Rangers FC vs. Manchester United

Rio played the full game yesterday without a problem, if there were any issue with his groin Fergie wouldnt have picked him especially given hes been playing every 3 to 4 days for the last few weeks, Nah Fergie never picks Rio for these european group matches these days hes clearly using them to blood Smalling, 'groin' injury or no injury Rio wouldnt have played.

I expect he'll be back against Blackburn though.
 
I hope we play quite a weak team for this. We only need two draws from our remaining two games to top the group. We have a more difficult game against Blackburn coming up on Saturday. The game against Blackburn is going to be physical, so I hope we give Smalling and Evans/Brown a chance against Rangers and rest Vidic and Rio.
 
--------------VDS--------------
Rafael-Smalling---Vidic-----Evra
----Fletcher-Carrick-Giggs------
Nani-------------------Obertan
---------Chicharito------------
 
--------------VDS--------------
Rafael---Smalling----Vidic-----Fabio
----Fletcher-Carrick-Scholes------
Nani-------------------Obertan
-----Rooney----Berbs--------
 
It's alright, if the twins run around fast enough and keep changing positions, we can pretend there's only one of them out there.
 
Could see:

Kuszczak
Neville
Brown
J. Evans
O'Shea
Bébé
Scholes
Fletcher
Giggs
Berbatov
Rooney

Subs:
Amos
Fabio
Vidic
Gibson
Anderson
Obertan
Macheda

Not sure what's the deal with Smalling's injury.
 
I hope we play quite a weak team for this. We only need two draws from our remaining two games to top the group. We have a more difficult game against Blackburn coming up on Saturday. The game against Blackburn is going to be physical, so I hope we give Smalling and Evans/Brown a chance against Rangers and rest Vidic and Rio.

you are naive to think rangers game will easier than the blackburn one. no way we still need a point to be sure of qualification. strong team needed please.
 
I hope we play quite a weak team for this. We only need two draws from our remaining two games to top the group. We have a more difficult game against Blackburn coming up on Saturday. The game against Blackburn is going to be physical, so I hope we give Smalling and Evans/Brown a chance against Rangers and rest Vidic and Rio.
I'm sure he'll field a strong team.

If we field a weak team and lose at Ibrox (we only managed a draw at home) then we would have to get a point against Valencia. Things can sometimes go wrong in a match and if they did go wrong for us against Valencia, after losing to Rangers, then we could possibly be out of the CL.
 
I'm sure he'll field a strong team.

If we field a weak team and lose at Ibrox (we only managed a draw at home) then we would have to get a point against Valencia. Things can sometimes go wrong in a match and if they did go wrong for us against Valencia, after losing to Rangers, then we could possibly be out of the CL.

Man Utd reserves are a strong enough team for Rangers. Scholes and Rooney are perhaps bound to start, the defence will be relatively solid no matter who gets in and the people in midfield have the determination to bother anyone on their day.

I've remembered a "reserve team" including Eric Djemba-Djemba that drew with Chelsea in one leg at Stamford Bridge, while the home team lost at Old Trafford. It all comes down to the performers on the night. I have full confidence in whatever side picked.
 
Man Utd reserves are a strong enough team for Rangers. Scholes and Rooney are perhaps bound to start, the defence will be relatively solid no matter who gets in and the people in midfield have the determination to bother anyone on their day.

I've remembered a "reserve team" including Eric Djemba-Djemba that drew with Chelsea in one leg at Stamford Bridge, while the home team lost at Old Trafford. It all comes down to the performers on the night. I have full confidence in whatever side picked.

Like the game at Old Trafford?
 
I can see another poor performance but with the right result for United.

I reckon Smalling will play as he seems to like him as the straight stand-in for Rio. Other than that, I'd like to see a full strength, or as close to full strength as possible, in order to try and secure the 3 points and qualification. I'd rather get it out of the way and the game at home vs. VAlencia is unimportant meaning we can rest players before the Aresnal game
 
Like the game at Old Trafford?

And Fabio da Silva and Darron Gibson were two of the better players at Old Trafford, many of the senior players couldn't provide another outlet, obviously Valencia's game plan upset the rhythm. The team will obviously need more outlets but I feel United could make wholesale changes and really cause Rangers problems here. You bring in Scholes, Berbatov, Giggs, to add some creativity even the likes of Anderson (if fit) or Bébé to add some pace with maybe a fairly solid defence behind them then I think you might get a better performance than the senior players showed at Wigan.

I'd expect five or six changes.
 
If you want to look for omens, the last time United were in Glasgow, they played their first team and they were beaten Celtic.If the "reserves" show a determined professional attitude on the day they should beat Rangers, look at Liam Miller's performance that put Hibernian on their way to a 3-0 away victory at Ibrox just a few weeks back.

Fabio da Silva and Darron Gibson were two of the better players at Old Trafford, many of the senior players couldn't provide another outlet.

.

The last time United were in Glasgow we drew 1-1 with Celtic.
 
The last time United were in Glasgow we drew 1-1 with Celtic.

Yeah I checked that again. Very closely together, a free-kick and goalkeeper mistake let Celtic in on those games respectively.

Rangers I don't think are at full strength, but even if United do make a lot of changes they have many experienced players they can bring in to cause Rangers problems. I think if he made 10 changes, he'd have a better team than faced Rangers the last time.
 
The good thing about this game is that Rangers have no choice but to go for the win. Valencia will steamroller Bursaspor so anything less than a Rangers win against us will basically mean they finish third and miss out on the second round. This is a good thing for United as it should give us more space than they gave us in the first game. I'm going for United to win 3-1.
 
The good thing about this game is that Rangers have no choice but to go for the win. Valencia will steamroller Bursaspor so anything less than a Rangers win against us will basically mean they finish third and miss out on the second round. This is a good thing for United as it should give us more space than they gave us in the first game. I'm going for United to win 3-1.

Walter will play 5-4-1 again and hope to nick a goal.
 
I can see another poor performance but with the right result for United.

I reckon Smalling will play as he seems to like him as the straight stand-in for Rio. Other than that, I'd like to see a full strength, or as close to full strength as possible, in order to try and secure the 3 points and qualification. I'd rather get it out of the way and the game at home vs. VAlencia is unimportant meaning we can rest players before the Arsenal game

Great point, and hopefully Arsenal themselves won't have the same luxury in their last CL group game. In any case, it would be dangerous to underestimate Rangers on their own patch. For a huge game like this, their support will be worth the proverbial goal start.
 
Great point, and hopefully Arsenal themselves won't have the same luxury in their last CL group game. In any case, it would be dangerous to underestimate Rangers on their own patch. For a huge game like this, their support will be worth the proverbial goal start.

Theres 6 days between our last group game home to Valencia and the match against Arsenal so i'd have thought that was enough time between matches without the need to rest anyone. I'd agree that we'd still be better to ensure qualification as early as possible though.
 
Rangers might find it hard to name 5 fit defenders for this one. Bougherras out and Papac is a big doubt.

I think they'll line up 5-4-1 if Papac makes it and 4-5-1 if he doesnt. Fwiw the 5 would be:

Foster---Broadfoot---Weir---Papac---Whittaker

They could move McCulloch back to defence if Papac doesnt make it but that would leave them very weak in midfield.
 
The good thing about this game is that Rangers have no choice but to go for the win. Valencia will steamroller Bursaspor so anything less than a Rangers win against us will basically mean they finish third and miss out on the second round. This is a good thing for United as it should give us more space than they gave us in the first game. I'm going for United to win 3-1.

I can't see us opening up too much to be honest. We played 3-5-1-1 in both the home games so far and as it worked well Walter won't tinker with it too much.
 
Rangers might find it hard to name 5 fit defenders for this one. Bougherras out and Papac is a big doubt.

I think they'll line up 5-4-1 if Papac makes it and 4-5-1 if he doesnt. Fwiw the 5 would be:

Foster---Broadfoot---Weir---Papac---Whittaker

They could move McCulloch back to defence if Papac doesnt make it but that would leave them very weak in midfield.

Ross Perry perhaps?
 
Ross Perry perhaps?

Cant see him being thrown into a game of this magnitude. If Papac plays it'll most likely be 5-4-1. If he doesnt i think it'll be 4-5-1.

So either:

--------------------McGregor------------------

Foster---Broadfoot---Weir---Papac---Whittaker

Naismith------McCulloch--------Davis-----Weiss/Lafferty

---------------------Miller----------------------

Or



--------------------McGregor------------------

Foster-------Broadfoot---------Weir------Whittaker

Weiss---------McCulloch--------Davis----------Lafferty

-------------------- Naismith--------------------

---------------------Miller----------------------
 
Cant see him being thrown into a game of this magnitude. If Papac plays it'll most likely be 5-4-1. If he doesnt i think it'll be 4-5-1.

So either:

--------------------McGregor------------------

Foster---Broadfoot---Weir---Papac---Whittaker

Naismith------McCulloch--------Davis-----Weiss/Lafferty

---------------------Miller----------------------

Or



--------------------McGregor------------------

Foster-------Broadfoot---------Weir------Whittaker

Naismith---------McCulloch--------Davis-----Weiss

-------------------- Lafferty--------------------

---------------------Miller----------------------

Why not Lafferty behind Miller, seems the more dangerous one centrally?
 
You're right, it makes more sense but Whittaker is a horrendous defender (good going forward but) and will get destroyed if Nani plays. Kyle will help him out a bit more on the left than Weiss.

What if Giggs plays?
 
Gibson on the right? :smirk:

:lol: Nah, I think they'll pick a lineup based on the assumption that Nani is playing and will be most worried about Whittaker up against him and the lack of pace in their back line. If Papac is fit that'll be a massive boost as he's fairly reliable and will help Whittaker to double up on him.

The most dangerous Rangers player I envisage will be Naismith. Tricky enough little customer and in great form. Millers in great goalscoring form but I can see him being extremely isolated if it's just the one up.
 
you are naive to think rangers game will easier than the blackburn one. no way we still need a point to be sure of qualification. strong team needed please.

I said we need two draws which means two points from are remaining two games.
 
The last time United were in Glasgow we drew 1-1 with Celtic.

no the last time we went there we lost 1-0 to celtic, nakamura free-kick goal and saha miss a penalty. hope history don't repeat itself.