Van Gaal did say yesterday that they were the closest of the four to be fit.
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.
Van Gaal did say yesterday that they were the closest of the four to be fit.
If Blind ain't fit, its certainly going to be Rooney in midfield.
I'll go with this too.
Fellaini is far more useful as an outlet up the field than sitting deep. If we don't have someone to get the ball up to and bring our attackers into play, Chelsea are going to press into our own half and cause all sorts of problems.
Having a threat in their half will be a huge defensive bonus for us.
Having a threat in their half will be a huge defensive bonus for us.
Anyone pushing Fellaini back into DM is totally missing the whole reason he was shite last season and has been good this season. He's not a defensive midfielder. He's not mobile enough, intelligent enough or a good enough tackler to play that position. The further back you play him, the worse he'll be.
His good attributes are primarily attacking, along with being a very good 'defensive forward', in the sense that he likes to press aggressively, has the physical presence to put CBs under real pressure, and is canny about sticking his leg in against an under-pressure defender so as to nick the ball without conceding a foul.
EDIT: Ffs @Pexbo !
His good attributes are primarily attacking, along with being a very good 'defensive forward', in the sense that he likes to press aggressively, has the physical presence to put CBs under real pressure, and is canny about sticking his leg in against an under-pressure defender so as to nick the ball without conceding a foul.
EDIT: Ffs @Pexbo !
If Jones and Blind do make it that will solve so, so many problems.
DDG
Valencia - Smalling - Jones - Shaw
Blind
Mata - Herrera - Fellaini - Young
Rooney
@Brightonian - Makes a nice change to beat you to it!Valencia - Smalling - Jones - Shaw
Blind
Mata - Herrera - Fellaini - Young
Rooney
If the two lads do make it, wouldn't mind this either.
DDG
Valencia - Smalling - Jones -Young
Blind
Mata - Herrera - Fellaini -Di Maria
Rooney
DDG
Valencia - Smalling - Jones -Young
Blind
Mata - Herrera - Fellaini -Di Maria
Rooney
If both prove playable with a risk I would not be surprised if LVG chooses to only risk one. Prob to be DM. So prob Blind.
Imo, we should and probably will go with this formation:
de Gea
Valencia McNair Smalling Shaw
Rooney
Mata Herrera di Maria Young
Fellaini
If nothing else, Fellaini's height will give Chelsea's defence problems and he has been excelling in his attacking role recently. Neither Fellaini nor Rooney can play cdm properly but Rooney is definitely more coachable than Fellaini, so I'd be surprised if Fella plays cdm tomorrow. Mata and di Maria can switch positions mid-game if they wish. Falcao shouldn't play imo, he hasn't shown anything to suggest he'll deliver in a game like this and Robin probably isn't fit enough to start a game yet. Imo, this is as good a team as we can play with those 4 injuries. No Carrick is a massive blow regardless, even when Blind plays cdm, he can't play the role as well as Michael can. Without Blind too, as well as having to play McNair (most likely or else Blackett, or possibly both if we play 5 at the back which I hope we don't) we could end up suffering badly in defence. If the team gets a result today, we should be very proud of them. These were pretty much the worst set of injuries we could have gotten (might have been slightly worse if it had been Smalling injured instead of Jones).Valencia McNair Smalling Shaw
Rooney
Mata Herrera di Maria Young
Fellaini
Why would LVG tell Mourinho 24 hours before we play them that 4 starters are injured???? There is something not right about this. I would be surprised if 1 or 2 of them were able to play.
This. He might still think of himself as a DM and he did have some good games for Everton in that position but in truth he'd be a serious liability for us if we pushed him back there. He has to stay where he is, I think.
Even if Jones plays he'll get injured in the first half anyway. Hope Blind will play.
This is definitely bad news. We really need a full squad to have any chance of winning at Stamford Bridge.
This is definitely bad news. We really need a full squad to have any chance of winning at Stamford Bridge.
Herrera to play as CDM, Shaw at LB, Di Maria to take Herrera's spot in central midfield. Still confident of getting at least a point at the Stamford Bridge.
I'm feeling confident at least 2/4 will be fit to play, why tell Jose his plan otherwise?
I hope its Carrick and Jones/Blind.
What about Shaw?
They're not missing anything, they just have a different interpretation of things. There's a difference. Not everyone can have this expert insight that you, Pexbo and co. have, sadly, but it doesn't take an expert to see what Fellaini's been good at this season. Everyone can recognise that Fellaini at DM is a worse player and that he's been a key component in our team in that more advanced role, but then that's true of anyone we'll have to play there. Herrera, Rooney and Fellaini are not defensive midfielders but one of them has to play there, and it's not exactly a ludicrous suggestion to say Fellaini is the most suited to it. Nor is it ludicrous to suggest he's the most expendable of the three in terms of who should be sacrificed.
He's already shown he can do the basics of the role against Chelsea in the past anyway. He won the ball back more than anyone else, he recycled possession well, he tracked runners, he covered more ground than anyone else...this is clearly a better "DM" performance than anything Rooney's put in for us, IMO.
Yes. If we don't get at least a point today top 4 is over IMO. We can easily lose all our remaining games while Liverpool win everything 7-0. If we don't beat Chelsea our chances are down to 5% from 10% they are at now.
LVG said "Daley Blind and Michael Carrick could play as a holding midfield player and I don't have another option, or I have to play Wayne Rooney again in that position. It is a puzzle."
puzzle ie riddle ie mindgame
That's a very tidy performance, though what concerns me most is him giving away silly fouls outside the area, which he is not immune to, and with Hazard running through the middle it's possible they'll be looking to capitalise on that.
In press conferences to date I've not seen LvG lie about much.. if anything at all, would probably go against his *perfect humanitarian* mindset hes got going on, hope he's telling fibs this time but I'm not hopeful.
I was wondering if you were actually being serious. Then I read the bolded part and realized you can't be
According to Sky sources Paddy McNair will play today. I don't know how trustworthy those sources are though.
This match is big enough, and just enough important for LVG to risk playing a 95% fit player.
It goes without saying that Blind is the key and his fitness will make our team at least 80% as stable as it would be with Carrick playing the deep role.
Blind is a generally fit guy and him doing doing interviews midweek about the club's ambitions, makes me believe that his fitness test on Friday was touch and go. He may yet be fit today.
If he does play, LVG will have successfully gotten into the minds of the players and even Mourinho himself, a little bit. We know he does like a bit of kiddology. He practices one formation 15 minutes before kick-off and then goes onto play something else. He likes his tricks and that may be a factor.
C'mon LVG! Prove me right! We will love you for it.
It goes without saying that Blind is the key and his fitness will make our team at least 80% as stable as it would be with Carrick playing the deep role.
Blind is a generally fit guy and him doing doing interviews midweek about the club's ambitions, makes me believe that his fitness test on Friday was touch and go. He may yet be fit today.
If he does play, LVG will have successfully gotten into the minds of the players and even Mourinho himself, a little bit. We know he does like a bit of kiddology. He practices one formation 15 minutes before kick-off and then goes onto play something else. He likes his tricks and that may be a factor.
C'mon LVG! Prove me right! We will love you for it.
Don't think we would have conceded if we had Carrick protecting the back four. That was the difference really. Our midfielders failed to track the runners and hazard had a free run at goal partly because falcao was fouled/gave up the ball cheaply.
How big of a difference does Carrick make! It really allows Herrera to play further up the pitch in the vicinity of Mata. As a result we just haven't clicked offensively today. A lot of possession but no end product.
How big of a difference does Carrick make! It really allows Herrera to play further up the pitch in the vicinity of Mata. As a result we just haven't clicked offensively today. A lot of possession but no end product.
Very harsh on the current midfielders, I think. I agree Carrick is still essential but I think you're overstating his influence here. He doesn't cut off every single attack and cover every single midfield runner (e.g. Silva last week). Hazard will run off the back of CM's and accelerate away a few times a game no matter who plays there. He did the same thing with Blind in there this year and Carrick last year.
In terms of not clicking offensively it's also down to Falcao not being up to speed and playing against the strongest defence of the league with their most defensive line-up they've played all season. It was always going to be our toughest game of the season and we've been the better team. Even without taking injuries into account that's worth of praise, not criticism.
Hopefully van Persie is fit enough to play at least 30 minutes and make more of an impact.
Not according to the posts I was responding to. Some people were suggesting that Fellaini is a good option as a DM, and I was disagreeing. If you're not one of those, then I'm not in disagreement with you. And can we please can the sarky 'expert insight' stuff? It's kind of below you, but I seem to get it from you about once every six months just for expressing my opinion like everyone else. As you yourself pointed out, I wasn't the only person in the thread making that point.
Does everyone else tell people that they're "totally missing the whole reason" of this and that? They just openly dismiss other people's opnions and assume that others have a more limited understanding of things, for whatever reason? If so, that's a really sad state of affairs. It's the kind of thing that makes any kind of discussion pointless, and instead turns it into a vehicle for people to voice their incredibly important opinions and insights that other people should simply listen to (rather than engage with).
Have you read this forum? Yes, of course they do. Mostly people don't take offence because they know it's just a debate about football. I'm not going to start hedging every point I make with 'obviously I respect your view, which is just as valid as mine, and this whole topic is highly subjective anyway so please don't think I'm discounting your opinion.' Mostly people seem ok with just taking that much as read when they disagree with each other on here. It's really only you who comes at me with that 'expert opinion' crap every time I disagree with anyone.
If we had all those players fit today we would've won the match without question. Although the players who did come in played well.