[Crimson King]

We dont need to go down to 10 men just to give Elanga some 'run around' time. And we already know having Weghorst up front means the chances of us scoring go to almost nil. At least with any cross or cut back.

What are you talking about? We had 11 players on the pitch and there was only 10 minutes left. Martinez getting a freak injury is why we went down to 10 men.

 

[The Brown Bull]

Threw it away . A combination of poor finishing, poor management and rotten luck. Meh.

 

[Nick7]

The odds of us winning in Spain are very small.
MUFC rarely win in Spain.
We've got a chance, but it is very very slim.

We haven’t lost in Spain this season. We’ve also won two of the three matches we’ve played there this season if we’re playing that game.

 

[Castia]

Finishing the game with a Elanga, Weghorst and Pallestri attack….yikes.

The result was shit but the injuries are worse, we’ll struggle in the coming weeks.

 

[Woodzy]

The biggest mistake was the triple sub. Antony was great but was a walking red card

 

[stevoc]

He has to try and give them minutes somewhere. We'll need everyone if we want anything from the rest of the season.

It's also not those players' fault that we conceded 2 of the worst OGs you'll ever see.

Not directly but once they came on Sevilla had to worry a lot less about defending.

 

[UpWithRivers]

Wept how his team can frustrate the fk out of you. Brilliant one moment sht the next. Added to the fact the amount of luck and injuries.

 

[hobbers]

What are you talking about? We had 11 players on the pitch and there was only 10 minutes left. Martinez getting a freak injury is why we went down to 10 men.

I obviously mean playing with Elanga is the same as playing with 10. He is that bad.

Playing with Weghorst as number 9 is the same as having a black hole up front.

 

[United Hobbit]

That was an utterly abysmal second half when we'd looked so good in the first half.

Martinez injury has potentially ended our season, really praying Varane is just a knock, because otherwise it's back to the blinking chuckle brothers. Unless Shaw can recover to be CB?!

Really hope the Saudi guy buys us, challenging on all fronts has left Liverpool fecked this season and it's catching up with our threadbare squad, you need at least 2 starting line ups - look at City - Haaland gets injured, no problems they have Alvarez who would walk into our starting line up

I love us winning trophies, but if Licha injury is bad, I'd be inclined to bin off the FA cup, Europa is worth more, as win it and you're guaranteed CL, and top 4 is by no means secure, especially as you also have teams like Newcastle challenging. Obviously I'd love us to win both trophies, but given its likely City in the final, if we have to sacrifice a trophy I'd rather that go as it's not worth as much. At this point we are limping over the line

The fecking winter FA cup was a ridiculous decision too, adding even more games to a ridiculous schedule.

We need to beat Tottenham next Thursday

 

[Zaphod2319]

I left work and you were cruising 2-0. I get home and check Twitter for the latest Chelsea cringe news and this is how I found out what happened.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[stevoc]

I obviously mean playing with Elanga is the same as playing with 10. He is that bad.

Playing with Weghorst as number 9 is the same as having a black hole up front.

As good as yeah.

 

[Nick7]

I left work and you were cruising 2-0. I get home and check Twitter for the latest Chelsea cringe news and this is how I found out what happened.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

That about sums it up. Two freak goals and a freak injury. Disaster.

 

[Ceteris]

This nonsense about the subs, our strength in depth is gash and the starters had seriously dropped off before a single sub was made… constantly looking for a reason to slate ETH, get a grip.

You don't make subs just for the sake of it
If we lost control of the game what was elanga and Wout going to do to change that? Bruno was suspended so he was going to get a rest on Thursday

Antony had missed some games recently so he should have stayed on

And all 3 subs at the same time was stupid

 

[strandty]

Taking Bruno off when he’s suspended for the next leg anyway was ridiculous

 

[Pearl's a minger]

Unforgivable from malacia. Laughably bad. He's so far out of his depth. Seen better defensive displays down the local marshes on a Sunday morning. Back up defender or not he's a country mile away from being where he needs to be.

 

[Fortitude]

¾ of our starting backline, injured.

 

[El Presidente]

Ok I'll just bury my head in the sand and pretend it's all Rosey and we will win easily.

No, but you don't need to be suicidal either.

 

[Nick7]

It’s funny really, if Bruno stayed on and got injury everyone would be giving about ETH not subbing him off.

 

[reddevilchennai]

Should trash this cnuts at their own ground.

 

[RedDevil@84]

I present a bet.

Everyone saying we go out to them next week gets a ban if we beat them.

They win, I take the ban.

Yup. Top red folks!!!

 

[AlexUTD]

Finishing the game with a Elanga, Weghorst and Pallestri attack….yikes.

The result was shit but the injuries are worse, we’ll struggle in the coming weeks.

Even if leading 4-0 i wouldnt do all those subs..

 

[Ayoba]

No, but you don't need to be suicidal either.

Where was I suicidal? I'm just echoing what most people are thinking about our chances away because of so many players missing

 

[youngrell]

I really don’t think the substitutions can be blamed, we remained comfortable with them on despite some poor personal performances.

The Malacia mistake was ridiculous though. I even heard DDG shout ‘away’ on the bloody TV, who no idea what he was thinking. The second goal was one of the luckiest you’ll ever see.

Martínez is devastating.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

He has to try and give them minutes somewhere. We'll need everyone if we want anything from the rest of the season.

It's also not those players' fault that we conceded 2 of the worst OGs you'll ever see.

I agree. I'm not mad at Erik for making subs, the players he brought on should have been good enough to at least see this out and we'd been poor since the end of the first half with our first choice team on the field. He's tried to freshen it up. I don't think the players he's brought on were especially at fault and we've been kicked in the nads by a freak injury after the subs were made.

I'm far more angry at how we played throughout the second half and the end of the first; turning it over continually and lacking goal threat. I was amazed the likes of Casemiro didn't look to get their foot on the ball and keep possession for a period. Instead we forced the play over and over and let them grow into the match.

We're still capable of going to their place and dispatching them, equally the complete collapse of our season could easily come to pass under the weight of these injuries to an already stretched squad.

 

[Nick7]

I really don’t think the substitutions can be blamed, we remained comfortable with them on despite some poor personal performances.

The Malacia mistake was ridiculous though. I even heard DDG shout ‘away’ on the bloody TV, who no idea what he was thinking. The second goal was one of the luckiest you’ll ever see.

Martínez is devastating.

Yeah we were fine until we went down to 10. Hard to defend with only Maguire at centre back.

 

[Chungy]

I know everyone's emotional right now, but some perspective is surely needed here.

Maguire came on because Varane is injured / not feeling fit enough to continue.
Malacia had a poor game, but for a youngster, his first game that truly cost us (though it did cost us dearly), but Shaw's injured so what's the alternative?
Sancho was subbed because he was clearly gassed (he wasn't great to start with - but better than Elanga), and left wing wise, Elanga's the only one who could reasonably come on.
Martial was subbed because he's just back from injury, or would people prefer he gets injured again esp. with Rashford out right now?
Bruno's the only slightly strange one, but for the amount of people moaning about not subbing Rashford for the previous game, Bruno's had even more minutes. And Erikson needs mins for his comeback (and we were winning 2-0 at that time).
Pellistri for Antony is actually relatively reasonable, esp. for people crying out for giving him more minutes........

The game turned on Malacia's mistake (who would you play instead?) and Martinez's injury (how many people moaned about not using all 5 subs when we're 2-0 up in the 80th minute?).

Yes, we should have buried the game earlier on, but people seem to think Sevilla is some conference league team we should just roll over. We played well for the first 35 mins, but credit to them, they didn't give up, and slowly worked their way into the game. If people actually watched the game with even a bit of analysis, people should be able to see that we were able to bypass their press earlier on, but they got more effective with their pressing as the game went on. Yes, I wish (like everyone else) that our attempts to bypass their pressing was more effective throughout, but it's an incredibly difficult way to play, and it always requires top notch passing & movement from the whole team to be able to do so, therefore it's understandable that it doesn't always come off (esp. as the players start getting tired due to the amount of games we've played & due to the subs coming on).

Final thoughts on the game:
Martial clearly needs more time. He was spot on for the first 35 minutes, but things started not coming off for him afterwards. This is match fitness, and hopefully will come with time.
Erikson & Casemiro needs minutes. Erikson was especially rusty, but Casemiro was also pretty iffy with his passing even towards the end of the first half.
Malacia had probably his worst game he's had for us. He does need to be better, but as a 2nd choice youngster, he should definitely be slated for this performance, but also be supported to improve (esp. since there's no alternative with Shaw being injuried).
Sancho was strangely both up for it and ineffective during his time on the pitch - I feel like he's trying too hard to score, and is forgetting what is actually his best strength (his give & go‘s), it's clear that he's trying to hard to score, and being too selfish at times. I feel he'd actually be a lot better once he scores one or two goals, he'd be able to calm down and contribute more effectively to the team
Antony wasn't great, but I thought he was good. Again, too selfish at times I feel, but he seems to be getting more effective.
Varane & Martinez being injuried would simply be terrible for the team. 1, I feel, we could cope with, but not both being injuried at the same time.
Salbitzer had a great start, but was ineffective as the game went on (but so was the rest of the team).
Ten Hag is between a rock & a hard place. If he doesn't make enough subs, people moan he's working the players to death/not giving youngsters like Pellistri a chance. Make subs and it's clear our strength in depth isn't good enough for our subs to always come off.

Sorry for the rant, and I agree with most of you that this game should have been won. But I do feel some perspective needs to be had as well.

 

[Edwards6]

More proof that beyond the starting 11 our squad isn't good enough, we looked great before making the subs but we've got to rest players somewhere. He should be able to rely on the players coming on to see the game out

 

[siw2007]

Deflated, we really bottled it tonight. This is the worst Sevilla team we have played in years but they just have some kind hoodoo over us. We had this game won, they were totally out of it, then one terrible mistake and what looks like our best defender out for the season it goes from a comfortable night to a nightmare.

Martial and Sabitzer were fab but the left hand side were rancid and Malacia was the villain tonight.

Not fussed on the cups at the end of day, we’ve won a cup, we’ve got to win at Forest and finish the job in the league.

 

[Infra-red]

Should trash this cnuts at their own ground.

They are pretty good at home (won 7 of their last 9) and abysmal away (1 win and 6 defeats in their last 9).

They are surely favourites to progress now, especially when you consider our injury/suspension list.

 

[Berbasbullet]

The odds of us winning in Spain are very small.
MUFC rarely win in Spain.
We've got a chance, but it is very very slim.

Draw and pens it is.

 

[Heinzesight]

I think the ‘lost control’ narrative is a bit over the top. There’s a lot of bad luck in there and we went down to ten ffs.

 

[Alemar]

We certainly can still beat them, but we made it much harder for ourselves. If it goes to penalties, then Bono is of course better than de Gea in this regard - we must win at least in extra time.

 

[Redderp]

Finishing the game with a Elanga, Weghorst and Pallestri attack….yikes.

The result was shit but the injuries are worse, we’ll struggle in the coming weeks.

Agree. If you end the game with those 3 as your attack something has gone wrong…

 

[DomM]

First half of first half we looked good and could have scored more, Sevilla grew into the game without looking dangerous.
Can understand the subs as we have had a lot of games, first goal conceded was awful defending by Malacia, 2nd goal very unfortunate.
Still think we can win in Sevilla.
Both central defenders going off injured may serious screw us up for the remainder of the season.

 

[Nick7]

Agree. If you end the game with those 3 as your attack something has gone wrong…

Years of bad investment into the team.

 

[Ayoba]

Deflated, we really bottled it tonight. This is the worst Sevilla team we have played in years but they just have some kind hoodoo over us. We had this game won, they were totally out of it, then one terrible mistake and what looks like our best defender out for the season it goes from a comfortable night to a nightmare.

Martial and Sabitzer were fab but the left hand side were rancid and Malacia was the villain tonight.

Not fussed on the cups at the end of day, we’ve won a cup, we’ve got to win at Forest and finish the job in the league.

Exactly how I feel!

 

[Crimson King]

I agree. I'm not mad at Erik for making subs, the players he brought on should have been good enough to at least see this out and we'd been poor since the end of the first half with our first choice team on the field. He's tried to freshen it up. I don't think the players he's brought on were especially at fault and we've been kicked in the nads by a freak injury after the subs were made.

I'm far more angry at how we played throughout the second half and the end of the first; turning it over continually and lacking goal threat. I was amazed the likes of Casemiro didn't look to get their foot on the ball and keep possession for a period. Instead we forced the play over and over and let them grow into the match.

We're still capable of going to their place and dispatching them, equally the complete collapse of our season could easily come to pass under the weight of these injuries to an already stretched squad.

A lot of players that started tonight were poor. We went 2-0 up quickly, but Sancho and Malacia really struggled. Bruno and Casemiro also didn't have their best games. Case I can understand might be a bit rusty, but Bruno kept needlessly trying to force play when we were 2-0.

Needed calm heads to try and control the game and create chances through good possession.

Just a horrible night really. The result is one thing, but it happens. Losing key players to injury at this point of the season is what really hurts.

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

Going into the second leg, 2-2 missing Martinez, Bruno, Rashford )possibly Varane, 3 days before the Brighton game isn't ideal

 

[TMDaines]

Extra time on Thursday in Seville, before Brighton at Wembley on the Sunday, anyone?

Finishing with an attack of Weghorst, Pellistri and Elanga got the level of respect from the gods of fortune as one might expect. Sheer complacency.

 

[Infra-red]

Not fussed on the cups at the end of day, we’ve won a cup, we’ve got to win at Forest and finish the job in the league.

Agreed. The focus has to be on top 4 now - failing to qualify for the Champions League for the second consecutive season for the first time in the club's history, would be a huge blow (not to mention the financial hit from a lack of CL revenues and the contractual reduction in sponsorship revenues that would come with missing out twice in a row).