Sir Alex Ferguson would be glad that the Rooney affair has been put to rest after a harrowing week and the players can focus on the business at hand. But it won’t be easy. As it is not only Wayne who has to prove himself to the fans all over again when he returns in 3 weeks, but the squad, whose potential and capability have implicitly been questioned by Rooney, will look to show they have what it takes to win titles. Stoke City can be expected to make them work hard every inch of the way. Britannia stadium is a tough place to look for our first away win of the season though we have to go all the way back to 1993 when Stoke City took points off United so we at least have that working for us. As always, Stoke can be expected to be tough all over the park, maintain their structure and use their big strikers. Oh, and the very very long throws from Delap. Ricardo Fuller is a major doubt for the game, but otherwise, they have their whole squad at their disposal. Etherington has been a crucial player for Stoke this season providing half of the assists which is the best record in the league by proportion. Kenwyne Jones, bought from Sunderland this season, has gelled well with his new team mates and scored 4 goals already. The Potters would be hoping to route their attacks through him and his strength could be a handful for the United central defensive pairing.
Expected Stoke City Team: Sorensen, Huth, Faye, Collins, Shawcross, Delap, Etherington, Pennant, Whitehead, Walters, Jones
This is the second least productive beginning to a Premier League season for United. With Chelsea winning last evening, the gap between United and them is 8 points. Three draws in the last 3 games have dented hopes of a record 19th title and except the Sunderland match, those have been points that have been thrown away. Clinical is a word that has been conspicuous by its absence this season for United and they have to take their chances to maintain their hopes of chasing down Chelsea. Sir Alex has been giving opportunities to the hitherto overlooked pair of Anderson and Carrick in the last few games and Scholes has been rested (he did make good use of that rest, allegedly injuring Rooney in training that will keep him out for some time). Expect Scholes and Fletcher to be given preference for this game along with Nani and Park in midfield. Ferdinand has been given the nod by the manager a couple of days back ahead of Smalling who started in the Champions League. The attacking pair of Berbatov and Chicharito is likely to be retained against Stoke but Rafael could be sacrificed for the more solid right back in the form of John O’Shea. Giggs, who provided both the assists for the 2-0 win at Stoke last season, is a big miss and limits the attacking options for us, should we need a goal from the bench. Tony Pulis has said that Rooney signing a new deal is a big lift for United and would encourage them but I think that players would be a bit shaken from all that happened last week and therefore, predict a 1-1 draw.
Expected Manchester United Team: Van Der Sar, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Park, Hernandez, Berbatov
Player to watch (Stoke City): Kenwyne Jones – Ability in the air, strength and form make him a danger to United
Player to watch (Manchester United): Dimitar Berbatov – His creativity could be the difference between 1 and 3 points on a day when space will be at a premium
Form (Stoke City): L W D W W L
Form (Manchester United): W D W D D D
Prediction: 1-1 (the fan in me is screaming a 1-0 win)
Brilliant preview Ikam! Many thanks!
ReplyDeleteI agree with u on O'shea getting the nod ahead of Rafael to counter their aerial threat. Shawcross vs Nani is terrifying. An injury to Nani at this stage and we can kiss the title goodbye.
I have a very negative feel about this game. :(
Nice preview. This season, there has not been a single game that has given us hope that we can easily get hold of the maximum points in an away game. A draw has become the most probable result even against teams in the middle of the table.
ReplyDeleteA win in this game can definitely be a confidence booster both for fans and the entire team.
A draw in this game and I can see Rooney smiling :(
Looking at our results this season,for the first time I do not wish to see a nail biting 90+ mins from United.
A comfortable win is all I wish and I know its tough.
Prediction : 2-1 win.
did anyone watch the bursaspor game? how did carrick, anderson and park do? carrick and park were dreadful against valencia.
ReplyDeletecarrick did a gareth barry against west brom. he remained invisible. but for one cross to berba early in the game, he was very unimaginative. kept playing short, horizontal passes through out the game. was he any better against bursaspor?
chicaritoooooooo
ReplyDeleteLoved the reverse header ... Needed that bit of luck in the end to get our first away win !! Hopefully we will now getting results consistently.
ReplyDeleteRelief! If we had dropped points, the web would be flooded with articles on Rooney being right about the team lacking quality. Chicho, you beauty!
ReplyDeleteMy Ratings:
Vandy (7) - a good game after that dreadful error last week. should get his confidence back.
Nev (4) - lucky not to get his second yellow. we would have played with 10 men for one full half!
Brown (6) - did everything right today. good to see him back in the team. hope he keeps his trap shut and doesn't upset fergie again. will prefer seeing him over oshea in games where rafael doesn't start.
Rio & Vida (8) - dealt very well with the innumerable long balls into the box. rio was struggling towards the end. hope its nothing serious.
O'shea (5) - a typical oshea performance. good in defence, poor in attack.
Evra (7) - had a good game in the wings. an assist to his name should do good to his confidence. he committed early on tuncay and was beat easily. should have done better there.
Scholesy (6) - controlled the game well but his mistake led to their equalizer. he had misplaced a few passes prior to that, fergie should have taken him off a few minutes earlier.
Carrick (-1) - what has happened to him? :(
Fletch (6) - still not the fletch of last season
Nani (7) - good game. should have passed instead of shooting on a few occasions.
Obertan - would like to see him play more often.
Berba (7) - he loves playing behind chicho, doesnt
Chicho (9) - outstanding game. with some luck, he would have grabbed his hattrick. good movement for the first goal and good reflexes for the second. we don't need that fat bastard now, do we?
We need lot more efforts from the mid field to support our flourishing forwards. I believe that the defensive errors in our first two away games overshadowed our weakness in mid-field.
ReplyDeleteOur game against Bursaspor was ordinary except for the goal from Nani which was way early in the game. Carrick was lacking form and even made a mistake with a sloppy back-pass(which he is quite often dng nowadays) only to be saved by a wonderful tackle by Rafael. Park game was very ordinary and he cannot be blamed entirely because such were the quality of thro' balls from Anderson and co.
There weren't much attack from Bursaspor and we should have scored more goals.
its a shame that we still rely on scholes so much for creativity in midfield. carrick is the only player in our squad capable of such imagination and creativity, with all due respect to fletch. but with every passing game, it increasingly looks like carrick's time with united is over. he is a good player with a good attitude. i really hope he finds his form back before fergie looks to offload him.
ReplyDeletecleverley will be back in jan according to fergie. i saw a few games of his in pre-season and he looks promising. i want fergie to give him a few chances instead of making a bid for defour in jan.
has this defour guy recovered from his injury?
I Think we shud start playing 4-3-3 at home with chicarito,Berba,Wazza to cover up the lack of creativity in Mid.This wud really give an entirely new dimension to way we attack upfront..
ReplyDeleteunited's best attacking formation is 4-4-2. tried and tested. giggs/valencia and nani on the wings, berba and chicho up front, scholes and fletch in midfield is our best attacking 11. we have been playing some good football at home. we thrashed newcastle and west ham. we were doing good against liverpool and west brom as well until those crazy defensive fuck ups led to disarray. dont think we need to change much when we are at home.
ReplyDeleteand 4-3-3 for united is defence minded. its essentially a 4-5-1. on the counter, it becomes a 4-3-3 with park and nani supporting one of the forwards. 4-3-3 is to pack the midfield and not let opponents score. it has produced magnificent results in CL away games, the recent valencia being a good example. using it against PL opposition like sunderland is giving them too much respect.
doubt if our players will adapt to 4-3-3 as an attacking formation. 4-3-3 for barcelona/germany and 4-3-3 for united/holland are for different purposes. not sure if using 3 forwards to counter the lack of creativity in midfield will work.
"we don't need that fat bastard now, do we?"...
ReplyDeleteU do DA... he is a match winner... can win things on his own... and once u ve big matches both in EPL and UEFA, you have to rely on him to fire...
@jusrooit: i know. hard truth :(
ReplyDeletemy guess is he'll be sold off in june. so 2 options now,
a. make the best use of him until he is there, a la ronaldo.
b. prepare for life after rooney, by blooding youngsters.
a combination of a and b is ideal from results point of view, but i personally dont want to see rooney in the united shirt again
Nani would be difficult to fit into a 4-3-3 with the 3 strikers upfront already. Since we don't have a winger on the left who is as effective(Park is losing pace), I would like to see Evra being used as Cole is at Chelsea. Playing high up the pitch without a winger in front of him and one of the strikers or Fletcher supporting him could be possible. The formation would be a 4-2-2-2 with the 3 strikers out of which Rooney and Berbatov tend to fall back so they can be one of the 2 behind the strikers with Nani, and Scholes and Fletcher in the deep midfield. I would prefer Brown to be the right back to provide a solid 3 man central defence when Evra is out of position. But it is a formation which would be a sea of change from the current one and is unlikely to be used.
ReplyDeleteThe fans (including DA) needs to give him 1 more chance. Listen what the fans have to say -
ReplyDeletehttp://ht.ly/2ZmCl
"We need to give him 1 more chance. I will give him 1 more chance."
@ikam: AC Milan for a while used to play 4-2-2-2, if I am not wrong, with Pirlo-Gattuso, Kaka-Seedorf in midfield. (Fu*k, what a midfield!)
ReplyDeleteBrazil in this WC played 4-2-2-2 with Maicon doing the Evra role.
The problem with this formation is there is no width. With world quality wingers like Sir Ryan, Nani and Valencia in the squad, it would be a crime not to use the width. 4-2-2-2 would be useful in squads flooded with playmakers (like the Milan squad of 4 years back). It won't suit our current squad.
My fav is a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Chicho
Nani-Berb-Tony
Scholes-Fletch
@kunal: time will heal. i generally don't hold grudges for long :P
ReplyDelete@Rajesh- Valencia is a long term doubt so I suggested Nani on one wing and Evra rather than playing Park when he wouldn't be able to deliver. Also, when all our strikers are firing, I would like to see them play together. When Valencia's back, 4-4-2 would be great.
ReplyDeletepark has lost a lot of pace from last season. he put in some terrific performances against top teams last season. arsenal, milan, liverpool come to mind. maybe because of the WC he didn't get enough rest and that's hurting him now. he understands tactics incredibly well and against teams of equal quality where tactics decide the winner, park is very useful. may he find his form back.
ReplyDeleteGod hrd u DA... Park was gud against wolves.. Macheda needs to do better after the expectations ppl attach with him after 2 crucial goals last season..
ReplyDeletethank you fergie for listening to my prayers!
ReplyDeletemay carrick find his form back now. :)
macheda is only 19 years old. he needs 4-6 more years to reach his peak level. but this dude comes across as cocky; giggs, scholes, neville should take care of that. i strongly believe he is going to be one of the best players in the world.