Alert: CL Round of 16. Real Madrid v. Manchester United, Wednesday, February 13th [R]

To all Madrid fans, there is not a United fan on this forum who has us as favorites, not one tells you something that we know we have gaps and problems but we can beat Madrid, so please calm down.

 

Ok now the nervousness is creeping up on me, come on United we can do this.

 

It hit me a couple of hours ago. Going to a be a rough ride until the match.

 

Well apart from you and maybe one other, all I have to go on is the idiots who seem to think that we'd be lucky to only lose by 3 or 4 goals. This is not a small club. We've won the CL more recently than your team has, we're winning our league and have enjoyed a much more successful decade. There's almost no reason to be overconfident, but some are despite the fact that over here, we've pretty much tempered our expectations.

EDIT: to be fair, I should have said some of your fans.

------

Kagawa as the 10 would be cool. He'd fade quickly with the man-marking responsibilities but I'm okay with that as we can always make changes. I'm okay with Cleverley as the 2nd CM rather than Jones, particularly if Wayne tucks in from time to time.

 

"I'm 99% sure that we will score, it won't be that hard."

"Madrid win 5-1"

"Being realistic, the Champions League is our focus this season and there is no reason we won't go out there and destroy United at our fortress. I predict 4-1."

"Kaka should come on around the 60-70th min. He might just be able to boss United like in 07."

All quotes taken from the game thread on the Madrid forum. Optimistic? Yes. Reasonable? That's debatable.

 

I don't think us scoring three or four goals is out of the ordinary. We're more than capable of that. The question is whether you also score a hat-full. I doubt there's more than two or three posters who think we will spank you easily. The vast majority of the shit that I read in our forum is perfectly reasonable. Although I do have one guy on ignore so I might be missing something.

 

First one is perfectly valid. Second is a prediction, a hopeful one, possibly bravado but not likely to happen. Third one is valid (I'd be more than happy to predict a 4-1 at our house if we were on form and had a full squad. But we're not and we don't). Fourth one is a hope.

The only one that is on the bounds of delusion is the 5-1.

We have the better players overall, you have the team in better form and you have a world-class striker list, better than our forwards at the moment. Nothing would surprise me in this match, but I expect us to win at home with a low score, hopefully a clean sheet. If we get that, we'll go through provided we use our counter-attack well in the second leg. But if you snag a couple of goals at our home, you could tear us a new one at Old Trafford.

 

Damn that's sexy baby.

 

That is what I get for not sleeping.

 

Umar you live in some other dimension where Madrid coasted through the group stages and are cruising in the league. A 4-1 prediction where we get destroyed at your fortress is reasonable? Foh.

 

If we're on form, we're more than capable of that result. We beat Bilbao 5-1 at our house, beat Valencia 5-0 away, beat Sevilla 4-1 at home. They aren't Manchester United, but believe me if we are on form we can get that result against you. I don't think we will though, because Fergie will shut up shop if a gap of two goals for us opens up, and hope to get a goal on the counter and bring it back to Old Trafford.

I've said this tie can go either way even though I'm confident (I've got no choice but to be confident, the CL and the Copa is all we have to pin our hopes on for the whole season). If you guys were predicting a 4-1 win at Old Trafford I wouldn't be getting all butt-hurt about it and saying that all your fans are stupidheads. Although I might take aim at that one individual, post 'em in the "STFU Thread" for giggles, but that's about it.

 

Get out, you fascist!

 

The fact is, no one is dumb enough to say that. That's the point.

 

Not butthurt just think y'all are crazy.

 

Actually it's more of a prediction of what SAF is (IMHO) likely to do.

In terms of helping the team, keeping Rooney withdrawn centrally gives him the chance to pin back Alonso and help United neutralize Real's midfield. Kagawa gives you a creative attacking option on the left, while Valencia gives you the work-rate to defend and is nearly as dangerous attacking as Nani. Personally, I'd like to see Nani start on the left (or Ashley Young) instead to give us a little more speed and opportunity to turn Madrid's defenders . . .

It's certainly going to be an uphill battle for the Reds!

 

Now I know you are crazy.

 

Valencia is only dangerous if you are operating heavy machinery.

 

Come on, I am pretty sure if we gave him an automatic weapon he could stir up some trouble.

 

Or sitting in the stands.

 

I swear to fcuking god all these randoms come out of the woodwork when a big match comes around and never bother to watch regular season and cl group play.

Then show up in here with their "expert opinions" on tactics and players.

 

I think you got it backwards. SAF will hope to get a goal on the counter in the early stages or in a tight game. But if you score a couple of goals, we will certainly be changing strategy and pushing to score.

 

amazing all the folks who know more than Ferguson about the talent difference between Valencia and Nani . . . or maybe it's the Nani of 2 years ago?

 

See, that might make sense if Valencia was playing average this year and it was just Nani fans who were bitching about him. But Valencia has been garbage. There are bunnies more dangerous than Valencia this season.

 

Of course there is.