Manchester United v Manchester City

Red Dreams said:
draw lads...

they will be set up not to lose.
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If they want to give themselves any chance of challenging for the title, they can't afford to drop two more points. I m not exactly sure they are going to park the bus. They might attack and try to go for the win.
 
The Hairdryer said:
Hopefully Fergie sets us up to get some goals but not to conceed them at the other end.
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Sounds like a good idea :D

Think we need to play (as in actually play the way we can!) for the full 90 here. Do that and we'll be OK
 
Lawro and bettingzone predicting 1-1 draws. I think we'll do it quite comfortably and put the pressure back on Arsenal, our home form is excellent.
 
GingerPrince11 said:
Manchester City employee uses Facebook for United hate-campaign | Football | The Guardian

...
Ged Coyne, a full-time member of City's groundstaff, has closed down his Facebook account after describing United as "scum" in a series of abusive rants.
...
Coyne, a City employee for 15 years, is understood to have been admonished and to have accepted that he was in the wrong.
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No punishment then?!! An employer is clearly vicariously liable for an employee's wrong doing. No justice if FA is not taking any action!
 
Is it really that big of a deal, it's fecking facebook.
 
Alex said:
Is it really that big of a deal, it's fecking facebook.
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Well here's how big a deal it is, considering the number of Twitter users is probably just a tiny fraction of those of FB!!

Manchester City employee uses Facebook for United hate-campaign | Football | The Guardian
....
Old Trafford was described as "the Theatre of Complete Tosspots" and Coyne refers to a party which was organised by United fans at Manchester's Walkabout bar, only to be cancelled after police intervention. He writes: "This was due to the fact that Manchester is completely Blue and the fact that City fans were not only gonna storm Walkabout but burn the shithole down."

The abuse was returned by some United fans and comes at a time when City have been trying to educate their staff, including the players, about the perils of using social networking sites in light of the recent Twitter controversies, most notably Liverpool's Ryan Babel being fined by the Football Association for posting a mocked-up photograph of Howard Webb in a United shirt after Liverpool's 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford last month.
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Ryan Babel was a Liverpool player, this guy doesnt play for City
 
Alex said:
Ryan Babel was a Liverpool player, this guy doesnt play for City
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He works for City and City is liable for their employee's action (although the defence for City is, he's acting against the employer's policy, in which case, he should be sacked or punished in some way)
 
He was reprimanded, which I think is enough for such a trivial offense.
 
Alex said:
He was reprimanded, which I think is enough for such a trivial offense.
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Do you have more information than what this article revealed? The word used there is "admonished", not reprimanded. Without more, I am not sure if such act constitutes "Trivial" because:

-the FB page is in the public domain
-his choice of words are not too dissimilar to when a criminal offence is committed, such as hate crime. (in the report, the action was termed as "hate campaign"). His profile picture was a graffiti "feck MUFC".

If you read the article closely, Police is taking the matter seriously because it is important not to inflame tensions ahead of the game. Normal banter is one thing, but a massive carrying out of a campaign is quite another.

If City does not take serious action to alienate itself, the FA surely has legitimate reason to step in!
 
When was the last time a Premiership went unbeaten at home their entire season? Was it Chelsea back when they were led by the great one?
 
Can't see Fergie taking chances with the team. It has to be Anderson-Carrick or Scholes-Fletcher. Park should be fully recovered and an absolute must in a tough 4-4-2. Rooney and Berba must play together, Rooney to drop in the hole

VDS
Rafael-Smalling-Vidic-Evra
Nani-Anderson-Carrick-Park
Berba-Rooney
 
CentreForward said:
Can't see Fergie taking chances with the team. It has to be Anderson-Carrick or Scholes-Fletcher. Park should be fully recovered and an absolute must in a tough 4-4-2. Rooney and Berba must play together, Rooney to drop in the hole

VDS
Rafael-Smalling-Vidic-Evra
Nani-Anderson-Carrick-Park
Berba-Rooney
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I think Park should play more central so he can give the midfielders a hard time and Rooney can play on the left. I hope Scholes starts. We need him to run the show for us.
 
I don't see a lot of goals in this one. Hopefully we'll nick a 1-0.
 
Fergie has confirmed Smalling will start.
 
Midweek status:

Rested for United
Smalling
Owen (Not picked)
Carrick (Not picked)
Brown (Not picked)
Paul Scholes (Retired)
Dimitar Berbatov (Retired)
Ryan Giggs (Retired)
Edwin van der Sar (Retired)
Park Ji-sung (Retired)
Patrice Evra (Not picked)
Vidic
Fabio (Not picked)
Obertan (Not picked)
Fletcher (Ankle and eye injury)
Kuszczak

Not rested for United
O'Shea (In Ireland 8 Feb 20:00) - 85 minutes
Gibson (In Ireland 8 Feb 20:00) - 81 minutes
Rooney (In Denmark 9 Feb 19:15) - 45 minutes
Lindegaard (In Denmark 9 Feb 19:15) - unused sub
Nani (In Switzerland 9 Feb 20:00) - 60 minutes
Anderson (In France Feb 9 20:00) - unused sub
Rafael (In France Feb 9 20:00) - unused sub
Hernandez (In Atlanta, USA 10 Feb 01:00) - 80 minutes

Injured for United
Hargreaves
Ferdinand
Valencia
Evans (Ankle injury)


Rested for City
Tevez
Dzeko (Rested)
Jô
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Patrick Vieira

Not rested for City
Kolo Toure (In Ivory Coast 8 Feb Finished) - 90 minutes
Yaya Toure (In Ivory Coast 8 Feb Finished) - Unused
Given (In Ireland 8 Feb 20:00) - 90 minutes
Kolarov (In Israel 9 Feb 18:00)
Hart (In Denmark 9 Feb 19:15) - 90 minutes
Milner (In Denmark 9 Feb 19:15) - 90 minutes
Lescott (In Denmark 9 Feb 19:15) - Unused sub
Barry (In Denmark 9 Feb 19:15) - 48 minutes
Kompany (In Belgium 9 Feb 19:30) - 90 minutes
Boateng (In Germany 9 Feb 19:45) - 26 minutes
Silva (In Spain 9 Feb 20:30) - 14 minutes
Zabaleta (In Switzerland 9 Feb 20:00) - 27 minutes
De Jong (In Holland 9 Feb) - 15 minutes - apparently picked up an injury

Injured for City
Richards
Balotelli
Adam Johnson
 
Pogue Mahone said:
How come Evans and Fletch aren't in the "injured" section?
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To be honest, I just assumed their injuries were the kind of injuries that would keep them at United while being fit for the match on Saturday.

The players in the injured sections are the ones that are definitely out of the game. Don't know if that's also the case with Fletch and Evans.
 
Manchester United will be without Rio Ferdinand (calf) and Jonny Evans (ankle), so Chris Smalling will partner Nemanja Vidic in the centre of defence.

Park Ji-Sung is likely to be involved for the first time since returning from Asian Cup duty with South Korea.

Manchester City forward Mario Balotelli is losing his battle to recover from a knee injury.

Midfielder Nigel de Jong is rated as 50-50 as he struggles to overcome an ankle injury.


Manchester United

Injured: Evans & Valencia (ankle), Ferdinand (calf), Hargreaves (hamstring)

Manchester City

Doubtful: Balotelli (knee), De Jong (ankle)

Injured: A Johnson (ankle), Richards (concussion)
 
Evans out. Good news. Not at all confident in his ability to handle Tevez in their current forms. It'll be hard for Smalling as well though. Will be a real test. I wouldn't mind seeing O'Shea start in the centre either.
 
So what lineup...

VDS
Rafael - Smalling - Vidic - Evra
Nani - Scholes - Carrick - Anderson - Park
Rooney​

I know it's home but I can still see Fergie setting up a la European tie.

Maybe even Giggs instead of Anderson or Park.
 
I don't suppose anyone knows what our record of Saturday lunch time kick offs is do they? I wouldn't mind betting it's pretty poor.
 
wr8_utd said:
Evans out. Good news. Not at all confident in his ability to handle Tevez in their current forms. It'll be hard for Smalling as well though. Will be a real test. I wouldn't mind seeing O'Shea start in the centre either.
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I can see where you're coming from here. It's certainly a show of faith in Smalling by Fergie in a match of this magnitude.

I'm sure he's also wrestling with his midfield and striker options, with Nani, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes, Anderson, Berbatov and Rooney all having strong shouts for six available positions.

I really think Mancini might spring a surprise with two up front for this one, partly because he now has Dzeko, who wasn't available at Arsenal, for instance, and partly because if he has any ambition about winning the league at all, a single point wouldn't be of too much use.

By the way, where's NewtonHeathDave? Would have expected some comments on here from the lad.
 
Hate these twats.

Please win this one tomorrow lads.

Defence is the key as going forward at home we have been impressive.
 
Northstand said:
I really think Mancini might spring a surprise with two up front for this one, partly because he now has Dzeko, who wasn't available at Arsenal, for instance, and partly because if he has any ambition about winning the league at all, a single point wouldn't be of too much use.
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I'd be very surprised if they did this because when he's tried it before they've been very leaky at the back.
 
Northstand said:
I really think Mancini might spring a surprise with two up front for this one, partly because he now has Dzeko, who wasn't available at Arsenal, for instance, and partly because if he has any ambition about winning the league at all, a single point wouldn't be of too much use.
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I'd be absolutely amazed if he did, he will revert to type and play it cautious, it's in his DNA.

If he did go 4-4-2 though that would suit us fine.
 
Northstand said:
I can see where you're coming from here. It's certainly a show of faith in Smalling by Fergie in a match of this magnitude.

I'm sure he's also wrestling with his midfield and striker options, with Nani, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes, Anderson, Berbatov and Rooney all having strong shouts for six available positions.

I really think Mancini might spring a surprise with two up front for this one, partly because he now has Dzeko, who wasn't available at Arsenal, for instance, and partly because if he has any ambition about winning the league at all, a single point wouldn't be of too much use.

By the way, where's NewtonHeathDave? Would have expected some comments on here from the lad.
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Don't forget that Smalling has a knock too, and Brown doesn't have the match-fitness, so he might be left with O'Shea.

Home game against City, I'm thinking he'll go 4-4-2, so that would be Berbatov and Rooney, perhaps Park and Fletcher, then Nani if fresh, Giggs otherwise and I'm going to perhaps nod for Carrick over Anderson and Scholes, simply on the basis of defensive common sense.
 
Berlinknives said:
Don't forget that Smalling has a knock too, and Brown doesn't have the match-fitness, so he might be left with O'Shea.

Home game against City, I'm thinking he'll go 4-4-2, so that would be Berbatov and Rooney, perhaps Park and Fletcher, then Nani if fresh, Giggs otherwise and I'm going to perhaps nod for Carrick over Anderson and Scholes, simply on the basis of defensive common sense.
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Smalling starts.
 
With Smalling starting I wouldn't be at all surprised to see O'Shea start at right back.
 
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