The 2016/17 Season - Thus Far...

We would need to rotate to keep Rashford fresh but he needs to be the #9 or on the bench. If that means Martial or Rooney are used at #9 with the likes of Young/Mkhitaryan used wide then so be it.

We also need to start having different combinations and line-ups prepared in advance to enable us to keep players fit.

 

Been calling it before but it's going to be essential now for Jose to rotate and use everyone. Examining the fixture list carefully, he ought to be creative as he needs to be in that regard.
Refusal to do so and we'll see more players going down with injuries or running out of gas. Very straightforward stuff. For example, it would start this weekend where I'd play the likes of Felli, Rooney, AY and Tuanzebe among others this weekend at Burnley.

 

That Jose needs to manage his players' minutes carefully can't possibly be doubted. The real question is whether he should rotate his players for maximum impact in Europa League games or EPL games.

The answer should be pretty obvious.

We're down to the bone right now but in a sense it doesn't really matter as there's a chance to rest key players in a rotation that allows for a pretty strong XI to go up against Celta Vigo, which is far and away our most important next game.

No matter who we field against Burnley, we can expect to put in a flat performance and at best scrape a win by a narrow margin. We could go full strength against City, and we should, but we have Swansea three days later.

It's hard to see 9 points coming from those 3 games. And if we don't bag 9 points from those 3 games it's hard to see in the top four at season's end.

Four days after Swansea it's Celta Vigo away. That's must win all-hands-on-deck stuff. An away win is imperative. There's no way we can go full strength against Swansea and expect to perform at peak against Celta Vigo.

And then Arsenal three days after Celta Vigo. Arsenal are in dire shape right now but they'll no doubt be in game raising mode at the Emirates.

And then Celta Vigo three days after that. It's hard to imagine us doing anything other than a full strength side at OT unless we blow Celta out of the water with a 0-4 win.

Three days later we play what right now is the best side in England in their house. We'll see where we are after we polish off Celta Vigo, but it's hard to imagine what we could, or might even want to, field our strongest XI against Spurs.

If we're still in the top four hunt after dealing with City, Arsenal and Spurs we can close out the season strong with two very beatable opponents, Southampton and Palace. Impossible to say right now how we'll approach those two matches, but it's very likely all strategic planning will about the cup final in Stockholm.

 

The one change I would make personally is playing Darmian at CB, next to Tuanzebe. The reasons against Blind for this game at least are: Burney are a physical and tall side, which are very tough at home. Blind next to someone with little experience in Tuanzebe is dicey.
Darmian is not much taller but does a couple, 3 inches on Blind and he's a defender by trade, an Italian one to boot. And while he's not that much bigger than Blind, he's not afraid to get stuck in and go toe to toe with the oppo. And Teso mentioned he's played CB before, so that's another plus for him.
I like the rest of the team under the circumstances (even if Rooney at the 9 is just wrong, but there's no one else really, aside from Rashford): I really hope Jose will finally start digging into the squad. If we're to have any chance to meet one of our targets, it needs to happen. And this team AY not be the prettiest, but it might be enough to scrape by Burnley with a little luck.

 

That's not a bad formation, but if that were the way to go, I would go:

Dave
Tuanzebe. Blind. Darmian
AY. Timmy. Herrera. Fellaini. Shaw
Lingard. Martial

Would go 3-5-2 to provide more protection to the defense and pack up the midfield against Burnley. Fellaini's height, in a backline missing some, would be more than useful as well.
Lingard and Martial have the pace to stretch the field for United and cause problems to Keane and Mee as well.
This game is definitely not about being pretty, but doing whatever it takes to get the result.

 

I would sooner play 10 men than Blind.

 

Tuanzebe and Bailly should play. Bailly will be in cotton wool and given very light training. I would consider Blind an option only to play a back 3 and I would consider Darmian as a possible starter at RB to rest Valencia.

 

CB is the least demanding position as far as stamina is concerned. He will be fine.

 

Our GD is only -4 on City and -5 on Liverpool still? That would be great if we could actually put up 3 goals in a game more often.

 

We hardly concede unlike those two.

 

This was the bar set 4 years ago by SAF;

On this day in 2013:

Goal 1 - The title
Goal 2 - Goal of the season
Goal 3 - Golden boot

Ohh Robin van Persie! https://t.co/aGNf8p4OJb

— Man Utd Stuff (@ManUtdStuff) April 22, 2017

 

.

Just like how Rojo is fine? We have one experienced CB left, but how about we try not to break him by playing him to much in against a lower level overall physical Club. If we had more depth right now, I would say whatever. We don't and we need to eventually give Bailly a break before this insane run-in so this would be the game to target.[/QUOTE]

Well, he isn't going to get one, not at CB.

 

Troubling.

Man Utd's unbeaten run stands at 22 matches. Every other #PL team to go this long unbeaten in a single season has gone on to win the league pic.twitter.com/xfDm8v0MQw

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 23, 2017

 

It's disappointing on one hand for sure (especially since it means we should be in better position). But conversely, there is a silver lining in this, as mentioned in the game thread. One that hopefully will carry on this run in and into next season.
If we get our offensive game really up to snuff...

 

So much for Liverpool's supposedly easy run-in.....

Code:

             P  GD Pts
3 Liverpool 34 +28 66
4 man City  32 +28 64
5 Man Utd   32 +26 63

Remaining:

Code:

             Man City          Liverpool        Man Utd    
Apr 26/27    Man Utd H                          Man City A       
Apr 30/May1  Middlesbrough A   Watford A        Swansea H       
May 4                                           Celta Vigo A
May 6/7      Crystal Palace H  Southampton H    Arsenal A        
May 10/11                                       Celta Vigo H     
May 13/14    Leicester H       West Ham H       Spurs A           
May 16/17    West Brom H                        Southampton A    
May 21       Watford A         Middlesbrough H  Crystal Palace H
May 24                                          EL Final

 

Pool have struggled all season long (and beyond really) against bottom half teams. People apparently are fooled because they have put some top shelf performances against the top 6 (just like they did last season).
And they're missing 3 key players. None of this is a surprise, if we're being honest. Jose wants the trophy, so the EL may take precedence, but he's certainly not going to give up on a top 4 finish in the league either, especially since things are as close as they've ever been...

 

Man Utd have conceded fewer #PL goals in 2017 than any other team, shipping just five in total pic.twitter.com/j5WeKfmQqs

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 23, 2017

 

Bizarre !

🔴 @ManUtd have equalled their record for the longest unbeaten run within a single top-flight season – 24 games, level with 2010/11 #MCIMUN pic.twitter.com/NDebH4lq03

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 28, 2017

 

And two of those were penalties....

 

Hard to beat but hard to watch Says it all.

Manchester United: a genuinely confusing side with all still to play for

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/28/manchester-united-confusing-side-all-play-for