MANCHESTER UNITED EXPECTED TO FACE BARCELONA WITH A STRONG AGENDA

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At this point of the season, the expectation for the rest of the season will be for Manchester United to mainly playing the highest level of football the club have shown they are capable of playing and winning as many games as possible in an attempt to capture a place in one of the top four positions in the Premier League table.







Up until this stage of the season Manchester United have constantly threatened to break into the top four places of the Premier League table coming as 2 points away from 3rd place and 1 point from a much stronger realistic 4th place position in the Premier League table. In fact, during the month of last December, the conversation had been dealing with the reality of Manchester United another season outside the Premier League table’s top four places. However, after a dramatic turnaround in Manchester United level of performance, the question surrounding Manchester United appears to be how much longer will Manchester United’s patients have to run before the Red Devils resurgence in performance is finally rewarded with a birth in the Premier League tables top 4? Manchester United continue to stun the spectators with their spectacular improvement in performance as well as better results this second half of the season and expectations is that Manchester United will find a way to overcome a difficult opponent tonight.






Next Wednesday's match will see Manchester United welcome a massive familiar giant of a foe in a Barcelona team whom Manchester United very recently had the unfortunate luck of experiencing a defeat to in the Emirates cup competition. With the memory of the defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton, the expectation is that Manchester United must have some level of revenge on their minds heading the Molineux Stadium tonight. Heading into next Wednesdays match the conversation concerning Manchester United has been the somewhat mediocre performance Manchester United put up against Watford and the loss at the hands of Wolverhampton for the second time this season during Manchester United’s last matches in the space of a week.





Manchester United came away with a 2-1 victory on the night which helped Manchester United earn fourth place in the Premier League table prior to Arsenal’s match against Newcastle United. Victory against Watford saw Manchester United jump into fourth place in the Premier League table and while the atmosphere around Manchester United had experienced a moment of joy and enthusiasm from the crowd, the Manchester United seemed to be much more disappointed in the poor level of performance they themselves had displayed as a team. Manchester United manager,  Ole Gunner Solskjaer was quoted after the game saying


“The feeling around the dressing room was almost like a funeral home. They all sat there, it was very quiet. They were all disappointed in their performance at the full-time whistle. It was not like jubilation because we won and we got all three points. They (the players) all knew that this was a below par performance. Which is great because you want players to be hornets with themselves. “
                              (Ole Gunner Solskjear)





Granted the irony of the Manchester United team feeling disappointed about their victory might not have been lost on the occasion but the knowledge that the Manchester United teams continue to  hold themselves to higher standards will be a source of consolidation and a source happiness also especially as Manchester United head into their massive encounter with Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final. 





Manchester United have every reason to be concerned about Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona team considering the amazing run of form the Catalans are currently operating on. 21 wins, 8 draws and 2 losses have the Catalans currently bulldozing their way through the Spanish La Liga this season. With the trio of Lionel Messi, Luiz Suarez and Ousmane Dembélé all combined for an average of 68 goals so far this season and with the shot on target percentage sitting at an average just above %50 for the majority of players on the entire Barcelona roster Barcelona continues to appear like an unbreakable fortress this season.





Should Manchester United successfully huddle over Barcelona and book a place in the semi-final, this will be the first time Manchester United have secured a semi-final berth in the UEFA Champions League in over 8 years. With such a piece of knowledge in mind, difficult to see how anyone can expect the upcoming clash between Manchester United and Barcelona not to overtake Manchester United’s already accomplished major victory over Paris St German on the scale of achievements in this seasons UEFA Champions League competition.





Under the reign of current Manchester United Ole Gunner Solskjaer, Manchester United have already shown massive progress towards playing positive football and turning themselves into a club that can possibly challenge for the Premier League Trophy and much more next season, but should Manchester United successfully defeat Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final stage, the achievement might be the biggest of Manchester United’s season so far with Solskjaer as head manager.





The obvious elephant in the room which most people associated with Manchester United football club will be expecting to see coming into this week's massive encounter with Barcelona will be the topsy turvy performance and results Manchester United have recently encountered in the clubs last three matches in all competitions. The loss to historic rival Arsenal was followed with yet another loss to this seasons surprise Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers. 





A decent victory against Watford in the last week of March 2019 was anticipated to be Manchester United’s recovery from the clubs recent minor slump, however, recent double losses to Wolverhampton in the space of barely three weeks have left questions surrounding Manchester United’s ability to defeat Barcelona in this seasons upcoming UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal match.








Manchester United is still considered to have improved from the team they were last season but for Manchester United to categorize themselves as trophy contenders, good-steady performances with victories are needed now until the  rest of the season. 



Barcelona will prove to be a difficult team to break so the strategies implemented by Manchester United during the course of the match in regards to how Manchester United intend to handle Barcelona will be interesting to witness tonight.

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