Manchester City vs. Manchester United - Premier League, 10/11/2010

nickcoppack Nick Coppack
Sir Alex says he has "no idea" about his team. Illness has hit the team hard.


Don't like the sound of this.
 
charleysurf said:
nickcoppack Nick Coppack
Sir Alex says he has "no idea" about his team. Illness has hit the team hard.


Don't like the sound of this.
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United's strength is the quality of the squad. What matters is not who plays but whether they perform close to their peak. Evans and Wes were superb at Chelsea last season for instance.
 
Even our squad is tested if our best three wingers are out, plus two or three strikers and a midfielder or two. Apparently Giggs is out for tomorrow with Nani very doubtful.
 
If Scholes-Carrick-Fletcher are fit then I think we're fine, with Obertan-Hernandez-Park in front. It's not ideal though. Hopefully we will have some good bench options too.
 
"Ryan is out," Ferguson said ahead of the derby game at Manchester City on Wednesday. "Nani is doubtful. At this stage it doesn't look as if he will make it. It is not a great position for us to be in. We are counting heads at the moment."

A virus has also swept through the camp and Ferguson says he is unsure who will be available for the trip to Eastlands.

"We've no idea at all [on a side]," he said. "We've still got some players out with 'flu and we've sent some players home. We're not in a good position at the moment, but we have a strong squad. We just carry on."

Sir Alex Ferguson 'counting heads' after Owen Hargreaves blow - Barclays Premier League - ESPN Soccernet
 
The injuries we could cope with but this virus is a fecking nightmare. Even if players recover in time - and declare themselves fit to play - they'll be left washed out by the damn thing and get knackered after the first 30 minutes or so.

Against any other team it would be just one of those things but this lot (and the press) will see a United defeat as reason to get all giddy about the balance of power shifting in Manchester, irrespective of the circumstances. No newspapers for a week I reckon.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The injuries we could cope with but this virus is a fecking nightmare. Even if players recover in time - and declare themselves fit to play - they'll be left washed out by the damn thing and get knackered after the first 30 minutes or so.

Against any other team it would be just one of those things but this lot (and the press) will see a United defeat as reason to get all giddy about the balance of power shifting in Manchester, irrespective of the circumstances. No newspapers for a week I reckon.
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So we have

a) Players definitely out - Hargreaves, Valencia
b) players on the cusp of a return from injury - Nani, Giggs
c) players down with flu - Berbatov, Carrick, Anderson, Gibson, Evans, Macheda
d) players having flu symptoms - Vidic, Scholes

It will be a risk playing players who have had flu symptoms as they could be nackered during the game and pick up an injury.

Who would that leave?

********VDs*******
Rafael Rio Brown Evra
Park Fletcher Eikrem
Bebe Hernandez Obertan


Bebe
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The injuries we could cope with but this virus is a fecking nightmare. Even if players recover in time - and declare themselves fit to play - they'll be left washed out by the damn thing and get knackered after the first 30 minutes or so.

Against any other team it would be just one of those things but this lot (and the press) will see a United defeat as reason to get all giddy about the balance of power shifting in Manchester, irrespective of the circumstances. No newspapers for a week I reckon.
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This is the biggest concern, a few will probably put their hand up but the level of performance won't be what's required in a derby realistically.

Virus and all the symptoms SAF described leave you weak and you tend to lose some weight aswell, not ideal preparation.

And yeah, the press will have a field day if we lose. They've been dying for this power shift headline for ages, they've set it all up in the last 3 derby's only for us to screw over their little agenda.
 
Re what Pogue said about the media having a field day - I'm not having any of that. If we have to field a considerably weakened side and we lose, they can shove their "shifting of power" bollocks up their arse.
 
Slight out of the box thinking, but Fabio left wing? Park right wing? Hopefully we'll have Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher. That would give us the platform we need. Perhaps even O'Shea left back and Evra left wing?

VDS

Rafael - Rio - Vidic - O'Shea

Park - Fletcher - Carrick - Scholes - Evra

Hernandez

Would give us a chance of victory.
 
Stop whinging. No excuses, shit happens. Just hope the XI out there do us proud.
 
The thing is even if players pass themselves fit they will still have not trained properly during their illness and thus be weakened or perform underpar.

Also remember we have Villa on the weekend.
 
Commadus said:
The thing is even if players pass themselves fit they will still have not trained properly during their illness and thus be weakened or perform underpar.

Also remember we have Villa on the weekend.
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And yet you refuse to consider either John O'Shea or 3-5-2!
 
3-1 United, I'm confident for some reason. Think City are there for the taking at the moment.
 
Zen86 said:
3-1 United, I'm confident for some reason. Think City are there for the taking at the moment.
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Who will take them though? Everyone seems to be injured or sick for us.

Even Vidic and Evra are showing symptoms.

"At this stage it doesn't look as if he will make it. It is not a great position for us to be in. We are counting heads at the moment."

United's problems are not made any easier by a virus that has swept their Carrington HQ since the return from Turkey, with Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes all believed to be amongst the victims.

If even Scholes, Vida and Evra have got the flu I have absolutely no hope from this game.
 
Feed Me said:
Slight out of the box thinking, but Fabio left wing? Park right wing? Hopefully we'll have Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher. That would give us the platform we need. Perhaps even O'Shea left back and Evra left wing?

VDS

Rafael - Rio - Vidic - O'Shea

Park - Fletcher - Carrick - Scholes - Evra

Hernandez

Would give us a chance of victory.
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I like the idea of Fabio left wing. I mean, given the shit we're in. Could go O'Shea midfield to spare Scholes. I guess Obertan should get in though.
 
I was going to say that this was going to be the most akward line-up in years, but then I remember that we played Carrick and Fletcher in cental defense, against the German champions away... and we won.

Maybe there's hope...
 
Berlinknives said:
And yet you refuse to consider either John O'Shea or 3-5-2!
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I honestly forgot about sheesy.

As to 3-5-2 thats a recipe for disaster changing the formation as well as players.

Stick with the formation the players understand and see who is fit on the day.
 
-------------VDS

Brown-----Rio-----Evans------Fabio

----------------Carrick---------------

Rafael-----Fletcher-----Eikrem-----Obertan

---------------Park

------------Hernandez


We can still field a team atm. I'd keep O'Shea as sub...he could cover a fair few of those positions if anyone was struggling.
 
I don't think we will know who really is fit until we see the teamsheet for any surprises but even if there are surprises that is still the strong chance that some might be subbed early.
 
Could be mind games - although, I still think, we will field a strong enough team. You never know you could make the team hours before the match.
 
^^^^ If that happens you should take a banning.
 
Meh if all the players are injured/ill then City should win shouldn't they, if they cant beat a reserve team after spending 300 million then they are shitter than i thought.

Sounds as if we cant even get a team together, is there any way the club could ask the FA for a postponement if its that sever? i mean its a bit ridiculous having to play a match when literally everyones down with sickness.
 
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