Still have the option of Rafael at RB and move Valencia alongside Herrera. I would prefer not to have Rooney anywhere near the midfield. So your lineup is OK as well.
Carrick, Blind, Jones, Rojo all out for the Chelsea game - What now?!
- Thread starter Annihilate Now!
- Start date
-
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.
No need for such panic, it's not ideal but we should in no way change our system that has worked wonders lately.
Our usual team is
------------Rooney
Young--------------------Mata
--------Herrera-Fellaini
-------------Carrick
Blind--Jones--Smalling--Valencia
-------------DDG
We keep it as similar as we possibly can, so that means bringing in McNair and Shaw in defense, Playing Herrera in a holding role with Fellaini and Di Maria in midfield. Nothing drastic needs to change.
------------Rooney
Young--------------------Mata
--------Di Maria---Fellaini
-------------Herrera
Shaw--McNair--Smalling--Valencia
-------------DDG
Our usual team is
------------Rooney
Young--------------------Mata
--------Herrera-Fellaini
-------------Carrick
Blind--Jones--Smalling--Valencia
-------------DDG
We keep it as similar as we possibly can, so that means bringing in McNair and Shaw in defense, Playing Herrera in a holding role with Fellaini and Di Maria in midfield. Nothing drastic needs to change.
------------Rooney
Young--------------------Mata
--------Di Maria---Fellaini
-------------Herrera
Shaw--McNair--Smalling--Valencia
-------------DDG
I do think if those guys are out...well....it will take one monumental effort. So if we did lose...I would find it somewhat ok.
Anybody else think this could be a fergie like master stroke?
Give everybody a huge shock at finding these key players unfit, then suddenly spring the trap of blind, Carrick and Jones all being fit to start.
Would certainly give Chelsea a wobble
Give everybody a huge shock at finding these key players unfit, then suddenly spring the trap of blind, Carrick and Jones all being fit to start.
Would certainly give Chelsea a wobble
Anybody else think this could be a fergie like master stroke?
Give everybody a huge shock at finding these key players unfit, then suddenly spring the trap of blind, Carrick and Jones all being fit to start.
Would certainly give Chelsea a wobble
If it isn't a mind game, not sure why he has revealed this.
Maureen would now surely plan to take advantage.
Anybody else think this could be a fergie like master stroke?
Give everybody a huge shock at finding these key players unfit, then suddenly spring the trap of blind, Carrick and Jones all being fit to start.
Would certainly give Chelsea a wobble
I don't think LvG does that. Don't know about him doing it at earlier roles or not but this season he hasn't lied or played games about injury related news. He is straightforward about that. I sense that it is possible that 2-3 out of 4 of them have just knocks and could have been made fit to play if absolutely necessary, but he doesn't want to risk them aggravating the problems and our cushion over 5th placed team means he can afford to do it. Hopefully they all will return for Everton game.
Not worried, team is confident and Chelsea are not going to go for it. Both will be more on the conservative side I think. Main thing is if Rooney does drop in to a deeper CM role, I hope he doesn't keep trying his long cross field balls and just looks to keep it simple.
Wouldn't mind Falcao getting one more shot at glory before he leaves and Shaw getting a chance against his boyhood club will mean he'll be really up for it.
Wouldn't mind Falcao getting one more shot at glory before he leaves and Shaw getting a chance against his boyhood club will mean he'll be really up for it.
Valencia - Smalling - Mcnair - Shaw
---------Herrera -------Fellaini------
-------------Di Maria-------------
Mata-----------------------Young
-------------Rooney---------------
is what i'd go for.
Shaw for Blind isn't much of a loss at all at LB, if not strengthening vs Hazard and Co. And Shaw was very good last time we faced Chelsea.
Mcnair for Jones, given his recent form however is a loss, but still somewhat small.
Biggest Problem is DM and losing both Blind, Carrick together and probably another backup in Jones there.
---------Herrera -------Fellaini------
-------------Di Maria-------------
Mata-----------------------Young
-------------Rooney---------------
is what i'd go for.
Shaw for Blind isn't much of a loss at all at LB, if not strengthening vs Hazard and Co. And Shaw was very good last time we faced Chelsea.
Mcnair for Jones, given his recent form however is a loss, but still somewhat small.
Biggest Problem is DM and losing both Blind, Carrick together and probably another backup in Jones there.
How would this be 'mind games' anyway?, if Carrick and the others suddenly were in the team at kick off, do people think Mourinho would be like this or something -
Stupid paper hype bollocks.
Stupid paper hype bollocks.
Last edited by a moderator:
Sadly he never lies about this. He definately doesn't know yet if Blind and Jones are fit, otherwise he would've said this. Those 2 can make a spectaculair recovery or play with risk though, he sometimes does that if he wants to. I wouldn't count on it though since he said it wasn't likely.
He did use de Jong on the WC even though he wasn't fully recovered yet. He sometimes makes exceptions for his being-fully-fit rule, but only in the case of bad injuries and no cover (like we currently have). Not sure if he wants to take the risk when we've still got more games after Chelsea.
Anybody else think this could be a fergie like master stroke?
Give everybody a huge shock at finding these key players unfit, then suddenly spring the trap of blind, Carrick and Jones all being fit to start.
Would certainly give Chelsea a wobble
Nope, don't think so.
Really shit situation to be in.
I don't understand why LvG would reveal any of this. Surely it will give Mourinho a better idea of how we might set up.
Yeah he won't risk given we are in decent position for top 4. I think Blind and/or Jones/Rojo might make bench just as some cover but won't start.
The spine of our team has been decimated! - the Evans ban has now finally affected us
I think van Gaal will leave Valencia out wide to try and nullify Hazard and I expect him to go 3-5-2 (like Arsenal away) or a 3-5-1-1 and stay tight and compact.
---------------de Gea---------------
--McNair----Smalling----Blackett--
Valencia-----Herrera----Young----
---------Mata-------Fellaini---------
--------------Di Maria---------------
---------------Rooney--------------
I think van Gaal will leave Valencia out wide to try and nullify Hazard and I expect him to go 3-5-2 (like Arsenal away) or a 3-5-1-1 and stay tight and compact.
---------------de Gea---------------
--McNair----Smalling----Blackett--
Valencia-----Herrera----Young----
---------Mata-------Fellaini---------
--------------Di Maria---------------
---------------Rooney--------------
Never seen LVG be anything be 100% honest regarding injuries but something about this tells me at least 1/2 will play, hopefully! What's up with Blind don't remember him getting injured?
All the talk this week of how Chelsea are going to handle us and will find a plan for dealing with Felliani etc I wonder if this is LVG trying to get Jose to maybe go for the kill instead. Also worth noting it takes a lot of pressure off the players who will play. After LVG saying we were nervous last week against City when we were expected to win it is a good way of taking the expectation away from us and back on to Chelsea.
Hoping this is a masterstroke by Van Gaal and at least one of Carrick/Blind will play.
All the talk this week of how Chelsea are going to handle us and will find a plan for dealing with Felliani etc I wonder if this is LVG trying to get Jose to maybe go for the kill instead. Also worth noting it takes a lot of pressure off the players who will play. After LVG saying we were nervous last week against City when we were expected to win it is a good way of taking the expectation away from us and back on to Chelsea.
Hoping this is a masterstroke by Van Gaal and at least one of Carrick/Blind will play.
It's only a defensive injury crisis, but it is a little funny he still doesn't make the team.
Young might be able to do a job similar to Valencia is CM, but as Valencia has more experience there that's my pick.
I think that's better than shifting everyone around, putting Rooney in CM and needing another striker.
Blackett against Chelsea would be an absolute nightmare. Honestly I'll be surprised if Blackett plays for United again till at least the 2016-17 season. As I've said all year, he's too raw, far far too raw, and needs 2 years playing nothing but CB on loan, imho.
The man is not a CB, not now anyway, he's played less games there in his career than Carrick has.
How often do you see managers completely lie about a player definitely being out for a game? We have a lot of "we'll have to assess him and see if he's fit" before big games but to my knowledge managers tend not to rule a player out completely then field him in the starting 11.
I remain calm.
First, a defeat to Chelsea has no material effect on the final outcome of our CL qualification, which is now in the bag.
Second, we have depth to cope with this injury crisis. Let's assume the following XI, with the estimated amount of their transfer fees in parens.
De Gea (20)
Valencia (17) Smalling (17) McNair (N/A) Shaw (30)
Fellaini (28) Herrera (30)
Mata (37) Di Maria (60) Young (18)
Rooney (30)
Roughly 230m in transfer fee "valued" footballers, which can't be that much less than what Chelsea will put out on the pitch. True, a side may only be as good as its weakest link, which in this case is McNair (can't see Blackett starting), but the point is that we still have some seriously quality out there, players who happen to be in good form right now.
But the important point is to look at the inclusion of Di Maria, McNair and Shaw (seems likely to me, all of them) as an opportunity for them to silence their critics, especially Di Maria.
Win, lose or draw -- so long as the loss isn't "bad" -- I will remain calm, almost serene. We've done the hard work of beating Tottenham, Liverpool and City and have several very winnable fixtures left and there is zero chance now we will be knocked out of CL qualification. And there really was always zero chance of us actually lifting the English prem trophy anyway.
First, a defeat to Chelsea has no material effect on the final outcome of our CL qualification, which is now in the bag.
Second, we have depth to cope with this injury crisis. Let's assume the following XI, with the estimated amount of their transfer fees in parens.
De Gea (20)
Valencia (17) Smalling (17) McNair (N/A) Shaw (30)
Fellaini (28) Herrera (30)
Mata (37) Di Maria (60) Young (18)
Rooney (30)
Roughly 230m in transfer fee "valued" footballers, which can't be that much less than what Chelsea will put out on the pitch. True, a side may only be as good as its weakest link, which in this case is McNair (can't see Blackett starting), but the point is that we still have some seriously quality out there, players who happen to be in good form right now.
But the important point is to look at the inclusion of Di Maria, McNair and Shaw (seems likely to me, all of them) as an opportunity for them to silence their critics, especially Di Maria.
Win, lose or draw -- so long as the loss isn't "bad" -- I will remain calm, almost serene. We've done the hard work of beating Tottenham, Liverpool and City and have several very winnable fixtures left and there is zero chance now we will be knocked out of CL qualification. And there really was always zero chance of us actually lifting the English prem trophy anyway.
Van Gaal never lies though, he's never done that. If one of Blind or Jones plays, it will be because they were deemed fit enough to risk in case of emergency (which we have). He has taken risks in the past, but he's not fond of it. It'll depend on how injured they are too.
Those 2 are the only options who might get some minutes, but I wouldn't put my money on it.
Aye. And my rationale was more focused on Fellaini facing a combination of 4 aerial ball winners in and around that LCAM role he's been playing - Matic, Ivanovic, Terry and Cahill.
Comments like that can come back to bite you, lose to Chelsea, and assuming Liverpool beat Hull, then the pressure for at least a point at Everton gets ramped up, lose that and assuming Liverpool win theirs and its down to 2, going into Palace, and Arsenal I would want alot more than that as a cushion.
Things can unravel very quickly, we have alot to do yet to confirm our CL place imo.
We need at least a point tomorrow.
Falcao's time to shine! Remember when he ripped chelsea to shreds in the Super cup 2012 !
<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xt6weq" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><a href="" target="_blank">Chelsea vs Atlético Madrid (SuperCup UEFA) (1:4)</a> <i> από <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/larrsson" target="_blank">larrsson</a></i>
<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xt6weq" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><a href="" target="_blank">Chelsea vs Atlético Madrid (SuperCup UEFA) (1:4)</a> <i> από <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/larrsson" target="_blank">larrsson</a></i>
Valencia playing infield on the right is a good suggestion with Rafael as right back. They can double team on Hazard.
Agree. Champions league is far from the bag, we have four tough games still.
Same formation I do have in my mind.McNair played in CM before isn't?
Unfortunately, its not same Falcao here.
I think there is a fair probability that Carrick and Blind might make it. Lets hope so.
Young at LB, Di Maria in his place.
Angel support Rooney up front while a midfield of Fellaini, Herrera, Mata sitting deeper than usual and play on the break.
It can be done, Drogba is slow as feck. Only player that scares me is Hazard with his pace and drive into the box. Confidence is dented but we still have enough
Angel support Rooney up front while a midfield of Fellaini, Herrera, Mata sitting deeper than usual and play on the break.
It can be done, Drogba is slow as feck. Only player that scares me is Hazard with his pace and drive into the box. Confidence is dented but we still have enough
There is a 99.9% chance of Rooney playing in midfield.
Exactly, I hope we can get that monumental effort, but I won't be throwing a hissy fit if it doesn't work. Yes we have had injuries before, but to lose CB's like that and then Blind who has been great at LB, who would have covered for Carrick is bad. Just want the lads to give a good account of themselves and if we get something I will be really happy.
At least we can see whether the philosophy has truly sunk in. A good performance here without those players will leave me very confident for next season.
My mate told me yesterday RVP was out as well. Did LVG mention that? At the time I wasn't that bothered but if Wayne is dropping into midfield I really hope we have RVP to play up top.
Not sure i can see Herrera working as a DM
Theres murmurings on twitter that Jones and Blind are having a late fitness test to see if they can play today
I remember games where he was the deepest midfielder, under Bielsa.
The way I see it, if he had stayed quiet about it, it would have given a huge boost to the Chelsea players an hour before kick off. Not an option.
Trying to put a positive spin on a very bad situation:
He is playing mindgames:
Mourinho loses a day of preparation trying to come up with a plan to take advantage of our weaknesses. Plus the psychological effect on their team when Carrick, Blind, Jones (ok not so much Jones) are on teamsheet.
He's telling the truth;
Harder for Mourinho to predict our lineup, than for LVG to predict how he plans to take advantage of our weaknesses (DM and left side of defense). By inviting and giving Mourinho time to prepare to play against our weaknesses we can set up to counter this.
Fair enough, i didnt see those. Would be interesting to see how he does there, just wish we didnt have to try it against Chelsea!
I have too precise, he had two 'defensive' minded midfielder infront of him.
Everyone needs to chill out a bit. The Caf was vastly overrating our chances in this fixture anyway. We've been on a good run of form but Chelsea are still the better team by some way and they're absolutely untouchable at Stamford Bridge. Plus we're a possession-centric team and Mourinho eats those for breakfast.
The point is that by winning the first three of our tricky games (Spurs, Liverpool, City), we gave ourselves room to lose this game. It doesn't actually matter that much.
That said, I'd like to see us try and stick to the same system and just replace the injured players as best as we can. It will be an interesting test of how robust the formation is. So something like this:
The point is that by winning the first three of our tricky games (Spurs, Liverpool, City), we gave ourselves room to lose this game. It doesn't actually matter that much.
That said, I'd like to see us try and stick to the same system and just replace the injured players as best as we can. It will be an interesting test of how robust the formation is. So something like this:
DDG
Valencia Smalling Blackett Shaw
Herrera
Di Maria Fellaini
Mata Rooney Young
Valencia Smalling Blackett Shaw
Herrera
Di Maria Fellaini
Mata Rooney Young