Manchester City v Manchester United

There's no way the game will go ahead unless there's a massive improvement of the weather!

Far too much snow in Manchester at the moment.
 
Havak said:
Sadly I think Fergie will play 451 at City.
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Sadly it will be:

------------Foster/Kuszczak-----------
----------Brown-DeLaet-Evans---------
--Rafael-Carrick-Fletcher-Scholes-Park--
------------Giggs-Owen----------------

:nervous:
 
Why would we play three at the back when you have fit defenders Berlin? Not to mention we're crap with that formation.

Kuszack

Rafael Evans Brown Fabio

Valencia Carrick Anderson Park

Berba Rooney​

I'd prefer De Laet to play right back, but Fergusons took a shining to Rafael.
 
Ben Hibbs has tweeted that we have a fully fit squad, but there's an embargo from saying more til 4pm. Presumably a re-arranged press conference then.

By fully fit squad, I'm guessing that means Vidic is fine, rather than the sudden and glorious return of Rio, Hargo, Nani and Macheda.
 
Blackburn vs Aston Villa has been called off - so there's a good chance our game will be as well. Maybe it would be a blessing in disguise as we'll be able to play a fresher side against an in-form Birmingham on Saturday..
 
ILoveFletcher said:
Why would we play three at the back when you have fit defenders Berlin? Not to mention we're crap with that formation.

Kuszack

Rafael Evans Brown Fabio

Valencia Carrick Anderson Park

Berba Rooney​

I'd prefer De Laet to play right back, but Fergusons took a shining to Rafael.
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I know United aren't the best with that but I wasn't being serious. Need to sort out the defence though, even Rio and Vidic were shown up a bit by City.

Only serious note I may add, is that being an away game may indicate Scholes starting if fit.

In terms of creativity at least one from Giggs and Valencia will probably play.

Man City will probably go something like:


-----------------GIVEN-------------------
ZABELETTA-KOMPANY-RICHARDS-SYLVINHO
--ROBINIHO-BARRY-DE JONG-PETROV------
----------BELLAMY-TEVEZ-----------------
 
City injury news.
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini is set to hand a home debut to rookie defender Dedryck Boyata in the Carling Cup semi-final with United. City are without regular defenders Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and Nedum Onuoha due to injury.
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Match postponed. Now played Tue 19 Jan. 2nd leg at OT now Wed 27 Jan. As a result, home game v Hull (26 Jan) postponed. New date TBC
 
I hope the Hull game will be played on 23rd, as both are out of the FA Cup, surely that would be possible?
 
Good and bad that the game is called off.

More time to get people fit instead of being rushed back.

Bad because I am sure players and supporters alike want to get the taste of Disaster Sunday (yeah I just made that up) out of their mouths.
 
olesmyhero said:
I'm sure City petitioned to have the match move because they were scared of facing the Diouf.
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Damn they knew that his spell in Norway made him most dangerous in the snow.

Just going to have to play Ferdinand in defence as well as Diouf upfront against City the next time.
 
StanleyCupboard said:
Match postponed. Now played Tue 19 Jan. 2nd leg at OT now Wed 27 Jan. As a result, home game v Hull (26 Jan) postponed. New date TBC
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It's a shame it wasn't preponed ... with Wiggers knocking the Tigers out they could've moved it to January 23rd, FA Fourth Round day :( ... Meh means less than 10 games before United could hypothetically feild a fully fit matchsquad with O'Shea, Ferdinand, Hargreaves, Van der Sar et al.
 
feck sake my girlfriend got me tickets for the hull game, flights from dublin and paid for hotel for christmas she is gonna be pissed
 
Bit of a pain, but might be better off concentrating on the league for a bit.
Our best XI to play in the next two games, no distractions. We have a disturbing tail off in reliability once we get into the fringe players, but our best XI should be light years ahead of what we saw on Sunday.


Saturday, 9 January 2010
Barclays Premier League
Birmingham v Man Utd, 17:30

---------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, 16 January 2010
Barclays Premier League
Man Utd v Burnley, 15:00

----------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Carling Cup
Man City v Man Utd, SF, L1, 19:45

----------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Barclays Premier League
Postponed: Man Utd v Hull, 19:45

-----------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Carling Cup
Man Utd v Man City, SF, L2, 20:00

-----------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, 31 January 2010
Barclays Premier League
Arsenal v Man Utd, 16:00
 
--------Kuszczak-----------
Rafael-Vidic-Ferdinand-Fabio
Giggs-Fletcher-Anderson-Park
-------Diouf----Owen-------

:drool:
 
Judging from Fergie's comments it seems highly unlikely that Berbatov will start.
 
hope nani gets another start ..
he did fine today
park or obertan ?


ando gibson in midfield

i have no clue how fergie will approach this game
 
van der Sar

Neville Brown Evans Evra

Carrick
Fletcher Anderson
Valencia.................. Giggs

Rooney​

Going for a 1-0 win. Rooney to score.
 
Kuszczak
Rafael Brown Evans Fabio
Park Gibson Anderson Nani
Welbeck Diouf​
 
Rowem said:
Judging from Fergie's comments it seems highly unlikely that Berbatov will start.
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Why what's he said? Did he give any clues on the team for this game or just about Berb in general?
 
Right, some changes since the match had been called off. VDS is back, Vidic is injured (not sure when he'll be fit), Rio is training but can you really be sure if he'll start? I have a feeling if he's okay, then SAF will but we shall wait and see. I think the team will be this:

---------------VDS----------------
Rafael------Rio-----Evans------Evra
Valencia---Fletch--Anderson----Nani
-----------Owen---Diouf-----------

Subs: PIG, Brown, Fabio, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Rooney.
 
City were absolutely dire today. The first good side Mancini has faced and they were exposed as being a fair distance away yet.

VDS

Rafael Vidic Evans Fabio

Valencia Fletcher Anderson Giggs

Diouf Owen
 
Master of Manchester derbies


From The Sunday Times
January 17, 2010
Jonathan Northcroft


Ryan Giggs and cup semi-finals will always mean Villa Park, Arsenal and 1999, thanks to the extra-time goal-from-heaven he scored in a replay to settle one of the greatest FA Cup ties, weaving from his own half past opponent after opponent like Nureyev on skis. If someone needs convincing of Giggs’ extraordinariness, show them that strike. If footage is not to hand, statistics will do instead.

There is no shortage of amazing numbers connected to the Welshman’s career and here is another. Giggs has been going so long he has appeared in one fifth of the Manchester derbies played. Ever. That’s going all the way back to 1891, when Manchester United were called Newton Heath. :eek::eek::eek:

“I didn’t realise. All these stats just mean I’m old. Thanks for that . . .” said Giggs, laughing. The Manchester City strand is another remarkable plotline in his story. Giggs, of course, began his connection with professional football by training with the City youth team in his early teens. “Right from day one I hated it, absolutely hated it,” he once recalled. “It wasn’t that City were hard on me or not nice people . . . there was no getting round it, I was a United supporter.” He would wear a red top to training at City’s Platt Lane practice ground and the coaches there would make him take it off.

Giggs’ first senior start came in the Manchester derby — and so, in the same game, did his first official goal, even though Colin Hendry got the final touch after Giggs had connected with a Brian McClair cross and it should (as Giggs later acknowledged) have been credited as an own goal. That’s going all the way back to 1991 and May of that year — a time so distant that there would still be three months before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On Tuesday, Giggs hopes to make his 30th appearance in a semi-final match at club level and his 31st in a derby and — though he understands Sir Alex Ferguson, United’s manager, has to be sparing about using him these days — he is as keen to be involved, if not keener, than any United player.

“Earlier in the season, when City came to Old Trafford, there was the biggest build-up to a derby I’d probably ever known, because of the money City have spent. It will be the same case leading into this game and for the next few seasons. I love all that.

“The games don’t mean as much to me as they used to — they mean more and more,” Giggs said. “The older you get, the bigger responsibility you have and the more you savour the big matches.” :devil:

Giggs’ continuing zest for the major challenges is such that the FA Cup encounter with Leeds made him reflect how much he misses having one of United’s bitterest rivals around in the Premier League. “I know it’ll sound funny but I used to love playing at Elland Road. The atmosphere was electric, especially when Eric (Cantona) was in the team and they had a very good side,” Giggs said.

So, there is nothing jaded about his mentality. That his body retains freshness at an age — 36 — when other players begin seizing up like over-flogged engines, is down to a regimen involving a carefully managed balance between training, playing and rest; diet and yoga. He had 24 hours off from the latter on December 25 but otherwise — even on New Year’s Day — it is part of a daily routine.

“You have to keep it up no matter what, even if you don’t want to,” said Giggs. “It’s served me very well, so I’ll carry it on right to the end of my career.” The yoga helps keep him loose and give elasticity to muscles, especially his hamstrings, which were prone to injuries as a younger player, and has brought such results that several of the United players — including the likes of Wayne Rooney — join Giggs for sessions. “I tend to do the yoga after training and there’s a few of the lads who do it sometimes with me. Sometimes it’s with them, sometimes it’s on my own. I like it when the lads join in because it’s not as intense, but actually I enjoy it.

“The first year I dreaded it. Every day I was hoping Sarah, my yoga teacher, wouldn’t turn up at the training ground. I’d see her come in and my heart sank. But after about a year it’s still tough but you begin to like it. People think it’s all about breathing and relaxing but, no, it’s hard. You use muscles you don’t normally use and if you don’t want to go running or on the gym machines it’s a good way to stay fit.” Teammates are obviously used to it now, but was there banter in the United dressing room when Giggs started a pursuit some still regard as woolly and New Age? “Oh no,” he grinned. “Because Roy [Keane] started it . . . and nobody was ever going to give Keaney stick.” :devil:

After the defeat by Leeds, and some unexpected recent Premier League struggles, Ferguson will beef up the youthful side he has used in previous Carling Cup games and indicated Giggs may be among the experienced players brought in.

“I’ve got mixed views about the game now. I think we’ll have a mix. It won’t be the same team as against Burnley (in the quarter-final),” Ferguson said. “The derby is a fans’ game really and we have enough players who know about that, such as Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Darren Fletcher and Wes Brown.”

He is reserving judgment on whether City have been transformed by Roberto Mancini (“they have had some easy games, haven’t they?”) :lol: and remarked that the semi-final is a bigger deal for City than United “because it’s been quite a while since they last won it or were in a final”. He continues to have “no regrets” about Carlos Tevez’s defection from Old Trafford to Eastlands though continues to regard City’s use of the striker in a Welcome To Manchester poster as “petty”.

Giggs noted “it’s a weird season. Everyone’s beating each other and United have had more losses than in the whole of last season”, and Ferguson is aware that if City continue to flex their wealth, the football landscape will keep getting stranger. “I read somewhere they were going to bid for Lionel Messi,” he said. “They could offer a billion for Messi and it wouldn’t affect them too much.” Then the barb. “Whether it would give them any joy or not . . . but given the money they’ve got, anything’s possible.”


Giggs’ special date

When Ryan Giggs runs out at Old Trafford in March he will look, in the front row of the South Stand beside the players’ tunnel, for a very special spectator.

Amy Dutton, 24, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year and is undergoing treatment at Manchester’s Christie Hospital, where she met Giggs recently. Giggs’ visit was to help cement a partnership between the hospital and the Manchester United Foundation, which is raising £250,000 to fund extra rehabilitation for young patients.

Two full-time nurses are being paid for through the project and via the foundation, young cancer sufferers are able to go United’s Carrington training ground and use its state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool. Giggs, whose mother is a nurse and who lost his stepfather to cancer, said: “Everyone knows someone who’s had cancer and more or less the whole of the north of England uses Christie’s.”

Amy, a United season ticket-holder, has been unable to watch her team since beginning a six-month chemotherapy course in September but intends being back in her seat at Old Trafford by March. “I’ve been sharing my season ticket and it’s hard watching my boyfriend go off to the game every weekend,” she said. “We’re always in the front row and I’ve told Giggs he’s got to wave to me.”

ON TV TUESDAY
Manchester City v Manchester Utd
8pm (ko 8.05pm) BBC1

Ryan Giggs: Manchester derbies

Giggs made his first derby appearance – and scored his very first United goal - as a 17-year-old in May 1991. United ran out 1-0 winners that day and to this day the goal scorer is still disputed, with many crediting it as a Colin Hendy own goal. If Giggs plays on Tuesday it will be his very first League Cup appearance against City but his 31st appearance overall, making him comfortably the record appearance holder in Manchester derbies. To date he has started 22, made eight substitute appearances and scored 3 goals.

Ryan Giggs v Manchester City

P30 W18 D7 L5
League: 20 apps (8 as sub), 3 goals
FA Cup: 2 apps, 0 goals
League Cup: 0 apps, 0 goals
Total: 22 apps (8 as sub), 3 goals
 
To repeat: Ryan Giggs has been going so long he has appeared in one fifth of the Manchester derbies played. Ever. That’s going all the way back to 1891, when Manchester United were called Newton Heath.

fecking amazing!!!
 
Team should now be....

GK: VDS

RB: Rafael
CB: Evans
CB: Vidic (I understand he was touch and go for yesterday's game)
LB: Evra

RM: Valencia
CM: Fletcher
CM: Gibson
CM: Anderson
LM: Giggs

CF: Owen

Subs: PIG, Brown, Fabio, Scholes, Carrick, Rooney, Diouf

I'll still stick with a good 1-1, Owen for us, Tevez for them
 
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