Manchester United vs. Benfica

Man-United said:
If we qualify it's either Barca, Real, Bayern, Inter or Zenit/APOEL/Porto.

(Assuming Benfica beat one of the worst teams ever in the CL)
Click to expand...

am confident against any of those teams, even with this rapidly developing new team of ours.
 
Let's be honest, there first was lucky. We gifted them the second. Didn't think we played all that badly.
 
Red Dreams said:
what other teams mate?
Click to expand...

Assuming Chelsea and arsenal top their groups possibly

Inter Milan
Appoel or Zenith
Barca or Ac Milan
Bayern
Real Madrid

If Chelsea and arse come 2nd you can add

Marseille
Bayer Leverkusen
 
That'sHernandez said:
It's the pairing we had. Jones goes forward a lot, leaving a big void in his wake and Ferdinand is not as fast as he once was. I don't think Rio can be played with anyone but Smalling and/or Vidic because Jones just leaves too much for him to do and when Fergie brought Smalling on, I'd have switched him round with Jones to give Jones a bit more freedom to go forward without having to worry about a counter attack.
Click to expand...
I thought we defended excellently bar the goals up until we had throw caution in the wind and try to win the game. Jones' is a very aggressive marker, gets very tight and he has to win the ball to ensure he doesn't leave space behind. I think Evans should have played tonight but that said the goals could have been avoided very easily.
 
We played well but the result is awful. It is embarrassing to finish second in this group.
 
Claymore said:
I thought tonight was a good performance in some ways and quite enjoyed the game. The last 5 games or so have been awful from us, to the point where England v Sweden was the best game I'd watched (who I support) in that time and its not often England play better than us. :lol:

At least tonight we had something about us and showed we wanted it. We lost out because Benfica worked really hard and put the walls up and all subs tactically fitted into want they wanted, a draw. Some sloppiness and bad fortune is what cost us tonight (aside from silly rotation early on in the group).
Click to expand...

I agree, but we really ought to be winning these games. We can't afford these lapses to occur which negate all the hard work we've done in between. Benfica were good, but we shouldn't let moments of sloppiness cost us games that we're good enough to win.

I do agree with those saying finishing 2nd and playing a top team might just be something we have to rise to. Not much point scraping through only to get embarrassed in the semis or wherever. We're one of the best teams in Europe and we shouldn't go in fearing teams, we just need to up our game and play to the standard we're capable of. Something that's eluded us recently for no clear reason.

That'sHernandez said:
It's as though they all started off on the same page at the start of the seasons but some of the players read faster than others and now we don't know our heads from our arses. We keep trying to play through the middle but we just don't have the players to do that and our exceptionally good wingers go to waste, I really don't understand it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, or the other alternative is our wingers winging in good crosses only for no one to be on the end of them.

The central problem is horribly obvious though now. We're so weak at keeping the ball in the centre or feeding through balls into the strikers from a central position.

We need someone in the centre that's able to pull strings like that, I don't care if it's a home grown product that steps up or a signing, but we need to resolve it sooner rather than later I think. I'll be concerned if we start next season without either having happened. Cleverley's great, but he's only one man and he's still young, so we can't heap all our expectations on him at this stage I don't think.
 
johnmufc said:
We played well but the result is awful. It is embarrassing to finish second in this group.
Click to expand...

Well maybe on paper it was an easy group but it's never as simple as that. Basel came to OT and played with a bravery very few teams do and took the game to us. Benfica have been underestimated by some on here, they're a good team. On top of that we've had a number of issues in the team, particularly in the defence where we've had a fair few injuries and had to use a lot of young players. At the level, regardless of what team you play inexperience is easily punished which is exactly what happened today.
 
Lets all root for APOEL to win their Group and pray we get them.

Then finishing 2nd in our Group won't look so bad. It will be another Fergie masterstroke.
 
this is fecking shit, not ideal we still need a result in basel to qualify and even so we have to finish 2nd. :nervous:
 
We started the second half brightly and after we got the 2nd I thought we'd push on and get a couple more to finish them off, but their quick equalizer seemed to kill our rhythm and the game became ragged for a bit before fizzling out without our usual late surge.
 
Just home after travelling over. Benfica really started with a fast pace and high pressing. Almost every single one of our players had a mistake within the first 15 minutes such was their pressure. Obviously they couldnt keep it up but we settled. Jones was unlucky, shit happens. He done well again. Carrick was brilliant again, poor Young seemed to either have a pass behind him all game or he was just always off-balance.

We were gulity of not taking our chances, more so in the 2nd half. We needed to be more clinical when it counted. DDG had a poor kick, tried to be too smart with a pass to possibly Tony V (i think). But such was the lack of movement at times, the result was to pass it back to the keeper quiet a few times and that can only lead to trouble atleast once or twice.

I havent seen much highlights yet, but from my angle that linesman 2nd half was a fecking plonker, 2 harsh calls for sure. The Nani and Carrick yellows were also a fecking joke from my angle, for Nani's the linesman was close and he didnt even flag for it ffs.
 
Mr Anderson said:
The Nani and Carrick yellows were also a fecking joke from my angle, for Nani's the linesman was close and he didnt even flag for it ffs.
Click to expand...
Nani wasn't booked. To me it looked like the ref just stopped play because of the head "injury", and then Fletcher was booked for telling him it was a fecking stupid call. Carrick's yellow was a perfectly fine tackle.
 
pillory said:
Nani wasn't booked. To me it looked like the ref just stopped play because of the head "injury", and then Fletcher was booked for telling him it was a fecking stupid call. Carrick's yellow was a perfectly fine tackle.
Click to expand...

Ah cool, that explains it. Must d/l the full match now actually.
 
Now correct me if I'm wrong but why are we placed second in our group when we have a better goal difference than Benfica?

P W D L F A GD PTS
1 Benfica 5 2 3 0 7 4 3 9
2 Man Utd 5 2 3 0 10 6 4 9
3 FC Basel 5 2 2 1 9 9 0 8
4 Otelul Galati 5 0 0 5 3 10 -7 0
 
Just wanted to say the ballboys in this match were abysmal. Do we use UEFA's in the Champions League? If so, no wonder European football is so slow.
 
Sharky7 said:
I like head to head, but I don't think away goals should be included, just results
Click to expand...
I don't think goals should be included, just points between teams if it is to be used at all.

If one team leads another by one goal, but knows they need to score again if it comes down to head to head, then they may try to get another and fail leveling the match, which completely distorts the group.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.