Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs. Manchester United

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To be fair, the Goggs/GHE combo could actually have a lot of merit. We know Jones is one of the most athletic players around and will put in a serious shift, and Giggs could just add the guile that's needed when we have the ball to get it into Kagawa/Rooney for htem to do their thing.

I still think it'll be more of a 5 in the middle with Kagawa playing further forward, almost in the hole but when we lose the ball he's going to need to drop and help out.
 
This isn't a slight or moan about either player, in fact they probably represent our strongest options right now. But the fact we have a 40 year old converted winger and a center back as our midfield pairing tonight shows just how laughably bad our midfield situation is.

I think we will be fine though, looking forward to watching Kagawa in his natural position.
 
Kag said:
I'm praying that Rafa is still 'not ready'. I have this terrible feeling Moyes may view Smalling as his right back. If so, he can do one. It must be stressed, if.

It would be nice if Carrick was in behind Shinji in midfield but in terms of going forward, it's good on paper.
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Agreed. A big if. But I'd rather keep Rafael over Moyes, if I had to choose.
 
Jesus souness is a grumpy ass wanker isn't he?.

I think nani might have shagged his wife
 
Kag said:
I'm praying that Rafa is still 'not ready'. I have this terrible feeling Moyes may view Smalling as his right back. If so, he can do one. It must be stressed, if.

It would be nice if Carrick was in behind Shinji in midfield but in terms of going forward, it's good on paper.
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I really don't think Moyes is blind. He has to be if he thinks that Smalling is a right back. I'm fairly sure he is just being careful with Rafael.
 
Souness appears to have something against Schmeichel.
 
Happy with that team, obviously midfield is likely to be an issue but it's pretty much the best we have available to us.
 
Leg-End said:
This isn't a slight or moan about either player, in fact they probably represent our strongest options right now. But the fact we have a 40 year old converted winger and a center back as our midfield pairing tonight shows just how laughably bad our midfield situation is.

I think we will be fine though, looking forward to watching Kagawa in his natural position.
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Jones is a midfielder....no he's a CB....no he's a MF.....no....
 
I expected Cleverley in a midfield 3 but I'm glad Moyes went with the Kagawa and Rooney pairing, this is about the best team we could have fielded given the injuries.
 
Jesus some people are drama queens. Look at Moyes two FB's at Everton, Baines and Coleman and yet some of you think he doesn't know the value of Rafael as an attacking outlet.

Stop being clueless knobs. That is actually embarrassing.
 
Mad Winger said:
PLAY-A-MAKER!:drool::drool:

After 18 competitive games under Moyes, Kagawa is finally allowed to start a game in his favored position. He'll probably have to play the game of his life for Moyes to even consider playing him there on a regular basis, though. But it's a start!!
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Should be great to see, albeit in a difficult game. Huge potential in that front line. Unfortunately for Shinji though, no matter how he plays (unless of course he turns into Messi), I can't see Moyes dropping Rvp/Rooney permanently for Kagawa in the hole. This should be the choice whenever one of the two strikers aren't fully fit though. No point risking either when they have slight knocks when we have a partnership like this waiting.
 
Mad Winger said:
PLAY-A-MAKER!:drool::drool:

After 18 competitive games under Moyes, Kagawa is finally allowed to start a game in his favored position. He'll probably have to play the game of his life for Moyes to even consider playing him there on a regular basis, though. But it's a start!!
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After reading you waffle on for 18 competitive games, you had best be fecking right :lol:
 
Irwhine said:
Jones is a midfielder....no he's a CB....no he's a MF.....no....
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He could be either, but right now I think his best position is CB. Giggs and Jones in midfield is hardly going to have European giants shitting themselves is it.
 
Irwhine said:
Jesus some people are drama queens. Look at Moyes two FB's at Everton, Baines and Coleman and yet some of you think he doesn't know the value of Rafael as an attacking outlet.

Stop being clueless knobs. That is actually embarrassing.
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It's his dislike of Fabio and his preference of both Smalling and Buttner to him, along with nobody even hearing Rafael's name for over a month now that gives us doubts. He mentions all the players who have knocks and what not, but hasn't mentioned Rafael in a while, as far as I heard.
 
Leg-End said:
He could be either, but right now I think his best position is CB. Giggs and Jones in midfield is hardly going to have European giants shitting themselves is it.
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There is no central midfield combination we could line up with which would strike fear. But that's just the broken record talking..
 
QuackQuack said:
Any news on Rafael's recovery?
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I wish a reporter would ask Moyes about an update on Rafael. I'm 99% sure that the majority of us fans would rather hear about that then how RVP's toe, or Vidic's concussion is going. Nothing has changed since the weekend obviously so no need to ask the same question 2 days later. Ask why the hell have we heard nothing on Rafael.
 
Leg-End said:
He could be either, but right now I think his best position is CB. Giggs and Jones in midfield is hardly going to have European giants shitting themselves is it.
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To be fair we do not have a midfield combination which would give European giants even a mild discomfort around the bowels.
 
bosnian_red said:
It's his dislike of Fabio and his preference of both Smalling and Buttner to him, along with nobody even hearing Rafael's name for over a month now that gives us doubts. He mentions all the players who have knocks and what not, but hasn't mentioned Rafael in a while, as far as I heard.
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So when your talking about Raf why is his apparent dislike of Fabio relevant? Raf is injured, because Moyes doesn't mention him in every presser means nothing. When Raf is fit he's one of the first players on the team sheet.

Calm yourself down FFS.
 
Irwhine said:
So when your talking about Raf why is his apparent dislike of Fabio relevant? Raf is injured, because Moyes doesn't mention him in every presser means nothing. When Raf is fit he's one of the first players on the team sheet.

Calm yourself down FFS.
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The issue for me is that we have had no update on his recovery, that I find slightly worried.
 
Irwhine said:
So when your talking about Raf why is his apparent dislike of Fabio relevant? Raf is injured, because Moyes doesn't mention him in every presser means nothing. When Raf is fit he's one of the first players on the team sheet.

Calm yourself down FFS.
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It's cause they're twins. :lol: I agree with you though and don't think there's anything in it, there's just a slight doubt in my mind. And I wish somebody would ask him about Rafael because we've heard nothing since he first got injured, while we've heard the same questions on Rooney/Van Persie/Vidic/Welbeck every single match day.
 
Souness "I'm trying to think of anything he's done this season (on Nani)
Schmeichel "he's played well for Portugal
Souness (sarcastically) "i'm sure manchester united supporters will be delighted with that"

What a prick.
 
So you wanna play without a single proper CM vs. a three man midfield of Leverkusen??
 
Physioroom doesn't say anything on Rafael being out. So he should be back by now. I guess we'll see this weekend. If he doesn't start, or on the bench at the very least, then we can start getting worried.
 
Sphaero said:
So you wanna play without a single proper CM vs. a three man midfield of Leverkusen??
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The sad thing is, is that this is our best option for midfield when you consider the form of Cleverley :lol: If Rafael, Vidic, RVP and Carrick are out then this is our best lineup pretty much.
 
Sphaero said:
So you wanna play without a single proper CM vs. a three man midfield of Leverkusen??
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We do not have a proper CM available. Unless you count Cleverley or Ander.... okay, I'm too depressed to finish the sentence.
 
Sphaero said:
So you wanna play without a single proper CM vs. a three man midfield of Leverkusen??
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Kagawa will probably help a bit but we play with a weak midfield a lot, so the lack of a proper CM isn't as big of a problem as it looks on paper.
 
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