cockney Phil]

PSG’s performance was above average but little to worry about, we gifted them two goals and FIFA provided an underwhelming ref. Time for revenge against all of them.

 

[Cloud7]

That Sevilla's defeat is probably more of down to complacency. A Mourinho led team in Europe is always a dangerous team because of Jose's underdog tag/us against the world mentality especially against the big European teams. I have no doubt that if Jose were still managing us, we wouldn't have lost 0-2 at home to PSG.

Mourinho’s tactics haven’t been relevant in Europe for close to a decade. Have you forgotten when a Mourinho led Chelsea was knocked out by a ten man PSG?

 

[Icemav]

Sick of United getting pummelled in Europe. If we don't improve our team significantly in the summer window we might as well not be in the CL.

Disagree but yes it would be nice to improve so we can consistently challenge the best teams in Europe. We are not miles away but it will take a lot of guile and luck to pull those pieces together. We are all sitting here scratching our heads wondering who we can sign when our rivals throughout Europe have gobbled up mountains of talented players the past 7 years.

 

[Cockney Phil]

Europe is pure excitement, always has been since that massive victory in Benicia thanks to Georgie ‘El Beatle’.

Players have died for us in Europe - it’s our destiny to be in it and we all fight for them - squad and fans.

We never surrender - it’s unthinkable in any given February to do other than fight to the final whistle,

 

[Mr PG]

Better team won.

Ref is a dickhead who falls for every scream/dive.

Alves and Di Maria are dickheads.

I'm done with Sanchez. Genuienly lost my temper and my patience with him now. I'd say yes to loaning him to another club and paying his wages. Like a bug on a shit that won't go away.

Pogba showing his immaturity but meh, he's been good the last 2 months.

Mata useless as usual.

Sanchez hasn’t been great but neither have DeBrune and Silva after long layoffs. Once psg scored and set a low block, no player was going to make a difference except Ronaldo and Messi. There’s absolutely nothing Sanchez could have done... at least nobody who is bashing him has specified exactly what he failed to do. How do you press when psg is sat in their box.

 

[Mr PG]

Also funny people saying this required a mourinho coached team. Same guy that lost 3-1 to pool and got schooled by psg a few years ago ... who were 10men for 70mins

 

[Canagel]

Also funny people saying this required a mourinho coached team. Same guy that lost 3-1 to pool and got schooled by psg a few years ago ... who were 10men for 70mins

clueless the lot of them

 

[wolvored]

I understand that, we shouldn’t be dropping fit first teamers for youth though, that is what’s been suggested here and what I disagree with.

Apart from what I mentioned above, I couldn’t think of anything worse than starting greenwood or Chong in a 2-0 down against PSG in a champs knockout game. Bit harsh on them.

To be honest I can see us getting stuffed whatever team he puts out. There was a vast gulf at OT. On their own patch they will cut loose.

 

[AndyJ1985]

I understand that, we shouldn’t be dropping fit first teamers for youth though, that is what’s been suggested here and what I disagree with.

Apart from what I mentioned above, I couldn’t think of anything worse than starting greenwood or Chong in a 2-0 down against PSG in a champs knockout game. Bit harsh on them.

When the first teamers are as useless as dross like Sanchez and Mata I see no harm in giving some kids a chance. Also it's the perfect test to show how mentally tough they are. Many of our all time great players thrived when the pressure was on. If we want to develop our own superstars then that's what should be expected of them.

 

[sunama]

I'd use the B team, in Paris.
It just is not worth, sending our best team into Paris and getting walloped. It won't do anything for the confidence of our A-team.
PSG are a top team - several levels above us - and assuming we get a lot of investment (which I doubt we will), it may take us about 2-3 years before we can go toe to toe with PSG AND beat them.
The tie in Paris has come a few years, too early for us, I'm afraid.

This match did serve as a reality check for all of us, as to where we are in the pantheon of teams, around Europe. In England, we are 4th best (a top 4 side). We haven't won the league for many years and in the CL, we are a knockout stage CL side (same as last season).
We'll first need to improve to make it into the quarter finals and semis. Then with a bit of luck, we should be able to make a few CL finals and win. Sadly, I don't see the later happening anytime soon, unless we get new owners.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Can't believe people are suggesting a B/second team to play when you're only 2-0 down.

Yes the chances are very slim but this is the CL, even if there is a 0.1% chance you can get through you play the best team. I'm almost certain PSG are through but 2-0 isn't an insurmountable scoreline, start well and get the early goal and suddenly they're nervous. Anything can happen, Roma came back from 3-0 down against Barcelona and then gave Liverpool a big scare despite being 5-0 down at one point, Barcelona beat this PSG side 6-1!

You look dead in the water, but it's a competition where crazy shit can happen.

 

[flappyjay]

This "Mourinho lead team in Europe" myth needs to die out, it was relevant maybe a decade ago but Mourinho has lost it and his decade old tactics don't work anymore as we witnessed time and time again on our expense.

Regarding Poch, you think he didn't have his share of failures in Europe in the last 5 years or so? In fact I don't think he ever progressed in a cl knockout tie and against much weaker oppositions than PSG.

Going as far as getting beat by 10 men PSG at home when zlatan got a red card after 30 minutes. Jose hasn't been great in Europe for a long time.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

People are seriously saying we should rest players in the second leg? I really hope it is none of the people that said the CL is the "pinnacle".

 

[Snafu17]

There's always a lot of talk how the club needs to find it's ethos and how we lost the 'United way" but then you've people who are genuinely suggesting we should essentially give up because we're 2-0 down with 90 minutes left to play.

 

[VP89]

I wonder if Fred will play a vital role in our side for the second leg, weirdly. Circumstances have given him a better shout of a start with Pogba out, and he is suited better to press which we were severely lacking in the first leg. I'd also rather see Dalot start at right back, although that's more unlikely.

Lukaku has to be a certain start too - PSG look like they can struggle in the air and we need a different outlet to just seeing Rashford running into traffic.

 

[Siorac]

This is just weird.

RAWK would be proud.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

What the heck is with this defeatist "let's throw the 2nd leg game away" attitude by some posters here, many known United fans at that. Not trying to sound like a top red, but since when have a United team ever throw a game giving up? *ahem let's forget the previous post-Ferguson years fake United teams* Never in the right leadership that knows and embraces United identity.

It's not over, PSG may have the advantage of 2 goals and away goals at that, and the upcoming game is in their home soil which doesn't really amount much like it's not a fortress and even fortress can be broken down.

So what, there is still a game to play, and the possibility is there. Miracle can happen, and aren't this club love to do just that, been doing that for many years. Time to add another maybe. And so what if Pogba, Martial and Lingard are out. We freeaking win the CL with no Scholes nor talisman Keane anyway, and we sure did played so bad in that 99 final game.

Just have a go first, and make sure a great go at 'em those PSGs, with our fully motivated team.

Time for our available players to prove they're worthy being United players.

No regret afterwards. If we're not good enough, then we're not.

Since when is football that predictable, prediction never 100% always right.

 

[OhGee]

Strangely enough us going in as media favorites played into PSG’s hands. The early forced substitutions did not help but Ole and his staff got in wrong by bringing in Mata and Alexis for Lingard and Martial- both these players like to drift in vs stay out wide and with PSG playing a back 3, we could not exploit the space out wide BUT more importantly we allowed there wingbacks/wide players freedom to attack us down the flanks. Hopefully Ole has used that lesson as payment for his school fees and does not make that mistake again. Lukaku on the right instead of Mata, would have been far more effective plus he would have been a good option as a target man in the box for set pieces.

We going in as underdogs in the second leg can play into our favor. Plus a half decent ref and a decision or 2 going in our favor and who know - 2-0 is not such a big deficit

 

[Devils11]

That Sevilla's defeat is probably more of down to complacency. A Mourinho led team in Europe is always a dangerous team because of Jose's underdog tag/us against the world mentality especially against the big European teams. I have no doubt that if Jose were still managing us, we wouldn't have lost 0-2 at home to PSG.


That's not going to happen this season, precisely because PSG would have learnt from their past mistakes and Ole just don't have the ability and tactical nous to get past a 0-2 deficit.


No matter how you look at it, losing 0-2 at home is an absolute disgrace. I hope Ole never get this job full-time. Poch please.

Just saying..NO clubs or managers have the ability and tactical nous ever to overcome a 2 goals home defeat in the CL history.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Strangely enough us going in as media favorites played into PSG’s hands. The early forced substitutions did not help but Ole and his staff got in wrong by bringing in Mata and Alexis for Lingard and Martial- both these players like to drift in vs stay out wide and with PSG playing a back 3, we could not exploit the space out wide BUT more importantly we allowed there wingbacks/wide players freedom to attack us down the flanks. Hopefully Ole has used that lesson as payment for his school fees and does not make that mistake again. Lukaku on the right instead of Mata, would have been far more effective plus he would have been a good option as a target man in the box for set pieces.

We going in as underdogs in the second leg can play into our favor. Plus a half decent ref and a decision or 2 going in our favor and who know - 2-0 is not such a big deficit

2-0 home defeat is a massive deficit. Not sure it's ever been turned around in CL history.

 

[BootsyCollins]

2-0 home defeat is a massive deficit. Not sure it's ever been turned around in CL history.

It has not.