V. Competition: English Premier League Venue: Riverside Stadium Time: 12:00 (BST), 8:00 (EST) Channels: BT Sport 1, NBCSN, MUTV Online, fubo TV, beIN sports (some countries) Manchester United injuries: Herrera (susp), Zlatan (susp), Pogba, Blind (doubtful) Middlesbrough injuries: B Espinosa, G Friend, D Ayala, C Chambers (all doubtful) Manchester United last 6: DDDWWD (league) Middlesbrough last 6: LDLDLL (league) Manchester United last league result: 1-1 vs Bournemouth Middlesbrough last league result: 0-2 vs Stoke Manchester United league standing: 6th Middlesbrough league standing: 19th Last League Encounter: 2-1 win ===================== When and where can I watch it? Manchester United return to Premier League action with a visit to Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium on Sunday for a 12:00 GMT kick-off. The match will be broadcast live in the UK on BT Sport, but you can also follow it via ManUtd.com's match blog and the club's Twitter account @ManUtd. MUTV subscribers can watch Match Day Live from 11:00 GMT, featuring radio commentary on the game, and will be able to watch the full 90 minutes from midnight. How are both sides doing? The last domestic outing was disappointing for both sides, as they were knocked out of Emirates FA Cup, with United going down narrowly at Chelsea and Middlesbrough falling to a 2-0 defeat at home to Manchester City. That match turned out to be manager Aitor Karanka's final one in charge of Boro, as he was relieved of his duties this week. The Reds bounced back on Thursday with a 1-0 win at home to FC Rostov in the Europa League, securing progression to the last eight. It’s been a while; remind me what’s going on in the league... It's been two weeks since United’s last league fixture, a 1-1 draw at home to Bournemouth, with three cup matches since then. United currently sit sixth in the table, just a point behind Arsenal, and six points behind fourth-placed Liverpool, though the Reds have two games in hand over the Merseysiders. Middlesbrough, meanwhile, have fallen into serious trouble: they currently sit in the relegation zone in 19th place, three points adrift of Crystal Palace and the safety of 17th, and just three points ahead of fellow North-East strugglers Sunderland. Any early team news? Ander Herrera serves the first of his two-match suspension after his red card at Chelsea in the cup, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic will also miss out in the second of his three-game ban. Paul Pogba picked up a hamstring injury against Rostov that will keep him out, while it waits to be seen whether Daley Blind will have recovered from the head injury he suffered in the same match. However,Jose Mourinho has said he "won’t cry" about missing players and he may yet welcome Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney back to his squad after both missed the Chelsea and Rostov games through injury. Middlesbrough face a dilemma in defence, with Bernardo Espinosa, George Friend, Daniel Ayala and Calum Chambers all doubts for the game. What happened to Karanka? Mourinho's friend and former assistant at Real Madrid leaves Boro after three and a half years, having guided them to automatic promotion from the Championship last season. However, they have struggled in the top flight, with only four wins all season, and are currently without a league win in 10, a run which stretches back to December. While the Teesside team can boast the fifth-best defence in the league, conceding only 30 goals, they’ve struggled at the other end of the pitch. Despite having the likes of Alvaro Negredo and Rudy Gestede to lead the line, they’ve scored a league low of 19 goals this campaign, and haven’t netted in their last four league games. Who will be in the Boro dugout? Karanka's assistant-manager Steve Agnew will be in caretaker charge of first-team duties following the Spaniard's departure. One of his first acts was to appoint former United player Joe Jordan as a first-team coach, as he tries to rescue his side in a relegation battle. What happened in the reverse fixture? United left it late to secure the three points with a 2-1 winwhen Middlesbrough visited Old Trafford at the very end of December. Goals from Martial and Pogba in the 85th and 86th minutes ensured it would be a happy New Year for United, after Grant Leadbitter had given the visitors a shock lead. How have we fared against Boro in the past? History favours United in this fixture, with 52 league wins, 22 draws and 29 defeats in 103 meetings. Boro last beat United back in 2005, one of their five victories over United in the Premier League era. What has Mourinho said? "When teams change coaches, the first impact is always a positive factor, so it’s going to be hard," Jose commented. "We go with what we have." Who’s the man in the middle? Jonathan Moss is the referee for Sunday’s game, with the Yorkshire-based official taking charge of his third United fixture this season. Moss has shown 110 yellow cards and three reds in his 27 games overall this term. He’ll be assisted by Simon Bennett and Eddie Smart, with Bobby Madley taking on the role of the fourth official. Anything else I should know? United have gone 17 games without losing in the league, a run which stretches back to October. Mourinho's men have scored in each of the previous seven away matches in the league, failing to score on the road only twice. http://www.manutd.com/en/Fixtures-A...ited-Premier-League-Sunday-19-March-2017.aspx
The 'King of Moan' Mourinho has already said we'll lose this, so fully expecting one of the better performances of the season.... In the absence of Herrera and Pogba a rare opportunity for Schweinsteiger methinks
Schweinsteiger would be a decent shout for this game, but I guess there's still a question of whether he's fit or not (last we heard, he was carrying some knock according to Jose). The absences of important players like Herrera, Pogba and Zlatan are a pity, but all teams are missing vital players, so they just need to get on with it. Still believe there is enough quality to squeeze out a win vs Boro, who are missing important (defensive) players themselves. As such the team I would like to see Sunday: Dave Valencia Bailly. Smalling. Shaw Carrick Mata. Fellaini Miki. Rashford. Martial As mentioned, would have liked to see Schweini (or even Timmy) play a part in this game but both appear to be hurt at this time. Hopefully, at least one of them can return to make it at least on the bench. Fellaini's cameo vs Rostov has been more than satisfactory enough to give him the start anyway. Rojo has done more than enough to be a starter for us as of late, but the fact that he needed food during the Rostov game showed he must be pretty close to red (he has featured in a lot of games recently after all). Not sure what Shaw's status is: it appears he did suffer some type of small injury at the Bournemouth game that looks serious enough he had to train alone. Who knows what his status is but it'd be nice to see him back in the starting lineup. Darmian obviously could go for him, with Blind probably not 100% himself. The frontline picks itself as well. Again, not sure what Martial's status is and he's an obvious pick if healthy. If not, then Jose can turn to Lingard or even possibly Rooney since he appears to be fit again. Point remains, as originally suggested, there is still more than enough talent on this squad to get the job done vs a team like Boro. No matter what, we need to do everything possible to get the 3pts ahead of the intl break...
It's possible that we persist with 3 at the back but it simply would not make sense, as far as I'm concerned, for several reasons: first, as mentioned, Rojo is knackered and ideally should not play or even be on the bench at all, effectively leaving us with 3 CBs. Prudence and logic dictates you don't play all of them at the same time. Second, no offense to them but this is still Boro: pretty sure their manager will have them more adventurous offensively, but this is still a team that scored just twice since the turn of the year. Their attack is nothing our back 4 coudn't handle. And finally, Carrick definitely should start having not figured in our recent games and his presence pretty much negates the need for 3 at the back. It would appear to be kind of a waste and the hope is that Jose foregoes it Sunday. Wasn't needed in the least vs Rostov and could have cost us and the same applies for this game as well.
Jones to play at #9 ! He can play anywhere, take corners, is the new Duncan Edwards, is only one foot short of being two-footed (as his LWB performance showed) ...
Don't think Rojo avin' a banana is any great deal, Rio and Gary Neville have had energy-bars thrown on for them before, as i'm sure others have. Now if it had been a pie....
We gotta find a way to score on the chances we create. 8-10 great chances on and only 1 or 2 going makes for painful football viewing.
At the very least, it certainly can not be said that Jose is boring. After making the claim that United will probably lose because the players are so tired yesterday, his response when asked about Karanka's exit:"He knows the names (of the players who pushed for Karanka's sacking behind the scenes)." I think we can expect some fireworks Sunday with a hit/bounty being put on a couple of Boro players (Downing and Gaston Ramirez heading the list).
thanks for the assist b0ski. feels like forever since we played in the league. not sure why i am so blasé about it but why not try a few kids here and give some of the usual core a rest?
I'd love to see a couple kids called up but it won't happen. We'll see the LVG special of Carrick/Mata/Fellaini in midfield. Bench will be interesting, without Blind I don't know who comes up to spell, especially if Schwein is out.
If Timmy and Tuanzebe are fit gain, would love to see them both on the bench. In Timmy's case as a CM alternative and hopefully, either can make an appearance at some point. But this is not some throwaway cup game but one that we can and must find a way to win despite the long casualty list. Jose has not made the best use of it so far, but we really have the squad to cope even with several key players missing. We will be in a situation, once again, where teams right ahead of us will drop points. Have to make the most of it.
Don't remember why I dislike Middlesborough so much. Part of it is we lost to them 4-something way back when. Other part was Gareth Southgate. Does he always have this expression? I realize Southgate has moved on, but still....ugh.
We probably stick with the back 3 until Ibra, Pogba and Ander return. Grim stuff to watch, but it might be enough to keep clean sheets, nick a cheap goal and deliver wins over boro and West Brom (fingers crossed, of course). Maybe this: De Gea Smalling Bailly Rojo Valencia Mata Carrick Fellaini Darmian Miki Rashford
Hopefully they can really start turning it around in that department and fully take advantage of rival teams missteps tomorrow. As previously mentioned, the injured/suspended players will be greatly missed, but it certainly should not be an excuse if United can't get the job done tomorrow, as there is still more than enough quality on hand to handle Boro.