United vs Bilbao!!!! Why's there no hype????

Arquitecto wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:anyone has the possession numbers?

50-50%

Bilbao 20% more possession in the final third

That's what I like to see.

70-30 is ovverated.

50-50 is where it's at.

Not sure where to put it but whatever.

Man Utd's leftside got utterly raped the entire game.

Space to cross, space in between leftback and leftcenterback, time on the ball to shoot in that area left side of the box...just the entire left side was a mess.

Evra to me, looks done.

Football the way i like it, pass and move, go into empty, never stay stationary, make the ball work for you. At times Utd looked like they had no idea what was happening.

II Capitano wrote:I don't expect us to struggle at home, probably a comfortable 2-0 win in the first leg. We'll have a full strength squad, with experience at the back, too, which was missing against Ajax. However, I'm worried about away from home because Athletic Bilbao have proved they can notch up their level by a couple of gears and really outperform their opponents. It's also a hostile atmosphere.

Senor Penguin wrote:Football will lose if United knock them out.

I hope that would happen and football wins!

Le Samourai wrote:Fergie after Basel...: "We would've made the CL final"



Top thread this! Really looking forward to the second leg now! WOOO! Go Bilbao!

Btw, who was that MAn U player for Bilbao's 3rd goal? Omg he just stood there and watched the ref and the rebound :lol!:








:vagi:

Llorente is a doubt for thr 2ng leg.

De Marcos has the flu as well.

Combine Man Utd's strong performance and Bilbao's loss on the weekend...im quite worried.

Damn Llorente is so crucial

Meh....Ander can handle this by himself.

On a real...

De Marcos won't be missed, I actually think Torquero will work nicely in a match like this, he'll definitely frustrate United with his smart play.

Llorente is another issue....

Since they get back Amorbieta perhaps Push Javi up into midfield

............Javi.........Iturraspe.............
Susaeta........Ander.............Munain
...................Torquero.................

Ander can be the focal point without llorente there

Mr Nick09 wrote:De Marcos has the flu as well.

The flu??? Man, I thought the basque had balls...

Under estimating Man Utd big time by casually saying "Ander will handle this by himself".

Because its Europa League

Lol, its a Shame especially for United.

Edited

Formation is solid though.Hopefully Amorbieta dosen't get red carded and give away a penalty.

Scholes,Jones,etc whoever plays for United Ander and by extension Javi are just plain and simple better than them.They won't be able to compete.Scholes will get exhausted, and everyone else is just a level below.

Ander is not better than Scholes...please, stop it.

If he plays, they are going to be alot better than last week where while being outplayed, they only lost by a single goal and Bilbao had to hold on in the end.

We'll see.

Right now at this very moment...yeah I think he's better than Scholes.Not even the same position though...that comparison is perhaps better aimed at Javi..who again if you ask me this season and right now....has been better and therefore is better as well.

Doubt Scholes will last the entire 90 if he starts as well...

They hand to hold on for the traditional United 5 minutes at the end of games where all of a sudden they magically start playing well.Bilbao dominated the game , completely and utterly dominated, it actually reminded me of the first leg of the super copa where Messi just somehow snuk a couple goals to pull a draw out of nowhere.

Underrating United players is natural from me, it's second nature, take every word I say about United with a grain of salt.My hatred for them and Fergie exceeds basically anything else.

Scholes wont have to last the 90 if he does what he is capable of.

Bilbao did dominate, but dominating doesnt always mean you win.

Well we'll have to wait and see , but if Ander puts in another masterclass you can expect some light trolling coming your way.

Glad we established that he's facing formidable opposition (provided Scholes, the other decent ones...Anderson and Jones play as well).

Man utd are flat track bullies, against good technical teams such as bilbao they always get outclassed but in the past they could rely on their defence to get them out of trouble. This season though they are too inexperienced and against good teams that know how to exploit it their defending has been rubbish, check their champions league record this season.... awful



raphael looooooool

scholes or no scholes if the spaniards are on their game they should win

Le Samourai wrote:Well we'll have to wait and see , but if Ander puts in another masterclass you can expect some light trolling coming your way.

Glad we established that he's facing formidable opposition (provided Scholes, the other decent ones...Anderson and Jones play as well).

When was the 1st masterclass?

Alright....I can't do this one right now...but the first masterclass was obviously the first leg.

He at the very least put in an excellent performance- masterclass is a bit of an exaggeration.

Let's just wait on the other game.

He had a good game, like the rest of the team (minus San Jose)...nothing to shout about mate.

As you said, lets wait and see. I believe your understamating Man Utd, especially their ability to not play well and still win.

Utd. do have an uncanny ability to play horribly and scrounge a result... not necessarily a win. However, they are looking at a pretty tough ask to beat a team that utterly dominated them for the majority of the 1st leg at Old Trafford. Let me repeat that... *ahem* AT OLD TRAFFORD! I know they don't care much about the Europa League, but Old Trafford is always a hostile place for an opposing team to play. Bilbao effectively went there and pulled down United's pants in public (winning my heart in the process).

United will put up a fight in the second leg, but I would be surprised to see Bilbao bottle this badly enough to lose the tie at home. De Marcos can be accounted for, but I'm most worried about Llorente being out. Resting him for the first half at the weekend (among others) exposed the lack of creative depth. The squad overall looked tired and out of ideas. Maybe Toquero can do the job, but Bilbao will miss Llorente's physical presence occupying United's central defense.

In all fairness to Josh, Ander does deserve some of the acclaim he is receiving as Bilbao with him are a much improved side despite the cohesive sqaud.

As for United, no chance in hell is any of my fellow euskadi are ruling them out as we know what they are capable of on their day along with their strong and clutch mentality.

Normally you would hear quite negative about my teams on worried about their mentality in big games.

But not with Bilbao.

I grew up in a typical Basque footballing camp in where they all follow the same Basque philosophy and regiment and I can say with confidence (and a few painful memories) that we are essentially engineered for these types of high pressure situations as Bilbao thrive under pressure and siege.

You will NOT see Bilbao chocking to United as the latter can only overcome Bilbao over tactical know how and a superior performance but not by exploiting the team mentality.

In other words, if United think Bilbao will choke they can guess again. But I'm sure SAF has this in mind.

As much as a loss the visionary De Marcos is, along with the all-capable Llorente (who offers much much more than physical presence), I am confident the team can still overcome United.

My solution would be to place the talented Ibai in a free forward role with the intelligent but hard working Toquero to support him. But ideally it would be better to have Toquero as a lone forward role since Ibai doesn't have the chemistry yet with the team.

With Amorbieta coming back and Javi hopefully moving back into CM, this presents good fortune for rojiblancos.

Plus the San Mames is the most intimidating place in all of Espana.

My line-up: 4-2-3-1 (PLEASE BIELSA!!)


Iriazoz
Iraola-San Jose-Amorbieta-Aurtenexte

Javi- Iturraspe

Susaeta- Ander-Muniain
Toquero

if basel hadnt conceded that late penalty


united still need to score at least 3 clear goals or win 0-2 ..
if anyone can, its united.. sounds cliched but they have been known to make things tough for themselves and still win in the end(porto 09)

but i think bilbao will go through, well hope actually