EC ~ Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao - Mar 8
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EUROPA CUP 2012
VS 
Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Time: 4:00 am - (Live) (Fri Morning)
Mio Channel 102 in HD
Europa Cup
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gosh..if not for our in-form gk..we be a trashing like nobody business.
It's a joke on the 2nd and third goal. Evra just disappear suddenly..going in to the red shirt...although its a clear offside goal.
3rd..rafeal is a joke..What a safe from De gea..but rafael just jog..and not looking whats behind the rite side..
hm.... .. .....
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lost again at Old Trafford
Man United has only 45% of possesion wor
Both Manchester clubs suffer defeat -
It's not that important a match so it's ok. Anyway, i was very impressed by Bilbao's approach to this match. They were running all the time chasing and closing down too a point i was wondering whether they can last 90 mins. The plus point was they all seemed to be very young players so can keep it going, the down side is, they won't be consistent in every match.
It was a good match to let some of the players come back though. Like Anderson while resting Rio and Scholes for the important games...
Anyway, i think there are a few players in the Bilbao side that have caught the eye... Everyone has been going on about Llorente, a Torres like player but I think Muniain (play maker) and Javi Martinez (strong defender) stand out for me...
Even their manager in now link to the Chelsea job after this win... lol.
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De Gea was fantastic again... Man, this guy is becoming a great signing, at only 20 years old of age, he can only get better...
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Man Utd 2 - 3 Athletic
Ferguson: Athletic deserved their win
Athletic Bilbao celebrate after Fernando Llorente put them level at Manchester United.Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson insists his side can overturn a 3-2 first-leg deficit after being "well beaten" in Thursday's Europa League clash at home to Athletic Bilbao.
United suffered their second successive home defeat in the tournament as impressive Athletic came from behind to win on the night.
Wayne Rooney put United ahead, but Fernando Llorente headed an equaliser before the break. Athletic then turned the screw as Oscar De Marcos put the Basque side ahead and Iker Muniain capitalised on Rafael's defensive lapse to make it 3-1.
Rooney's injury-time penalty reduced the areas, but the Red Devils face a tough task to turn it around at San Mames next week.
"We were well beaten," Sir Alex said on the official Man United website. "Athletic Club Bilbao were the better team, they were very aggressive in terms of their attacking and pressing the ball. Their system caused us problems. All teams do that away from home - they overload the midfield which can cause you problems.
"When we went to three midfielders in the second half we seemed to get better and get a grip of the game and our attacking play was pretty good then. The attacking part wasn't a problem for us really, but our defending wasn't very good and it kept us on the back foot all the time. It was very loose, particularly in the first half.
"Without David De Gea, we could have conceded four or five goals. He was superb. He made maybe four or five terrific saves in the game.
"The second goal put us on the back foot again. I thought it was offside and if it had been disallowed, I think we could have won the game. Maybe not deservedly but I think we could have won it."
On the controversial third, he said: "The ref said to the players that you can't play without a boot. It seems a bit bizarre as Patrice only passed the ball about three feet. It was a bit unfortunate.
"We can win the game, I don't think there's any question about that. We showed tonight we can make chances against them. Obviously we're going to have to defend better, that goes without saying.
"His [Marcelo Bielsa's] team probably mirror himself. The work ethic of their team is fantastic. They worked harder than us tonight. That's the way he's built his team to work as hard as that and press the ball everywhere on the pitch. They never stopped running. They had a two-hour training session yesterday � one hour in the morning at our old training ground and one last night so they trained for two hours and still put that effort in tonight. It tells you everything about them."
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Only 6 comments?!? haha everybody must be pissed. I felt like I was watching the barca-utd final once more. Utd would start off brightly only to let the spaniards control the game. The technical passing was excellent by both sides, with bilbao that whisker better.
I think for the second goal....de gea could have dived? He thought the ball would go out because his body language signals that he was about to dive but pulled back. And the third goal....it's rafael once more. He was sent off in one of the UCL games against Bayern and now after de gea parries the ball, he strolls in no man's land. How crucial that 3rd goal is....we shall know next thurs.
Anyway, don't feel too bad la hahaha......we were knocked out by minnows rotor volgograd more than a decade back, also in the now renamed uefa cup. Schmeichel scored a header woohoo! I think we better focus more on the EPL.
