These are our opponents to get to the group stage proper - some tough ties in there unless we draw Brugge or Vienna. MUFC possible UCL opponents: Brugge, CSKA, Rapid Vienna, Monaco or Lazio. Celtic on the other hand have to beat one of this lot - Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) Malmo (Sweden) Skenderbeu Korce (Albania) Astana (Kazakhstan) These changes in the CL are going to make things tougher for the top teams and easier for champions of weaker leagues.
I fear so, Monaco beat Arsenal last season and CSKA beat City and we have no balance, cohesion or continuity at the moment.
Lazio, CSKA and Monaco all have the attacking options to cause us problems. I can only hope they get too confident and leave space in behind for Depay to exploit. We need the game to be open to have any chance.
Musa could give Blind a 30 yard head start and be a further 30 yards beyond him by the time that floppy haired Dutch twat managed to turn around.
In general though, I expect another poor season for English clubs (as it stands) as far as the Champions League is concerned. None of the top 4 from last year are well rounded enough to make a deep run into the late stages of the CL. Obviously things can change before the window closes, but as it stands I just don't see it.
Some interesting predictions from the writers at the Guardian on the upcoming season. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/aug/05/premier-league-2015-16-season-predictions
I am actually pretty confident that we will. Beyond that what we would do depends on the group we will fall in.
I don't like Lazio. I'll be mad if Lazio beats Manchester United. Manchester United plays Friday 14 August at Aston Villa, which gives Manchester United more rest before the first leg on 18 or 19 August. In between legs, Manchester United hosts Newcastle United on 22 August. Given that Aston Villa and Newcastle United were near the relegation zone last season and Aston Villa lost Benteke, should Manchester United not use their best players in those games to improve their chances in the Champions League Playoff Round?
If there's one thing we know about Van Gaal is that, for the most part, he's always had the team ready for big games. Our record vs top 6 opposition which was the best in the Prem last season, bar Chelsea, is proof of that. United will be up for the CL qualification tie and will make it thru regardless of the opponent.
That might well happen if we fail to qualify. Spending all that money and having the same stats and results as Moyes is unacceptable.
those complaining with the way we're using depay won't like klopp. his system is basically a 442 with a playmaker playing off a 9.