Manchester United vs. Norwich City

Rest the old guards: Rio, Vidic, RVP, Carrick and Evra. In their places should be Smalling, Evans, Welbeck, Anderson and Buttner. Maybe play Powell to partner Anderson in the centre. I'm curious to see this combination. Give Kagawa some more game mins on the left too. Nani should have more practice on the right. Rooney needs match practice too.

.......................DDG.....................
Rafael...Evans...Smalling...Buttner
Nani...Anderson...Powell...Kagawa
............Welbeck...Rooney...............
 

De Gea

Valencia--------Smalling--------Evans--------Buttner

Anderson---------Cleverley

Young----------Rooney--------Kagawa

Hernandez​
 
I don't know if those people who want to play our strongest side in this game are more obsessed with beating Mourinho's 95pt season than giving ourselves the best chance in the CL or are they genuinely that worried about the league despite the 15pt gap.
 
Don't care about Jose's record but if we could play a full strength team vs Everton 3 days before the 1st leg, I don't see why we can't play a strong team before the home leg either. It's all about momentum and I'd like to keep it up prior to the derby.
 
SAF admitted he was going to make 8 changes to the team against Everton until he saw City's result and realised the game's importance. This time around I'm certain he's going to make lots of changes. It would still be a strong team, good enough to beat Norwich.
 
Norwich are the last team that has a chance to do the double over us this season. At least one team has done the double against us in the last 8 of the 9 seasons.
 
Rest Vidic, Carrick and RVP. Play the rest.
 
--------------De Gea------------
Rafael--Smalling--Evans--Buttner--
---------Anderson--Giggs---------
Nani----------Rooney------Kagawa--
-------------Hernandez------------


Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Cleverley and RvP to come in for the Madrid game.
 
i think Vidic will play against Norwich but will be on the bench against Madrid
 
de gea, valencia, smalling, evans, buttner, nani, cleverley, anderson, young, rooney and hernandez.

with van persie, welbeck, giggs, carrick and one of rio or vidic on the bench.

should be good enough to get 3 points.
 
I say - play strong sides for the next 2 league games (and by strong I mean rest a few players but not half the team) - and after that I predict we have a bigger lead than 12 points with only 9 matches remaining. And then we start resting players if required
 
lysglimt said:
I say - play strong sides for the next 2 league games (and by strong I mean rest a few players but not half the team) - and after that I predict we have a bigger lead than 12 points with only 9 matches remaining. And then we start resting players if required
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if we don't beat madrid, we'll have no reason to rest players after that. the midweek fixture has got to be the priority. given the position we're in, i'll gladly field a team like

de gea

smalling - jones - evans- buttner

valencia - anderson - giggs - young

hernandez - rooney

if rooney is the only outfield player we field against real.
 
Norwich really aren't that bad a team and I doubt we'll play Anderson Giggs in midfield. That would basically mean zero control of midfield. One of Carrick/Cleverley will definitely play imo.
 
wr8_utd said:
Norwich really aren't that bad a team and I doubt we'll play Anderson Giggs in midfield. That would basically mean zero control of midfield. One of Carrick/Cleverley will definitely play imo.
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I wouldn't mind losing the game for a chance to beat Real. We might have to consider the eventuality of playing 120 minutes on Wednesday.
 
evra said:
Exactly; Real have to put out a strong side against Barca. Why would we give up the advantage of having fresher players?
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Because the league isn't won, and that's more important?
 
Sandikan said:
Because the league isn't won, and that's more important?
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It is but at the stage we're at, I feel we could take such calculated risks. If Barca go out, we are in as good a chance as we'll ever have to win the Champions League.
 
Hitchcocker said:
I wouldn't mind losing the game for a chance to beat Real. We might have to consider the eventuality of playing 120 minutes on Wednesday.
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:lol:

And what happens if we lose both then?

Won't we look stupid. We need to maintain momentum. We are likely to have a CL hangover the following weekend, so there's potentially 3 loses in a row.

Imagine supporting a team & be happy to lose.
 
Colin129 said:
:lol:

And what happens if we lose both then?

Won't we look stupid. We need to maintain momentum. We are likely to have a CL hangover the following weekend, so there's potentially 3 loses in a row.

Imagine supporting a team & be happy to lose.
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Well, at worst, we'll have a 9 point lead and we're out of Europe. We can then focus the rest of the season on the league...with a 9 point lead.
 
No no. If City had dropped points today a very weak team might have made sense but we might as well keep up the pressure and not let the lead slip below 12. Good strong team vs Norwich with Rio getting rested. Play the rest, win it by the 60th minute and then rest Carrick, RvP and Rooney.
 
They already had a lot of rest after the away game with Madrid. Most of the important players didn't play against Reading, and now they got a 6 day break before Norwich and 3 before Madrid with both matches at home.

We could rest players later if we still got a big lead, I don't think many players are tired anyway. Evra got a 10 day rest ahead of yesterday while RvP and Carrick didn't play a lot against Reading. The other players can't be too much in need of a rest.
 
Man-United said:
They already had a lot of rest after the away game with Madrid. Most of the important players didn't play against Reading, and now they got a 6 day break before Norwich and 3 before Madrid with both matches at home.

We could rest players later if we still got a big lead, I don't think many players are tired anyway. Evra got a 10 day rest ahead of yesterday while RvP and Carrick didn't play a lot against Reading. The other players can't be too much in need of a rest.
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The three before Madrid will be important and it's great that we're playing at home, thus giving us more time for rest and preparation instead of the traveling.

Players like Rio and Vidic need to be wrapped in cotton wool before Madrid because for them, it's either play against Norwich or Madrid, not both. And as for the other players, I am only concerned if the game goes into extra time. Players like Rafael, Evra and Carrick have rarely been rotated out of the squad and I'd just feel better if they had a rest before Madrid.
 
--------------De Gea-------------------

Smalling------Vidic----Evans----Buttner

Nani------Carrick----Cleverley----Kagawa

-----------Rooney---Hernandez----------

Subs: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Rafael, Anderson, Giggs, Van Persie, Welbeck
 
Play any old team. Just stick them in Liverpool shirts, so Norwich will be tricked into conceding at least three.
 
NinjaFletch said:
Why do people not want Evans to play against Madrid?
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I'm with you - ideally I'd have Evans and Vidic for Madrid. But honestly all three of them are playing well enough at the moment that it doesn't matter which pair he chooses.

I think it's important to get a win against Norwich for momentum purposes if nothing else. As Fergie keeps telling us, the mood in the squad at the moment is obviously excellent, and we don't want to put a dampener on that just before Madrid by snoozing to some lame draw or loss here.

For the same reason (or a similar one), Rooney should definitely play both. He's a 'momentum' sort of player.
 
Grant Holt is back... we should just give them the points and concentrate on Madrid. More chance of getting a result there than against Norwich.
 
Sandikan said:
?
4 home games in a row.

The West Ham away game will get moved. Well unless Chelsea and Middlesborough draw, then presumably we'd still play them.
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Sorry I misread your post.

prateik said:
Grant Holt is back... we should just give them the points and concentrate on Madrid. More chance of getting a result there than against Norwich.
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;)
 
I really hope Evans plays against Madrid, we'll need his distribution.
 
de Gea
Rafael Smalling Vidic Buttner
Carrick Anderson
Valencia Rooney Young
Hernandez
--
Lindegaard; Evans; Cleverley, Giggs, Nani, Kagawa; Welbeck​

In my opinion, leave out Evra, Ferdinand, and van Persie altogether. Not sure on Vidic/Evans, whoever starts this probably goes on the bench for the Madrid game. It will probably be Carrick who is rested for this game and Cleverley starting, since he didn't start at QPR for some reason (or SAF could just play both and bring one off for Anderson).

The wingers are the most difficult to predict. At the moment I'd like us to start Valencia and Nani against Madrid, but I can see SAF wanting to play Welbeck and Young... We should go for the more traditional 4231 United formation with out-and-out wingers in the Home game for me though, we need to take the game to Madrid more.

A team similar that should be more than enough to beat Norwich at home.
 
I'm sure SAF will want to be a fresh as possible v Madrid on Tuesday. I could see Carrick not starting v Norwich. RVP obvious will not start. Hernandez will start. One of Welbeck and Rooney will be on the bench as well. Evra will start. I have no clue on the CBs.

I think SAF will start RVP, Rooney and Welbeck on Tuesday. I think Ferdinand will start on Tuesday. Who the other CB is we'll know that if Vidic starts Saturday or not. My guess id that the midfield will compact for Tuesday's match. I think that means no Young, Valencia or Nani. to start although I wouldn't be chocked if Valencia starts. I will if one of the other two starts.

Still, I can't figure which way SAF will go.
 
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