Manchester United vs Sevilla | CL R16 Build-up Thread (Return Leg 13 March)

How Sevilla play with a high back line like they did on the weekend.

We saw what Lukaku can do vs a high line.

2-0 professional job I'm going for.

Lukaku and Sanchez
 
Banega out is a big boost for you
He ran the show against us and on form can turn the screw on any team.
Bit of a wasted talent when you think how his career went. Should’ve been the creative midfielder Argentina needed for this generation.
 
But away goals are doubled? Losing 4-3 away actually means you've won 4-6 which is miles better than a goalless draw.
Away goals simply mean if the aggregate score is tied then the team that scored more in their away fixture gets to go through

We win 2-0 at Sevilla and lose 4-2 at Old Trafford, aggregate is 4-4 but Sevilla scored more away (at old Trafford) so they win.

You'll only see teams needing to score two more after conceding an away goal when they need to avoid a tied aggregate score that would see them knocked out
 
Away goals simply mean if the aggregate score is tied then the team that scored more in their away fixture gets to go through

We win 2-0 at Sevilla and lose 4-2 at Old Trafford, aggregate is 4-4 but Sevilla scored more away (at old Trafford) so they win.

You'll only see teams needing to score two more after conceding an away goal when they need to avoid a tied aggregate score that would see them knocked out
No no you've got that all wrong. We'd lose 8-6 on aggregate in that scenario. We should aim to lose something like 3-2 or 4-3 in Sevilla so we're taking a mighty advantage back to Old Trafford.
 
Some random facts/stats re tonight’s game. Some of which make pretty grim reading :(

1 - Manchester United have not managed to score more than one goal in each of their last 14 Champions League encounters with Spanish opposition (7 goals total), and have won only one of their last six knockout games (3-0 v Olympiacos in March 2014), drawing two and losing three.

0 - Sevilla have never kept a clean sheet in the Champions League knockout stages (6 games) but they have won two of their three home games (L1).

72 - Sevilla have won 72 per cent of their home games in the Champions League (13 out of 18), the third highest tally after Real Madrid (76 per cent) and Barcelona (73 per cent) among teams to have played at least 15 home games in the competition.

2 - Sevilla have won only two of their six games this season, the lowest tally among the 16 teams left in the competition, and conceded 12 goals in the six group games, the highest tally amongst the teams left.

50 - Wissam Ben Yedder has scored 50 per cent of Sevilla's goals in this season’s Champions League (six out of 12). Of all players of the progressed teams, only Cristiano Ronaldo netted a greater proportion of his side's goals in the group stages (53 per cent).
 
Away goals simply mean if the aggregate score is tied then the team that scored more in their away fixture gets to go through

We win 2-0 at Sevilla and lose 4-2 at Old Trafford, aggregate is 4-4 but Sevilla scored more away (at old Trafford) so they win.

You'll only see teams needing to score two more after conceding an away goal when they need to avoid a tied aggregate score that would see them knocked out

If we lose say 6-4 tonight there is no chance Sevilla will beat us on away goals simply because they won't score 4 at Old Trafford.

You can't be serious if you believe the chances of us beating Sevilla on away goals are greater if we win 0-2 tonight rather than lose 6-4.
 
If we lose say 6-4 tonight there is no chance Sevilla will beat us on away goals simply because they won't score 4 at Old Trafford.

You can't be serious if you believe the chances of us beating Sevilla on away goals are greater if we win 0-2 tonight rather than lose 6-4.
Not sure what you're trying to say here. Are you sure you quoted the right person? I merely explained the away goal rule. All this talk about losing 6-4 has nothing to do with me

Edit: the bottomlime is you don't want to have to rely on away goal rule in the first place so a narrow win is always better than a score loss
 
If we lose say 6-4 tonight there is no chance Sevilla will beat us on away goals simply because they won't score 4 at Old Trafford.

You can't be serious if you believe the chances of us beating Sevilla on away goals are greater if we win 0-2 tonight rather than lose 6-4.
I'd bite your hand off for that score line, brilliant chance of going through on away goals. Much better than settling for a dreary 0-0, that's for sure. Such a shame we've got a manager that will probably go for an away draw and mess up our chance of getting a high scoring loss that would see us almost through.
 
It would be very good to get an away goal, but i'd settle for a 0:0. Over 2 legs we should have enough to progress, Jose said it himself
Probably some people will get angry, because sitting deep and Smalling hoofing it to big Rom can happen, but as long as we don't lose, no problem. Looking forward to seeing the match.
 
I'd bite your hand off for that score line, brilliant chance of going through on away goals. Much better than settling for a dreary 0-0, that's for sure. Such a shame we've got a manager that will probably go for an away draw and mess up our chance of getting a high scoring loss that would see us almost through.


I don’t see your point, the away goal rule ONLY applies if the aggregate score is tied. It is a tiebreaker!
 
I'd bite your hand off for that score line, brilliant chance of going through on away goals. Much better than settling for a dreary 0-0, that's for sure. Such a shame we've got a manager that will probably go for an away draw and mess up our chance of getting a high scoring loss that would see us almost through.

Erm, Sevilla would try to stifle us at OT if we have to score 2, and if they score 1 more, we have to score 3. Not saying we won't be able to do it, but that is just putting pressure on ourselves.

Away goals are good for us only in 0-1, 2-1 and score draws. If Sevilla win by 2 goals or more, then away goals lose their advantage. Hopefully we win 0-2 tonight though.
 
1-0 to us in a bore fest is my prediction.

It will be a boring game, for sure, simply because Sevila and MUFC (in away games), tend to play a defensive style.
We would do well to get a 1-0 win, at their stadium, where they almost unbeatable.

0-0, 1-1 or 1-0 (to them) are the most likely scorelines.
I don't think many fans understand just how good Sevilla are.
 
would be nice to see Sanchez remember what that funny thing at the end of the pitch is... I do not have a good feeling
 
When this game was first made I kinda thought it would be tough but we’ll manage but our recent form has been quite worrying.
 
Sevilla have a quality midfield that could run through ours like knife through butter if we are not organized. I feel much better with Fellaini and Herrera in games like these.
 
At our most negative moments, we have always pulled a positive result out of nowhere.

Relax guys, if we get too stressed about the result, we won't enjoy these great CL nights. Have faith in Jose and the team, we will get a good result tonight.
 
-------------De Gea-----------
Valencia - Bailly - Rojo - Shaw
----------Matic- Carrick-------
-------------Pogba------------
----Mata - Lukaku - Sanchez-


Shaw 'hopefully' (literally praying) is picked over Young.
Bailly straight back in, need the reassurance in defence after recent performances.
Carrick's class is undoubted, just adds the extra quality and composure just with his presence alone.
Pogba straight back in, no questions asked.
Mata will start due to good performance on weekend, plus his quality and style is more suited to UCL.
Good lineup; won't happen methinks though
 
I guess we need to test Sevilla goalkeepers, their save success rate is not good, around 50%, they will be more likely to concede a goal every time we attempt shot on target.
 
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Tie will be decided in the midfield - if Pogba, Matic and (hopefully) Herrera bring their tools they should outmuscle/outpace Pizarro, N'Zonzi, Vazquez. Sevilla CDMs are great in destruction, but going forward they do not offer as much as our CMs.

Unsure whether starting Bailly in such a high profile match after a prolonged injury is the best of calls - out of necessity it might end up being Smalling-Lindelof. Big test against Sevilla's pacy forwards (Muriel will probably start, Sarabia and Correa on the wings).

Expecting Alexis to have a field on the right (if played there) - Escudero is not their starting LB as Layun is CL-tied. Should be fine, but will be happy with a draw.
 
We have the better players and better manager. We are Manchester United. We will absolutely win this.
 
We have the better players and better manager. We are Manchester United. We will absolutely win this.
Hate this positivity. We're just 4 points of the 5th placed team in the league. Struggling to defend and score goals. Sevilla is a very good cup team with great European record in recent times. We will most definitely lose or draw. La
 
We absolutely kill them at Sevilla before struggling at OT.. Will be the ultimate display of our inconsistency.. :devil::devil::devil:
 
We have the better players and better manager. We are Manchester United. We will absolutely win this.

We could of said the same when we played Newcastle and lost.

Attitude and determination is also vitally important.

I hope our boys are not as complacent as you.
 
Hate this positivity. We're just 4 points of the 5th placed team in the league. Struggling to defend and score goals. Sevilla is a very good cup team with great European record in recent times. We will most definitely lose or draw. La

Edit: Nevermind.
 
I guess that Mourinho will tighten up and play more defensively in this match (and probably the rest of the season, given the tight race for the top four). This was what he did during his last title win with Chelsea after losing heavily to Spurs. Herrera/Mctominay and Matic in midfield with Pogba.
 
I'm not confident either, our form away isn't very good under Jose. The question is whether Sevilla has recovered their form, they're 5th in La Liga but have lost 9 times already. Of those 9 defeats, 8 were away. Their home form is pretty decent. 19 games all season and only 1 loss, 5 draws, 13 wins. Good form despite them being in crisis earlier in the season.

We've had 22 games away, 12 wins, 3 draws, 7 losses.

We've lost to:
  • Real Madrid
  • Huddersfield
  • Chelsea
  • Basel
  • Bristol City
  • Tottenham
  • Newcastle
Draw seems more likely than us winning tbh.
 
I don't see what good being negative does, but if people wish to be so, then okay, but why post as if us getting beat or not winning is almost a certainty?
 
No idea what you’re all worrying about.

We completely outplayed them in both games. They only got draws because we’re rubbish at the back, which United aren’t.

Minimum draw tonight, win at OT and watch out for Ben Yedder.
 
I don’t see your point, the away goal rule ONLY applies if the aggregate score is tied. It is a tiebreaker!
This. I'm no longer sure which posts are being sarcastic. Do people really think away goals count as double? How does one register on a football forum and not know how away goals work?
 
No idea what you’re all worrying about.

We completely outplayed them in both games. They only got draws because we’re rubbish at the back, which United aren’t.

Minimum draw tonight, win at OT and watch out for Ben Yedder.

That's it, thank you for pointing out, as soon as I saw Sevilla's goalkeeper stats, they have a really worse goalkeeper, if we attempt 10 on shot target, it could've been 5 goals cos every time they make 2 saves, they concede a goal. I think we should go for more attack, in similar how Liverpool running riot at Sevilla and scored 3 goals before the halftime. Sevilla was lucky to draw with Liverpool because of Liverpool's rubbish defensive.
 
I guess that Mourinho will tighten up and play more defensively in this match (and probably the rest of the season, given the tight race for the top four). This was what he did during his last title win with Chelsea after losing heavily to Spurs. Herrera/Mctominay and Matic in midfield with Pogba.

He cannot play McTominay in a game of this calibre. Against Sevilla's midfield that would be suicide.
 
Tonight has "professional Mourinho job" written all over it.

But tbh taking a 0-0 back to Old Trafford would make me nervous. If they score first in the return leg I wouldn't trust us to engineer a comeback.
 
Is Herrera fit? I have a feeling he could come right back to life in this game. Spanish opposition with whom he will be pretty familiar. Big game which will require an all-action performance from whoever we put next to Pogba. It's got his name written all over it.

It's not a game for McTominay. He's been doing pretty well but he's just too green for this at the moment.
 
De Gea
Valencia Bailly(if fit)/Lindelof Smalling Shaw
Matic
Mata Pogba
Sanchez Lukaku Martial

If Jose wants to start Martial, then he should play at left with Sanchez at right.

Play Mata in midfield. His understanding with Sanchez is great. He might not be strong but his tactical abilities can open up their defense.

I am going with a routine 2-0 win for us.

Would be great, but don't cry when it doesn't turn out that way.
 
He cannot play McTominay in a game of this calibre. Against Sevilla's midfield that would be suicide.
McTominay is one of our better midfielders with the ball at his feet but the occasion could be too much for him. They're going to be loud and unrelenting tonight. We might win the game but it's not going to sound like we did.
 
Anyone see Ballague's article on Skysports? Am I missing something or is he just a simpleton?

"Sevilla showed against Liverpool that they can come back from setbacks but I fear that if United score first it could be lethal as they don't have the mental strength to come back"

A tad contradictory
 
I'll be surprised if we keep a clean sheet to be honest - they can be quite dangerous going forward.