Villarreal vs Manchester United: Champions League Gamethread

No Ole, ole ole ole, ole... ole... for Manchester United as they sit under caretaker Michael Carrick. It makes me feel old to see men I remember watching play stand in dugouts, but I reckon that will only get worse in time. Unai Emery looks like he might actually want to attack tonight, check this out:

I could be wrong, but what this reads like is a possession based 442 with a top two of Danjuma and Yeremi. If that’s the case, then expect Trigueros and Moi to pinch in and let their fullbacks overlap them, especially on that left side where an interplay between a dropping Danjuma and a charging Estupinan seems very enticing. Parejo and Capoue is the very best double pivot we are capable of putting out, but let’s see if the Frenchman can go a full 90 minutes or not. Foyth will be helping lock down the right side of our formation, and with respect I don’t really see us creating too much from that side of the formation. Yeremy will probably end up being the more central of the two forwards which is not his strong suit, and to me there would have been a case for putting Dia up top with Danjuma and letting the young winger bomb down the right.

Van De Beek makes a start in what is a serious diversion from the mind of his previous manager, as is the inclusion of Jadon Sancho. Sancho, in particular, is incredibly talented and I would not liked to have seen him starting today. I don’t think much at all of a pivot including Fred and McTominay but with the inevitable Cristiano Ronaldo spearheading the attack that might not matter.

Thoughts?

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