Manchester United VS Chelsea

They´ll be expecting 4-5-1 with Berba on his own upfront. I want us to surprise them and go all in. With the crowd being the 12th man I want us to be all over them.

VDS
Nev
Rio
Vida
Evra
Valencia
Fletch
Giggs
Nani
Berba
Macheda

Go for it United
 
I'd love to see Macheda start, yes he's inexperienced and all but I'm sure he'd be the one with most fire in the belly for a game like this. He probably wouldn't need too many chances either

---------------------------VDS-----------------------
Rafael----------Ferdinand----------Vidic-----------Evra
-----------------Fletcher---------Scholes-------------
Valencia------------------Berbatov----------------Nani
-----------------------Macheda-----------------------


Rafael in there ahead of Neville, Malouda on current form would tear Neville apart.
 
van der Sar, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes, Valencia, Berbatov, Nani.

SUBS: Kuszczak, Neville, J Evans, Hargreaves, Park, Giggs, Macheda.
 
Fergie implied in his press conference that Hargreaves would be in contention for the bench tomorrow :drool: Ironic that his last game was against Chelsea.
 
Magnus said:
You really do hate Berba don´t you;) Not even on the bench and an injured Rooney starts....
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Oh bugger. (changed now)
Sorry, I was just thinking 4-5-1 and regularly this is when Rooney starts on his own so that was done out of pure habit!

On the contrary, I am a big Berbatov fan :)
 
RonaldoVII said:
Fergie implied in his press conference that Hargreaves would be in contention for the bench tomorrow :drool: Ironic that his last game was against Chelsea.
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Watched the presser. Was being asked about Hargo and referred to what he said earlier - that both O'Shea and Hargreaves have been training really well. He is thinking about using one tomorrow and one on Wednesday. This would give them both confidence that they are close being in first team contention. Said O'Shea in particular has trained really well in the last 2 weeks, has really come along.

Implication being that since OH isn't eligible for CL, that he'd be the one for the bench tomorrow.

I should think more ..... I think.
 
Sanada said:
Scholes doesn't have the legs to manage Lampard/Ballack et al, Carrick has been utterly woeful, Giggs hasn't exactly been inspirational, Fletch and Park have both however have not been sub-par.

Fletch isn't a defensive mid, and neither are the other 2 though. So playing those three in a triangle won't work. Having Zhirkov and Malouda on the same side is a bit dangerous, so maybe put Park as the right winger, play Fletch and Giggs a bit more deep lying, with Valencia in the hole behind Berba and leave Nani on the left. And no more Gary Nevillle, Evans at RB would be a much better idea than having Zhirkov and Malouda marauding Gaz.
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I agree on Scholes. Even if Carrick hasn't been at his best lately, he's still the one to choose for this match along with Fletcher and Giggs/Park in the middle.

I think Rafael may start at Right Back for some freshness, but I wouldn't be disappointed if Neville starts despite playing a lot lately. I'm pretty sure that Fletcher and/or Carrick can do a bit of a job on Malouda and help tracking back. But you're thinking too negatively. We shouldn't be worried about Zhirkov getting forward too much when we can exploit that space with Valencia's pace on the counter attack. If Park is in the middle as well, I can see a combination down the right whilst defending that uses him, Fletcher, Valencia, and Rafael. All of our wingers track back now, even Nani if he plays, but the counter is where we will hurt Chelsea. We'll play Giggs or Park in the hole when attacking to drag Mikel away from Berbatov. This should create the room he needs to find some kind of killer pass out wide to Valencia / Nani and we can try to flood the box as much as possible. Likely with Berbatov, Giggs, Fletcher, and the opposite winger most of the time.

I think the wings are key to us winning this if Chelsea attack a lot, which I think they may well do as it's their best chance to get ahead of us, by doing the business against us themselves instead of relying on other teams stopping us. They'll only have themselves to blame if they don't beat us and the difference is the same come the end of the season.
 
Contary to popular rumour ... No Ivanovic

Availability:

Goalkeepers: Petr Cech, Henrique Hilario, Ross Turnbull.

Defenders: Yuri Zhirkov, John Terry, Alex, Paulo Ferreira, Jeffrey Bruma, Patrick van Aanholt.

Midfielders: John Obi Mikel, Juliano Belletti, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda, Joe Cole, Deco, Nemanja Matic, Gael Kakuta.

Attackers: Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge, Fabio Borini.

Think Chelsea will 4-5-1 too...

Petr Cech
Paulo Ferreira
John Terry
Alex
Yuri Zhirkov
John Obi Mikel
Frank Lampard
Michael Ballack
Florent Malouda
Didier Drogba
Joe Cole

Subs Henrique Hilario, Jeffrey Bruma, Juliano Belletti, Deco, Gael Kakuta, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou
 
Belleti is fit? He plays FB for them as well.

Found this interesting bit :

Burnley boss Brian Laws has put referee Mike Dean on the spot and called him unfit to officiate the potential title decider at Old Trafford tomorrow (The Sun).
"It's mad he's been rewarded by this game as he is one of the worst for giving penalties," Laws said, a week after his side were beaten by a penalty won by Blackburn's Martin Olsson, who has since admitted diving.
 
nemanja15 said:
Oh bugger. (changed now)
Sorry, I was just thinking 4-5-1 and regularly this is when Rooney starts on his own so that was done out of pure habit!

On the contrary, I am a big Berbatov fan :)
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Such a fan that you forgot to name him in a squad of 18.
 
Magnus said:
They´ll be expecting 4-5-1 with Berba on his own upfront. I want us to surprise them and go all in. With the crowd being the 12th man I want us to be all over them.

VDS
Nev
Rio
Vida
Evra
Valencia
Fletch
Giggs
Nani
Berba
Macheda

Go for it United
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:eek:

You might believe in fairytales but thank God that Fergie doesn't.

We'd get destroyed in midfield with this all for the sake of an unproven front pairing :rolleyes:
 
RonaldoVII said:
It was still a duo that dominated their midfield.
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Aye, but they were dreadfully short of their usual standards at the time, not just in that game but during the whole winter.

The Chelsea we play tomorrow is not the moody, out of form group of players that had no faith in their manager like last year.

And like I said, Giggs has only just returned from a 6 week lay-off.
 
WireRed said:
Aye, but they were dreadfully short of their usual standards at the time, not just in that game but during the whole winter.

The Chelsea we play tomorrow is not the moody, out of form group of players that had no faith in their manager like last year.

And like I said, Giggs has only just returned from a 6 week lay-off.
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Still nothing fairly tale about his opinion. SAF is if anything but, predictable. Just today in the press conference he said he'd have to think what formation works best with Berbatov in the mix. If he is wanting to play Berba in the deeper role then that leaves chance of playing 2 strikers.

Giggs as you pointed out coming off 6 week lay off means he should have the legs to run / harass for large parts of the game.

Not saying it's going to happen but, don't it's hardly a fairy tale suggestion.
 
-----------------VDS---------------

Gaz-------Rio---------Vidic-------Evra

----------Carrick------Fletcher---------

Valencia--------Giggs-------------Nani

----------------Berba-------------------

If things get sour put Macheda in the mix and hope for some miracle.
 
The key to this game for me from an attacking point of view is the wingers (Valencia and Nani) getting at Ferreira and Zhirkov who I think will be vulnerable at the back for that Chelsea lot.

Berbatov's been in great form recently and is improving with every game so as long as he gets service we'll be okay. The link-up play between himself and Giggs/Park (who I expect to play behind him in a 4-5-1) will be key with both players capable of intricate passing and getting beyond Berbatov who is very good at holding up play to bring others into the game.

I'd like to see Giggs given freedom to roam behind Berbatov and possibly switch with Nani on the left throughout the game, although I also think Park is more than capable of doing this and maybe offers a little more at pressing high up the pitch which can upset Chelsea's makeshift back four. There's nothing worse from a defensive standpoint when you don't know who to pick up and with them missing Carvalho/Cole/Bosingwa then we need to get at them from early in the game to really unsettle them. It's good we've got options here to be honest.

Prediction: 2-1 United (Berbatov and Nani)

The back four will be an interesting choice; Evra needs to lift himself after midweek (dare I say it he's not been up to scratch for a few weeks now), Vidic/Ferdinand have enough to stop Drogba/Anelka, but the interesting choice for me will be who he picks at right back as Malouda has really hit form this season. I think Rafael may start, resting Neville for Bayern this coming week.
 
Magnus said:
They´ll be expecting 4-5-1 with Berba on his own upfront. I want us to surprise them and go all in. With the crowd being the 12th man I want us to be all over them.

VDS
Nev
Rio
Vida
Evra
Valencia
Fletch
Giggs
Nani
Berba
Macheda

Go for it United
Click to expand...

That lineup could be really good or do really poorly, much would depend on Giggs and Macheda. Hopefully Giggs dominates Chelsea from the center like he did last january.
 
WireRed said:
Scolari's Chelsea, Giggs not just back from injury, not without Rooney.

It was 15 months ago and circumstances are different now.
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This Chelsea side isn't much better than that one. The same set of players and an equal manager.
 
Sarni said:
This Chelsea side isn't much better than that one. The same set of players and an equal manager.
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What are you smoking? They were utter shit under Scolari and are good under Ancelotti.

Scolari was a novice in European football whereas Ancelotti has won 2 CL's.

It might be the same players but the mentality is completely different as is their form.
 
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