sorry to keep it off subject, but i believe they are also without gilberto and edu. that means cesc and flamini i believe. cesc i dont think is good enough for this level yet and flamini...well i dont know anything about him really. also lehmann was benched last match, will he today?
SAF: Teaching the younger first teamer's how to lead and play under dificult circumstances... sounds good.
Arsenal are playing Rosenburg. Not to piss of their fans, but its not like they are AC Milan or Lyon even. I'd love to see them knocked out, I'll seriously have to go have a shot of Johnnie Walker and go to the ARse forum Liverpool are on the fringe club too. So back to fener...I want to stress that we have a chance to get our youngsters some time. What has Richardson left to do to get some time? When i see him play he is something to watch. He deserves time.
Speaking of using the squad, I am surprised that Maurinho is playing Terry, Lampard and Duff at Porto after already having won the group. It would be....ironic if one of these important Chelsea players picks up an injury today in a game where nothing is at stake.
I tell ya, that Whinger is a piece of work. In a game that should be a 99.99% sure victory, he has 7-8 first-team starters playing. Oh wait - I know why! It's because Arsenal has so much depth at each position!
He couldn't really mess about. With their problems in Europe, he had to try and ensure victory, even playing at home against an injury depleted small Swiss club... I bet they're singing: Can we play you every week? at Highbury.
Yeah I know that if we were in the same situation, I wouldn't want SAF screwing around with the lineups--you have to treat this like a cup final, even if its not a huge club. We still fielded a first-team against Millwall last year, for example. Minor correction: Rosenborg are Norwegian.
Supposedly UEFA warned us about playing a shadow squad (not that it stopped Barca ) but I was thinking the same thing. Fortunately, no one seemed to have gotten hurt, even if we did lose the meaningless game. Now, of course, the Arse fans will be delirious with joy over pounding a team that is historically appalling on the road while we lost a meaningless game. We have 'em just where we want them.
Sure, the quote sounds good but its a load of bull. The reason Fletch and Ronaldo are going may partly be what he said, but one has to reason that with our new formation or atleast selection tendencies we've been able to rest Ronaldo a bit and Fletcher hasn't started every match either. So all in all its just that these are two fit players who need some time on the pitch. Rooney on the other hand has played in most of our matches and is an essential part of the team already, more so than Ronaldo at this point, but perhaps in need of a rest so he sits. The timing of the statement is peculiar though, in the wake of the rumours of Keane being mean to both of them it won't go unnoticed by many.
Ebanks-Blake is a pacy striker who made his debut for United in the Carling Cup against Crewe Alexandra. He is highly thought of by SAF. And I believe he is our leading scorer in the reserves this season. He is in the provisional squad to face Fenerbahce. I doubt he will make the bench.
I'd like the starting XI to be: -------------Howard------------- P.Neville---Brown--O'Shea---Fortune ----Fletcher---Djemba---Miller----- Ronaldo------------------Richardson --------------Bellion---------------
At this point, I think it is advantageous for to top the group because this would at least give us have the chance to face PSV or Porto, which are arguably the weakest teams among the possible last 16. If we finish second, the weakest team we could hope for are Bayer Leverkusen or Olympiakos. But we seem to have not done so well against German teams in recent years (except 1999 of course ). Also, I'd rather play Barcelone than AC milan since we've had trouble playing against well organised defense this season.
I'm just glad we have done so well this year in Europe so that we have the opportunity to give young players the chance to see Champions League football. I always want us to win but if we don't it's not that big a deal. We play who we play, look at who we played in 99. The big games are the best games.
Match underway: 1 Howard 3 Phil Neville 6 Brown 7 Ronaldo 12 Bellion 17 Miller 19 Djemba-Djemba 22 O'Shea 23 Richardson 24 Fletcher 25 Fortune
Sounds like Howard is already being tested: 6' Tuncay Sanli (Fenerbahçe) has an effort on goal. The highly-rated Turkish playmaker has the game's first notable effort, stinging Howard's hands from 25 metres. 3' Ümit Özat nips down the left and hits a cross towards Márcio Nobre with the outside of his right foot, but Tim Howard cuts it out confidently.