LIVE BLOG: United vs Real Madrid

August 8, 2017

Iwan Lehnert

Iwan is a co-host of the Red Voices podcast, which he produces with several friends each week during the season. Follow him on Twitter @IwanLehnert, and the podcast @RedVoicesMUFC.

CONFIRMED LINE-UP: United vs Real Madrid

Mourinho: I’ve never liked players as much as I like United’s

63 Comments

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United24 August 9, 2017

Madrid has been the best team in the world for two years. If we played them 10 times, they probably bear us 9 times by the odd goal, so the result itself is not expected.
There is no embarassment there, regardless of who he chose to play.
It does not however stop a United fan wishing his team WINS every game or trophy even if the odds are 1: 10.

Having said that, I agree in principle.
If Lingard is going to be consistently picked over Martial/ Rashford, or Fellaini over Mata, in the PREMIER LEAGUE, then our small chance of succeeding over the course of the season will only get slimmer.
Jose has to change!
I second that!!!

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Dwayne O Linn August 9, 2017

With every passing season, he is becoming another Ashley young, scores the odd cracker, but does fuck all else but offer a bit of graft

United24 August 9, 2017

* beat us
** result not unexpected

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Ancha August 9, 2017

We started brightly - It was an even game till 20 mins, and then we lost the plot!
From 20 to 40 mins we got battered, Pog/Matic/Herrera/Micki and the wing backs they couldn't press as a team - even when we did get the ball once or twice, there was a serious lack of composure. Second half more of the same till they scored the second goal. But we did improve drastically after, the irony is that it happened after Fellaini came on. Rashford/Matic/Fellaini/Micki/Smalling are the one that gave a decent performance - rest of the bunch has to seriously up their game! We were absolutely trash on corners which was strange considering that Jose side's are usually good at them
One point I don't agree though and I'm not supporting Jose here. Spending same amount of money isn't the only parameter to look at when judging the teams - apart from that the consistency in terms of the players playing together is much more important. Real had a near consistent line up for the past 2 years - Even when you spend money, more times than not it is the number of times you play together that makes a team better. Although I do agree the tactics didn't help, It was a big risk to play a formation that players were not too used to and factoring in that we have 3 of summer signings playing in their first competitive game - Pretty bad decision I would say on Jose's part.

Although we did get battered for periods for the game, we also showed that we are more than capable of fighting back by almost snatching a draw (if only Rashford had gone the other side!!). That would be my positive take away from the game amidst the negatives. This team does have the mental strength to go till the last minute against the best team in the world. We have a good squad, only thing left is for Jose to buckle up and make the most of the squad

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Ancha August 9, 2017

Snatching an equalizer* - my bad draw is not valid outcome of this game! lol

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Ancha August 9, 2017

and yeah, apart from all the fancy talk both Pogba and Lukaku have to step up their game against the big teams. It is not that they are not trying - there is severe lack of consistency in their game even over the course of 90 mins, brilliant in few situations and poor in most of the situations. This kind of performance is acceptable from a decent squad player like Lingard, but not from the so called world class marquee signings! Jose has to start showing his hard side to these folks as well not just Martial/Shaw cause they can talk it - I still feel Jose is not good @ Managing certain personalities - the Nani/Martial/Shaw types, who needs a comforting hand over their shoulder. Jose has always built his teams around strong characters, may be because so poor at handling the other types!. I think he does agree with some of that in one of the interviews last season (the one with Rio @OldTrafford I guess). It's time to either adapt or we are looking at loosing Martial/Shaw not too distinct in the future

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krossman x August 9, 2017

Pogba has been on 50% since he came. U can tell he is not as good a player as he is hyped up to be. Last season he scored against Swansea,Leicester,Galatasary, Hull, Middlesbrough I think. . I cannot recall one big game where he took control of the game. Sorry to say but he is in the flip side as it stands except he improves this season he would have been a total waste of money

Ashford should have scored he has enough experience now to be able to make better decisions he could have softly lobbed that ball over Navas or placed it to the other side instead of just snacthng at it. His chances are dwindling game by game.

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krossman x August 9, 2017

Kroos, Modric and Casiemrio were consistent all game this guys not as tall as our mid field but were wining Ariel balls over us. Fellaini the king of the air scores a headed goal once every 15 games his Ariel abilities are a myth and total nonsense

We spend money on the wrong players and when we buy the right ones we leave them to rot on the bench Moyes did it with Kagawa, LVG did it with Herrera and Jose doing it now with Martial.

I just can't understand the logic

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Kulee_Mawamou_Keculah August 9, 2017

I don't agree with the notion that beating Madrid is mission impossible, they are clearly not invincible, despite their class. I think shit selection and shit tactics made it too easy for them. With the right lineup and remotely useful tactics, we would have given Madrid a proper game, instead of providing them another training session to aid their preparation for the new campaign.

Madrid has a good mixed of quality and experience in defense, but having watched them over the years, I know for sure that they struggle against quick , direct attackers, who are good dribblers. Rashford is not the best dribbler at United, but he actually caused them more problems when he came on, than we did as a team in the entire first half. The gaps that suddenly appeared in the Madrid backline were in startling contrast to what appeared to be an impenetrable defense in the first half. I can only imagine the damage Martial would have caused with his amazing close control dribbles. Carvalja and co can attest to it. Lingard was useless and should never start ahead of Martial in a game of such significance. What the fuck does Lingard
offer in attack that I haven't seen.

Our over reliance on Bailly is very worrying. Without Bailly, we look awful in defense, even in preseason matches against fairly poor teams.I pray to God that he stays injury free this season, otherwise, we are fucked. Bailly would have made a world of difference for us last night. Madrid was able to open us up at will with very simply passes. If the first goal we conceded was poor, the second was criminal. Bailly is the only difference maker in our backline. He's the only defender at United who I wouldn't exchange for anyone. The rest, I would easily exchange without hesitation.

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Mirain August 9, 2017

I think a lot of people are out of touch with reality. Even with good football Madrid are likely to beat us. Even if we actually attack. It's simple. They have the best players in the world. And with Barça, they are built to attack from days of old. I never expected to win. I'm not a fantasy person. That's why the result doesn't matter. They field an entire first ten of outfield players with a first touch as good as Mata. We only have Mata. It's an issue of common sense.

It's the type of performance. It's the tactics. It's the mentality. It's the fucking team selections that get to me. Most of all, the fucking mentality. It's not about one player like Lingard gets to play. It's about why Martial can't play. It's not about why MMM can't play. Mentality is all wrong. And we will never make any progress. You cannot keep banging on the wall and expect a door to open. Matic makes sense. Excellent player. Let him do his job. He can cover for the attacking players easy. Let the attacking players play together and win, lose or draw, we WILL make progress. We will never make progress with Lingard than we would with Martial. Mata on the bench is not a strength. It's a FUCKING DISADVANTAGE. There are no benefits there. Zero. No matter how much people bury their heads.

I stated long back that I would have preferred Morata. Why? He is a technical player who can actually play the way those Madrid players do. With class and quality all round once he gets going. But fine,Lukaku is here. OK. So get actual class players behind him. Why would you have Fellaini,Lukaku,Lingard in the same team? WTF? That's the mentality I'm talking about. You can never compete with premium teams like Madrid with that kind of mentality. They'll just brush you aside until serious teams come along. Give them something to think about. MMM behind Lukaku will keep their midfield and defense very busy. And I'm not talking about busy jumping in the air for aerial balls. Dribbling, movement, skill, vision etc. In other words, class. We couldn't handle Bale & Isco because they are fucking class attacking players. Give Mhki a few of his pals and see what happens. We would probably lose but we would feel a lot more optimistic by what we would have seen on the pitch. That's how we make progress. Not buying one player after another. Put class players on the same field for fuck's sake.

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Mirain August 9, 2017

"Madrid has a good mixed of quality and experience in defense, but having watched them over the years, I know for sure that they struggle against quick , direct attackers, who are good dribblers."

Personally I think Madrid are WAY WAY ahead of United. We are not in the same neighborhood in terms of quality. Both in personnel and in tactics. But they can be beaten yes. We could also beat them with shit tactics. Football happens sometimes. But if we want to make actual progress,I believe we are not in the position to be bothered by results beyond "I wish we had won". In other words wishing. In real terms, we should be extremely concerned with performance. Had we beaten Madrid with those tactics and players, ZERO progress would have been made. Had we lost 3-0 with the right players and tactics we would have made more progress. We would know how to move forward and where to tweak. What do you tweak with Fellaini on the pitch and Mata on the bench? You know. That's my real worry for this club. I'm starting to understand why clubs like Madrid have heavily interfering presidents. They select the frontline. Ronaldo the Brazilian was guaranteed to start no matter what the coach thought. Zidane,Figo,Raul. I think it's a very flawed policy but I get the reason. You need to protect your club's identity from coaches and managers with the wrong mentalities. Maybe we need a technical director. Maybe interference is exactly what is needed right now. We invested in fucking Martial. We broke a club record in Mata. Where is the pay back if they can't play ahead of mighty Fellaini or skilful Lingard? For fucking defensive reasons. Really? It's funny that I expect Mourinho to do this all season. But I get extremely angry and upset when I actually see it. I honestly can't make peace with this.

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MobiMulla August 9, 2017

Mirain
No no no, no way, never in a million years..
Losing 3-0 with the right players is not progress.. it just tells us that at our utmost best we are nowhere near the champions of Europe.. in that case why bother competing?

We are not out of real Madrid's league.. they are better than us but it's like the difference between Chelsea and arsenal (for example)
Chelsea dominated the league and were the best team in the country by a long shot, way better than arsenal and stronger in every position.. yet arsenal could still compete with them and actually beat them..
That's the difference between a top team and a small team..
Sunderland could've beaten Chelsea in a game last season.. they could not however compete with them over the course of the season for a league..
Chelsea over an entire league campaign were a different animal to us but that one game we were heads and shoulders above them..

Our problem is the negative and wrong tactics..

Every manager has a right to play whoever he wants in any system he wants and every supporter has a right to disagree, ultimately the board new Jose would bring a defensive style and they hired him so it comes down to them..

They chose results over performances and at the moment it looks like we're getting neither..

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MobiMulla August 9, 2017

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but everyone knows if we played Madrid again tonight the front 3 has to be Mkhitaryan Rashford and Martial..
Yet if we did play them again you could almost guarantee them 3 wouldn't be up top..
Therein lies the problem..