I also think Cleverley will be rested. He has had alot of football recently, with the Olympics, England and for ourselves, and will also be part of the England squad next week. Might see Anderson or Scholes take his place today.
Southampton vs. Manchester United
- Thread starter nemanja15
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
I also think Cleverley will be rested. He has had alot of football recently, with the Olympics, England and for ourselves, and will also be part of the England squad next week. Might see Anderson or Scholes take his place today.
----------DDG
Rafael-Evans-Vidic-Evra
Valencia-Anderson-Cleverley-Nani
----------Kagawa----------
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Rafael-Evans-Vidic-Evra
Valencia-Anderson-Cleverley-Nani
----------Kagawa----------
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He's back training but not match fit yet.
No Carrick?!
G Nev co-commentating on our game.
Rested me hole, if he's fit he should play.
He's 23. There hasn't been a match in over a week.
This, definitely.
Totally agree.
This a young lad who's spent most of his career frustrated at missing large chunks of every season.
There's no sense in ruining his momentum at a time when he is actually fit.
With Scholes and Giggs, it's not a case of "they haven't played for a while so they could do with a run out." They are now back up players, and should be used accordingly.
He is still the best midfielder at the club though, bar Carrick whose duties are different.
Well tbf we don't know how much Clev can offer us next to a Carrick or in general really given he's barely featured. Scholes undoubtedly has a better passing range than anyone at the club, but in truth he is the best passer in the league, particularly so now with the departure of Modric. However the mobility clev has which can help us both in attack and defence with the talent he has shown, should make him a better player for us right now.
It's got to the point now where we need to give Cleverley his head. It'll be better for the side in the long run. I don't see the need to keep relying as heavily on Scholes, especially in a game against Southampton.
We need to cut that umbilical cord...
We need to cut that umbilical cord...
I love Tom and hope you're right. He's brilliant at what he does, but if we were to judge them separately then Scholes stil edges it. You can be right about being the best for us atm mind.
surely not.........Anyone got the official team yet?
The match is nearly 4 hours off.
Kick off is at 4. We won't get team news until around 3.
Yeah individually scholes has more to his game but he also has more drawbacks imo, and that may make Clev a better option, he doesn't have the attacking quality scholes has but I think he can help the team more. Well I hope anyway.
We do. We saw last season that we have no-one else who can dictate the tempo like Scholes, and that is down to experience. now TC and Ando are fit, they should get as much game time as possible.
I would use Scholes as we used Giggs last week, bring him on for the last 15-20mins, when everyone is a bit tired and then he can help us see the game out.
We do have to keep them involved though, at their age you cannot miss 4 or 5 games and still come back sharp. 15-20 mins every few games should be enough to keep them up to speed, but while TC and Ando are fit they must start now imo. It's the only way they will get the experience to be able to control games.
Yep.
If we're not going to entrust the likes of TC and Ando against Southampton, then when will we give them the nod?
Scholes and Giggs should be used to see games out, as you said, and in periods where we have fatigued/injured players.
yes exactly, and we should also be looking to get a consistent pair in the middle and a bit of form going forward, especially into the anfield match soon.
Personally I think we should be using cleverly and carrick as much as possible, yeah fine to rest them when the schedule gets hectic towards christmas and when the cup comps really get going,but when the games are 7 or 8 days apart there is absolutely no need to be resting 23 year olds like cleverly.
we should also be scaling back on the use of scholes and especially giggs.
The more games clev gets the better he will get.
In big games, I think we'll see a lot of Kagawa from the left, Cleverley and Anderson as the CM duo, and Carrick holding. It's then a scramble for the final two places - RW and CF.
Can't see that personally, neither ando or clev are so good that they could justify both being included with Carrick and Kagawa, over one of our wingers. Would make more sense to have Carrick and clev/ando, with Kagawa in attacking mid and then 2 wide attackers and a central striker.
Is this going to be televised?
Yeah I would use them as match closers and they can be important in some home games against weaker teams so that we can rest others. I wouldn't mind them in some away games but I think right now it's important to give clev/ando lots of game time, particularly clev and carrick who are likely to be the first choice pairing but have barely played together. Hopefully we start with them, get the game won quickly and then we can bring in the likes of scholes ahead of the international games.
Yeah it's the 4pm kick off on Sky sports 1
Cheers, Newcastle vs Villa kicks off at the same time so I thought it might have been a European decryption job.
Yeah, but with Kagawa drifting infield, it'd give us a lot of coverage in the centre - Carrick, TC, Ando and Kagawa in central areas would be great in terms of trying to control the midfield.
Still ample width from the two full backs and the right winger.
I think such a system is key to us really competing in games against the top sides.
I'll favourite that, thanks
These are the games where they have to learn to step up and perform, when the atmosphere is hostile and conditions not particularly favorable.
It's ok doing at at OT, but if they are going to make it for us, then it is these tricky away games that we are still expected to win, when they have to roll up their sleeves and produce the goods.
Tricky game today - it will be like a cup final for these feckers. I can see them all putting in super human performances. You have to fancy us to win but I wouldn't be surprised to see us come away with just a point
Fair enough, I don't think we would need to go as compact as that. A central 3 of carrick, clev and kagawa should have more than enough, adding Ando at the expense of Nani or Valencia, or even potentially Rooney, is just ott imo, particularly when he is nowhere near the attacking threat they are and in the other 3 midfielders we should have answered the problem of our midfield coming under so much pressure.
We're playing Southampton at St Mary's ffs not River Plate!
If we were to come up against Barcelona or RM, the benchmark in my opinion, I think it's a formation we will see.
To an extent, we need to suffocate City's midfield a lot more effectively too, especially away from home.
I personally don't think that Kagawa drifting in from the left is too drastically different from when we play Young or Nani there. Granted it's less width, but the general pattern when one of those play there is to cut infield, with Evra providing the overlapping run.
Aye, but the Dell used to be a horrid ground to go to!
Wonder if Alex will make the bench. I hope he gets a run out.
Maybe against Barca sure, but then I think you'd be trying to match them in the middle and that might work it might not, personally I think wth Kagawa in there we'd be in a better position to hit them on the counter with our wingers, but then in fairness that could be equally as problematic.
In general though I don't think we need to go there because our wingers are arguably our strongest point. Narrow teams like City, Chelsea and Arsenal can all be exposed by wingers. The problem we've had is the balance. We've lack midfields that had that balance of quality and energy and we've lacked a third player to help them out.
I think the issue with having clev and ando, as well as carrick and kagawa is that the former 2 have never shown much of a goal/attacking threat. A player like Nani/Valencia offers you the same work rate but a much great threat on the ball, I just can't see why you'd swap one of them out for Ando.
I can see where you're coming from and against someone like Bara it might be a good sign, particularly if Ando kicks on, but as I said in general I think it would be unnecessary, we have relied on our wingers too much in the past, but they're still a big part of what makes us different imo and one of our biggest weapons. The addition of Kagawa and Clev stepping up should give us that extra strength in the middle both defensively and attackingly, that should answer the problems we've had in the past.
Very amusing, but im sure you got the point. If TC and Ando start at St Mary's today, they will be up against it. They will have to fight for the right and keep composed under pressure and not give the ball away.We have taken that for granted with the likes of Scholes being in our midfield for so long. The youngsters have yet to learn how to control the pace of games, and only by doing that can you boss proceedings away from OT.
This is what they will have to be able to do and do regularly, if they want to prove they have what it takes to take over the mantle from the likes of Scholes.
Does anyone know of a way to watch the match on an iPhone? Not in the house and I can't watch it on sky player as my phone is jailbroken 
Could be a bit of a tough fixture for the first while but I'm not really worried about dropping points here as we should be plain sailing by about 60mins.
Could be a bit of a tough fixture for the first while but I'm not really worried about dropping points here as we should be plain sailing by about 60mins.
It's even worse now ....it's a shopping centre!