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LIVE BLOG: Manchester United v Bayern Munich

April 1, 2014

Brad

Follow @bradcantona on Twitter.

CONFIRMED LINE-UP: United vs Bayern Munich

VIDEO: RvP stars in new advert with rival players

371 Comments

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WeAreUnitedd April 2, 2014

Realistically

we are FAR FAR FAR from Bayern, if we want to stamp authority in football. We are ver yfar, because we hoofed and puffed the ball,

BUT we have all the ingredients to process

We have Kagawa the little Iniesta, Juan Mata one of the best players there is, Rooney a great STRIKER, Welbeck the new thierry henry if he scored more, Adnan "Giggsy" "Best" "ROnaldo" "Messi" Januzaj and ooo RObin Van PErsie (if stays) and Nani + Valencia if they'd come back to their own.

Moyes needs to built around them, add some midfielders who can keep possession and are bold, a great left back, 2 CB and we could do it.

CMON UNITED!

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OpikBidin April 2, 2014

let's do an analysis

MU fielded 433 with 2 DMs and 1 AM, correcting the tactical mistakes made by SAF when he met Pep's Barca. Problem is, the 2 CBs and 3 CMs were slow, so we should defend deep and hit them on the counter. that is why we had Welb, Roo and Val as our front 3. Bayern fielded a 4231, with lahm-Schweni as their pivot, and can easily change to 4141 if needed.

At first, we defended so deep, risking a goal. Roo uptop, Val defending the rightside, Welb at the left. What's interesting was Giggs tuck inside more and marked Robben, while Buttner was more outside and faced Rafinha. Carr become the third CB as usual, our libero? Felli is our box to box.

Problem is, we defended to deep, when the ball came to Roo, he can't do very much about it, same with Val. only Welb showed composure on the ball. At the right, the Val-Jones-Felli is strong at defense but can't keep possession in attack, particularly Felli who lost the ball numerous times when we just had the ball back. while the left triangle of Welb-Buttner-Giggs showed much more promise.

Seeing this, Moyes tried some improvisation, including dropping Welb so deep and made Giggs the no.10. And then he got it right, he dropped Val further back, because Val has the pace to go attacking, making Felli become more of the RW in attack. He also dropped Roo to LW and made Welb the uptop striker. This immediately created chances after chances as Martinez and Boateng are now facing a striker that isn't only big, strong, tall, can keep the ball and duel aerially but also technical and fast.

Roo has the same workrate of Welb at LW, so no problem. At the right side, Felli become more useful as his aerial power, world class chest control, and keeping of the ball comes handy. He became the vocal point of some of our attacks and an outlet to relieve pressure. Val moves further back, covering felli's area. That is why I felt something strange, why is Felli ahead of Val in attack.

This changed the game, as now we have more options to attack. Not only hope balls for Roo and Welb, but also by passing to Felli who can hold the ball and make us keep possession for a while. The usefullnes of Welb is highlighted here, as he get chances after chances and the BM CBs don't know how to handle him because welb has the upper hand in strenghth, pace and technic plus he won't lose the ball easily like Rooney.

The defense system was also good. Rather than chasing aimlessly like a headless chicken, each player know their role and cover their area, and only mark and close down players when needed. For most of EPL fans, this kind of defense is "lazy" and not their cup of tea, but think about it, if we just chase the BM players, we will just chase shadows as they will easily do a feint and pass. The defense line was deep, so it nullifys Muller's strength of counter and throughpasses. The side defending was also good, shielding Robben, Ribery, etc so they cannot come inside and shoot. Instead, BM was forced to cross and hoof it. With a very compact defense, it is also almost impossible to do any quick short 1-2 passing in dangerous areas.

Thus we can see at the end of the 1st half, the game was more balanced as we have more options to attack, while BM are scratching their heads because their playing style cannot go through our defense. Even though we were defending, we did it calmly and used our brain.

A big change came on 2nd half, Kag for Giggs. Kag inclusion has some positives, but also some negatives. We were able to keep possession more, have more of attacking, there's a playmaker in the pitch, the gegenpressing employed when kag was on was unbelieveble as BM cannot play from the back, and so on. But there are negatives too, as the play become more open, the defense line also become more exposed. It is understandable why Moyes didn't want to start Kag, because if the game was open from the start, BM may gain the upper hand.

A good thing is, Buttner dueled bravely with Robben, I chuckled myself because of 2 incidents. first, the tackle on Robben that got the ball out but the throw in was for us. 2nd, the tackle on Robben on the byline that resulted in a goalkick, not a corner. Buttner 2, Robben 0.

Kag discussed some thing with his teammates, we can see on TV how he talked with Vidic, I think it goes like this:

Vidic: "Hey Kag, with your gegenpressing, the backline would be exposed, I and Rio plus Carr don't have the legs"
Kag: "No problem, we'll do a gegenpressing so they cannot do their passing game."
Vidic: "But the pass will come out eventually."
Kag: "We will force them to hoof the ball, Felli, Carr, Rio and you can easily defend those balls, right?

As we can see, BM were unable to freely play from the back and were constantly pressured, the highlights were Welb pressing Neur and directing where Neur can pass. kag commands the other players where they should be and mainly pressed their Scwheni and Lahm. This gegenpressing forces BM to hoof the ball or clear it. one way is to the wing, and we can see how BM mainly attacked from our left and right after the gegenpressing was employed and how we just clog the middle so BM can just cross.

The change from BM as a reaction to our tactics were also good. Mandzu was subbed in so now BM has a physical and aerial threat which means they can do crossing. This resulted in the goal because the lack of discipline, Mandzu beat rio, Jones didn't help Rio and Schweni was let free by Felli.

The game still continued on. Chicha for Welb was a like a like sub, but the Young for Buttner was strange. Jones then moved to LB while val was the RB. But this proved to do good, as Val have pace and can 1. help Rio contain Mandzu, thus nullyfying the aerial threat 2. Be a threat by overlapping and helping Young. 3. cope with side attacks of BM.

It's still disappointing we didn't try to play through the middle and do some passing before having a go. particularly when Chicha was in, as the players just hoof or kick the ball straight to him, while Kag was there and can make the situation more dangerous.

in hindsight maybe Chicha for Rooney was more logical, as Welb is more important than Rooney in games like this and he can play the LW and no.10 role better, with Chicha as the uptop striker.

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WeAreUnitedd April 2, 2014

@danny

yeah but they did not attack this much, we did it in a very passionate and beautiful way, but if you read my recent comment you'll realise where I stand anyway QUOTING you

"Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get the result and tonight we proved exactly that"

and this time it is this, hopefully we can built a philosophy so that we don't need to adapt against teams of the year

peace.

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GingerPrince18 April 2, 2014

Yep. Their tika tika did not hurt us at all like Barca's did to us. Pep had to rely on width and send his Target Man to break us.

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Dan Young April 2, 2014

dannysoya your the king of depression arent you? that was a great counter attacking display that depended heavily on tactics, hunger and concentration. i have been waiting for the first sign of progress under moyes and this is a huge sign! not saying it is necessarily even a step forward, that will depend on now till the end of the season, but this showed the potential of what moyes can do on those big champions league nights when we need to be tactically spot on, which we were. it says alot that the only thing that went wrong all game is a tiny moments concentration!

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Tommy April 2, 2014

Im with @Wayne, Tony V was impressive, he is a machine as he was against olympiakos with a shut eye which @Gary Groves will be stopped when his eye gets like that against Froch mate haha, Some say he was lucky to stay on, from my seat it looked a 50/50 challenge and ive just seen it replayed and if you giving people 2nd yellows for that honest attempt at the ball then footballs really struggling to stay a contact sport

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Dan Young April 2, 2014

danny - seen your follow up comment and take back my first sentence from my last comment. the difference is everyone wants to see us fail and thought we would lose so we proved them all wrong. with chelsea all i could hear was townsend praising how well they were regimented!. also drogbas average position was basically at left back, majority of the game against bayern we would only have 7 players behind the ball with 3 attacking outlets. chelsea just camped in their own half. we wasnt parking the bus atall

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GingerPrince18 April 2, 2014

@OpikBidin

Top analysis mate. Made it fun to read too. LOL

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dannysoya LOVES USAIN BOLT April 2, 2014

HAHAHAHAHA I'm the master of depression for calling it as it is. Name it whatever you want call it swashbuckling counter attacking football but what we did tonight was an exact carbon copy of what Chelsea did in 2012 that worked so well. Defend as deep as humanly possible, have your two quickest forwards as constant outlets for the ball downfield to ease pressure.

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wayne barker April 2, 2014

Robben and Ribery are without doubt Bayerns creative force drift all over the place and read each other well.Also a shout out to Buttner who was getting crucified on here a few weeks ago,has now had to decent performances back to back

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warrored April 2, 2014

Dannysoya....but to be fair Chelsea defied all odds to win it with undeniable negativity. If you think Utd were negative to that extent then you never watched the games.

By the way SAF constantly changed tactics for Europe so why can't Moyes? Do you remember the shit he took for taking Queiroz' advice by fans who later looked dicks as SAF used them to take us to 3 finals in 4 years?

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evered7 April 2, 2014

Great result. It gives us something to play for in Munich. As for 'negative tactics' critics, it seems like Moyes does have football tactics unlike the opinion of majority of the fans.

One thing I am not sure is how to fit RVP into the team. It does seem to make our team unbalanced.

Whatever happens in Munich, I am proud of this team and hope we can go on a winning run starting now.

Also I hope we don't rest too many players against Newcastle. As much as they need their rest, they also need the momentum.

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@Danny

I get what youre saying mate, but it really wasnt as negative as chelseas to be honest, Chelsea at times in the nou camp had a line of 10 defenders, and im not over playing it they really did, Ive never seen anything like that and probaably never will again but they did what they did to get through but we were no where near as negartive as them

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dannysoya LOVES USAIN BOLT April 2, 2014

@warrored

Oh trust me I watched BOTH the Chelsea game and I watched every single minute tonight. I know exactly what I saw. Again in case you didn't read it. I am a fan of pragmatic football and Moyes absolutely got it bang on tonight but I was just pointing out something that is a true and as relevant as ever today of all days. We did the SAME thing Chelsea did and got a similar result. I've not compared Moyes to SAF or anything like that i've just said that we did the SAME thing Chelsea did to Barcelona and that is the pure truth.

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OpikBidin April 2, 2014

Here I list some key events

1. playing 433 with 2 DM and 1 AM in the middle
correcting SAF mistakes of 2 AM-1 DM in 2008 and 442 in 2011

2. moving Welb up top
Changed the game as BM CB's now face a tall, strong, fast and technical striker.

3. Moving Felli as RW in attack
Relieves pressure with his aerial ability and chest control, pulls 3 BM players and make the middle vacant for a while.

4. Kag in for Giggs
We started to employ gegenpressing and force BM to hoof and only able to do wingplay.

5. Mandzu in for Mueller
Gives BM an aerial threat and physicality

6. Kag discussion with Vidic
on how to nullify the aerial threat of Mandzu and how to cope with the opennes of the game?

7. Yellow card for Martinez and red card for Schweni
No "hard" midfield players who take the game by the scruff of the nece and physicality

I say, RVP out was a good thing, thus we can play Welb and not bench Rooney/Valencia, because RVP doesn't offer defensive work although he does offer some playmaking ability.

Seeing Martinez and Schweni out for the 2nd leg is a huge plus. I fancy having Fellaini as a winger or no.10 and function as a rebounder as BM only have the the CBs to deal with his aerial threat. as he will pull 3 players out of position, it's good to have kagawa and other technical players use this gap created

As I said, Kag inclusion means more opennes, so I think RIo-Vidic should not be our CB, we should have Smalling with Evans. enables us to play a highline without worries. Furthermore, I think Pep noticed how Rio and Vidic are a bit confused on how to deal with Mandzu, so using Smalling as a CB and mark Mandzu out is the best option. Having Evans also mean we have a ball playing defender.

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samuel - united WE stand April 2, 2014

performance of organisation, determination and drive... As expected, bayern were dominant in overall control of the match, they are favorites and displayed that...

United's way into the game was always the only way to get into rhe game and I thought in danny welbeck, united had the player capable of travelling with the ball and stretching bayern, thought he gave boateng and martinez an unconfortable evening.. Danny displayed all his attributes that I knew had but again, in that crucial moment which perhaps can define a player and he let himself down with that finish.. What was crossing his mind to try a bloody chip I will never know... I suppose that's what defines danny though, always a confident player that aims to improvise, he just chose the wrong moment to do that.. Ruthlessness is needed in his game to go another level, whether he can remains to be seen and I hope thar miss doesn't turn out decisive. Overall though, welbeck again showed he could perform at this level, he also did against madrid last season.

Vida was simply superb. One foot of his might be at the san siro but he rolled back the years with a performance of authority and dominance to showcase how difficult it will be to replace him.. Great header too, leaping and glancing like salmon escaping a fisherman's net. Rio was great too, read the game well, tracked runners, blocked.. As always the more stylish of the two, hasn't had a great,season and this could be his last as a player but it would be some feat if he did the unthinkable and knock bayern out.

Jones kept ribery as quiet as he could even though he always looked a yard behind the frenchman in pace and skill.. Still think he's a centrehalf but needs more consistent games to learn in that position.

Buttner suprised me in this game.. A good performance defensively. Most fullbacks press panick button against the dutchman and at times, I worried but buttner was disciplined, never dived in, matched robben even when beaten.. His positioning was good but lacked composure at times on the ball.. This one game does not erase all doubts but it perhaps give a,glimmer of hope

Carrick played as well as he could.. Vastly experienced at this level and displayed calmness and composure, maybe a little too calm but he stood up against the likes of kroos and shweini.

Fellaini.. Well what can I say more. Looked like a man that has been dragged away from the pub. A lot of huff and puff, kudos to the effort and can't fault him for that but again, lacking in sufficient required quality, not good enough to start for manchester united at this level.

Valencia put in a gutsy performance, one that could have seen him packed off with a red, just lacked that end product really.. I think better players can take his position but you cannot question his commitment but you can question his overall quality.

Rooney was in and out of the game, got an assist.. Did not go missing but didn't get enough clear cut chances, not a great performance and his touch let him down once or twice but still managed to trouble bayern.

Kagawa, came on and made a significant impact.. I thought he was nailed on to start but with moyes, nothing suprises me. Kagawa brought composure and some cleverness to the game, he should get more games to stamp his authority. A top class player and you wonder what on earth moyes is doing not giving him more chances.

Hernandez came on and added more drive up top.

All in all a powerful fighting performance which I suppose you credit moyes for but still, there seems to be a lack of class, intelligence and intricacy in united's games all season, the team as they say embody the image of the manager.. A lot of work to do etc.

2nd leg though is still in bayern's hands.. Logic says they will go through one way or the other, they will be the one with the crucial final pass or goal, they just possess that confidence but you just never know.. A daunting task, bayern rarely lose at home but united will have to go there with belief.

I have to say, I felt bayern were gonna rip united into smitherings in the first leg.. I was wrong, the team showed some fight but perhaps it is just the last swing of arms before the inevitable knock-out blow from bayern.. If united pull it off, they will have beaten the incredible odds.

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dannysoya LOVES USAIN BOLT April 2, 2014

Agreed Buttner was very VERY good tonight. Pleasantly surprised today as I personally thought he would crumble against Robben but he defended very well and was well shielded by Fellaini, Giggs and even Kagawa. Still need a starting LB next season though.

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@Samuel

2 points to pick up on the first thing Rooneys touch was poor tonight but funilly enough his awful first touch has put scheinstiger out of the 2nd leg. Also I think Kagawa would have started but with Jones at RB and an inexperienced Buttner at LB, he was always going to go with the players with more defensive solidarity, I expect if Rafa and Evra are fit next week he will go with Kagawa from the start

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

It wasn't as negative as Cheslea v Barca as Bayern are not in the same league as Barca of then who were by far the best team in the world, Messi makes a huge difference, none of the Bayern strikers remotely compare, once they get Lewandoski that will be a different kettle of fish. But that Barca era was a one-off, a gap and they would skin you. Bayern on the other hand not as clinical or as creative in attack as Barca was.

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

Kagwa is incredible at defence for an attacking player, watch the way he uses space and blocks space reducing gaps and forcing the direction of play.

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WeAreUnitedd April 2, 2014

Iagree @samuel on this about Valencia

"I think better players can take his position but you cannot question his commitment but you can question his overall quality"

But after the Olympiakos game and this one, I have to say that Valencia went into my heart, he's not the most technical and firts in my team-sheet, but he has played ver ywell

BUT to evolve our football and break bigegr teams we need players like Nani and Januzaj at his place, players with pace BUt also with technique and who can keep the ball and improvise and unblock opponents

anyway KUDOS to Valencia, he deserves to start !

now good night and stay positive, this was a great performabce and a result, CL wise 1-1 at home is not good, but now we can go to Munich and haunt them and win it!

peace. and good night

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warrored April 2, 2014

Fair fucks to the likes of Giggs and Ferdinand. They know this is their last chance in the CL Fellaini did well too. Second leg needs clear heads and experience. I'd leave Rafael out as he'll be targeted. Swap Fletch for Giggs. I'd keep Buttner as LB if fit.

They've no Thiago Schweinsteiger or Martinez. Dante will be back, but if Moyes is brave and chooses pace up top we have an edge with Adnan Shinji Rooney Young Welbeck or Tony V in any order.

The krauts don't like it up em..... Just ask Captain Mainwaring

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WeAreUnitedd April 2, 2014

BTW

today we showed that Moyes got it wrong from the startm this team/squad is top3 quality

THANK God, now we bought Mata and have Januzaj too and Kagawa playing like Iniesta + DannyWelbs coming to age (WE WANT GOALS!). we can built around thwm and have counter/possession football like Dormund does.

CMON DAVID MOYES; realise this and you will truly become the chosen one, today yoy made me believe so I am rooting for you for now (from 5% to 10% easily)

WE CAN DO IT!

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@WeAreUnitedd and Samuel

I actually disagree on Valencia, I think he still has a future at United, every great team need players who will put their heart and soul into it, Its not all about the players who will make things happen, you need your grafters at tough places were its going to be a battle, Tony V will easily stay as a squad player at least, no doubt about that

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dannysoya LOVES USAIN BOLT April 2, 2014

So many players stepped up tonight it was good to see for once. Ferdinand and Vidic were absolute monsters. NOTHING got past them. Time after time headers out of the box like clockwork. Vidic and Ferdinand of old tonight. Jones was absolutely superb against Ribery. Did not bite ONCE on any of his tricks. Stuck with him all the way. Was also good when he switched to Left back. Even Kagawa defended well which I wasn't expecting. Carrick played well but how about Danny Welbeck? Hre's fast becoming our designated Big game player. Played out of his skin against Madrid last year over two legs and it was no brainer starting him tonight really. Absolute stunner of a performance from him.

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

I would play Fletcher for Fellani second leg and stick with Kagawa instead of Giggs and leave Giggs as a super sub to help win the game.

Also Rooney did not do enough, Welbeck should start as lead striker, Rooney maybe LW or on bench to try to get a goal.

I would use Rafael at RB and Buttner at LB as Rafael is much better in attack and solid in defence. Buttner I think has earned his chance at LB. Much as I love Evra.

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samuel - united WE stand April 2, 2014

Tommy - fair enough.. Bastian, thiago and martinez.. Those 3 are big players and will.leave a gap in the central mid for bayern.. They have kroos and lahm of course so they have options but it depends if united have sufficient quality to trouble that area. Bayern will bosd the 2nd leg but can united land the decisive knock-out?

Perhaps you are right.though, the wisest thing to do was to protect the defenders and they did as well as they could.. 2nd leg, you have to go for it... Not completely gung-ho of course but have to counter-attack and defend solidly as a team. Kagawa and welbeck could be crucial.

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warrored April 2, 2014

Dannysoya.....Chelsea played a 460 home and away. It worked but I don't care cos it won them the trophy.

Don't you find it hypocritical that every man and his dog says Moyes is clueless but tonight outwits the god of all managers with a patched up team but get no praise? Or did we just park the bus?

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@NBI

Thats obviously a debate on who is better this Munich siode or the Barca side of a couple of years ago, The players that would get in this Munich side from that Barca side are Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Pique. I think Munich have more options off the bench as well, The Bayern keeper is far better as is the defence, The munich midfiled would stay fresher throughout the season whereas Barca have less options in that department so would be fielding the same team in most games, I think Munich can play different styles like through the wings or centrally, One insult that Barca got was they never mixed it up much they would keep at the tried and tested. I think Bayern would win although Barca have messi who can win a game on his own

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WeAreUnitedd April 2, 2014

@Tommy
where di I say he needs to go?

Isaid I would play someone else at his place, I did not say he needs to go, if Nani were fit 100%, I would go with Nani or if Januzaj were 20-years of old with more experience.

Earlier this season I did think of Valencia being past it, but these 2 games have made me eat humble pie so he should stay at least as a squad player for 1-2 more seasons, but not as a starter.

if someone needs to go it's Young. SO don't get it twisted mate

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

I was talking to a friend after the match and the feelings we both felt were the same -

RELIEF

First foremost and mainly Huge relief in the first instance that the dignity of the Club was not raped as it has been many times this season, particularly a concern with Ribery around. And no new unwelcome records were set.

Secondly

GRATITUDE & AWE

To Vida and Rio, defence masters.

RESPECT

To Welbeck and Buttner

THE FINGER

To Fellani

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samuel - united WE stand April 2, 2014

Tommy - the name of the game is to win and to win you need players that can provide match winners.. I always commend his effort or whatever else you want to call it and he did play well enough but there are plenty of players who provide the fight he provides and yet still diminish defences.. United need both, valencia offers just one side. If he stays, better players will over-take him.

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@We are United

I do appologise mate, If Nani or Januzai had played tonight, Jones would have been ripped to shreads, Their was talk of Buttner not playing because of his injury so it was also wise to have him protected tonight. Valencia is one of the shoo ins for next week

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dannysoya LOVES USAIN BOLT April 2, 2014

@warrorred

Oh definitely Moyes got it right tonight no doubt. Don't think anyone's denied that or at least i've not seen it yet. Apparently, his style is more suited to European football than to the premier league.

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The_red_devils April 2, 2014

This is the type of game moyes has always been famous for.
A hard working, defensively built, harder to beat team.

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

So will the Club still be talking about he huge clearout of players now. Moyes better stop throwing them under a bus when it suits him. Ageing team my ass. Our aged saved his ginger nut.

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OpikBidin April 2, 2014

I would play like this if possible:

DDG
Val-Small-Evans-Buttner
Jones-Clev
Felli-Kag-Januzaj/Nani
Welb

The players can interchange if needed. Because there is no Schweni and Martinez, means there is no hard DMs, so we absolutely must play Felli in an advanced position, He will drag at least 3 players out of place: 1 CB, 1 LB and the 1 CM, making space available for Val, Welb and Kag to use.

as we cannot outpass them, just be pragmatic and use all our strength available. We have "good" football in Kagawa-Januza/Nani, but Felli can provide us another option, plus he keeps the ball well. Welb is a mix of "good" and "bad" football

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

@ The_red-Devils - Everton were never that hard to beat tbh, it was like West Ham or Villa under O'Neil, you knew you would get a game of sorts most of the time, and away from home there were a doddle for good teams, lets hope that Moyes finally gets over losing at every single big team away at Bayern. With 3 top players out and our players determined for their own sakes, only God knows. From what I have seen we have the players to beat Bayern provided Rio and Vida stay fit so he needs to get his head Round it.

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@Samuel

Trust me mate, He will stay, even as a squad player because he is what I would call a managers dream, Wingers are a rare breed that they are genrally so fucking lazy, seeriously if you watch nani as soon as a LB/LW goes past him he just stops, without a care in the world, their a selfish bunch who dont want to put a shift in, Thats the minimum requirement for a pep side for example so workrate is underated, managers love Tony V types even at the top end of the spectum

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@OpikBidin

So you would drop our best defender still and our warrior for 2 players that havnt played in weeks, Cant agree with that, Vida plays all day long, no one can tell me his hearts in Milan after tonights showing

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

Bayern cannot live with pace. They struggled most with Welbeck and Valencia. 3 bloody Bayern shirts around Valencia doing his usual trotty trot and cross into a player. But he was a thorn in their side and their fear of him pulled players out of position and left space in the middle that we could have exploited better.

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dannysoya LOVES USAIN BOLT April 2, 2014

@warrored

I guess some fans might have been wrong about how "shit" the squad is eh? Apparently Fergie left moyes a shit squad. Don't think a shit squad would have drawn with Bayern Munich in a high pressure game.

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

I LOVE Valencia. No matter what, for me he is all heart and what United is about, He got rid of his agent and just deals with United never a fuss over anything and he loves the Club, he plays through injury and he wins us games, what's not to like.

Young is what not to like.

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@NBI

You might have a vendetta against Moyes but to say his teams at Everton were not hard to beat is nonsence, I know for a fact that when teams get mentioned at the start of the season were we dont like to go to Goodison Park was right up their as one of the hardest, as city and ourselves found out in recent years

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

Also Pep seriously rates Valencia, he called him the best winger in Europe when he was at Barca and at that time it was not feint praise at all. Valencia before he broke his leg helped us win titles, remember Rooney record scoring season? Who was the person crossing the ball onto his fat head perfectly every time - Valencia, that is who.

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

Tommy

"The players that would get in this Munich side from that Barca side are Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Pique."

- Is anyone else needed?. These players are by far the best in the world (bar Pique), they took Barca to a level of play that Bayern cannot match, these guys did stuff that took your breath away, nothing Bayern did took my breath away, only Fellani did that, I thought yeah a few nice touches, sharpish passes but the chips into the box of Inesta and the runs of Messi 4.get.it. Also take them out of Barca and West Ham could beat Barca.

When Bayern beat Barca 7-0 or whatever, if I recollect correctly, people forget that Xavi was injured and Messi was out of those games or recovering from injury and not the player he is. Its like having Ronnie out of RM.

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

Tommy

I would never consider Everton hard to beat. They are Everton, we beat them. Teams I consider hard to beat, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Arsenal and on their day Spurs.

Everton was never in that league. You always thought it had to be an off performance to lose to them or maybe you get a draw but I never looked at the fixture list and thought oh fuck where is Everton. Even when they were shite I always looked for Liverpool and even when they were shite they were genuinely hard to beat.

Everton gave you a game and if you were off a bit they could nick a draw or maybe a win if you were resting players or lost concentration, otherwise, I pooh on them. Pooh.

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The_red_devils April 2, 2014

NBI
Spot on about pace. As neville said 'if there is a weakness for bayern, the centerbacks don't like quick movement in around them'.
In 2nd leg, we should try exploit it as much as possible. Kagawa, januzaj type player would be ideal imo.

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Tommy April 2, 2014

@NBI

Cant agree with that, It was always far harder to go to Everton than it has been to go to Spurs or Arsenal in recent years, One thing you were garenteed was a well drilled well organised side and a noisy stadium, they always raise their game when they play United

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NBI Red 21 April 2, 2014

The_red_devils - Kags has to play he organises our MF and fills gap and is available if the ball was not always hoofed over his head or if he plays with someone like Mata who sees his runs and positioning and what he can run on to which is his game. Januzaj would scare the crap out of Bayern, maybe on as a sub for Valencia when we are throwing the kitchen sink to win it.

Nani would also tear a new one in Bayern on his game., They were huffing an puffing keeping up with Giggs.