So what went wrong in Uniteds champions league exit? - Football Forums at footytube.com

Forums / The Terrace: Casual Footy Banter

Order: Newest / Oldest

So What Went Wrong In Uniteds Champions League Exit?

Ant (Liverpool) 1 year ago

In my opinion, it's summed up best by someone messaging the Guardian minute-by-minute report

"This is what happens when your central midfield is composed of a 38-year-old winger, a famously workmanlike Korean winger, and a centre-half," rages Tom Bangay. "Playing no midfielders whatsoever was probably a mistake."

Any thoughts or opinions?

Jeroen (Barcelona) 1 year ago

That's the opinion of a furious fan, more than that of a pundit, if you ask me. Ryan Giggs is intelligent and versatile enough to now be considered a true playmaking AM. He was one of the very few excellent players for United too. His passing was superb, and that's what United lacked. And with Nani in the starting 11, you can't blame SAF of not playing creative midfielders, because he simply doesn't have them. United obviously needs a creative CM the likes of good ol' Paul Scholes again. Sneijder would've been the perfect answer, but I think Ferguson expected his youngsters to fill in that part. And they did, until the injuries struck.

I do think United can't be so dependant on youngsters, and a team that big should have a better centre midfield. Rooney, IMHO, isn't a true goalscoring striker either. He's more suited for the creative striker role, much like Bergkamp was for Arsenal. With Chicharito or Berbatov things were better for him. And because Berbatov seems to be leaving, I'd not only try to get a creative midfielder, but also a goal-machine like Edinson Cavani to relieve Rooney from some of the pressure and allow him more freedom. I feel he would be able to keep playing on a higher level for much longer spells then, because it seems that he can't cope with all of England watching his every move and all of the tabloids either praising or wrecking him

Hill (Arsenal) 1 year ago

Lack of attacking options on the bench. Rooney having to drop into the defence just to get a touch on the ball. Vidic going down injured. Hernandez being injured. Berbs being injured. Anderson being injured.

And yeah. WTF?! No true CMs starting?! That makes no sense

Donnchadh (Liverpool) 1 year ago

Rooney playing like shite may have been an issue too

Paytonred (Manchester United) 1 year ago

Complacency and underestimating teams.

And no cohesiveness between players.

From a comment on redcafe:
- 6 different starting lineups (of course)
- 22 different starters (over 6 games!)
- Played 4-4-2 three times and played 4-5-1 another three times.
- Played 5 different back fours and 6 different midfield fours or fives.

Zero cohesiveness. How can a team perform with co much chopping and changing?

And if the injuries are to blame, then maybe some head have to fall in that area as well

Kimaway17 (Liverpool) 1 year ago

This is spot on. This is the exact reason why you are out

Atnighthawk (AFC Telford United) 1 year ago

This is the reason, spot on analysis tbh, even if the numbers might be out. Injuries haven't helped either but this is why

Ant (Liverpool) 1 year ago

Change Basel to Blackburn and the lessons haven't been learned yet

FootyRulz (Chelsea) 1 year ago

I was shocked at the line up yesterday especially with the defence and Rooney exclusion

ManUK (Manchester United) 1 year ago

We need more depth. Simple as that. No side that expects to be champion can have a few players get injured and then have the team fall apart. And although center midfield is our weakest area, we need one or two more experienced players at the back as well. Seeing as how see concede goals like nothing when Vidic isn't on the pitch.

I still think we need a proven top class midfielder, and that hasn't changed, so I hope we get busy in the winter transfer window (we're out of the champions league anyways, so we don't have to worry about him not being able to play there). We can't depend on one or two players in the middle to preform well every game.

I'm just glad I wasn't in locker room after the match....

Juno (AC Milan) 1 year ago

That's also because the loss of Scholes haven't been properly replaced. Giggs is gold, but he's old. He's not Scholes and never will control the midfield like the Ginger hair fella does

Zlatan94310 (PSG) 1 year ago

Shouldn't Rooney had missed that sitter in the 1st half, things would have been different in this match, making the game easier to handle at least.
Anyways, personally I'd rather blame United's defence during the whole campaingn rather than just the midfield in this match againt Basel.

United surely have bare injuries, but that's part of the game. s**t happens

JulioFC (Inter Milan) 1 year ago

You know, its not the fact that Man United are out of the champions league. Its the fact that they're out in the group stages! Yes, I know, I'm no one to talk because my team is doing very bad right now, but.... Goddamn! Man United's group should've been easy for them (no offence to the other team). Like I've always said, any team that relies on an english player to carry their team, desrves to lose. Rooney is far from being the star player on the team. Ferdinand, Cleverly, Welbeck, Young & Jones are decent, but nowhere close to being "world class". I don't think any of those players would start on any other top team outside of England. Man UTD need get rid of some of these useless players like Anderson, Carrick, Berbatov & the Da Silva bros. They need to buy 1 or 2 really good players because sooner or later they can end up like Inter with a bunch of old, half assed players who spend most of the time being injured. I think players like Goetze, Ganso or Hummels would be great 4 Man United. Like I said, I hope they fix this problem soon before they end up like my team

Donnchadh (Liverpool) 1 year ago

We have to give credit to Basel and Benfica here too. Yes on paper it looked like United would waltz through this group but Basel outplayed them both ties and Benfica got good results in Portugal and England. It is still a bit astonishing that they haven't even made it past the groups, and will be interesting to see how they respond domestically. Rooney has to shoulder most of the blame for me he didn't play well at all and seems to have gone cold. Of course I can't be talking s**t since Liverpool weren't in the Champions at all, definitely lost my top when Basel scored the second though

Chrystal Palace beat em, Basel beat em come on Wolves

Hill (Arsenal) 1 year ago

United's only wins in the champions league were against Gualti (sp), right?

Donnchadh (Liverpool) 1 year ago

Yessir, United weren't even that convincing against them one game. Needed a penalty to break the deadlock(a deserved one if I remember correctly) and than Rooney scored late again to make it 2 nil. The other match I think they outplayed them by a country mile but I don't really remember

PrettyFly87 (West Ham United) 1 year ago

Huge underestimation and lack of respect - that is the problem of MU. I bet none of MU fans bothered to watch Basel last year in Europa League, and many of them forgot how these Swiss fellows eliminated Liverpool several years ago from champions league. So this is a result. MU got used to the idea that Champions League starts from 1/4 finals - wrong.

To anyone who thought that Basel played unfair when scored first goal - b******s, this is a Man game and Smalling should stand up despite that painful hit from Vidic. If you ever had a fight you know that you don't feel the real pain imemdiately, it comes a bit later...

Donnchadh (Liverpool) 1 year ago

I agree with you completely. Any team at this level you have to treat with respect, give them there dues and play full tilt. It wasn't like United were dominant and just had an unlucky break I thought Basel outplayed them in both ties, and certainly deserved to win the second match if not the first as well.

As for the Smalling situation anyone that claims they should stop play is just desperate for an excuse. In no way do you stop the game in that situation it was his own player who leveled him anyways, and it wasn't even that hard of a hit. Got to get on with it as you say, the pain can't be that bad player's just go down and stay down too often these days. b******s indeed

LumpOfCelery (Chelsea) 1 year ago

And now Vidic is out for the rest of the season, not bright times

Hill (Arsenal) 1 year ago

I feel like Ferdinand looks lost without Vidic there beside him. They'll bounce back though. They always do

Donnchadh (Liverpool) 1 year ago

As a side note it was awesome to hear Gary Neville commentating on this game. You could hear the sadness and hurt in his voice watching his club lose. He even referred to United as we and our a few times in the match. He did give Basel their due though and wasn't that bad but I was really enjoying it haha

Juno (AC Milan) 1 year ago

You are just evil. I can see your sly smirk. Lol

ManUK (Manchester United) 1 year ago

I hope Don is never in the same room as Gary Neville, it could get ugly lol

LumpOfCelery (Chelsea) 1 year ago

I hope no one with a soul is in the same room as Gazza Nevs

FootballForever (Manchester United) 1 year ago

I think that there's three reasons we took a early exit from the champions league.
The first is Rooney had some very poor moments in the tournament. Though we can't blame it on Rooney entirely.
The second reason is we don't have much depth in the squad right now. Simple as that, a lot of the team just can't be replaced by anyone in the reserves.
Now the last and most embarrassing for me personally as a fan. Over confidence. As a long time player and fan I have seen many bad things happen by thinking you have a match won before it starts. In the world of Football, being pessimistic is better than being optimistic in most situations. If we had played Basil like we would have played if it had been Real Madrid, or Barcelona, that game would have been very different

Markodon (NK Dinamo Zagreb) 1 year ago

When you look at their group, it's obvious they underestimated their opponents

Ltm017 1 year ago

It is simple. The other teams in the group played better