Marseille Vs Manchester United

Unless he has a knock, the only other reason I can see Gibson playing ahead of Scholes is to rest Scholes ahead of the Chelsea & Liverpool games.
 
Gibson playing in 4-4-3 is actually not a bad idea.
 
Carrick and Scholes are both "passers". So I suppose it was always going to be 1 or the other. Surprised it is Carrick though.

Oh and I'm delighted that O'Shea is atleast getting the recognition he deserves from SAF, unlike here on the CAF :rolleyes: . He is a fecking rock at the back.
 
You'd think after all these years I'd be numb to all this but I'm just as excited today as I was back in the days of Best, Law and Charlton.
Day off work. Cigar and rum. Bacon and egg sarnie. 2 hours totally absorbed and away from the world. It doesn't get any better.

Now that is what I'm talking about. Beers at my mates for me.

The rum sounds like a shout though.
 
There must be something up with Scholes as I can't see him being picked on merit.

Protected for the upcoming games, I would guess. Possibly the same with Giggs. There's no points for going through in the CL, you just want to get through to the next stage and a draw tonight, for instance, would be fine - when in the league a draw will cost you points. I think Fergie's gambling on us getting a decent enough result tonight with whatever we've got.
 
Carrick and Scholes are both "passers". So I suppose it was always going to be 1 or the other. Surprised it is Carrick though.

Oh and I'm delighted that O'Shea is atleast getting the recognition he deserves from SAF, unlike here on the CAF :rolleyes: . He is a fecking rock at the back.

O'Shea gets a lot of credit as of late. He's been solid and offers experience, stability and height. His crosses are great too. Rafael is more mobile and attacking wise better, but we are playing away in Europe
 
Fergie has picked Gibson just so you lot have something to talk about for the next hour.
 
Carrick and Scholes are both "passers". So I suppose it was always going to be 1 or the other. Surprised it is Carrick though.

Oh and I'm delighted that O'Shea is atleast getting the recognition he deserves from SAF, unlike here on the CAF :rolleyes: . He is a fecking rock at the back.

O'Shea is solid but if Gibson plays instead of Scholes then that further reduces our creativity so in that case I would like to see Rafael on the right. He adds to our attacking play.
 
We really are missing Giggs, Park, Valencia.

I would go with the following

VDS
Rafael Smalling Vidic Evra
Scholes Carrick
Fletcher Rooney Nani
Berbatov

Playing 4-2-3-1

The reasons:
1) In a 4-3-3 Rooney is wasted wide left.
2) I would rather play Fletcher wide right of an attacking three rather than Bebe or Obertan.
3) Berbatov is good enough to play the lone man up front and if its not working he can swap with Rooney position.
4) Carrick and Scholes provide the right combination of defensive cover (Carrick) and passing from deep - Scholes.
5) Fletcher is capable to play wide right of a three man attacking forward line- if it wasnt for injuries Park or Valencia would be playing here.


Agree, its funny, a while ago before Rooney hit 34 goals up from more up top we all hated Rooney being on the left and yet now we have Berbatov doing well + Hernadez we all seem to be trying to cram them in the team by having Rooney on the left for a stronger CM.

How many Caftards would take a scoring draw tonight?

I would be fairly confident with a 2-2 to take back to Old Trafford. Win at home and we through and it leaves 2 away goals in case they score one.
 
Gibson's passing is good, it's his decision making which needs improving and he'll only get better with game time. Yes he's been poor of late, but so have many of our first team squad (Fletcher, Rooney and Evans have all been worse imo and are all more senior/established). I'm happy enough with that side, just glad Berbatov starts and isn't sacrificed to an "away in Europe 4-5-1" as would likely have happened if we'd had more fit wingers.
 
tomwfootball Head of Marseille fan group told today's L'Equipe that Patrice Evra won't be booed as "no-one cares about the France team in Marseille".
 
#MUFC v OM: Van der Sar; O'Shea, Vidic, Smalling, Evra; Fletcher, Gibson, Carrick; Nani, Rooney, Berbatov

bench: PIG, Rafael, Brown, Scholes, Obertan, Chicharito, Fabio
 
That first half performance vs Crawley will probably get Gibson another 3-4 starts. But you have to feel another bad performance tonight and that really could be the end of his chances for this season. Hope he can prove all of us wrong tonight!
 
tomwfootball Head of Marseille fan group told today's L'Equipe that Patrice Evra won't be booed as "no-one cares about the France team in Marseille".

I wouldnt imagine United fans being too arsed over England either. The likes of West Ham and Chelsea is a different story though.
 
Mandanda; Fanni, Mbia, Diawara, Heinze; Cisse, Kabore; Ayew, Lucho Gonzalez, Remy; Brandao

Bench: Elinton Andrade, Taiwo, Hilton, Cheyrou, Ayew, Abriel, Valbuena
 
#MUFC v OM: Van der Sar; O'Shea, Vidic, Smalling, Evra; Fletcher, Gibson, Carrick; Nani, Rooney, Berbatov

bench: PIG, Rafael, Brown, Scholes, Obertan, Chicharito, Fabio

Something like this then?

--------------------------------- VDS ---------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
O'SHEA ----------- SMALLING ------------ VIDIC -------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------ EVRA
-------------------------------- CARRICK -----------------------------
-------------------- FLETCHER ----------- GIBSON ------------------
--------------------------------------------------------- ROONEY ----
------ NANI -----------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------- BERBATOV --------------------------
 
Would've liked to see King on the bench instead of Fabio. He'd have given us a "different" sort of option.

But overall a good team. Tactically makes sense.
 
Something like this then?

--------------------------------- VDS ---------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
O'SHEA ----------- SMALLING ------------ VIDIC -------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------ EVRA
-------------------------------- CARRICK -----------------------------
-------------------- FLETCHER ----------- GIBSON ------------------
--------------------------------------------------------- ROONEY ----
------ NANI -----------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------- BERBATOV --------------------------

I'd expect Carrick and Fletcher to hold and Gibson to be given a role attempting to support Berbatov.
 
Threw my phone in the wall when I noticed Gibson is starting. Wtf...
 
That first half performance vs Crawley will probably get Gibson another 3-4 starts. But you have to feel another bad performance tonight and that really could be the end of his chances for this season. Hope he can prove all of us wrong tonight!


Yes, and he was rubbish when the real midfielder in Anderson went off. I would rather see Fabio or Rafael in midfield before Gibson....