Pre-match: Sunderland vs Manchester United - Premier League - April 11th 2009 [R]

Amdrag's gonna kill you.

 

i dont know what to expect... just hope for the best

 

Not my fault. Whenever anyone comments on it, is when it doesn't work. Good job Raj.

 

Time to roll out the kids.

 

Per Sky Sports, Evans out with groin injury....

 

FUSIOOOOOON

That was my shit back in the day

 

evra definetly needs a rest. in the off season we really need to find an adequate back up to evra. we've sold both heinze and silvestre and brought in no one to replace either.

we really need to show what champions are made of in this match.

 

I would be expecting no less than a win.....I had like us to play Eckersley for a change...I know some people might have some notion about him playing but i still feel he's a better bet than a half fit Gary Neville.....

 

Well, this is it , isn't it?


We need to recover from our terrible down turn in domestic form. The win against Villa was very nice but let's be honest, the performance was lacking more than just a little something.

I'd like a tough defence this weekend, one that is not going to stand off, one that is not going to systemaitcally sh!t themselves when Cisse runs at them and one that is going to distribute the ball well. I'd also like to see a midfield which retains the ball a little better than it has done recently. There's no rush to get it up to our strikers. Having the ball is twice as good as having it briefly and then losing it again because you rushed a pass.

Our attack is always going to work hard but we need some patience. Draw them out a little and be incisive when we do go for it. Sunderland are at home so there's a certain amount of expectation on them to come forward a little which we can exploit but only if we're careful about it. Jones and Cisse offer pace and power in attack so we must make sure our defence is covered and that we don't put ourselves under pressure by giving the ball away in midfield.

I won't predict the team, it's not possible. There'll be all sorts of changes I expect.

 

Nani to play and Ronaldo on the bench hopefully, against Bardsley Nani can get alot of joy and Ronaldo needs a rest.

 

I doubt it is what we will see, but if I am honest I would play the following team and hope for thre best; Porto is too important.

-----------------VDS----------------
Fletcher---Neville--O'Shea----Fabio
------------Gibson--Scholes---Nani
Welbeck---Rooney-----Tevez------

Subs: Foster, Ferdinand, Eckersley, Possebon, Tosic, Park, Macheda

Tempted to bench VDS just to give him a rest, but benching a confidence keeper during a poor defensive streak isn't a great idea; rest him against Everton. If Evans recovers stick him at CB beside O'Shea. If Anderson is fit have him as one of the first subs, replacing either Park or Possebon.

 

Nani, Gibson and one of Macheda/Welbeck for me, please.

2-0 to the good guys.

 

I think I care more about maintaining the clean sheet than anything else. Our offense generally hasn't been the part of the team that's been lacking lately, even if the goals haven't always been pretty.

 

Agreed. A clean sheet will at least remind our defensive staff what they're around for, and what they were capable of earlier in the season.

 

the formation that I would want to see not that I think fergie will use is this:

Foster

Neville
Oshea
Vidic
Fabio

Fletcher
gibson
Possebon

Nani
Welbeck
Tevez

Bring on tosic and macheda and ronaldo... or just rest the top players. i think these players can do the work

 

Is Fabio injured?

I've seen no news on him myself but was thinking along the same lines as biro was in the 'taking a gamble' thread. Didn't play for the reserves last week against Newcastle, didn't make the bench when our squad was stretched to it's limits against Villa.

 

Gibson and Scholes in a 2-man midfield with Neville and OShea behind them .

I don't see why everyone wants to play Fletcher everywhere bar CM even though he is the only CM we have right now.

 

he was in training for the CL game, same with Tosic. i wouldn't be surprised to see both of them feature on Saturday.

It is unfortunate that Nani is playing as he is. we could sure use him.

 

Yes to be honest. It's far form ideal and it is taking a risk but I would have Rooney dropping back to help the midfield, and Fletcher's work-rate will mean he will pop up there occasionally also (he always does when he has been at RB for some reason). If it is giving us problems, bring Park on for Scholes or Welbeck (depending on the situation). I do reckon Evans will be rushed back for this though despite what we have been told, and I think it might be a necessary risk to start him over Neville if we can; we just need to make sure Ferdinand is fully fit for the Porto tie.

This - and to some extent and depending on Wednesday's result, the Everton match - will be our last chance to give some keys players rest, unless we can pull a few points further ahead in the league, which is far from a banker. Many players are looking knackered already (Evra, Park, Ronaldo, etc) and some are picking up worrying knocks as well (Rio, Berbatov, etc), so we need to give them some time off as we could potentially have no more than 3-4 days in between games until the last league game of the season, with several worrying games in there. If we don't bite the bullet and give a lot of our squad a small break right now, we could pay dearly for it in the coming weeks.

 

I think we already have the player to back up, challenge and supplant Evra if he can stay healthy in Fabio, plus we have O'Shea as backup.

Wes Brown's long term absence is killing us now. Looking at the start of the year with Brown and Neville at right back with Rafael coming up in reserve, Rio and Vidic at center back with Evans and Brown to back them up coupled with Evra at left back backed up by O'Shea: I would have thought we would be well covered throughout the year. If I remember correctly we were worried about Evans getting enough playing time. Now look where we are.