Manchester United vs Chelsea

1200+ viewing this thread, and still 45 mins to kickoff :(

Hope to feck Ronaldo turns up tonight
 
Mind games.

I expect Rio and Carrick to walk out onto the pitch.
 
Fletcher - Giggs :nervous:
 
Cech
Bosingwa
Carvalho
Terry
Cole
Cole
Lumpard
Mikel
Ballack
Deco
The Drog

Their defence is mean.

Their midfield as well. This is gonna be one hell of a test for our side. They look like they are flooding the centre of the field. Despite thier numbers we have got to win the battle here. Hopefully Ronaldo, Giggs, Fletcher and Park will be on their game today.
 
Chelsea's midfielders will struggle to contain a midfielder who can dribble. Giggs will murder them with his technique.

I reckon thats the plan. come on united. off to the local. good luck lads. lets hope we're back on here celebrating the right result
 
Can't believe we are putting out such a messed up team in the most important league game so far. Carrick and Scholes on the bench while we play a central midfield of Giggs and Fletcher?

I'm just shocked.

I'm know I'm a drama queen, but come on, there's no way we win with that line-up. You can bet your life we will start off this game slowly and only pick things up when Fergie sorts the midfield out with substitutions.
 
I knew Rio wouldn't play. Typical SAF that.
 
The back 4 has been quite weak against derby and it won't even be protected by our midfielders when we play against chelsea. Carrick-Fletcher would have given us more stability but FFS, giggs-fletcher vs Deco-Lampard-Ballack-Mikel. They will walk over us.
 
If we play 4-4-2 I'm hoping Park will tuck in when we're on the back foot, with Giggs swapping position with him. Would give us a tenacious centre mid when defending, and a more creative one when attacking. Could work fine, although missing Rio is disappointing
 
Strange team selection, Carrick must be carrying a knock which makes the decision to send him on in mid week even stranger. Shame Rio didn't make it but Evans can cope just wish the midfield was a little stronger we have three wingers and Fletcher in there could be a disaster.
 
--------------- Cech -----------------
Bosingwa -- Terry -- Carvalho -- A.Cole
--------------- Mikel -----------------
------- Lampard --- Ballack -----------
J.Cole -------------------------- Deco
------------- Drogba -----------------
 
I really can't see us winning this one... we'd do good to get a draw.

Comeonn United
 
the only reason carrick cant be playing is because of an injury, must be, because going with giggs and fletcher in the middle is asking for trouble with a midfield as good as their, and also considering rio is out, we dont really have anyone who will dictate the play from a deeper position, or anyone who has the positional sense to sweep infront the of back four, shit
 
Carrick out must be a knock of some sort, fecking hell Chelsea will dominate midfield now.
 
Our midfield will get swamped unless Rooney or whoever else is upfront helps out. Hope SAF knows what he is doing
 
Why the feck has Carrick been left out?
That's particular interesting because Carrick always starts the big games if fit. I watched the arrival of our players about an hour ago and he seemed to be in a good mood, so maybe Fergie just goes with experience.
I seriously hope we won't get overrun, that Chelsea midfield looks incredibly strong on paper.
 
Man Utd vs Chelsea

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Giggs, Park, Berbatov, Rooney

Subs: Kuszczak, Anderson, Carrick, Scholes, Welbeck, O'Shea, Tevez

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Mikel, Joe Cole, Lampard, Ballack, Deco, Drogba

Subs: Cudicini, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Ferreira, Kalou, Belletti, Anelka

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire)
 
I really hope Giggs has one of his good games, he never seems to have average games, it's either brilliant or terrible. He just needs to make his passes work from the start as he has a tendency to throw away too many balls once he gets going.

I'm not Evans biggest fan, never have been, but this is a real test for the boy and I really hope he steps up to it and show us all what he's capable of.
 
Can't believe we are putting out such a messed up team in the most important league game so far. Carrick and Scholes on the bench while we play a central midfield of Giggs and Fletcher?

I'm just shocked.

I'm know I'm a drama queen, but come on, there's no way we win with that line-up. You can bet your life we will start off this game slowly and only pick things up when Fergie sorts the midfield out with substitutions.

Got to agree with you on that mate, looking at (what most likely will be) a 3 man midfield consisting of Park, Giggs & Fletcher i'm going in to this match pretty nervous now! Having not only one, but both Scholes or Carrick not playing is beyond me... two of our most creative players in the squad and most prolific over the last few matches yet Fergie feels the need to drop them :nono: I'm guessing Giggs is going to be seen as our creative midfielder :wenger:
 
Why do we have three center midfield players on the bench and no wingers? Nani for Anderson would have made a lot more sense.
 
Why do we have three center midfield players on the bench and no wingers? Nani for Anderson would have made a lot more sense.

We have three wingers and one central player on the pitch, even fletcher and Rooney can play on the wing so I don't see that as a problem.