Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United

My line-up:

------------------- De Gea -------------------
--- Rafael --- Evans --- Ferdinand --- Evra ---
----- Cleverley ---- Carrick ------- Giggs ------
- Welbeck -------------------------- Young --
------------------- Rooney -------------------
 
Sean's team
Starting XI
360118_Manchester_United.jpg

Bench: Amos, Smalling, Pogba, Giggs, Welbeck, Berbatov, Chicharito
Not in the squad: Owen, Park, Fabio, Fryers, W.Keane
Out: Vidic, Nani, Fletcher, Anderson, Jones, Lindegaard

Some words to the team-selection
- We're needing a stronger midfield as in the 1st leg because anything else would be suicide against that Bilbao team again.
- Hopefully Valencia is fit enough to start because i don't like the other options like Park, Giggs or Welbeck.
 
Think we might draw this one 2-2. Rather us spent more focus on the league than Europa.
 
johnmufc said:
Athletic are a far better side than Wolves, and to rest players with that match in mind would be hugely disrespectful to Athletic. Fergie has been far too arrogant with this team selections in Europe this season.
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somebody should relay this to Fergie - he needs guidance
 
Sean_RedDevil said:
Sean's team
Starting XI
360118_Manchester_United.jpg

Bench: Amos, Smalling, Pogba, Giggs, Welbeck, Berbatov, Chicharito
Not in the squad: Owen, Park, Fabio, Fryers, W.Keane
Out: Vidic, Nani, Fletcher, Anderson, Jones, Lindegaard

Some words to the team-selection
- We're needing a stronger midfield as in the 1st leg because anything else would be suicide against that Bilbao team again.
- Hopefully Valencia is fit enough to start because i don't like the other options like Park, Giggs or Welbeck.
Click to expand...
Agree with this, except I'd rather Giggs starts and Scholes comes on off the bench. Then swap them around against Wolves.
 
Perhaps Fergies "arrogance" has more to do with the fact our squad has had injuries and we need to rest our key players with the focus always being the title and not cup competitions.

We were thin in midfield due to inuries which required Scholes return. Smalling has still not recovered fully from a head wound and Vidic is out for the season. Add in Ferdinand needs to be managed that only leaves us Evans as our truly fit and in form defender to play most games.
 
I reckon Athletic Bilbo is going to get all Middle Earth on our arse tomorrow
 
Match Stats
- Head-to-head total: 2-0-1
-.Head-to-head @San Mames: 1-0-0
- Athletic Bilbao's current form: WWDWWL
..Manchester United's current form: WLWWLW
- Marcelo Bielsa’s team have found the net in their last 17 games in a row.
- Fernando Amorebieta returns to Marcelo Bielsa’s side after being sent off in the previous round against Lokomotiv Moscow, it was already his third red card of
..the season.
- Manchester United have only managed to win 3 of their 9 european fixtures so far this season.
- Manchester United have beaten spanish opposition only 11 times in 42 matches (17 draws and 14 loses).
- Manchester United have failed to score in only one of their last 48 games, a 3-0 defeat against Newcastle.
- Wayne Rooney has scored 9 goals in his last 6 games, 15 goals in his last 14 games and 26 goals in the whole season.

Match News
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | manutd.com
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | BBC
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | Sky-Sports
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | Setanta-Sports
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | goal.com
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | football365.co.za
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | sportingpreview.com
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | The Busby Babe*
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | Stretford End Arising*
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | Red Flag Flying High*
Preview Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United | mufcinfo.com*
Can Man Utd overturn Bielsa's Athletic? | BBC*
David Sadler talking United | Manchester Evening News
Athletic Bilbao Team News | goal.com
We can repeat United heroics! Bielsa confident Bilbao can progress | Daily Mail*
Bielsa plays down expectations | football365.co.za
Herrera issues Europa League warning to Man United | Talksport
Iraizoz: Bilbao up for United test | Sky-Sports
De Marcos delivers United warning | givemefootball.com
Manchester United Team News | manutd.com
Fergie confirms Anderson blow | Sky-Sports
Sir Alex Ferguson looks for feat of escapology to beat Athletic Bilbao | Guardian*
Fergie on a mission: United boss hopes to haunt Bilbao after first-leg humbling at Old Trafford | Daily Mail
Sir Alex Ferguson's keen to Basque in Manchester United's glory | Manchester Evening News*
Rooney focused on team | manutd.com
Chicha preaches patience | manutd.com
Jonny Evans earns Sir Alex Ferguson praise | manutd.com
Park eyes improvement | manutd.com
Young fancies victory | manutd.com
*Star article

Likely line-ups (Daily Mail)
article-0-122BA9AB000005DC-505_306x492.jpg
 
Cannot see Untied going with anything other than a 4-3-3. Rooney up front with Wellbeck out wide with any of the wingers with them (Valencia if fit) Midfield of Carrick, Scholes and Cleverley so that we keep possession. We were overrun in the first leg, don't see SAF letting that happen again.
 
Should be a cracker. We need at least two goals to progress, so the traditional away-in-europe catenaccio approach is not really an option.

Very much looking forward to the match!
 
I think we will play with 3 in midfield. Probably carrick, cleverley and giggs in midfield with young, rooney and valencia upfront. Should be an exciting game.
 
wot's all this Fergie questioning their stamina? Doing their teamtalk? Press shite?

Mind games......bloody hell.
 
Yeah, thought the same, probably mind games...But I imagine the Basque press & Bielsa will pick that up to use as motivation
 
Though I'm not sure why, I woke up pretty confident that we can go through in this game. The odds are against us but I have a feeling we might defend very well and sneak through.
 
Hoping we win of course, but I would rather go out with no injuries tonight than go through with more players injured.

Premier League will always be number one priority. More than CL, and definitly more than Europa League.
 
I don't see us going through either way. Just hope we win the match as winning is a good habit to have
 
Ramshock said:
Am I the only one on here who doesnt want us to progress from this? I certainly hope we dont start with a first choice eleven.
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I certainly wouldn't want to jeopardise our title chances for the sake of this game; is that what you mean by not wanting to progress? On the other hand, there's an argument to be made that a win tonight would put the team on a great high as we approach the climax to the season.
 
Ramshock said:
Am I the only one on here who doesnt want us to progress from this? I certainly hope we dont start with a first choice eleven.
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I always find this very hard to understand , why would you want us going into a game and losing.
I disagree with everything you said.
I dont want us going into the game with a team full of reserves and getting hammered and we just shrug our shoulders and say ,its only the Europa League.
I said this yesterday and will say it again , anything other than the strongest available side would be an insult to Bilbao.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
I always find this very hard to understand , why would you want us going into a game and losing.
I disagree with everything you said.
I dont want us going into the game with a team full of reserves and getting hammered and we just shrug our shoulders and say ,its only the Europa League.
I said this yesterday and will say it again , anything other than the strongest available side would be an insult to Bilbao.
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This apart from the insult thing...I mean yes, they probably would take it as an insult, but I couldnt give two shits about it. They would hammer a strongly weakened team though and tbh I want to win this competition.

If we still were in the CL we would also have to play midweek games so no excuses there.
Let's try our best I say.
 
Everyone one here will be singing a different tune if we drop points at Wolves after playing our first team tonight.
 
Brophs said:
Though I'm not sure why, I woke up pretty confident that we can go through in this game. The odds are against us but I have a feeling we might defend very well and sneak through.
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Same here - thinking we might go down 1-0, fergie gets the hair dryer out at HT and we come out guns blazing and nick 3 in the second half as Bilbao sit back on their lead.
 
kps88 said:
Everyone one here will be singing a different tune if we drop points at Wolves after playing our first team tonight.
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Yes because we only have 11 players in our squad and they are totally incapable of playing 2 games in 3 days! We are playing fecking Wolves ffs. If we drop points to Wolves it will because we have not played well enough on the day, not because they are too fatigued to put in a performance.

Do you people not remember how many players we used when we won the treble. Most of them were playing almost every game for the vast majority of the season

Nowadays they cannot be expected to beat a struggling managerless team on a shit run, if they have not had a full weeks rest beforehand. The reason we have dropped cheap points already this season is more attributable to resting players too often, rather than playing the best team available for a run of games. I just don't get why it is all of a sudden too much to expect us to play our first team in 2 consecutive games.
 
I just don't get this bizarre acceptance of failure tonight.

There is no guarantee of winning the league if we throw this.

I bet the same people saying we should ignore this & concentrate on the league will be saying we should have tried to win this if we end up not winning the league.

Lets go for a double ffs!
 
I can't see how our midfield will cope against theirs (since we will most likely play a 442 vs their 433)...so the only way I see us winning is if our forwards are clinical and take every chance they get. It could definitely happen, but personally i wouldn't be disappointed if we dropped out at this stage. The league is the main prize and Bilbao are going to be tough to beat away.

Don't really want us to play our first team either...give Pogba and some of the others a chance to see if they can do the job in what will be testing conditions.
 
We won't play 442......Probably the same old 4231 we've been playing all year. Unless Fergie decides to drop Rooney for Berbatov/Hernandez.
 
Colin129 said:
I just don't get this bizarre acceptance of failure tonight.

There is no guarantee of winning the league if we throw this.

I bet the same people saying we should ignore this & concentrate on the league will be saying we should have tried to win this if we end up not winning the league.

Lets go for a double ffs!
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Spot on mate, a club like ours should never just give in. That is an insult to the fans who travel over there. We are one of the biggest clubs in the world for a reason. This may not be our top priority but i for one would feel ashamed if we just threw in the towel.

I suppose i could understand the concern more if we were playing Liverpool away, or Chelsea next game. But we have got Wolves ffs! Some people need to get a fecking grip and remember who we are, and how we got there, and it was not by fecking failing to perform against team as like Bilbao and Wolves
!
 
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