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15 Sep 2013 20:05:05
From the Telegraph (via tv Football Gossip)
Manchester United manager David Moyes says his predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson told him the Champion League group the Red Devils are in is "one of the hardest draws United have ever had" in the competition.
Either Moyes is telling porkpies or SAF has lost the plot!
Very easy draw! Smells of a lack of confidence to me and one of them is getting the excuses in early just in case. Check out Group F if you think Group A is hard.
1.) Very easy draw? Now come on.
Leverkusen finished 3rd behind Bayern and Dortmund and ahead of Schalke. They have some quality players. Players that many on here have thought would be good for United.
Shaktar may have lost Willian, Mkhitaryan and Fernandinho, but they have some quality players like Adriano, Bernard and Douglas Costa(remember him?)
Soceidad finished 4th in La Liga. They've lost Illaramendi, but still have the likes of Griezmann, Martinez and Vela.
I agree that it's one of the hardest we have had in a while.
2.) Maybe he's just gearing up the players so that they don't underestimate the opposition. Either that or they've both lost the plot lol.
3.) Don't underestimate the teams we are up against. It's not a tough group because we are paired against the giants of europe.
It's a potential tough group because we have three talented decent teams who we know very little about.
Bayer Leverkusen are a very good German side, they have some exellent players such as Bernd Leno, Emre Can, Lars Bender, Stefan Kiessling and Heung Min Son. But we don't know how they will approach playing in europe as they haven't been I the champions league under their current manager. So we have very little to go on as to what to expect.
Real Sociedad like wise are a very good Spanish side who are very good at keeping possession. They were the best team based on form in the final third of La Liga last season. They are as good as Athletic Bilbao were when they knocked us out of europe a couple of seasons ago. They have some very good players in their team too such as Inigo Martinez, Jose Angel, Antione Griezmann and Carlos Vela. So they are no push over.
Shakhtar Donesk are a proven quality team who have shown in recent years that they can beat the best teams in europe. No one enjoys a trip to eastern europe in winter and that gives them a huge edge in our away game against them. They too have a squad peppered with some top talent such as Darijo Srna, Yaroslav Rakitskiy and Taras Stepanenko along with their usual spattering of Brazilians such as Douglas Costa, Taison, Ilsinho, Wellington Nem and new Brazilan wonder kid Bernard. They are no push over.
So although we don't have tough sides such as Dortmund or AC Milan in our group we have three very capable teams which we know very little about. This will make the preperation very hard, and the tactics and team selection for each game harder to get right than it would be against a team such as Dortmund.
There is no easy game in our group, no team of which we can be almost certain of picking up 6 points against. All of them are very capable of beating us at their home stadium. If we win all our home games then we still need a result againt one of them away to get the 10 points which normally sees you through to the next round. And its far from certain that we will win all our home games.
As said each team has the ability to get a result against us at home meaning we will need to get a win and a draw away against them.
How conifdent are you of us getting at least one win out of a trip to Spain Germany and the Ukraine?
Not as easy as you thought hey?
4.) It could have been a lot worse but it could have been a bit better too. It's the trickiest group we've had in a few years and there aren't any whipping boys but still there are no excuses other than to progress.
5.) Also Sociedad have got some great young players. Inigo Martinez looks to be a very, very good prospect at CB, having already got a cap for Spain aged 22. Also Ruben Pardo who, from what I have seen and heard, could be a truly exceptional player. One of my friends (Bilbao fan but can still appreciate their Basque rivals) says that he is much better than Illaramendi and neither of us would be surprised to see him move to a bigger club sooner rather than later
6.) It could be SAFs way of giving Moyes confidence when United finish 1st in the group but could also be a way of forcing Moyes to not Underestimate any of the opposition in the group.
7.) Would he fit into our midfield Jaxer? I don't know much about Pardo.
8.) I think he would make a good eventual replacement for Carrick, (as much as I hate using FM descriptions) he is a deep lying playmaker but can also be used more box-to-box because his work rate is very good. He is typically Spanish in that he regards losing possession as a mortal sin however he is quite slight so would need to bulk up a little but at the age of 20 I wouldn't expect him to be too stacked. I've not seen a huge amount of him, only a couple of games, but he has always impressed. My friend rates him extremely highly
9.) Also despite playing quite deep he always seems to want to play on the front foot, ie not as many sideways passes as cleverly
10.) Behave. We have an awkward trip to Leverkusen, who will never be easy. We have a trip to Spain, where our record is average at best and we have a very long trip to Ukraine. Hardly one of the easiest we've had.
11.) I posted a while ago that this is a tough group and we will need to win all our home games. The away trips are all tricky, with leverkusen virtually a fortress at home and we don't do very well against Spanish sides away more often than not. Moyes assessment is spot on and we better be on ready to play or could suddenly find ourselves in trouble. Having said that I expect us and Sociadad to go through.
12.) They are going to be tricky away ties particularly Shaktar. All 3 teams particularly Shaktar and Leverkusen can dive around a lot drawing fouls and cards etc which can dramatically change a game.
13.) Supasub
Hmm. We have a few guys who would give Greg Loganes a run for his money for diving too and currently making all the wrong headlines :(
03 Sep 2013 00:15:13
I had high hopes of United turning into also rans once Moyes was appointed but thought it would be a slow gradual decline. With every decision you guys are just making my year. Spanked by Everton today and the Fro is not even close to what you need.
BTW, you guys are no worse off points wise than last year. You got 2 points more than last years Swansea away game and a point extra against Chelski at home MINUS the 3 points from Liverpool away.
1.) Spanked by Everton for their best player? Good job mate!
Yes, Flores would fit in well with the present standard.
Seems to work for Chelsea.
The only entertainment they offer comes from the Jose press conferences.
MrE
Cafu Brazil 1990s (Sao Paulo/Roma/Milan)
Lilian Thuram France 1990s/00s (Monaco/Parma/Juventus)
Javier Zanetti Argentina 1990s/2000s (Inter)
Gianluca Zambrotta Italy 2000s (Juverntus/Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos Spain 2000s (Sevilla/Real Madrid)
Daniel Alves Brazil 2000s/2010s (Sevilla/Barcelona)
yawn
God created United
G Neville world class - have a word with yourself.