Stoke City v Manchester United

charlenefan

Far less insightful than the other Charley
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
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Barclays Premier League
Friday 26th December 2008
Britannia Stadium
KO 12.45 GMT
 
Well then. Its back to our Premier League business. Hopefully our most recent trophy win will give us the confidence boost we need to empower our title charge in the second half of the season.
 
If they play as badly as they did against Blackburn it won't matter.
 
They really were awful against Blackburn.

Got played off the park.

I'm pretty sure Amdy or Abdoulaye Faye is the one who takes throw-ins for them (I'm not racist, I was just pissed while watching the match), with Delap injuring his shoulder.

He's not half bad at them to be fair.
 
The likes of Nani, Scholes and Fletcher will be fancying their chances of starting with this morning's match taken into account.
 
Brwned said:
They really were awful against Stoke.

Got played off the park.

I'm pretty sure Amdy or Abdoulaye Faye is the one who takes throw-ins for them (I'm not racist, I was just pissed while watching the match), with Delap injuring his shoulder.

He's not half bad at them to be fair.
Click to expand...
Blackburn

That said, no Delap is always a good thing.

They're still wrestlers, mind you, and I still wouldn't like to put a lightweight squad out.

van der Sar
O'Shea
Ferdinand
Vidic
Neville
Ronaldo
Scholes
Carrick
Park
Rooney
Berbatov

Kuszczak
Evans
Fletcher
Anderson
Nani
Tévez
Giggs
 
Team should be...

GK: VDS

RB: O'Shea
CB: Ferdinand
CB: Vidic
LB: Evans

RM: Ronaldo
CM: Carrick
CM: Scholes
LM: Park

CF: Rooney
CF: Berbatov

This is going to be tough, gonna have to grind it out 0-1 Ronaldo with the only goal
 
hmm

-------Van Der Sar
-Neville--Rio--Vidic--O'shea
--Fletcher--Scholes--Giggs
--Nani------Berba-----Ronaldo

I can see this team starting..
 
VDS
rafael - rio - vida - oyeah
roanldo - fletch - scholes - nani
berba
roonzaa​

is delap still injued ?
huge huge side .. wonder if we'll play more central .. rooney isnt going to win too many headers against that side
 
how are the fixtures compiled ? didnt we play these lot in the second week of november and now were playing them again in the league :confused:
 
Evra's banned.

Team should be this :

Vds

Rafael
Ferdinand
Vidic
O'Shea

Ronaldo
Carrick
Scholes
Nani

Rooney
Tevez/Berbatov

Easy 0-4 for United with Berbatov and Rooney scoring hopefully.
 
i think that this is the lineup we will put out:

vds

gaz
rio
vidic
o'shea

ronnie
fletch
carrick
park

berba
wazza

bench: kuzza, scholes, giggs, nani, anderson, tevez, evans
 
Fletcher has to play surely - we'll need his engine in midfield.

Players will probably be tired. Just need to scratch out a win of any kind and get on with the season.
 
This won't be a pretty game. It will be very tight. Game raising stuff from Stoke and their fans.
 
Stoke are a fecking shite, ugly team, u can stck your long throws up tour arse, we'll fecking do them no probelm
 
------------------ Van der Sar ---------------
Neville ----- Ferdinand ----- Vidic ----- O'Shea
---------- Carrick ----------- Scholes --------
Ronaldo --------------------------------- Nani
-------------------------- Rooney ------------
----------------- Berbatov --------------------

Subs: Kuszczak; Rafael, Evans; Fletcher, Anderson, Park; Tévez

Quite tough to pick a squad for this one, but I think leaving out Giggs completely might be best (if he's in the squad it'll have to be Anderson or Park dropped since they played the vast majority of the Club World Cup Final).

I think it's important for us to have the physical strength in defence against Stoke since they're more likely to go for it a bit infront of their home fans, not like at Old Trafford when they sat back and we rattled five past them. So I'd pick Neville over Rafael, with the regular centrebacks and O'Shea filling in for Evra, but he has more height so it's a decent switch IMO.

Due to us not having much attacking threat from Neville and O'Shea (when compared with Rafael and Evra at least), it's best to go with our two best offensive wingers in Ronaldo and Nani to break away. We won't need our full backs to bomb on as much then, which allows Scholes and Carrick to neglect their defensive duties a slight bit more (in terms of joining in on attacks more often instead of holding incase of a break).

Rooney did well at the Club World Cup, and Berbatov has had a rest so hopefully he'll be refreshed and ready to score a few himself. We could also use his extra height and holding ability up top to feed Rooney, Nani, Ronaldo and Scholes. Tévez has impressed recently, but I'd rather bring him on after the hour for Berbatov or Rooney depending on the situation.

I expect this to be a lot tougher than the game at Old Trafford, but I think we'll win it.

Stoke City 0-3 Manchester United

Probably goals from Rooney, Berbatov and Ronaldo.
 
Havak said:
------------------ Van der Sar ---------------
Neville ----- Ferdinand ----- Vidic ----- O'Shea
---------- Carrick ----------- Scholes --------
Ronaldo --------------------------------- Nani
-------------------------- Rooney ------------
----------------- Berbatov --------------------

Subs: Kuszczak; Rafael, Evans; Fletcher, Anderson, Park; Tévez

Quite tough to pick a squad for this one, but I think leaving out Giggs completely might be best (if he's in the squad it'll have to be Anderson or Park dropped since they played the vast majority of the Club World Cup Final).

I think it's important for us to have the physical strength in defence against Stoke since they're more likely to go for it a bit infront of their home fans, not like at Old Trafford when they sat back and we rattled five past them. So I'd pick Neville over Rafael, with the regular centrebacks and O'Shea filling in for Evra, but he has more height so it's a decent switch IMO.

Due to us not having much attacking threat from Neville and O'Shea (when compared with Rafael and Evra at least), it's best to go with our two best offensive wingers in Ronaldo and Nani to break away. We won't need our full backs to bomb on as much then, which allows Scholes and Carrick to neglect their defensive duties a slight bit more (in terms of joining in on attacks more often instead of holding incase of a break).

Rooney did well at the Club World Cup, and Berbatov has had a rest so hopefully he'll be refreshed and ready to score a few himself. We could also use his extra height and holding ability up top to feed Rooney, Nani, Ronaldo and Scholes. Tévez has impressed recently, but I'd rather bring him on after the hour for Berbatov or Rooney depending on the situation.

I expect this to be a lot tougher than the game at Old Trafford, but I think we'll win it.

Stoke City 0-3 Manchester United

Probably goals from Rooney, Berbatov and Ronaldo.
Click to expand...

Park for Nani and you're sopt on man
 
I do like Park over Nani the majority of the time, but this is one game where I think I'd prefer Nani (due to us not having Evra as well). I have a bit of beef with both Nani and Park, however:

Both of them tend to have a slight lack of end product.

Park is definitely the better defensive wide-player, but do you really think we'll need that against Stoke? Especially when Park played basically the whole Club World Cup Final earlier. We'll be alright in defence with the back four as long as O'Shea doesn't get too giddy going forward.

I think Nani gives us more going forward, and even though I often slate him for being wasteful far too often, the fact is he makes a lot of chances for himself and for others (see last seasons assists). He may waste a lot, but he makes so much that his end of game contributions are still usually high.

I often prefer Park when we play Rafael at right back, so Park can sit infront of him and help with defensive duties. But I'd rather see Neville in this one, so since we lack pace in our full backs, Nani seems the more suitable choice.

Fletcher may well start over Carrick, but again I'd gone for Carrick first more for the height factor. Against Stoke I think it's great for us to be able to play Van der Sar, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Carrick, and Berbatov who are all over 6ft to help defend corners and other set pieces.

But we'll see what Sir Alex comes up with :)
 
Havak said:
I do like Park over Nani the majority of the time, but this is one game where I think I'd prefer Nani (due to us not having Evra as well). I have a bit of beef with both Nani and Park, however:

Both of them tend to have a slight lack of end product.

Park is definitely the better defensive wide-player, but do you really think we'll need that against Stoke? Especially when Park played basically the whole Club World Cup Final earlier. We'll be alright in defence with the back four as long as O'Shea doesn't get too giddy going forward.

I think Nani gives us more going forward, and even though I often slate him for being wasteful far too often, the fact is he makes a lot of chances for himself and for others (see last seasons assists). He may waste a lot, but he makes so much that his end of game contributions are still usually high.

I often prefer Park when we play Rafael at right back, so Park can sit infront of him and help with defensive duties. But I'd rather see Neville in this one, so since we lack pace in our full backs, Nani seems the more suitable choice.

Fletcher may well start over Carrick, but again I'd gone for Carrick first more for the height factor. Against Stoke I think it's great for us to be able to play Van der Sar, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Carrick, and Berbatov who are all over 6ft to help defend corners and other set pieces.

But we'll see what Sir Alex comes up with :)
Click to expand...

Yea but you can't compare the Nani of last year with this year's Nani as sadly this year's has fallen completely off the map. He's trying WAY too hard to be Ronaldo of last year without the same skill set. He's holding the ball way too often and getting it nicked off him, his crossing has been poor, he has no end product, doesn't work for the team and doesn't bring the team in. Last year's Nani would start for me but this year he's been nothing compared to how Park has risen his game.

Park gets into space a few times a game, offers some great passing (though nothing amazing to be fair), is a complete work horse, seems to work better with Ronaldo on the flank and Rooney playing than Nani, works for the team with his simple passes to players, plays defense which not only allows Ronaldo to play further up but would let Rafael play a little more in attack. He's even playing rougher and isn't afraid to dribble which opens up things a bit more..

I think in a game like this his simple passing and ability to get in there is way better then Nani's speed (where's he gonna go when they park the bus in front of net and he has no shot on target, not that he can hit the target often) and when he gets into the corner where's the pass? I say Park even get a goal in a 3-nil slashing. Rooney getting the other two (I think his confidence is back with that fine display in Japan, he'll be looking to keep it up).
 
At last some real football again.Just hope the team are focused after there mini break.I'm sure Stoke will be up for this.
 
should be a comfortable win. that said we better start taking our chances in front of goals, only 8 goals away in the premiership so far is poor by our standards.
 
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