Villarreal - Manchester United | EL Final Build-up Thread

[hobbers]

Lot of eggs going into this basket.

If we somehow lost the final having finished the season really strongly.. it would have been upsetting but not the end of the world. If we lose the final now having completely gone to pot in the league it's going to put a ton of pressure on Ole if we then start next season badly.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Hopefully the players are just saving energy for the final. Have to play A LOT better than we have the last three games

You can’t do that and switch on when you feel like it.
Hopefully we save our best for the EL game(s)

 

[Judge Red]

It’s the way under Ole. We have a bad result and go on an a lengthy disastrous run and become one of the worst teams in the league.

Even with a goal like that from Cavani.

We can hope this run ends for the final but my hope is suffocated by knowledge of the past.

 

[FrankDrebin]

 

[BFernandes]

Nothing quite like going into a European final looking for your first win in 5 (lets face it, we're not beating Wolves)

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Lot of eggs going into this basket.

If we somehow lost the final having finished the season really strongly.. it would have been upsetting but not the end of the world. If we lose the final now having completely gone to pot in the league it's going to put a ton of pressure on Ole if we then start next season badly.

Totally agree but which coach do you bring in? He’s here for the immediate future sadly

 

[Acole9]

I'm really not confident about this match.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Nothing quite like going into a European final looking for your first win in 5 (lets face it, we're not beating Wolves)

We’re not playing our strongest 11 against them
Either. Bang goes the unbeaten away record

 

[dove]

Ok, I changed my mind. We have just entered our run of games where we look like a pub team which is quite a common sight with our current management.

 

[hobbers]

Totally agree but which coach do you bring in? He’s here for the immediate future sadly

Haha well if it turns out like that luckily for Ole we've already missed out on Poch and Tuchel and Nagelsmann.

But the pressure will still be enormous if we lose the final now, playing as badly as we have been this month, and then start next season like we started this one.

 

[laughtersassassin]

These are 7th. Currently behind Sociedad.

I'm not having any excuses. Our team should walk it.

I don't expect them too but they should.

Win and it's a good season with the trophy monkey off our back

Lose and I don't think it's a good season at all. Just bang average.

 

[redshaw]

Don't look like we'll be able to handle a tricky Spanish team at the moment.

Would reflect really bad on Ole if we somehow can't beat Villarreal but Emery is the Europe specialist. Watching them get through they were pumped as feck at the end of the semi-final like men possessed. I'm fearing a ton of playacting like we saw with Granada and the ref buying it all.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Don't look like we'll be able to handle a tricky Spanish team at the moment.

Would reflect really bad on Ole if we somehow can't beat Villarreal but Emery is the Europe specialist. Watching them get through they were pumped as feck at the end of the semi-final like men possessed. I'm fearing a ton of playacting like we saw with Granada and the ref buying it all.

What’s the record again with Spanish sides? 15 finals and 15 wins?

 

[laughtersassassin]

They're behind Real Sociedad. I really wouldn't tolerate any excuses for if we lose.

Win and it's a good positive season.

Lose and it's not.

 

[el3mel]

They're behind Real Sociedad. I really wouldn't tolerate any excuses for if we lose.

Win and it's a good positive season.

Lose and it's not.

There won't be any excuses. If we lose we're bad.

However Villarreal will definitely not be an easy opponent to face.

 

[always_hoping]

Form has been poor since the 1st leg v Roma. Even a number of players that has played well all season have performed poorly in recent games.

I really hope it's a case that most of the players are minding themselves before the final because repeating this form in the final but get close to beating Villarreal.

 

[laughtersassassin]

There won't be any excuses. If we lose we're bad.

However Villarreal will definitely not be an easy opponent to face.

They won't. Be mainly cause we are in dire form and have shown these past 3 years we regress in big pressure game. (Like Semi Finals)

It simply a must win.

Our squad is so superior, Even with our injuries

It's not even the hardest game we've had in the Europa

 

[Contano]

They thrashed Sevilla 4-0 at the weekend....

 

[always_hoping]

What’s the record again with Spanish sides? 15 finals and 15 wins?

Since 2001 Spanish teams have played non Spanish 15 times in European finals (CL & EL) with Spanish sides winning all 15 finals

 

[Godfather]

There won't be any excuses. If we lose Ole has to go.

Edited

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Form has been poor since the 1st leg v Roma. Even a number of players that has played well all season have performed poorly in recent games.

I really hope it's a case that most of the players are minding themselves before the final because repeating this form in the final but get close to beating Villarreal.

One very good game against Villa and that’s it.

Excuses about the demonstrations look very hollow now. Chance to really show up against a poor Fulham side and we made them
Look like a world class side

 

[2 man midfield]

Since 2001 Spanish teams have played non Spanish 15 times in European finals (CL & EL) with Spanish sides winning all 15 finals

 

[Eckers99]

Without wanting to seem pessimistic, we'll be going into this game completely out of form. We might even struggle to give them as much opposition as Arsenal did.

 

[FrankDrebin]

We made Fulham look good in our earlier fixture too, though you could argue they had more to fight for.

 

[klayton88]

Easy win, they are 20 points of fourth in their league.

That's precisely our issue. We turn up thinking we can just coast through the game comfortable. Look at today for example.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Last time we went on a shite run the away game against City seemed to snap us out of it.

We played brilliantly that day out of nowhere and then we were pretty consistently good for the next 2 months .

Hopefully the final is another big game where we turn up and play well again.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

They won't. Be mainly cause we are in dire form and have shown these past 3 years we regress in big pressure game. (Like Semi Finals)

It simply a must win.

Our squad injuries included is so superior.

It's not even the hardest game we've had in the Europa

We’ve only one key injury to Maguire. James and Martial hardly have looked like key players.
Ole has to give this lot a hairdryer for that. It wasn’t a must win but it should have been an easy one

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Last time we went on a shite run the away game against City seemed to snap us out of it.

We played brilliantly that day out of nowhere and then we were pretty consistently good for the next 2 months .

Hopefully the final is another big game where we turn up and play well again.

Fingers crossed! We’ve got the semi final monkey off our back so they just have to turn up.

Again today too many stray passes and no patience

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Since 2001 Spanish teams have played non Spanish 15 times in European finals (CL & EL) with Spanish sides winning all 15 finals

I wish I hadn’t asked!

 

[The Brown Bull]

These are 7th. Currently behind Sociedad.

I'm not having any excuses. Our team should walk it.

I don't expect them too but they should.

Win and it's a good season with the trophy monkey off our back

Lose and I don't think it's a good season at all. Just bang average.

Meh it's a Cup Final mate. Forget league positions. Approach the game with the right attitude, start the game with the same and it should be job done.
Anything less however..........

 

[redshaw]

Since 2001 Spanish teams have played non Spanish 15 times in European finals (CL & EL) with Spanish sides winning all 15 finals

That's some record to beat. With Liverpool beating Deportivo in the Uefa cup final in 2001 it would have to be from 2002 or whenever they next played a final.

 

[Dobba]

There won't be any excuses. If we lose we're bad.

However Villarreal will definitely not be an easy opponent to face.

There will be plenty of excuses, all in the direction of the players.

 

[GledTheRed]

Well lose this 2-1, condeding from the two corners they win despite our 17.

 

[laughtersassassin]

Since 2001 Spanish teams have played non Spanish 15 times in European finals (CL & EL) with Spanish sides winning all 15 finals

This may be so but English football is quite a bit ahead of Spanish football right now imo

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Playing awful aren’t we. I’m not confident going into this, like Neville said you can’t just turn it on and off.

You can’t do that and switch on when you feel like it.
Hopefully we save our best for the EL game(s)

Yep, I've been saying similar on here, and mocked for it, for the last few weeks.

That protest leading to 4 games in 8 days wasn't just about one rearranged match. It suddenly created issues about team selection - and how many minutes each played - in all four matches. Also match preparation in terms of planning for each opponents, working on things in training, etc, all went out the window with games every couple of days and no training in between.

With all that, I was fearing 3 or 4 losses. It was 3. All that interferes with momentum, rhythm, form, confidence, etc. And you can't just switch things like that on and off when needed, as tonight showed. We should be resting plenty of players again v Wolves with a final in Poland 3 days later, whether 2nd place is sown up or not. Which means another likely draw or defeat with a weakened team.

It's a big ask for a team to go through 6 haphazard games like that, with mostly poor results, and then just switch back to top form for a final.

 

[Lay]

Not worried. Its Villarreal's first ever final. They have won nothing in their history. They'll probably be overawed by the game.

 

[Godfather]

Last time we went on a shite run the away game against City seemed to snap us out of it.

We played brilliantly that day out of nowhere and then we were pretty consistently good for the next 2 months .

Hopefully the final is another big game where we turn up and play well again.

Fingers crossed mate

 

[always_hoping]

That's some record to beat. With Liverpool beating Deportivo in the Uefa cup final in 2001 it would have to be from 2002 or whenever they next played a final.

Yeah that crazy match/final against Deportivo Alaves. Bayern Munich beat Valencia in the Champions league final that season as well.

 

[siw2007]

Really hoping we can turn it on in the final. We have lost a lot of momentum over the last 3 or 4 games, and are starting to look flat going forwards while we are always likely to concede. We are a better team than Villarreal but they will be very motivated, well organised and savvy and it won't be easy, especially when its looking more and more likely that Maguire won't be fit.

 

[edgecutter]

Not worried. Its Villarreal's first ever final. They have won nothing in their history. They'll probably be overawed by the game.

We haven't been anything special when the pressure is on to win big games in cup competitions. We've bottled so many semi finals