The Carling Cup is back and the youngsters would be rubbing their hands in glee knowing full well that they will get an opportunity to impress tonight. Sir Alex has put complete faith in them for the cups in the previous years and the reward has been the wins in the last couple of years. And United must be fancying their chances given that Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City are already out of it. United legend Bryan Robson thinks that we are on our way to a hat-trick of titles but Arsenal are still in with a shot with a difficult away trip to Newcastle and Wolves are no pushovers as their display against Chelsea on the weekend showed. Wolves have had a bad start to the season and are just ahead of West Ham on goal difference in the table and they have City visiting them next. So, there is a decent chance that Mick McCarthy could field a weakened starting line-up making survival in the league his priority as he did at Old Trafford last season, choosing to virtually lose the game before it started. But let us assume that he will not do the same. Stephen Hunt returned from injury to make his debut for the season against Chelsea and will start. So should Serbian midfielder Milijas who had a good game at Stamford Bridge. Kevin Doyle remains a threat to any defence with his mobility and predatory instincts and he scored twice in the previous round to put them through.
Expected Team(Wolves): Hennessey, Ward, Stearman, Foley, Edwards, Berra, Jones, Jarvis, Milijas, Hunt, Doyle
United will certainly continue with fielding youngsters in the team and Obertan, Bebe, Gibson, Amos and Macheda should start. Owen is back and could be making his first start in a while. We could also see Hargreaves in the first team for the second time in 2 years after his prolonged battle with knee problems. That would be a big boost for the team in terms of not only this competition but also the league where we need to strengthen our midfield.
Expected Team(Manchester United): Amos, Brown, Smalling, Evans, Fabio, Obertan, Anderson, Gibson, Bebe, Macheda, Owen
Wolves passed the ball pretty confidently against Chelsea and kept possession for significant amounts of time. They could do the same especially if our midfield does not hold the ball which is certainly a worry but we have pace upfront which will trouble them. The defence also is pretty strong and can hold against the Wolves attack. Overall, we have too much quality all over to see beyond a win for United.
Prediction: 2-0
Rafael for Brown.. Probably Park too for some defensive help on the wings..
ReplyDeletethanks for another brilliant preview!
ReplyDeletei think kuszczak will start ahead of amos. the boss has to be considerate to the pole :)
is hargreaves back in the squad? fergie recently said he picked up a knee injury. i think we'll have to wait for a few more weeks before we seem him play.
really looking forward to seeing obertan and bebe on opposite flanks. and would love to see eikrem, cofie or pogba take some part too.
wolves i think will go all out to win this game. carling cup is high priority for teams that don't have a realistic chance of finishing in the top 4. i see your point, but mccarthy will convince himself that its too early to be looking at the league table :)
Chicharito looks like the next sensation at OT. As they say - Born Finisher.
ReplyDeletedidn't get Ten Action last night :(
ReplyDeletedownloading the game now.
Chicharito is the new solskjaer!!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust watched the highlights on Footytube.com (according to me the best sites for watching highlights of the matches). Things I learned from the match.
ReplyDelete1. Ben Amos can never be No. 1 for United.
2. Even though the faith shown in him was justified when we sold off other young defenders, Johny Evans seems to be getting worse by the match. The last 4-5 times I have seen him play, he gets easily beaten for pace by most strikers. He gets easily brushed off the ball. He commits to wreckless challenges. And most importantly, he is invariably involved in all of the other teams' goals. They usually come from his side.
3. I still think Michael Carrick has a huge role to play this season. There were glimpses of his vintage performances last night. But still a long way from his best. I think Fergie just needs to let him run one game. Maybe give him a start with John O'shea next to him in midfield. At the peak of his powers, I rate him higher than Fletch.
4. Obertan was involved in a lot of good moves. Needs to work on his crossing a little bit. But his performance looked good.
5. Bebe can't dance saala
download complete this morning. will watch the game tonight.
ReplyDelete@Ritssss: was amos so bad? in fergie's time, i don't think the academy has produced even a single good goal keeper.
evans hasn't had a great start to the season. but generally, last season and the season before that, he did well whenever he was given a chance. fergie let pique go because we had evans. we'll trust the old man here and be patient for an year or two to let evans gets to pique's level.
yes. carrick looks low on confidence. fergie should probably give him a string of games to find his form back.
there s a shortage of left footed wingers at united. valencia, nani, park, obertan and now bebe are all right footed. wen giggsy doesn't start, we don't see as many crosses from the left wing as we do from the right. there is a lot of diff between nani, the left winger and nani, the right winger. do u think ikam's idea of using evra up the pitch or in the wings could solve this problem?
bebe's dance was ROFLic. :D
and how can u not mention CHICHARITOOOOOOOO? :)