Manchester United v Middlesbrough

If it is 4-1, we'd match a 100 year old club record that dates back to when Bily Meredith played for us.

That according to the Manchester Evening News today. If we score 4 again, 4 goals a match over 4 matches is the record.
 
Boro are a hard team. They've been a bogey team for us for some years.

A hard fought game.
 
Boro are a hard team. They've been a bogey team for use for some years.

A hard fought game.

That there are.

We struggled with them last year, and almost got knocked out of the FA Cup by them. I think we played 4 games against them last year, and I can only remember one where I actually felt comfortable (if that at all...didn't we beat them 2-0?)

They lost fat Viduka and they lost Yakubu, but I think we still need to take them seriously, and I think Ronaldo needs to score a brace (and win a penalty for his second) to shut that loud mouth Southgate up.

They're a team of cnuts with a cnut of a manager. Cattermole, Boateng, Morrison, etc, all of them.
 
That Morrison claimed he was a Utd fan. Then proceeded to try and break Ronaldo's leg.
 
This will be the time we finally kick their butts all over town - 6.0 cue liverpool-like creaming from the press
 
-----------VDS---------
Brown--Rio--Vidic--Evra
Ronaldo-Owen-Anderson-Giggs
-----Rooney---Tevez

Great that Hargreaves is fit. He should play to get sharp for the Arsenal game
 
Yep, I want a revenge too, especially to their turkish striker, Sanli Tuncay who bagged a hattrick to us at Istanbul 2 years ago.

How is Tuncay doing? I only watched one boro games this season, and he had like 3 one-on-one misses,
 
-----------VDS---------
Brown--Rio--Vidic--Evra
Ronaldo-Owen-Anderson-Giggs
-----Rooney---Tevez

Great that Hargreaves is fit. He should play to get sharp for the Arsenal game

I'd agree with that, alhtough I probably would play nani instead of giggs.
Giggs has been feckin great in the last games, but I think he could need a rest to start against arsenal with full power.
 
I think Nani will play, and Giggs start on the bench. Fergie rotates them.

Against Chelsea: Giggs started, Nani bench.
Coventry: Nani started, Giggs rested.
Birmingham: Giggs started, Nani rested.
Roma: Nani started, Giggs bench.
Wigan: Giggs started, Nani bench.
Villa: Both started.
Kiev: Giggs started, Nani bench.

So, time for Nani to start, Ronaldo on the right and Giggs on the bench and then start against Arsenal.
-------------------------
VDS
Brown Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Ronaldo Hargreaves Anderson Nani
Rooney Tevez

Kuszczak, O'Shea, Fletcher, Giggs, Piqué.
 
Giggs is in a great form but Fergie shouldn't risk him too much, that's why rotation with Nani will provide United with fresh strenghs on the wings to the rest of the season...

When Park will return we should have no worries with our wingers.

We can win this game with Boro in a good style, by simply playing attacking football. Anderson will provide our attackers with a high quality passings, so the injury of Scholes is not that scary stuff for this match.

3:0/1 United, me thinks...
 
saha?? when will he be fit to play or never again?
 
I'd agree with that, alhtough I probably would play nani instead of giggs.
Giggs has been feckin great in the last games, but I think he could need a rest to start against arsenal with full power.
He's finding his best form now and before the Arse game, our players have a rest of one week, which should be more than enough for Giggsy.
 
Evra should be back. Hargreaves is fit to play as well.

Boro in dire straits.

----------VDS----------
Brown--Rio---Vidic--Evra
-------Hargreaves-------
Ronaldo--Anderson--Giggs
-----Tevez--Rooney-----
 
This game is a perfect warmup for the game at Emirates. While we probably will win easily, Arsenal plays on Anfield. Feels like our game could be more of a stroll than their's, having a fit and hungry squad against a hopefully tired and injury woed Arsenal one. I'll go with 4-0 against Middlesbrough, with us reclaiming the first spot on the 3rd of November.
 
Boro are desperate for points, it won't be as easy as people made it out to be
 
We gotta keep this run going. Getting a clean sheet again is a high priority. I hope our attackers are firing so we can score freely against them. Anderson must continue to start because he has earned it.
 
Wont be as pleasing on the eye as we have been i feel. Boro will really scrap hard. Still fancy us to come through 2-0. Tevez and Anderson would be nice.
 
With news that Hargreaves may be paired with Anderson,and with a high probability of nani and tevez starting it'll be the first time all four of our new signings will play together. :D

----------VDS----------
Brown--Rio---Vidic--Evra
---------Hargreaves------
Ronaldo--Anderson---Nani
-----Tevez--Rooney-----
 
With news that Hargreaves may be paired with Anderson,and with a high probability of nani and tevez starting it'll be the first time all four of our new signings will play together. :D

----------VDS----------
Brown--Rio---Vidic--Evra
---------Hargreaves------
Ronaldo--Anderson---Nani
-----Tevez--Rooney-----

I think Tevez starting is a given, after-all his partnership with Rooney is just beginning to click. But Nani getting the nod ahead of Giggsy is less certain especially since there's no champions league games next week.
 
One of the best collection of pre-match stats and facts I've seen in ages.

Taken from goal.com
*United have had the most shots on target (88), won the most corners (86), and share with Liverpool the most shots off target (83).
*Middlesbrough have committed the most fouls (145) and collecte the most yellow cards (28).
*Cristiano Ronaldo (United) is the player who has had most shots on target (23).
*George Boateng (Boro) is the player to have committed most fouls (25).


Onto the team.

Unless Giggs is feeling some after-effects from Kiev I'd expect him to start, with Nani available to come on for someone later.

I may have misinterpreted SAF's comments today but it sounded like he's thinking of starting with Hargreaves but expects he'll only play an hour.
 
With news that Hargreaves may be paired with Anderson,and with a high probability of nani and tevez starting it'll be the first time all four of our new signings will play together. :D

----------VDS----------
Brown--Rio---Vidic--Evra
---------Hargreaves------
Ronaldo--Anderson---Nani
-----Tevez--Rooney-----

Giggs should start ahead of Nani.
 
One of the best collection of pre-match stats and facts I've seen in ages.

Taken from goal.com
*United have had the most shots on target (88), won the most corners (86), and share with Liverpool the most shots off target (83).
*Middlesbrough have committed the most fouls (145) and collecte the most yellow cards (28).
*Cristiano Ronaldo (United) is the player who has had most shots on target (23).
*George Boateng (Boro) is the player to have committed most fouls (25).


Onto the team.

Unless Giggs is feeling some after-effects from Kiev I'd expect him to start, with Nani available to come on for someone later.

I may have misinterpreted SAF's comments today but it sounded like he's thinking of starting with Hargreaves but expects he'll only play an hour.

Yeah, Hargreaves will likely start but will be subbed in the second half, he aint ready for the full 90 minutes yet.

Those stats are pretty interesting, especially with Ronaldo having the most shots on target for us, when what we tend to hear is how he hits row z so often.
 
It will be very interesting how Anderson plays a bit more in a forward role, with Hargreaves taking care of most of the defensive duties. Boro will be parking their bus in front of their goal anyways, so it will be nice to see how Anderson fares in a more advanced position in midfiled.
 
It is indeed interesting to see the combination of those two. Looking forward to the game. Viduka and Yakubu have gone but southgate will continue to play his counter attacking game as seen in their previous games.