Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United

Antisocial said:
De Gea
Rafael---Smalling---Evans---Fabio
Jones
Cleverley---Giggs
Young---Rooney---Park

Bench: Amos, Evra, Carrick, Pogba, Chicharito, Berbatov, Valencia/Nani/Welbeck​
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This was my original suggested line-up, but with Rio confirmed as starting then I'd say we have to start Carrick, otherwise Rio will be under constant pressure through our likely wide-open midfield. So with Carrick and Rio both starting, then that's two of the players I most wanted rested starting the game, so on that basis we may as well put out the full first team and spend 90 minutes praying nobody gets injured.

With that in mind:

De Gea
Rafael---Evans---Rio---Evra
Carrick
Cleverley---Giggs
Young---Rooney---Park​

.. with Valencia getting 30 minutes ahead of Wolves and Scholes on the bench to change with Giggs or Cleverley depending on fitness.

Christ I hope this doesn't cost us against Wolves :(
 
adexkola said:
We should win at Wolves. If we don't, it's not because we played a full strength team 3 days ago. They're second bottom
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I was thinking back to last season when we lost to them and they were bottom and we had an unbeaten streak going in the league until then.

The difference this time is that they playing quite poorly and hopefully that will continue on Sunday and not be another game raising feckers.
 
Official lineup









elected-officials-2.jpg
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Jesus wept. You expect a football manager to pick his team based on how the team got to where they are now, as opposed to what they hope to achieve in the future? fecking madness.
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No i expect him to pick a team that gives us the best chance of winning the game, and playing a bunch of youngsters away in Bilbao when we have a deficit to overturn is tantamount to throwing the game, rather than attempting to win it.

According to your logic we can no longer challenge on all fronts as we did in the past, because we now have to play severely weakened teams much more often than we had to in the past.

Do you not remember our treble winning year? How many games we played with so few players. Or even last year when we played Carrick and Giggs in CM for the vast majority of the last 10 games. They didn't seem to need much resting and it coincided with our best run of the season.

So yes i am perfectly aware of the need to rest players from time to time, it is the overly excessive changes which have rarely worked, and have cost us our place in this years CL that i disagree with.
 
Shimo said:
I was thinking back to last season when we lost to them and they were bottom and we had an unbeaten streak going in the league until then.

The difference this time is that they playing quite poorly and hopefully that will continue on Sunday and not be another game raising feckers.
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I forgot about that loss.

Whatever Ferguson puts out is fine by me, and if we crash out, oh well.
 
Shimo said:
I was thinking back to last season when we lost to them and they were bottom and we had an unbeaten streak going in the league until then.

The difference this time is that they playing quite poorly and hopefully that will continue on Sunday and not be another game raising feckers.
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Wolves look completely destroyed - and unless most teams, things haven't improved since getting a new manager in. And now they are desperate for points - not to mention that they will have their fans against them.

If they don't get a good start, I cant possibly see them getting anything from this game.
 
Shimo said:
I was thinking back to last season when we lost to them and they were bottom and we had an unbeaten streak going in the league until then.

The difference this time is that they playing quite poorly and hopefully that will continue on Sunday and not be another game raising feckers.
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I know they lost to Blackburn at the weekend but they were all over them for most of the game. Any away game against a team fighting relegation is a tricky fixture at this time of year. Throw in their recent record against us and short-term improvement you often see with a new manager in charge and it could be a really unpleasant 90 minutes.
 
Not so sure Pogue. They've been in horrendous form. Their performance against Fulham was the worst I've seen all season, that and Bolton away at Chelsea. Slightly different story at home of course, but if we've our heads screwed on I can't see us having many problems.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I know they lost to Blackburn at the weekend but they were all over them for most of the game. Any away game against a team fighting relegation is a tricky fixture at this time of year. Throw in their recent record against us and short-term improvement you often see with a new manager in charge and it could be a really unpleasant 90 minutes.
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It's a tricky fixture but I'm glad we're facing them now under Terry Connor than under Mick McCarthy. Connor has been in charge for a few games and there has been no short term improvement. The only way they can win is if we play as badly as we did to Blackburn so we just gotta make sure our actual team turns up and no Rafael and Park in the middle nonsense.
 
Team: De Gea, Rafael, Evans, Ferdinand, Evra, Park, Cleverley, Carrick, Giggs, Young, Rooney

Bench: Amos, Smalling, Hernandez, Fabio, Scholes, Pogba, Welbeck
 
CONFIRMED MUFC XI:

de Gea

Rafael
Ferdinand
Evans
Evra

Park
Carrick
Cleverley
Giggs
Young

Rooney

SUBS: Amos, Smalling, Fabio, Pogba, Scholes, Welbeck, Hernandez.

No Valenica or Berbatov from the travelling squad :(
 
Too early for Valencia. Wonder if Giggs will be on the wing. Park on the wing is not that effective for attacking.
 
So, Young right or left?
Rooney upfront alone, hmm, interesting.
 
Not wanting to be pessimistic, but there's a very serious correlation between us sucking and both Park and Giggsy starting. Sigh.

Also, what does Dimi Berbatov have to do to get a game? Not even on the bench? It's not like holding the ball up to relieve pressure would be helpful...
 
Llorente will cause havoc again, deal with that giant ffs.
 
The match aside, i feel sorry for Berbatov. I would have Rooney on the left instead of Park and Berbatov up top and give him a chance to remind us what he can do
 
Ferdinand starts

according to uefa.com

Thought I saw Smalling in there ahead of him in a few posts.
 
nemanja15 said:
CONFIRMED MUFC XI:

de Gea

Rafael
Ferdinand
Evans
Evra

Park
Carrick
Cleverley
Giggs
Young

Rooney

SUBS: Amos, Smalling, Fabio, Pogba, Scholes, Welbeck, Hernandez.

No Valenica or Berbatov from the travelling squad :(
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This matches well with what Fergie said about their stamina levels. I think we can expect us to soak up pressure for at least the first half, possibly 60 mins before cutting loose.
 
Beachryan said:
Not wanting to be pessimistic, but there's a very serious correlation between us sucking and both Park and Giggsy starting. Sigh.

Also, what does Dimi Berbatov have to do to get a game? Not even on the bench? It's not like holding the ball up to relieve pressure would be helpful...
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Glad I'm not the only one that thinks that. Park is a waste of a shirt for me, especially in bigger games now. Over the last few years he has been fantastic but this season he doesn't seem particularly useful for anything. Don't get me wrong, I'd love him to continue with us playing well, but he's been on the whole poor this year. Rather have Danny on the wing.
 
Maciek said:
We start with only Rooney and Hernandez with Welbeck are simply better and we can't have three strikers on the bench.
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I dont think Hernandez has been better this season. And he is more a striker than Welbeck.. atleast for now.
And this is the Europa League.

I know he isnt in the long term plans and his time here is done, but I really love watching him play. this sucks.
 
Would have liked more strikers on, after all we need to score two or probably more goals.
 
It's the confirmed team according to nemanja15, but we'll have to wait for the confirmed official team....


It's a blend of exactly what I wanted and what I expected. Giggs or Scholes... I'd rather Scholes but can understand Giggs. Rather Valencia but expected Park.
 
Man-United said:
Would have liked more strikers on, after all we need to score two or probably more goals.
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We've got 90 minutes to do that, whats more important is that we don't conceed.
 
prateik said:
I dont think Hernandez has been better this season. And he is more a striker than Welbeck.. atleast for now.
And this is the Europa League.

I know he isnt in the long term plans and his time here is done, but I really love watching him play. this sucks.
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I wouldn't say he isn't in the long term plans. If he wants to be, he'll be. It's great to have such a player as fourth choice striker.

But some people won't understand. And on Sunday, if he doesn't start at Wolves (which is 99% sure), it will all start again... Where's Berbatov?!
 
Id like to see Giggs on the wing, Park has been very ineffective there lately. Not that he's been much better in the center, but at least he'll have Carrick and Cleverley there to help out. It's a very good line up though, stronger than I thought we would go with.
 
Solid team.

Do feel sorry for Berba though, having to travel and not even be on the bench.
 
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