Who should play in the semi poll

[Sofabloke]

Assuming the following will definitely play;

Ruud
Giggs - Keane - Scholes

Who else should play upfront and in midfield?

I believe Saha is cuptied and Forlan has been allowed to play for Uruguay which would rule him out.

Assuming four defenders and a keeper, choose two.

[Prawn Sandwich]

Drop in Djemba alongside Keane as a DM, start with Ole on the right and push Scholes into the hole behind RVN. Bring Ronaldo on at half time or after 60 minutes when the Arsenal defence will be tiring and use his pace and trickery to break down the wing and drop in crosses for RVN and Scholes to run onto..... but what do I know :D

[johno]

I say start Scholes, Keane and Klebs in central midfield, allowing us to hold possesion with OGS on the right... have OGS run Pires and Cole/Clichy to death on the wing and then bring in Ronaldo for Kleberson if we need a goal, or Ronaldo for OGS if we don't... although he is not a defensive player... his energy and unveiled threat will keep the left back in place and more than likely he will solicit help from Pires...

However, if Klebs is not fit, then Start DjDj in his place

[bigtoga]

I voted for Phil and Ole...

[Achtung]

Tough call. I voted for Ole and Ronaldo because I want to see this team come out flying. But then, if we do need to hold it, we can use Dj2, Klebs, or PNev. We certainly have enough holding mids for the job. It will be interesting to see how SAF plays this, in what could be our biggest match of the season. Carroll will also want to make a good impression, as he's not looking to get back on the bench for the rest of the season. Also let's hope Ruud breaks out of this funk.

[Soccerholic]

I voted for Dj2 as Keane seems to play much better with another destroyer, and this also frees up Scholes to attack more. I would start Ole on the right, who can attack, keeping Pires and Clichy/Cole honest, as well as play good defense. Then when that entire side is tired, repace Ole with the fresh, young, fast legs of Ronaldo, who will do some damage.

I wish United had the Keane of a few years ago. Then we could start Ole on the right and Ronaldo up front with Ruud. The problem is that even though Ronaldo played striker for Sporting, he hasn't played there for United, as far as I remember. It would have been nice to see if he and Ruud can work together before such an important game.

[Rei de Boston]

I voted for DJ2 and Ole. I agree with Soccerholic about using Ole to attack and defend and then bringing on Rolaldo to finish.

I like DJ2. Sure there are areas he can improve (the short passing, holding the ball too long) but he makes plays when he is out there. I think you have to play another defensive minded player in midfield when you are already playing Scholes and Ole/Ronaldo. Sure Ole can do a good job in defense but he is not totally match fit yet and if he has to take on more defensive roles becasue we are playing Scholes and Ronaldo...well who do we then bring on when he gets tired.

I like ronaldo off the bench at about the 65-70 minute mark.

[Cou5]

I voted for DJ2 and Ole. As previously stated, bring on Ronaldo at the 60 minute mark and let him have a go at tired Arsenal defenders.

I debated though over having PNeville instead of DJ2, Phil has done a good job of playing dmid this year. He seems to be one of those players that can get a Viera wound up.
Nicky hasn't been used enought this year, not sure if this is the game to put him in.
Kleberson - wha happen?
Fletcher - sell him to Rovers
Bellion - too inconsistent, next year or in a couple of years he'll be out there.

[haven]

If utterly feasible, play your best 11.

That means Ronaldo and then Solksjaer (in that order).

[Anteaters FC]

I voted for Phil and OGS. Like others have said, bring on Ronaldo shortly after the restart.

[johno]

If utterly feasible, play your best 11.

That means Ronaldo and then Solksjaer (in that order).

U know u make some sense there... it would help us keep pressure on the Arse and OGS is the original super sub, he always does well comming off the bench and face it Ronaldo is rearing to go since he has not been played in awhile... if Ronaldo starts we will win... if Fletcher does not play we will win... those are my guarantees... one more... If OGS starts and is replaced by Ronaldo we will win... who wants to bet?

[Mac_Howard]

Alex has got to start playing to his strengths not his weaknesses. Pity Saha is out so he has to go with this:

.................Ole ....... RvN


<<<Giggs......Scholes........Ronaldo>>>

.......................Keane

O'Shea.....Silvestre.......Brown.........Neville

......................Howard

But he won't :rolleyes:

[isolde]

I voted for Phil and OGS. Like others have said, bring on Ronaldo shortly after the restart.

I second here. Hope Ole is fit to start the game.

[johno]

Alex has got to start playing to his strengths not his weaknesses. Pity Saha is out so he has to go with this:

.................Ole ....... RvN


<<<Giggs......Scholes........Ronaldo>>>

.......................Keane

O'Shea.....Silvestre.......Brown.........Neville

......................Howard

But he won't :rolleyes:

I love the approach, it would leave us with no spark on the bench, only defenders and Fletcher and Klebs if fit (not likely) so it would force us to play possitive attacking football... however, I would swap Ole for Ronaldo, on the strength that Ole has provided 2 crosses for goals recently and his superior work rate and defence...

[triplelake]

We'll definitely need 2 defensive midfield against Arsenal; one to compete with Viera, one to track back and help out the defense. Brown and Silvestre alone will not have enough pace to defend against the runs of Henry, Reyes and Ljungberg. We already had trouble defending last weekend even with 2 Dmid. If Ljungberg was in better form in the last match, we would have been easily down by a goal in the first half. So I'd expect SAF to field a similar lineup in this weekend's FA cup semi.
RVN does not have enough pace to trouble the Arsenal defense on his own. And Scholes had a poor game last weekend in the middle. So I'd hope/expect the following lineup this weekend:

---------- RVN
----------------------------- Ole/Ronaldo
Giggs
------- Keane DjDj/Flet Scholes

OShea Silves Brown G.Neville

[Mac_Howard]

The flaw in the two defensive mids is that, while you may have greater support for your central defence, you spend much more time defending. The above team would spend far too much time defending and if Fletcher were chosen before DjDj that defending wouldn't be very effective. The fact that Arsenal could have scored three or four last weekend merely shows that the two man defensive mids don't work as effectively as you would have us believe.

The whole point of the phrase "attack is the best form of defence" is that the opposition doesn't camp down in your half. And when your squad is full of world class attacking players (RvN, Scholes, Giggs, Ronaldo and Saha) and your defence full of average Premiership players (Brown, Neville, O'Shea (as of the moment), Silvestre (without Rio)) then it's far better that the emphasis is on attack.

Time to play to our strengths (attack) and stop crippling our strengths to compensate for our weakness (defence).

Two other points:

First: nearly half the goals we've conceded recently come from high balls into the box. These balls come from out wide, from corners and from deep. The two defensive mids do nothing to prevent this. The weakness in the air of our back four remains (unless the defensive mids drop right back in which case they're playing too deep).

Second: when you defend deep, as we inevitably do with the two defensive mids, then we give away too many freekicks in and around the box. There were five in the first half alone against Arsenal and, of course, we went out of the CL because of one.

Neither of these two support the use of two defensive mids. Put the three together and the idea that two defensive mids improve defence is something of a myth.

[haven]

Well put, Machoward.

I see United as having two options:

1. Having a ************ defense and a spectacular offense

or

2. Having a bad defense and a mediocre offense.

I prefer option 1. Especially since we're so mistake prone defensively. The only way option #1 really works is if you're capable of strategically hamstringing your oponents - then making sure someone *cough*Wes*cough*Brown*cough doesn't do something idiotic in a moment of lunacy... like give up a penalty when he has the easier path to the ball.

Playing defensively doesn't eliminate mistakes. Playing attacking football means those mistakes don't have the opportunity to occur.