Republic of Mancunia
29 Jan 2007, 12:02 AM
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Bollocks to badges.
Date: 31st January 2007
Time: 8pm GMT
Venue: Old Trafford
We swing back into league action with this one after taking a break for the FA Cup with top taking on bottom.
I guess most people will have this down for an easy home win and the perfect oppurtunity to get back to winning ways in the league. Whilst I won't deny that I expect us to pick up the three points here, it might be a good idea to remember the home game against Sunderland towards the end of last season just in case any complaceny is in the air. Ideally we win this one and win it handsomely as addition to our goal-difference is always nice and you never know, it could be important in the end.
Watford, to be fair, don't have a bad defensive record for a bottom of the table team and I'd imagine that they'll be aiming to dig in and frustrate us. They've got good aerial power at the back and if they manage to repel us for a while I hope that we don't just look to hit it long if we begin to run out of ideas as that could play into their hands. I'd imagine that spirits will also be high in their camp after successive victories in league and cup.
It'll be interesting to see how both teams approach this one. I'd like to think that if we found ourselves in a comfortable winning position we'd really go for the jugular and try to rack up as many goals as possible. Despite our healthy goalscoring record this term we don't seem to be doing much of that, instead making substitutes at around the 60-70 minute mark if a couple of goals in front. The Everton game immediately springs to mind from this season where the last half hour was pretty boring all-in-all even though we managed to add a third in the last minute. Also, if Watford found themselves a couple of goals down at that stage I'm not so sure that they'd come out and play and may just try to keep the score respectable as to not affect morale too much. You could get a situation where both managers would be willing to shake hands after around an hour and call the game off, us happy with the win and not wanting to exert ourselves too much and them happy to keep the score down. I've already warned about complacency so it's probably dangerous to even think about that situation but it's already a fear of mine and I just hope the game just doesn't end up petering out.
If forced to make a prediction though, the above scenario is exactly how I see things working out and would put us down for a 2-0 or 3-0 win. Part of me would still like to see an early goal from us that opens up the game and we end up hitting 4,5 or even more (dreaming about 9-0 vs Ipswich) but the realist in me says that's just not going to happen here. I'd also feel a little arrogant and disrespectful to the opposition to suggest such a thing and not to mention the fact that it would be setting myself up for a fall if I did. :p Still, I can dream, but would probably grudgingly settle for a routine victory in the end.
Early team news is that Louis Saha is expected to return after missing the game against Portsmouth. He picked up a slight knock to the back of the knee in training and was left out as a precaution. It's also anticipated that Cristiano Ronaldo will return to the starting XI after being given a week off to rest up. Wayne Rooney was originally going to be rested for this one but it appears that his recent goal-scoring form may be making SAF have a re-think:
"We had this planned for the last week. With the Arsenal game out of the way we were going to rest him today and against Watford on Wednesday.But he is in such sparkling form that it makes it difficult to leave him out on Wednesday. So we'll give it some thought."
All in all, I'd really like to see us go for this one and field our strongest team possible but with the Spurs game on the horizon I do expect us to rest a few players, perhaps the veterans who have seen alot of football lately with Giggs, Scholes and Neville possibly being candidates. I wouldn't be too shocked to see Heinze get a start either. If certain players are rested I just hope we're not all cursing it at the end but when it comes down to it, it's pointless to try and stuff Watford if ends up costing us players, and potentially points in future matches. A real juggling act.
Ben Foster is ineligible to play for Watford in compliance with the rules on loan players not being allowed to face the club they are loaned from and unless injured I'd imagine that Richard Lee would be the man to take his place.
COME ON UNITED!!!!!!!!!
Bollocks to badges.
Date: 31st January 2007
Time: 8pm GMT
Venue: Old Trafford
We swing back into league action with this one after taking a break for the FA Cup with top taking on bottom.
I guess most people will have this down for an easy home win and the perfect oppurtunity to get back to winning ways in the league. Whilst I won't deny that I expect us to pick up the three points here, it might be a good idea to remember the home game against Sunderland towards the end of last season just in case any complaceny is in the air. Ideally we win this one and win it handsomely as addition to our goal-difference is always nice and you never know, it could be important in the end.
Watford, to be fair, don't have a bad defensive record for a bottom of the table team and I'd imagine that they'll be aiming to dig in and frustrate us. They've got good aerial power at the back and if they manage to repel us for a while I hope that we don't just look to hit it long if we begin to run out of ideas as that could play into their hands. I'd imagine that spirits will also be high in their camp after successive victories in league and cup.
It'll be interesting to see how both teams approach this one. I'd like to think that if we found ourselves in a comfortable winning position we'd really go for the jugular and try to rack up as many goals as possible. Despite our healthy goalscoring record this term we don't seem to be doing much of that, instead making substitutes at around the 60-70 minute mark if a couple of goals in front. The Everton game immediately springs to mind from this season where the last half hour was pretty boring all-in-all even though we managed to add a third in the last minute. Also, if Watford found themselves a couple of goals down at that stage I'm not so sure that they'd come out and play and may just try to keep the score respectable as to not affect morale too much. You could get a situation where both managers would be willing to shake hands after around an hour and call the game off, us happy with the win and not wanting to exert ourselves too much and them happy to keep the score down. I've already warned about complacency so it's probably dangerous to even think about that situation but it's already a fear of mine and I just hope the game just doesn't end up petering out.
If forced to make a prediction though, the above scenario is exactly how I see things working out and would put us down for a 2-0 or 3-0 win. Part of me would still like to see an early goal from us that opens up the game and we end up hitting 4,5 or even more (dreaming about 9-0 vs Ipswich) but the realist in me says that's just not going to happen here. I'd also feel a little arrogant and disrespectful to the opposition to suggest such a thing and not to mention the fact that it would be setting myself up for a fall if I did. :p Still, I can dream, but would probably grudgingly settle for a routine victory in the end.
Early team news is that Louis Saha is expected to return after missing the game against Portsmouth. He picked up a slight knock to the back of the knee in training and was left out as a precaution. It's also anticipated that Cristiano Ronaldo will return to the starting XI after being given a week off to rest up. Wayne Rooney was originally going to be rested for this one but it appears that his recent goal-scoring form may be making SAF have a re-think:
"We had this planned for the last week. With the Arsenal game out of the way we were going to rest him today and against Watford on Wednesday.But he is in such sparkling form that it makes it difficult to leave him out on Wednesday. So we'll give it some thought."
All in all, I'd really like to see us go for this one and field our strongest team possible but with the Spurs game on the horizon I do expect us to rest a few players, perhaps the veterans who have seen alot of football lately with Giggs, Scholes and Neville possibly being candidates. I wouldn't be too shocked to see Heinze get a start either. If certain players are rested I just hope we're not all cursing it at the end but when it comes down to it, it's pointless to try and stuff Watford if ends up costing us players, and potentially points in future matches. A real juggling act.
Ben Foster is ineligible to play for Watford in compliance with the rules on loan players not being allowed to face the club they are loaned from and unless injured I'd imagine that Richard Lee would be the man to take his place.
COME ON UNITED!!!!!!!!!