[Hellboy]

Seeing a lot of people going with 4-3-3 it's Burton lads

 

[Android1974]

Seeing a lot of people going with 4-3-3 it's Burton lads

The problem is, if we want to rest some players that are surely starting against Southampton away in three days, we just don't have enough attackers to play 4-2-3-1.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Gutted to hear Tuanzebe is injured, this game was ideal for him to get 90mins.

 

[Android1974]

Gutted to hear Tuanzebe is injured, this game was ideal for him to get 90mins.

Was it? He was going to start ahead of? And, I suppose, playing out of position.

 

[Canagel]

Just rest De Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Matic, Mkhi and Lukaku. I'll be happy with any starting 11 as long as those guys are rested.

 

[Reddevildans]

Mourinho has said he's resting Bailly, De Gae, Valencia and Matic. So we won't be seeing them. Like to see Lukaku and Mikhi not involved too.

 

[minoo-utd]

Rotation is so important here, Resting Matic,Mkhi, Lukaku, Valencia, and Bailly is a must I reckon for the Southampton game. Would like to see Carrick and Herrera getting full 90 mins, to be more match fit. Any news on Shaw?

 

[No Idea For Nickname]

Axel Tuanzebe is set to miss Manchester United's Carabao Cup tie with Burton Albion and Reds manager Jose Mourinho has revealed four players have been rested ahead of Wednesday's clash at Old Trafford.

Promising teenager Tuanzebe is out with a back problem, while David De Gea, Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly and Nemanja Matic will be handed a night off.

"I gave two days off only to four players," revealed the boss. "Apart from that, everybody is selected. Do you want to know which four? De Gea, Valencia, Matic and Bailly."

When asked if he is taking the competition, which the Reds won last season with a 3-2 triumph over Southampton at Wembley, seriously, he replied: "Oh, yes. Serious. Because it's football, it's competition. We take it seriously.

"Of course, we're not playing David or Bailly but, if we go to the next round, probably these guys will play and I will give a rest to others. Our squad is good.

"We don't have 30 players, we have what we have, and a couple of injuries right now with Paul Pogba and Axel Tuanzebe. So we need some of the players that played on Sunday to play and we need some to be on the bench.

"We need to be with a strong team. I know the quality of the Championship and I know, if we don't take the game seriously, we are going to lose."

Tuanzebe, meanwhile, is hoping the injury does not keep him out for too long as he bids to impress the manager over the course of the campaign.

"I've been struggling with my back, but the rehab's going well and, behind the scenes, everyone is doing a good job," he told ManUtd.com.

 

[roseguy64]

Rotation is so important here, Resting Matic,Mkhi, Lukaku, Valencia, and Bailly is a must I reckon for the Southampton game. Would like to see Carrick and Herrera getting full 90 mins, to be more match fit. Any news on Shaw?

He didn't play the U23 game on Monday and he's been declared fit by Mourinho

 

[Android1974]

Mourinho said Matić and Fellaini are in the best form he ever saw.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

------------Romero
Darmian - Smalling - Lindelof - Blind
---Carrick - Herrera - Fellaini
--Lingard - Rashford - Martial

 

[ti vu]

Was it? He was going to start ahead of? And, I suppose, playing out of position.

I have a feeling Mourinho would use these kind of game to experiment, say 5 at the back. Shame though.

He didn't play the U23 game on Monday and he's been declared fit by Mourinho

Sound like would get involved this game

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Hope that Mourinho only play youngsters and squad players that needs game time. To me, League Cup is a meaningless competition. Im saying this even though we won the cup last year.

Towards the end of last season, we ran out of steam and our squad was on their last legs because we competed in 4 competition. In the end, we have to give up the EPL to concentrate on Europa League only.

Knowing our luck with injuries, we don't have the squad to compete in 4 competition. Also, Mourinho very seldom do rotation. We almost always started with our strongest team in League Cup last year. We have to be sensible and this is the season to only focus on EPL and CL. Forget about FA Cup and League Cup, leave it to the reserves.

 

[ti vu]

Hope that Mourinho only play youngsters and squad players that needs game time. To me, League Cup is a meaningless competition. Im saying this even though we won the cup last year.

Towards the end of last season, we ran out of steam and our squad was on their last legs because we competed in 4 competition. In the end, we have to give up the EPL to concentrate on Europa League only.

Knowing our luck with injuries, we don't have the squad to compete in 4 competition. Also, Mourinho very seldom do rotation. We almost always started with our strongest team in League Cup last year. We have to be sensible and this is the season to only focus on EPL and CL. Forget about FA Cup and League Cup, leave it to the reserves.

Disagree, friend. League gives you a chance to win a trophy soon mid season. It can serve as morale boost. Being in EL was what really took its toll on our team last season. Since we aimed to win it, it became a hinder for us in other competition.

We would try to push as far as we can in CL, but realistically it's over our level to win even if we put 100%. So unless big teams somehow got eliminated, then we know full well that is one less trophy we can get. So grasping league cup is decent achievement.

Our squad should be enough to spread for all competitions we in. As I said, League Cup would wrap up mid season so it's not like we would play 4 competitions at a time. Big clubs like Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus really invest in all 3 competitions, they are in. If we're ambitious to get back to that level, we should think like them. Abandoning competitions when your chance in other competitions stays the same is the mindset of Wenger. Eventually you become not good enough to win serious trophy going that way.

Remember someone like Carrick Herrera, Shaw, Lindelof, Smalling, Lingard, Romero...is lacking gametime. They may not make a strong enough team in CL, so these Cup should be good gametime for them with us really push to win it.

 

[StonedhamsterZA]

Do you guys think Mitchell will see a few minutes at the end of the game?

Maybe start Shaw and put Mitchell on for 25 mins?

 

[SoCross]

------------------- Romero
-----Young Smalling Lindelof Darmian
----------McTominay---Carrick--Herrera
--------------Mata--------------Lingard
----------------------Martial

Expecting this with Shaw to get a few minutes.

Edit: Ah feck, just saw that Axel is injured. Changing lineup

 

[DWelbz19]

Do you guys think Mitchell will see a few minutes at the end of the game?

Maybe start Shaw and put Mitchell on for 25 mins?

Far more likely Blind starts and Shaw gets the last 25.

 

[Unmutual]

Our squad should be enough to spread for all competitions we in. As I said, League Cup would wrap up mid season so it's not like we would play 4 competitions at a time. Big clubs like Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus really invest in all 3 competitions, they are in. If we're ambitious to get back to that level, we should think like them. Abandoning competitions when your chance in other competitions stays the same is the mindset of Wenger. Eventually you become not good enough to win serious trophy going that way..

That's not true about the 4 competitions not being at the same time. The FA Cup starts in the first week in January, with half the League Cup still to go. Plus those teams you mention play far fewer games in cup competitions. Juve played 5 games to win the Coppa Italia last year. Bayern would only play 6 games if they reached the cup final, and that's over a 9 month period & with no replays. In England if you reached both cup finals you'd play 12 games, plus replays.

As if that weren't bad enough, the 5th round of the league cup is played on 19th or 20th of December this year, right in the middle of the most gruelling run of the football calendar. Don't forget the entire season is shorter this year due to the World Cup, so we already have more games in December than usual. If we reach the 5th round we get 10 games in 30 days.

If its worth winning, its worth winning, but there's no denying there's a significant impact on the season.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Far more likely Blind starts and Shaw gets the last 25.

Interesting, why do you think is the case? I would say Shaw is in desperate need of minutes.

 

[PoTMS]

Play the kids until we're dumped out of the competition. We've got bigger fish to fry.

 

[TheForgottenOne]

Martial and Rashford should both start as they have not played to many full games.

Midfield with Herrera and Carrick is a pretty obvious choice.

Only left back is a question mark, as Blind has been dropped for the last 2 PL games. I hope Shaw starts, but would not be surprised if he plays Blind as he has not played for a week. Would Mourinho 'rest' him for a week and a half to play him against Southampton? Or is Blind just not so much in his grace, as last season indicated, and will Blind play against this weaker opponent so Young can be played against Southampton.

 

[buckooo1978]

Smalling, Lindelof, Herrera, Carrick, Lingard, Blind could use games

Rashford needs a bit of confidence

I'd expect 2/3 of the young players to feature at some stage - hopefully Gomes


--------------------------------Romero------------------------------------
Darmian------Smalling--------------------Lindelof-------------Mitchell (or Blind)
----------------------------Carrick--------------------------------------
-------------------Herrera----------------McTominay-------------------
Lingard------------------- Rashford------------------------Martial

 

[Ikon]

Abandoning competitions when your chance in other competitions stays the same is the mindset of Wenger. Eventually you become not good enough to win serious trophy going that way.

^^Agreed^^
Every competition is worth winning, and you cannot cherry pick those that you deem good enough and reject those that you deem "worthless"
It's a slippery slope when you start to adopt the mentality of 'its OK to lose this game'

This is what I love about Jose's winning mentality.
Its what differentiates Mourinho from the likes of Wenger who turn their noses up at 'lesser' competitions and end up winning fcuk all.
When asked if he is taking the competition, which the Reds won last season with a 3-2 triumph over Southampton at Wembley, seriously, he replied: "Oh, yes. Serious. Because it's football, it's competition. We take it seriously".


This season United are in 4 competitions, and as much as I'd love to regain the Premiership I don't think we are strong enough this season, and same with the European Cup.

If we could end the season by retaining the League Cup or winning the FA Cup, I'd be well pleased with that, and hopefully next season we would be strong enough to win the Premier League, but I'm not going to ever agree with anyone that doesn't want to win domestic Cup competitions or calls them worthless.

 

[Android1974]

Hope that Mourinho only play youngsters and squad players that needs game time. To me, League Cup is a meaningless competition. Im saying this even though we won the cup last year.

Towards the end of last season, we ran out of steam and our squad was on their last legs because we competed in 4 competition. In the end, we have to give up the EPL to concentrate on Europa League only.

Knowing our luck with injuries, we don't have the squad to compete in 4 competition. Also, Mourinho very seldom do rotation. We almost always started with our strongest team in League Cup last year. We have to be sensible and this is the season to only focus on EPL and CL. Forget about FA Cup and League Cup, leave it to the reserves.

Precisely because we won it last year, Mourinho can take the foot of the gas a bit, but not just playing a complete second team. Anyhow, he couldn't, because we don't have enough attacking players for that.

It's not true that Mourinho didn't rotate that much last season, on the contrary, he did, and quite a bit. For instance, last season, the corresponding game, only two players (Smalling, Rooney) started both our first League Cup game and the Premier League game beforehand.

 

[Android1974]

The only youngster I see having minutes is McTominay. I can't see others being in the squad at all.

 

[Android1974]

Play the kids until we're dumped out of the competition. We've got bigger fish to fry.

To keep the team busy with this competition, if properly rotated, actually helps with the other competitions. If you see Lindelöf, Shaw, Carrick, Herrera, Lingard, for instance, picking up form, it will be very helpful for when they're needed in the more important ones.

 

[Android1974]

I have a feeling Mourinho would use these kind of game to experiment, say 5 at the back. Shame though.

A shame would be to experiment 5 at the back with Burton at home. If we played Lingard and Young as wingbacks, that wouldn't be a 5 at the back, would it?

 

[United_We_Stand]

Sean Goss should be taken off the squad list, he's been gone for 9 months.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Sean Goss should be taken off the squad list, he's been gone for 9 months.

Oh shit, didn't realise we sold him.

 

[Mickson]

What I hope for:

Pereira
Darmian, VNL, Tuanzebe, Shaw
Herrera, Carrick, McTominay
Lingard, Rashford, Martial

Bench: Romero, Smalling, Mitchell, Blind, Mata, Lukaku, Wilson

What I think it's going to be:

Romero
Darmian, VNL, Smalling, Shaw
Carrick, Herrera
Lingard, Mata, Martial
Lukaku

I think we need to have Lukaku on the bench, just in case. We are really short on real strikers with Zlatan injured. Also, I would love to see Pereira play. And Tuanzebe instead of Smalling, I heard he's injured, but you never know. Also, it would be ace seeing Rashford as a striker, with Martial and Lingard supporting. Lukaku, as I said, on the bench just in case, to offer something different. I'd like to see Wilson aswell, on the bench, just to give him some hope and maybe a little playing time if the match goes well.

Really looking forward to this!

 

[Android1974]

No matter how physically powerful one of them might be, I think both Mkhitaryan and Lukaku shouldn't be anywhere near the starting lineup. It would be their 10th full official game in a row (including the internationals) in just 6 weeks. And the only reason they should be on the bench is because we are light on attacking players right now, due to the absence of Ibrahimović and the loan of A.Pereira.

 

[André Dominguez]

This would be my pick:

If things go wrong, Lukaku & Co will come to the rescue.

 

[Sarni]

That's not true about the 4 competitions not being at the same time. The FA Cup starts in the first week in January, with half the League Cup still to go. Plus those teams you mention play far fewer games in cup competitions. Juve played 5 games to win the Coppa Italia last year. Bayern would only play 6 games if they reached the cup final, and that's over a 9 month period & with no replays. In England if you reached both cup finals you'd play 12 games, plus replays.

As if that weren't bad enough, the 5th round of the league cup is played on 19th or 20th of December this year, right in the middle of the most gruelling run of the football calendar. Don't forget the entire season is shorter this year due to the World Cup, so we already have more games in December than usual. If we reach the 5th round we get 10 games in 30 days.

If its worth winning, its worth winning, but there's no denying there's a significant impact on the season.

Actually you only get to play 3 League Cup games from January onwards, and Champions League is off during that period of time. By the time you return to CL, League Cup is basically over (you might play a final but it is played at the weekend anyway).

Also, worth adding that in England you play FA Cup games on the weekend as opposed to mid-week in nearly all other countries.

Of course it will wear out players if they play in all games but we have a huge squad and can comfortably rotate players to our needs.

 

[Treble]

4:1 United

 

[DrRodo]

My prediction

Romero

Darmian
Lindelof
Smalling
Blind

Fellaini
Herrera
McTominay

Mata
Lingard
Rashford

Had to remove Tuanzebe for obvious reasons. Im not sure about mctominay because Carrick is likely to start also. Lukaku, Martial and Miki to come as subs if the game gets nasty for us

 

[SirAF]

No matter how physically powerful one of them might be, I think both Mkhitaryan and Lukaku shouldn't be anywhere near the starting lineup. It would be their 10th full official game in a row (including the internationals) in just 6 weeks. And the only reason they should be on the bench is because we are light on attacking players right now, due to the absence of Ibrahimović and the loan of A.Pereira.

This. I'd like to see Martial up top just to give him 90 mins and to rest Lukaku. Lingard and Young on the wings possibly.

Romero

Darmian
Smalling
Lindelöf
Shaw (feck it, just stick him in - but I expect Blind to start and Shaw to come in later)

Lingard
Carrick
Herrera
McTominay
Young

Martial

 

[Unmutual]

Actually you only get to play 3 League Cup games from January onwards, and Champions League is off during that period of time. By the time you return to CL, League Cup is basically over (you might play a final but it is played at the weekend anyway).

Also, worth adding that in England you play FA Cup games on the weekend as opposed to mid-week in nearly all other countries.

Of course it will wear out players if they play in all games but we have a huge squad and can comfortably rotate players to our needs.

Well, three games out of six total. The CL hasn't returned its true, but that's moot since we're already playing weekend-midweek-weekend throughout December and January, its absence is only beneficial if we're out of the league cup too.

And the mid-week cup game thing is a bit disingenuous. In theory you only get 5 mid week games, all from the league cup pre xmas. But the league cup final and FA Cup Quarters and Semis have league games scheduled for the same date, which get rearranged, usually as mid-week games in April or May. So in truth you get 8 midweek games for your troubles, more than the whole of most other cup competitions abroad, plus 4 weekend games. And of course that first weekend of FA Cup games is usually when our competitors aboard are enjoying a winter break. So you can't really compare our situation with theirs.

Imo long runs in knockout competitions hurt our league form last year, which petered out once we hit April's fixture pile up. That worked out fine in the end with winning the Europa, but this year we really need to perform well in the league right to the end.

 

[mitchmouse]

Think I'll have to predict 4-0

 

[shield]

Was hoping we would get to see Axel Tuanzebe play. Bit disappointed to know that he is injured. Hope we don't pick up needless injuries.

 

[Redo91]

Any idea what the squad is for tonight?

 

[Jaybomb]

Romero
Young - Smalling - Lindelof - Shaw
Herrera - Carrick
Lingard
Rashford - Wilson - Martial​

Hope to see this.