Porto (2) V Man United (2) CL Match Thread

Headshot

Trilla wrote: »

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cournioni

Mr Alan wrote: »

Utd will win.

No doubt.

Damn you! We don't need any of your Scouse pessimism in here! :pac:

m@cc@

I can't believe how many times it's been stated that Porto have never lost at home to an English team, as if it bears any relevance to the outcome of the game. I remember the same was true a few years ago of Deportivo La Coruna, until about 90 minutes before United beat them.

Mikeyt086

m@cc@ wrote: »

I can't believe how many times it's been stated that Porto have never lost at home to an English team, as if it bears any relevance to the outcome of the game. I remember the same was true a few years ago of Deportivo La Coruna, until about 90 minutes before United beat them.

Exactley.

These records are bull****, they have to be broken sometime. Like the one about Ronaldo scoring, against Liverpool we went 1-0 up and they spent about 6 mins talking about how "When Ronaldo scores first, United DONT lose!" low and behold, we lost 1-4.

If a team has never lost at home, that doesnt mean they will never lose at home.

Mitch Connor

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

Exactley.

These records are bull****, they have to be broken sometime. Like the one about Ronaldo scoring, against Liverpool we went 1-0 up and they spent about 6 mins talking about how "When Ronaldo scores first, United DONT lose!" low and behold, we lost 1-4.

If a team has never lost at home, that doesnt mean they will never lose at home.

Also, they keep saying the record is that Porto have never lost to an English side at the Dragao stadium, which was opened in November 2003. Seriously, just how many times can Porto have played English sides there, for the record to be all that meaningful?

Carroller16

2-0 to the world champs tonight

redout

kinaldo wrote: »

How many English sides have they played?!

I dont know the exact number off hand but can tell you since 97 they have played Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man Utd at home and never been beaten by any of them. So that speaks for itself.

LuckyLloyd

redout wrote: »

I dont know the exact number off hand but can tell you since 97 they have played Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man Utd at home and never been beaten by any of them. So that speaks for itself.

More relevant for tonight's game is the fact that they haven't been beaten since November in any competition.

RasTa

Macheda to get us through.

Boggles

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

More relevant for tonight's game is the fact that they haven't been beaten since November in any competition.

Féck it, United don't need to win, a 3-3 draw will do it and keep all current records in place.

Skud

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

More relevant for tonight's game is the fact that they haven't been beaten since November in any competition.

arsenal were undefeated after 49 games when we played them...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/3950453.stm

quad_red

I'm not looking forward to tonight.

We've been waiting for a motivated response to the Liverpool tonking (the peak of a malaise that had started much earlier) for a few games now.

Rio being back is a big bonus. But the gameplan is built on a functional, coherent midfield plan. And at the moment I don't have much confidence in our central midfield being able to over much.

I hope I'm wrong though

Liam O

I doubt Porto will come out to attack tonight but if they do we're screwed imo. (jinxing)

nicklauski

I think United will go through tonight. It's going to be tough but I reckon we sneak a 2-1 win.

m@cc@

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

More relevant for tonight's game is the fact that they haven't been beaten since November in any competition.

You'll have to explain the relevance I'm afraid. They've played 3 games in the CL since then. The rest have been in a league ranked 8th in Europe (+ a few cup games against even weaker oppostion).

nicklauski

Look lads the fact of the matter is that records are made to be broken.
United had never won on Italian turf before the Juve game in 99.
The won 3-2.
United hadnt conceded a goal since November until the Newcastle game.
The've conceded 5 in 3 games.
Chelsea hadnt been beaten at home for what, 2 and a half years.
I think they lost 3 in a row when Liverpool beat them.

The thing is, if United start like they did against inter, and bury one or two chances early, they'll progress.

Mitch Connor

Well, it shows that they are a team full of confidence, which is a problem for United as apart from Kiko, Ronaldo, and possibly Rooney, we have none.

United need to get back to the basics of defending tonight, the midfield has been offering no protection to our backline recently (apart from Fletcher), and that simply has to change tonight, which is why it is such a disappointment that Fletcher is out of the game.

The main reason United have been so good defensively over the last couple of seasons, imo, is that the midfield was never quickly bypassed. They always got into positions to slow the opposition down which allowed the rest of our team to funnel back into position and restrict the space allowed to the opposition. In the last month or two, we have been letting the opposition midfield and forward line stream through the midfield, meaning we are constantly getting outnumbered and stretched at the back. Need to get back to basics, and we need to do so tonight.

Mitch Connor

Anderson is ready for tonight

18:33 Did I really just seethat? Anderson has scored a brilliant overhead kick in training! He's still looking for his first United goal and Wednesday night would be the perfect occasion to open his account.

(From the blog on the United site)

nicklauski

Was just reading that blog myself.
Hopefully Anderson plays tonight. He really puts himself about and even though he hasnt scored from play for United, tonight would be ideal for him to score.

m@cc@

Every game that David May has started vs FC Porto, he's scored and United have won. Fergie, I think you know what to do.

LuckyLloyd

m@cc@ wrote: »

You'll have to explain the relevance I'm afraid. They've played 3 games in the CL since then. The rest have been in a league ranked 8th in Europe (+ a few cup games against even weaker oppostion).

Winning regularly breeds confidence and belief. Teams get used to winning which makes them tougher to beat etc, etc. Methinks their performance from last Tuesday should have earned more respect than they are being shown in this thread...

nicklauski

No one has said that Porto are a bad side.
I think the majority of people just think that United have what it takes to beat them tonight.

m@cc@

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Winning regularly breeds confidence and belief. Teams get used to winning which makes them tougher to beat etc, etc.

Look at United's results before the Liverpool match, 1 defeat (to Derby in the Carling Cup) since November. But that meant little to the match, United were humiliated.

deisedevil

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Well, it shows that they are a team full of confidence, which is a problem for United as apart from Kiko, Ronaldo, and possibly Rooney, we have none.

United need to get back to the basics of defending tonight, the midfield has been offering no protection to our backline recently (apart from Fletcher), and that simply has to change tonight, which is why it is such a disappointment that Fletcher is out of the game.

The main reason United have been so good defensively over the last couple of seasons, imo, is that the midfield was never quickly bypassed. They always got into positions to slow the opposition down which allowed the rest of our team to funnel back into position and restrict the space allowed to the opposition. In the last month or two, we have been letting the opposition midfield and forward line stream through the midfield, meaning we are constantly getting outnumbered and stretched at the back. Need to get back to basics, and we need to do so tonight.

Would have to agree with that. Need to start closing down better in midfield, lately it seems much to easy for teams to get past our midfield and I think that it's just down to lack of effort more than anything else. When we were getting good results and looked strong this season we were constantly closing down in midfield and our quality of passing was very good. Lately the quality of passing and closing down in midfield has become very half hearted and it's just down to lack of effort over anything else, so we lose the ball easily, don't link up well with our attackers and then when we don't have the ball we don't do enough to win it back.

In 06/07 season we had lost to Roma 2-1 and then lost to Pourthsmouth 2-1. We took on Roma in the next game and due to midfield doing some serious closing down and fantastic passing we destroyed Roma and saved our season. Tonight could be the same if the same level of effort is put in. Confidence will only come back when the team (especially midfield) get the work ethic right again!

m@cc@

nicklauski wrote: »

No one has said that Porto are a bad side.
I think the majority of people just think that United have what it takes to beat them tonight.

Exactly, we were down and out against Juve, 1-1 at home and then 2-0 down within 10 minutes in the second leg. Granted, we don't have a Keane-type figure in the team but to use a cliche 'anything is possible'.

Plus, I find it hard to respect Helton, everytime I see him play, he looks like an outfield player having a go at being a goalkeeper.

herbieflowers

I don't think Porto are up to much defensively, I think there's goals in it for United if they go at them.

LuckyLloyd

nicklauski wrote: »

No one has said that Porto are a bad side.
I think the majority of people just think that United have what it takes to beat them tonight.

Aye. But posts along the lines of '2-0 and kick on for the rest of the season from there' aren't particularly realistic about the task facing Utd tonight. Utd are favourites and rightly so - but it isn't going to be a stroll.

Anyway, I'm just hoping for a game as good as last Tuesday.

nicklauski

m@cc@ wrote: »

Exactly, we were down and out against Juve, 1-1 at home and then 2-0 down within 10 minutes in the second leg. Granted, we don't have a Keane-type figure in the team but to use a cliche 'anything is possible'.

Plus, I find it hard to respect Helton, everytime I see him play, he looks like an outfield player having a go at being a goalkeeper.

I think he had a shocker in the first game.
He spilled quite a few of Ronaldos efforts and although the ball does move a bit in the air, I think a professional keeper, if he's in the right position, should be able to catch them first time.
They was one effort he spilled and when he recovered it he was actually laughing.
If the grass is slick enough tonight i think a few pop shots could trouble him.

ntlbell

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Aye. But posts along the lines of '2-0 and kick on for the rest of the season from there' aren't particularly realistic about the task facing Utd tonight. Utd are favourites and rightly so - but it isn't going to be a stroll.

Anyway, I'm just hoping for a game as good as last Tuesday.

It's going to be far from a stroll it's going to be very very tough I'll just be happy if united show up.

I do find it amusing tho that united to win 2-0 is unrealistic but talk of teams over turning a 1-3 defeat were thrown around willy nilly with not as much as an odd look.

Boggles

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Methinks their performance from last Tuesday should have earned more respect than they are being shown in this thread...

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Aye. But posts along the lines of '2-0 and kick on for the rest of the season from there' aren't particularly realistic about the task facing Utd tonight. Utd are favourites and rightly so - but it isn't going to be a stroll.

Anyway, I'm just hoping for a game as good as last Tuesday.

They do deserve respect and have been getting it on this thread, no one is under any illusions how tough this match will be.

That said I can't get too carried away with Porto, they have met with the imposter that was a Shell of Man United last week, not Porto's fault, but if the real Man United stand up we will see the gulf in class tonight.

With Ferdinand and Berbatov back , United should * be too much for them.

* NB match can go títs up like in the past.

Skud

good man usain... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8000085.stm

Liam O

m@cc@ wrote: »

Exactly, we were down and out against Juve, 1-1 at home and then 2-0 down within 10 minutes in the second leg. Granted, we don't have a Keane-type figure in the team but to use a cliche 'anything is possible'.

Plus, I find it hard to respect Helton, everytime I see him play, he looks like an outfield player having a go at being a goalkeeper.

Well Rooney could be that figure, the only reason we have any goals in this tie is because of him.

Liam O

Skud wrote: »

good man usain... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8000085.stm

Like how he added 'in the English league' to his 'greatest team' comment :mad: He 'supports' Madrid as well, no?

Skud

Liam O wrote: »

Like how he added 'in the English league' to his 'greatest team' comment :mad: He 'supports' Madrid as well, no?

Not sure to be honest. He was helping ronaldo recently with his sprinting. Guess he supports whatever club gives him money :P

ShooterSF

Does anyone think the porto coach being suspended might help United?

Boggles

ShooterSF wrote: »

Does anyone think the porto coach being suspended might help United?

Definately, it certainly won't Help Porto, I don't think it ever does.

A7X

Being honest it really shouldn't to professional footballers, but it can have a mental effect i suppose.

I know I'd be dissapointed if it would effect us a great deal if SAF was suspended.

Mitch Connor

depends how tactically aware the coaching staff are, and how involved they are. If the Porto manager is very hands on, his complete lack of input could see poor tactical decisions later in the game.

PHB

Can you not just stay on the phone?

Headshot

PHB wrote: »

Can you not just stay on the phone?

not allowed to talk to your team at all

ntlbell

Headshot wrote: »

not allowed to talk to your team at all

heh, well he wouldn't be ringing the bleedin players

Boggles

Headshot wrote: »

not allowed to talk to your team at all

Even at half time??

A7X

Im pretty sure hes allowed talk to the assistant coach or whatever.

I've seen it been done before anyway.

redout

Big Jack has constant contact with the walkie-talkies at USA 94 no ? Pretty sure thats not allowed anymore though.

Mitch Connor

A7X wrote: »

Im pretty sure hes allowed talk to the assistant coach or whatever.

I've seen it been done before anyway.

Officially, no. In England, a manger suspended can still talk to the coaches, but isn't allowed in the dressing room. In Uefa competitions, a manager is banned from having any contact, at all, with the team from something like 5pm the day of the game. Not sure on the time, but certain that are officially forbidden from communicating with their team in any way. Of course people still look for ways around it....Jose....

Carroller16

Managers suspended means nothing sure Steve Staunton was suspended for the Cyprus Ireland game a couple of years back and look what happened... oh wait...


But seriously it means f all

Headshot

ntlbell wrote: »

heh, well he wouldn't be ringing the bleedin players

Boggles wrote: »

Even at half time??

not sure mate

Mitch Connor

For those who simply won't take my word for it...shame on you.

http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/download/regulations/uefa/others/72/95/88/729588_download.pdf

Page 23

Article 70 Ordinary enforcement of suspensions
1 A team manager/coach who is suspended from carrying out his function may
follow the match for which he is suspended from the stands only. He may not enter
in the dressing room, tunnel or technical area before or during the match, nor may
he communicate with his team.

ntlbell

Thems maybe the rules, but they always do, it's near impossible to police

I'd set up a TV in the changing rooms and get in touch with setanta to do a "special 1 TV"

ring jose and well...

sorted...

Liam O

Mitch Connor wrote: »

For those who simply won't take my word for it...shame on you.

http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/download/regulations/uefa/others/72/95/88/729588_download.pdf

Page 23

can't communicate with his team may mean that he can contact the Assistant who in turn will contact he team? Maybe but who cares? We should win no matter where the manager is.