A lucky deflection has us still in this game, and we looked better as the half wore on. The free kick they scored on, Anthony Taylor had our wall well beyond 10 yards back

Awful defensive tracking and they score another incredibly easy goal 3 minutes into the half

Maybe we should hire Emery. We sure as hell can't beat him.

I only caught about 20 minutes but it's like they completely forgot to do the things that make them good. Just firing in hopeless crosses. Ronaldo's mere presence seems to drastically alter how they fundamentally play.

Barca in the knockout round of the EL. Winner gets Frenkie de Jong?

Dre_00 said:

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Barca in the knockout round of the EL. Winner gets Frenkie de Jong?

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This must be Barca's 5th lever to stay afloat.

1/4 of the way through the League Cup rematch with Villa and we are controlling the game but have exactly one shot attempted. Yay.

Martial gets the start as does Van de Beek. Bruno on the right, and Rashford on the left. Definitely experimental and not 1st string as you'd expect.

I gotta tell you guys, if you're able to get to a TV to watch this game...don't.

2 minutes into the second, Villa score after a break in which United seemed to almost stop expecting a hand ball to be called. It wasn't hand ball.

Off the kick-off, United score to make it 1-1. Martial.

Much more interesting 2nd half. Neither team seem to have much desire to control midfield. Given we started McFred, I understand why we don't.

2-1 Villa. You'll also be surprised to hear that the Maguire-Lindelof center back pairing leaves a lot to be desired. I think a combo of Maguire and Malacia decide to let Ashley Young of all people walk into the 18 without a care in the world. He puts in a poor cross but Bailey is able to put in front of goal for Dalot to needlessly turn in (literally no one near him) for an OG.

2-2 Rashford. Beautiful goal to use his body to protect the ball, clear his feet and score after picking up a loose ball from a tackle on Eriksen.

Dre_00 said:

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I gotta tell you guys, if you're able to get to a TV to watch this game...don't.

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This post didn't age well.

Bruno forces a really good save and Maguire gets a free header on the subsequent corner which he heads right to the goalie.

And now Bruno scores to make it 3-2 after the press forces a turnover and his shot takes a fortuitous deflection.

2 minutes after curling a 25 yard effort onto the crossbar, McTominay makes a run from midfield and gets on the end of a wonderful cross from Garnacho to make it 4-2.

United were all over them in the 2nd half. Moving Bruno to his normal position and bringing on Eriksen completely changed the game. Absolutely destroyed them and Villa would have had less if defensive errors hadn't gifted them opportunities.

Dre_00 said:

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2 minutes after curling a 25 yard effort onto the crossbar, McTominay makes a run from midfield and gets on the end of a wonderful cross from Garnacho to make it 4-2.

United were all over them in the 2nd half. Moving Bruno to his normal position and bringing on Eriksen completely changed the game. Absolutely destroyed them and Villa would have had less if defensive errors hadn't gifted them opportunities.

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Shame we didn't perform like this last Sunday

Burnley at home in the round of 16. Liverpool and City will play each other as well.

Finally get a morning to watch.

Shaw and Malacia starting as well as Elanga and Martial.

This team plays totally differently when that #7 cat isn't out there.

Willian is eating Malacia alive at RB.

Bummer.

Very nice goal.

What in the world is Bruno doing?

5 yards out and unmarked and McT heads it into row QQ.

Garnacho with the Fergiest of Fergie Time goals.

ETA dude needs to get a real haircut. That bowl is brutal

Very nice

Nice. I was convinced we were going into the WC on a whimper.

Garnacho with the ultimate heist job. What a lad

That Gazpacho kid is pretty good.

jeffk said:

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That Gazpacho kid is pretty good.

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He's 7^2

Dre_00 said:

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Woke up to the news of the Ronaldo interview and let me start by saying **** that ******* rapist. Messi is miles better.

He's clearly played his last game at the club. Thank God and good riddance. It's been clear who he was for a long time...long before he even came back to Manchester. And I'm sure the Stretford End will always sing his name and give him the endless love and admiration that he demands. But as far as I'm concerned, his last several, petulant months have permanently ruined any lingering wistful, longing romanticism of his previous time at Old Trafford. What an absolutely pathetic person.

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Yes Ronaldo has the largest ego in soccer and is full of himself. But the way MU has handled the Ronaldo situation has been criminal on their part and I think ten Hag has been trying to get this reaction the entire time. Not sure why they tried to push Ronaldo so much. Made no sense. The late substitutions with 2 min left were just attempts to poke Ronaldo. Why not just release him if this is what you wanted?

I don't have any huge problems with how United and specifically ETH have approached this...other than the fact that they never should have approached Ronaldo to begin with.

Let's not forget that this all started back in late June or so when Ronaldo said he wanted to leave the club because he wanted to play in the CL. He knew in March that United wasn't going to play in the CL. United and ETH made the transfer planning with the expectation that he would be there and he had ample opportunity to inform United of his desires well before he did.

Then he skipped the entire pre-season tour to cry baby his way out of the club. He missed virtually the entire training period under a completely new manager because he had no intention of staying. But to his surprise, no one wanted him other than a club in Saudi Arabia.

So United had a dilemma. They needed a body at striker even with Ronaldo on the roster. And no one actually wanted him. It's not like anyone approached them with an offer. Every club that Mendes tried to sell him to had no interest in him on any level. His wage demands were too high and his ability was too low. The only club that Ronaldo would have accepted was Chelsea but even that never materialized because Tuchel said "hard pass". Furthermore, Ronaldo has said A LOT but he has NEVER said that he wanted his contract terminated. He's not willing to pass on that 450k a week ESPECIALLY when confronted with the cold hard truth that no one will pay anywhere near that wage other than some Saudi team.

Everything since has just been a consequence of the summer and ultimately a consequence of Ronaldo not being up front with the club in spring and acting like a spoiled brat ever since. ETH was put in an untenable situation with him. Ronaldo demanded "respect" but what he actually demanded was 90 minutes no matter what. ETH was absolutely right not to give in to that. He can't set a precedent that this type of BS behavior is acceptable and that players can act like this and get away with it.

The hilarious thing is you just know that if Ronaldo leaves and ETH has success with the club, he'll absolutely take credit for it.

Club actually acknowledged his interview in a statement but didn't expand beyond that.

"The club will consider its response after the full facts have been established."

There is a thought floating around that the interview itself could give United grounds to terminate his contract without pay and keep his registration rights thereby keeping him from signing with a new team unless United agreed to compensation. I'd be surprised if United aren't at least exploring that avenue but I'd also be surprised if they do that. That would likely be challenged in court and become a long, drawn out process that might rather avoid. And my guess is that doing so would probably piss off a sizable portion of fans which will likely even further escalate the anti-Glazer movement.

Dre_00 said:

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I don't have any huge problems with how United and specifically ETH have approached this...other than the fact that they never should have approached Ronaldo to begin with.

Let's not forget that this all started back in late June or so when Ronaldo said he wanted to leave the club because he wanted to play in the CL. He knew in March that United wasn't going to play in the CL. United and ETH made the transfer planning with the expectation that he would be there and he had ample opportunity to inform United of his desires well before he did.

Then he skipped the entire pre-season tour to cry baby his way out of the club. He missed virtually the entire training period under a completely new manager because he had no intention of staying. But to his surprise, no one wanted him other than a club in Saudi Arabia.

So United had a dilemma. They needed a body at striker even with Ronaldo on the roster. And no one actually wanted him. It's not like anyone approached them with an offer. Every club that Mendes tried to sell him to had no interest in him on any level. His wage demands were too high and his ability was too low. The only club that Ronaldo would have accepted was Chelsea but even that never materialized because Tuchel said "hard pass". Furthermore, Ronaldo has said A LOT but he has NEVER said that he wanted his contract terminated. He's not willing to pass on that 450k a week ESPECIALLY when confronted with the cold hard truth that no one will pay anywhere near that wage other than some Saudi team.

Everything since has just been a consequence of the summer and ultimately a consequence of Ronaldo not being up front with the club in spring and acting like a spoiled brat ever since. ETH was put in an untenable situation with him. Ronaldo demanded "respect" but what he actually demanded was 90 minutes no matter what. ETH was absolutely right not to give in to that. He can't set a precedent that this type of BS behavior is acceptable and that players can act like this and get away with it.

The hilarious thing is you just know that if Ronaldo leaves and ETH has success with the club, he'll absolutely take credit for it.

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My point about the handling of Ronaldo was the pettiness in certain circumstances. They should be above the board and just get rid of him. But trying to put him in with 2 minutes left instead of just leaving him on the bench. ETH does this type of thing to trigger the reaction. Just let him sit on the bench and not play. Release him, don't have him on the squad. But don't do petty little things. He should want this behind him, not have this continue.

Dre_00 said:

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Club actually acknowledged his interview in a statement but didn't expand beyond that.

"The club will consider its response after the full facts have been established."

There is a thought floating around that the interview itself could give United grounds to terminate his contract without pay and keep his registration rights thereby keeping him from signing with a new team unless United agreed to compensation. I'd be surprised if United aren't at least exploring that avenue but I'd also be surprised if they do that. That would likely be challenged in court and become a long, drawn out process that might rather avoid. And my guess is that doing so would probably piss off a sizable portion of fans which will likely even further escalate the anti-Glazer movement.

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If they can break the contract and not pay him, Then do it and be done with him. But to try and hold him out from playing for other clubs, when they have no interest in playing him that only continues this drama. Very poorly handled from the very beginning when they brought him back til now.

Dre_00 said:

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Club actually acknowledged his interview in a statement but didn't expand beyond that.

"The club will consider its response after the full facts have been established."

There is a thought floating around that the interview itself could give United grounds to terminate his contract without pay and keep his registration rights thereby keeping him from signing with a new team unless United agreed to compensation. I'd be surprised if United aren't at least exploring that avenue but I'd also be surprised if they do that. That would likely be challenged in court and become a long, drawn out process that might rather avoid. And my guess is that doing so would probably piss off a sizable portion of fans which will likely even further escalate the anti-Glazer movement.

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They are definitely having the lawyers check contract language over this and I don't blame them.