City vs Stoke: 0-0 at the Etihad. More points dropped from a direct rivals but of course, it's over for United... Pity that the title is practically decided because the fight for those CL spots is going to be truly incredible.
Strong team for tonight's game...and a weakened team against Chelsea. That's the best way forward. If we set the B team up well against Chelsea they may snatch a 0-0 or 0-1. Chelsea are a much better team when countering...lets park the bus and have a couple of runners stay further forward to cause their guys a problem (Rashford plus either Martial\Miki). The B midfield can be made up of Herrera, Schweiny, and Fellaini. Which back four isn't really important, as they dont need to push up, will have mid protection, and just need to not have any shocking moments. That's what I'd do...I know Jose wont though.
I'm saying, It's likely we go out anyway...so lets rest some players for the bigger cup (Europa). I'm saying it's the weakest competition of the 3 we are still in (including a top 4 place trophy)...so if we get knocked out it might be a blessing. I'm saying that, though it's worst competition we're still in...it actually the hardest to achieve...as we will probably have to beat 3 teams like Chelsea, Spurs and City in a row...and cause us more fixture congestion... ...so yes...yes I am.
Still believe that Jose can and will play a full strength/best XI in only 2 of the teams upcoming 3 games. The question therefore becomes which 2 games will it be? As previously mentioned, one of those will surely be Monday's game. There is simply no way Jose is not going to want to atone for the humiliation he got there last time out. Plus, the FA Cup matters to him and he'll fight his utmost for it. It then leaves one of the games vs Rostov: I believed he would go with a weaker team today given we're on the road, and because of the state of the pitch. But it's possible he could flip the script and go all out today, try to secure a win which will put us firmly in command ahead of the return leg and close the tie out next week with a "weakened" side. I don't see it personally going this way but I guess it is possible. There is also the matter of the Boro the following Sunday and another must win game to consider after all. Can't wait to see which direction goes in today though.
Same here. I'd love to win every trophy in front of us but the EPL and the EL are far more important than the FA Cup this season. We suffered bad luck in drawing Chelsea but it is what it is. There really isn't that much difference in quality between our A Team and our B Team, apart from the massive drop in quality from Ibra and whoever replaces him (Rashford or Rooney). Go to the bridge and set up to defend and use Rashford's speed to counter when the chance comes. This is a Chelsea side that will be hungry for the double and will put out its strongest XI possible against us. They have an easy run of opponents after United. It's a good bet we will not come out with a win, regardless of who Jose puts out there. And should we suffer an injury to a key player who probably could have used the rest anyway, well, that would be very unfortunate.
The FA Cup may be meaningless to some, but we know it's a competition that Jose has always taken very seriously in both his stints with Chelsea. Not to mention that we are the current holders. Not to mention we're playing Chelsea at the Bridge on the back of a sound pasting not too long ago. And we're supposed to believe he will not take this game very seriously, possibly personally even? Highly unlikely...
"Meaningless" isn't a fair way to describe the importance of the FA Cup for United in this particular season. Every cup has meaning, but we're now in a position where the EL cup is simply more important than the FA Cup, for reasons everyone here is aware of. Were we comfortably in the top four it's a good bet that we would view the EL Cup as less meaningful than the FA Cup, but we're not yet comfortably in the top four. It's also really, really hard to win back to back FA Cups.
If there was any lingering doubt about seriously Jose considers the upcoming game vs Chelsea, he's very much put it to rest in today's post match comments by saying that United will not take a "Nicky Butt" team to the Bridge, that Manchester United is too big and they're the competitions current winners as well. Interesting choice of words with the Nicky Butt thing but it's clear that this game is of utmost importance to him. And he doesn't need to mention anything about playing Chelsea in their own place either: we know him well enough by now to understand it will mean a lot/very satisfactory to him, if United could walk away with the win Monday.
All trophies and competitions are not equal. That is beyond doubt, but when it's all said and done, they all matter on one level or another, especially the deeper you get into it, as far as I'm concerned at least. The Charity Shield or the EFL mean very little, but if United are in the running for them, there is no question that I want the club to win them both, if they can. The FA Cup is no different: it might have lost some of it's luster over the years and it may mean little compared to the prime goal (CL qualification), but damn straight I want to go all the way. Especially with us as current holders of it, it'd be nice to retain it.
We lead the league in big chances missed. Old news but just posting. 2nd in shots. 1st in shots on target Bottom 5 in long balls 1st in crosses.
Agreed. We've missed more than our fair share of great chances. Mata and Pogba in particular, but also Martial. And even though he's scored 26 goals, Ibra really should be on 35 right now.
Latest Schedule: March Thu 16 Man Utd v Rostov EL Round of 16, second leg Sun 19 Middlesbrough v Man Utd April Sat 1 Man Utd v West Bromwich Albion Tue 4 Man Utd v Everton Sun 9 Sunderland v Man Utd Thu 13 EL Quarter-finals, first leg Sun 16 Man Utd v Chelsea Thu 13 EL Quarter-finals, second leg Sun 23 Burnley v Man Utd Sun 30 Man Utd v Swansea City May Thu 4 EL Semi-finals, first leg Sat 6 Arsenal v Man Utd Thu 11 EL Semi-finals, second leg Sat 13 Tottenham Hotspur v Man Utd Sun 21 Man Utd v Crystal Palace Wed 24 EL Final Friends Arena, Solna, Sweden To be rescheduled: Man City v Man Utd Southampton v Man Utd
Damn, April 13 is gonna suck. God, I wish Mourinho would try and pull some Fergie magic on these upcoming games. The good news is that it looks like the upcoming international break is 1 friendly and 1 competitive for most teams. Maybe some of our guys like Pogba can rest in the friendly games. Really, losing the game yesterday didn't do that much schedule wise. We were saved 2 games. But if we were to make it to the EL final, that's games every 3-4 days.
How things stand in the league as of today, on the eve of a pivotal April coming up: 1) Chelsea 69pts (28 games played) 2) Spurs 59 (28) 3) City 57 (28) 4) Pool 56 (29) 5) United 52 (27) 6) Arse 50 (27) 7) Everton 50 (29)
Code: TEAM P GD Pts Spurs 28 +34 59 Man City 28 +24 57 Liverpool 29 +15 56 Man Utd 27 +19 52 Arsenal 27 +22 50 Code: Spurs Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal Apr 1/2 Burnley A Arsenal A Everton H WBA H Man City H Apr 4/5 Swansea A Chelsea A B'mouth H Everton H West Ham H Apr 8/9/10 Watford H Hull H Stoke A S'land A CPalace A Apr 15/16/17 B'mouth H S'ampton A WBA A Chelsea H Boro A Apr 22 CPalace H Burnley A Apr 27 Man Utd H Man City A Apr 29/30 Arsenal H Boro A Watford A Swansea H Spurs A May 6 WHam A CPalace H S'ampton H Arsenal A Man Utd H May 13 Man Utd H Leicester H WHam H Spurs A Stoke A May 21 Hull A Watford A Boro H CPalace H Everton H TBD Leicester A WBA H S'ampton A Sunderland H TBD C Palace A Southampton A TBD Leicester H Updated... as it looks like the Man City away game is rescheduled for Thurs Apr 27. We have a hellish few weeks - Man City away on a Thursday, Arse and Spurs away successive weeks.
Was going to mention that it's good to be back in the thick of it but the truth is, they've been back in it for some time and finally managed to take advantage of slip ups ahead of them. The run in, as we've mentioned before, is not going to be easy but with a good start in the coming games, some key players getting back to form and Jose putting faith in everybody in the squad (today was a good example that our fringe players can get it done), we should be able to secure both a top 4 finish, along with the EL as well.
Liverpool's schedule is a major advantage - they are clear favorites in all remaining games and plenty of rest between games.