UEFA Champions League/Europa League 22/23/24 Feb *** Spoilers ***

Not getting an away goal is going to hurt us. Marseille without their top scorer and main playmaker were there for the taking tonight and we screwed it up.
 
Dire game, but more down to Marseilles tactics than the lack of talent in the midfield, though obviously that didn't help either (anyone else bowled over by the irony of Gibson giving lip to other players for poor play?). Deschamps very clearly wants to decide the tie countering against United in Old Trafford; today they sat back, gave United a lot of room, and never really looked like pushing for a goal. Unusual for a home side at this stage in the Champions League, but I guess it either shows the ambition or respect they have.

Hopefully it's the former and we can 'resume normal service' at home.

Anyone with me on thinking the refereeing was pretty awful tonight? A bit confused on it given that the commentary barely mentioned it.

Marseilles getting multiple soft calls, and the odd one that you struggle to even figure out what the foul was, for instance Heinze's dive in our corner in the second half or the Marseilles LB practically sitting on the floor without Nani touching him and it apparantly being a free out.

Of course in the reverse the referee never spots the elbows or kick outs against our players, particularly in the air. The worst of the game was in the last two minutes, Nani and some French thug go for it in the air, and on the way down he kicks out at him. Hopefully we can get the 'Howard Webb' factor going at Old Trafford and be able to actually punish a defence that consistently relies on falling over or lashing out either with goals or cards. :p

But to end on a positive note:

How immense is Smalling?
 
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Shamikebab said:
Not getting an away goal is going to hurt us. Marseille without their top scorer and main playmaker were there for the taking tonight and we screwed it up.
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Would hate to see one of those games where UTD get an early lead and should score more ending up with a nervous last 15mins...

ooh err!
 
Shamikebab said:
Not getting an away goal is going to hurt us. Marseille without their top scorer and main playmaker were there for the taking tonight and we screwed it up.
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We'll need to be on the top of our game defensively as by tonight's evidence you'd expect Marseille to sit back and counter at Old Trafford. I'm fairly confident though given Smalling's performance though.
 
guyfawkes5 said:
Anyone with me on thinking the refereeing was pretty awful tonight? A bit confused on it given that the commentary barely mentioned it.

Marseilles getting multiple soft calls, and the odd one that you struggle to even figure out what the foul was, for instance Heinze's dive in our corner in the second half or the Marseilles LB practically sitting on the floor without Nani touching him and it apparantly being a free out.
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Yep they were going to ground very easily, Nani got whistled for nothing multiple times. That one in the corner where he beat Heinze (while having his ankles kicked repeatedly), beat the other defender....then the defender sat down and the ref gave them a freekick!! Appalling refereeing as always in Europe. Let me see, 3 legs I've seen (Spurs, Arsenal, United) all had appalling refs.
 
guyfawkes5 said:
Anyone with me on thinking the refereeing was pretty awful tonight? A bit confused on it given that the commentary barely mentioned it.
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Yep the ref was awful

If we played for a draw then Fergie got it spot on, but far too many square passes and going back to Smalling/Vidic/VDS for my liking. We really are in desperate need for a bit of flair, spark and creativity in centre midfield because Anderson, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes (these days) & Gibson are all far too samey. Gibson I thought was actually our best midfielder tonight and shouldn't of been subbed but like I said Fergie may have been playing for the draw hence keeping Carrick on

I dont have any doubts we'll have enough in the return leg, we always seem to just do enough against French sides so I can see a 1-0 home win (a score draw obviously would have been better tonight)
 
Shamikebab said:
Yep they were going to ground very easily, Nani got whistled for nothing multiple times. That one in the corner where he beat Heinze (while having his ankles kicked repeatedly), beat the other defender....then the defender sat down and the ref gave them a freekick!! Appalling refereeing as always in Europe. Let me see, 3 legs I've seen (Spurs, Arsenal, United) all had appalling refs.
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...and the worst part about this is the new officials contributing with nothing or the odd bad decision - extreme fail
 
I thought the moment that summed up how **** Gibson is was when he had the defender under pressure down the right and then just kicked him and gave them a freekick. He is monumentally stupid and just lacks every basic skill. Sure occasionally he gets a great goal, but how frequently? Is it worth putting up with someone whose passing is patchy, tackling is timid and movement is mundane?
 
Tom84 said:
If we played for a draw then Fergie got it spot on, but far too many square passes and going back to Smalling/Vidic/VDS for my liking. We really are in desperate need for a bit of flair, spark and creativity in centre midfield because Anderson, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes (these days) & Gibson are all far too samey. Gibson I thought was actually our best midfielder tonight and shouldn't of been subbed but like I said Fergie may have been playing for the draw hence keeping Carrick on
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Ironically Smalling was one of our few sources of creativity tonight, making the occasional inroad into midfield and beyond. Bit unusual for centre backs to be allowed to do that I would've thought... although I suppose if he was the right centre back I suppose O'Shea could've covered for him.
 
Shamikebab said:
I thought the moment that summed up how **** Gibson is was when he had the defender under pressure down the right and then just kicked him and gave them a freekick. He is monumentally stupid and just lacks every basic skill. Sure occasionally he gets a great goal, but how frequently? Is it worth putting up with someone whose passing is patchy, tackling is timid and movement is mundane?
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Gibson was far better than both Carrick and Fletcher tonight, on more than one occasion he put Nani through down the wings only for Nani to slip arse over tit
 
guyfawkes5 said:
Ironically Smalling was one of our few sources of creativity tonight, making the occasional inroad into midfield and beyond. Bit unusual for centre backs to be allowed to do that I would've thought... although I suppose if he was the right centre back I suppose O'Shea could've covered for him.
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Problem is like when Rio does that they run all that way and then end up passing it back, sure it looks good but a waste of energy if you're going to run so far only to then pass it backwards - that's probably why defenders aren't encouraged to bring the ball out of the back
 
Shamikebab said:
I thought the moment that summed up how **** Gibson is was when he had the defender under pressure down the right and then just kicked him and gave them a freekick. He is monumentally stupid and just lacks every basic skill. Sure occasionally he gets a great goal, but how frequently? Is it worth putting up with someone whose passing is patchy, tackling is timid and movement is mundane?
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Yeah thought that too, unnecessary hack that even Conference defenders would know how to draw a foul on.
 
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