----------------Rooney(*) Giggs----------Kagawa------------Valencia(I know I know...) ----------Clevs(*)-----Carrick(*) Buttner------------------------------Smalling --------------Vidic-----Evans ------------------De Gea * - Off by the 60th minute Once Clevs and Carrick go off, Young and Anderson come on and Giggs moves into midfield with Anderson(hopefully we have at least a 2 goal lead by then ). I know it's risky having Kagawa go the full 90 and not playing Nani but I want that central midfield area to be solid.
I like. I'd rather not play Carrick, especially from the start, but everything else sits well with me.
Welbeck, Rooney, Nani, Giggs, Cleverley, Anderson, Evra, Evans, Vidic, Smalling, DDG Rio to be rested as well for midweek. I suspect we might see Scholes start though.
Thought Scholes still had knee issues. I'd rather see Kagawa get some pt than a game for Giggs, particularly if we're committing to Nani, Welbeck and Cleverley on the pitch.
I would rest everyone with any chance of starting against Real with the exception of maybe Nani (if Scholes is available, I'd rather use him) ----------------Cheech Young----------Kagawa------------Nani -----------Giggs----Anderson Buttner------------------------------Valencia --------------Vidic-----Smalling ------------------De Gea
shit DDG has no chance of playing against Real?? I told you that kid is no good. where the hell is Begovic?
95- Highest point total ever 94- 93- 92- 91- 90- 89- City (Maximum Points) , Last Year Winner 88- 87- 86- 85- 84- Tottenham (Max Points) 83- 82- Chelsea (Max Points) 81- 80- Lowest point total for a winner (Man Utd, 2000-01 onwards) 79- 78- 77- Arsenal (Max Points) 76- Highest point total for 4th (Liverpool) 75- Everton (Max Points) 74- 73- 72- Liverpool (Max Points) 71- Man Utd 70- 69- Last year 4th position 68- 67- 66- 65- 64- 63- 62- 61- 60- Lowest point total for 4th (Liverpool) 59- 58- 57- 56- Man City 55- 54- Tottenham 53- 52- Chelsea 51- 50- 49- 48- 47- Arsenal 46- 45- Everton 44- 43- 42- Liverpool, Highest point total to be relegated (West Ham) 41- 40- Swansea, West Brom, Magical 40 39- 38- 37- Last year 17th or safe position (QPR) 36- 35- 34- Lowest Point Total for survival (West Brom) 33- Stoke, Fulham, West Ham 32- Norwich 31- 30- Newcastle, Sunderland 29- 28- 27- Southampton 26- 25- 24- A Villa, Wigan 23- Reading 22- 21- 20- QPR Updated.
I know there have been a few put up already, but I am amazed I had not seen that type of table before this thread - they are absolutely awesome.
It would be great, but let's not get too far . It is cheesy to say, but we have to treat Tuesday night like our 'cup final' for the year obviously, and do everything possible to win. But we also have to treat West Ham(A), Sunderland(H) and Reading(H) the exact same. The FA Cup game also needs to prioritised, but those three league games are huge - it would see us go to Citeh guaranteed to be at least 9pts clear even if we lose (and I expect them to drop 2-5 points between now and then, also), which would keep me very happy. The league this year truly is our 'bread and butter' as it is exactly what was seen to realistically be the 'very most' we could win this season, and possibly even a stretch at that. Though if Barca get knocked out of the CL and we get through against Madrid, we would have to consider ourselves to be in the top two favourites with Bayern. It is still obviously a good deal from perfect, but the team as a whole has come on an awful lot in the last few months, and if Milan can maintain that lead with us progressing things could get awfully interesting. Still, outside of Tuesday we need to ignore that and focus on winning our next three 'should win' Premiership matches - no excuses. It is at times like this, when you would be a fool to take anyone over Ferguson also come to think of it - he handles congestion, run ins and the possibility of complacency better than anyone else maybe in the history of the game.
Yup like this format myself. A few things missing, there should be more than last year points totals, should take 2-3 year positions, and average positions for 1st and 4th, plus average position for 17th.
Got to say I think you are being conservative and just not trying to jinx us. We've got a 12pt lead, more if Villa does us a favour this afternoon. Truth be told, given how great we've been, we could easily stomach a draw away to WHU and not have our chances even dip. I think the most important thing that has been overlooked so far is that we're peaking late. We've struggled to defend and have fit defenders most of the season. That's changed in the last month or so. RvP has cooled, but our scoring hasn't really gone away. If he returns, look out. Nani's return means that we've now got two dangerous ball carriers, at least one of which is likely to come off the bench. But perhaps the biggest thing not being mentioned at all for me, is the play from our fullbacks this season. Evra and Rafa have been excellent and we've not had this kind of play from both slots (making life easier on our CBs and wide players) with any kind of consistency for years now. The biggest remaining game of the season for me, is the Madrid match. Afterwards, we will see what is left, but there's no reason to look past it right now.
Great post, and very good point on Rafael/Evra. It is odd to see Evra back in the form he had 3-4 years ago (though still jogging inexplicably/losing his marker in our area a bit too much for my liking), but I am not complaining - his goal spurt was great, too. Rafael I am delighted about - him and Fabio looked like such gimmick signings at the time, then started off great before regressing a little. He still needs to improve defensively (though he is still only 22, so no big worry there) but has been such a threat going forward and stretching the wings. One of my favourite combinations in the history of football was Carlos/Cafu for Brazil from the mid '90s - mid '00s (even though I found the latter to be a bit overrated/past it in his later Madrid years) as it allowed them to then play with 8 central players and not lose any width at all. I am not saying they will be as good, but I am praying Fabio can catch up to his brother, because if so, having a decade of that at Old Trafford would be simply amazing. Evra this year has given us a blueprint, with Rafa getting in form too. Nani being back is helping too, and his exclusion for a good chunk of the season really does seem to have him playing with a lot of motivation. Really hope he can keep this hot streak going through the rest of the campaign. I might be getting conservative, but games 35/36/37 in the league are very dangerous for us and could come at a point of severe fixture congestion and massively important games. I want to go into the 35th league game of the season having won the title already, or being no more than 2pts away from doing so. After last year (us and Citeh each being different or not, it doesn't matter). That said, tomorrow is indeed the biggest game of the season for us, and probably our biggest game since the 2011 CL final.
I'm not worried about fixture congestion in the least. The only player who might be fatigued is Carrick. Pretty much everyone else has had some time off, save for RvP and he plays in the department with the most depth. I'm expecting Giggs and possibly Scholes, Cleverley and maybe one of Valencia or Young to still have a significant contribution this season. We've kept the core fresh and I'm happy that we've got a balanced squad even if we are lacking a bit of class at the top.
If our FA Cup game against Chelsea needs a replay, when could it be played? Here's some schedule information if we keep advancing in the Champions League and FA Cup: Tuesday 12 March-Wednesday 13 March: A replay would never be played that soon and Chelsea is in the Europa League anyway Tuesday 19 March-Wednesday 20 March and Tuesday 26 March-Wednesday 27 March: Players will be with national teams Tuesday 2 April-Wednesday 3 April and Tuesday 9 April-Wednesday 10 April: Champions League Quarterfinals Saturday 13 April-Sunday 14 April: FA Cup Semifinals. Let's say a replay vs. Chelsea was played here and we won and our FA Cup Semifinal got postponed Tuesday 16 April-Wednesday 17 April is free, but if we played the FA Cup Semifinal here we would be two Premier League games behind from this weekend and 13 April-14 April Tuesday 23 April-Wednesday 24 April and Tuesday 30 April-Wednesday 1 May: Champions League Semifinals Tuesday 7 May-Wednesday 8 May: This midweek is available but if we were two Premier League games behind we could only make up one of the two games here Saturday 11 May: FA Cup final with the finalists' Premier League games postponed to Tuesday 14 May-Wednesday 15 May Sunday 19 May: Last Premier League game, but if all of the stuff above happened we would have two games left going into this day Saturday 25 May: Champions League final If one of these options had to be chosen, which would you prefer? 1. Make Manchester United play three games in a week 2. Postpone the FA Cup final two weeks to the day of the Champions League final, which would only be possible if there were no clubs in common 3. Postpone the last Premier League games two weekends to the week after the Champions League final If all of the above happens except we beat Chelsea on Sunday without a replay, the three options above could be avoided but we still could have seven consecutive weeks with multiple games.