Ayers Rock, Mount Everest, Greenland, Sam Allardyce. Blackburn's manager is not a small fella. I am reliably informed that in order to stay upright he is required to use one of those anti-gravity belts beloved of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune. But enough about this Jupiter of a man (Big Sam has my total respect by the way, this is the guy who made Bolton a force). United are famous for big things too. We have had Big Ron, Big Norm, big crowds of course and are The Biggest Football Club in the World TM. What we have not had yet this season is a big performance. We need one.
Sam Allardyce
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
I remember a few years ago when United and Arsenal slugged it out for championships like Borg and McEnroe and we, quite unexpectedly, tonked them 6-1. It was widely assumed that because they were the top two teams in the country that it’d be, you know, quite an even game.
The truth was, United were miles ahead and Arsenal were ‘rebuilding’, as they say in football parlance. Why does this result come back into my mind now? Yep, you guessed it, we’re going to Stamford Bridge next week and Chelsea look like they could win the Grand National at the moment.
United have got serious talent in the side, Berbatov’s goal lifted the soul on Saturday, but I have a horrible feeling we are about to get found out. Whisper it quietly, but United have leaned on an awful lot of luck so far. Beating Arsenal and City, although not outrageously jammy, might have maxed out our cosmic credit card of good fortune.
Why is this so? Because nobody has the slightest idea what is our best midfield. Our central defensive partnership has signed on for another stint in the Casualty cast and, um, Nani.
It must be terrible for any winger starting at United. There is a statue of George outside the stadium and a training pitch full of defenders who are used to trying to tackle Giggs and Ronaldo. Unfortunately, for all of their obvious talent, the boys are not yet men.
I have no doubts about the ability of Messrs Valencia, Nani, Pogba and Tocsic but I have serious reservations about their readiness for a game at Stamford Bridge. One can only assume that Fergie will play Scholes Giggs and Carrick in the fixture. This, one suspects, does not fill the hearts and minds of Ballack, Essien and Lampard with a sense of dread.
Far be it from me to question the wisdom of Mr. Ferguson when it comes to matters of team selection but the side of caution has been leaned on. We need to not lose to Chelsea and it is time to step up. Whatever the midfield next week, I hope we see ‘swash’ and ‘buckle’ in there somewhere too. It is about time.
In other news, Fulham are my new second favourite Premier League team.
Comments
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Posted by venu on 11/02/2009
I hope we stick in a three man midfield with Ando, Carrick and Scholes, if Fergie insists on playing both gigss and scholes. We already found out that they are in fact getting older!
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Posted by Wala on 11/02/2009
Don't you just miss fletcher?
Anderson seems to fail to shine at big games, so I do not know if he is a good choice for the Bridge. Then again, without any steel in midfield (and no, late tackles by Scholes do not count) , I really cannot see how we will hold back their hoards or even sustain any form of attack.
I do remember watching a few games (wow it was so long ago) that Anderson and Hargreaves played really well together in central. I now realise that Ronaldo provided the flair that simply papered over the cracks. We need the steel before we can fly.
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Posted by Philbert on 11/02/2009
Assuming Vidic makes the team [I still doubt Rio, but let's see if he makes CSKA], How about he partners Johnny Evans with Wes ready to come on after the hour, Evra to take his usual spot. Who agrees that Raphael deserves a run in this game? That lad had quite a display in the Big games last season. I feel(if he's fit)He should start at right back to silence Ashley cole's bursts afront.
Midfield needs a lot of steel as much as it needs flair. Giggs has excelled a couple of times in Central mid. He should therefore partner Carrick, with Park and Nani filling in on the flanks [Nani should realize we need to hold the ball n not misplaced passes & runs]Lest we have Valencia and Park, considering Park excelled last term on the left and even provided Ronaldo with a goal from there.
Upfront we have Rooney and Berba. Same spirit as Rovers game and we're OK.
Team: Van der Saar, Brown, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney.
2nd half: Raphael,Park, Nani, Owen.
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Posted by Patrice-Kigali on 11/02/2009
Mark!
We need Fletcher in the midfield although as you have stated; Chelsea is a class apart. Nani seems lost, the sooner he learns to let the ball off his foot at the right time the better otherwise Not a manU quality by his current standards.
Scholes and Gigs are past their time and we have to agree and live by that.
When the season started, i did say that the Manager has to seriously think abt RIO's replacement, all of you can see why now! I would play Evans on Sunday.
Brown for Oshea becz we need a hard tackler
Start: VDS, Vidic, Evra, Brown, Evans, Fletcher, carrick, Anderson,Gigs, Valencia,Rooney.
Berba coming on as a sub.
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Posted by Denny on 11/02/2009
I am still hoping that we all will come to realise that it is wiser for us to include Anderson in our midfield, some are still not convinced as to his ability but (old adage) with time and games he will grow in confidence. We have done it before with young players, without Hargraves, Fletcher becomes more important, but is that to be UNITED,s game plan now, all grit and no flair. I have been saying it since last season, Anderson can be one of our most influential players given the oppertunity, we have nothing now to loose. (except the title)
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Posted by Arzerouni on 11/02/2009
At the beiginning of the season I said that Man U's starting eleven was the worse out of the big four, and Mr. Payne disagreed. I also said that our squad was the best-deepest in the league and therefore we could win the league but we stand no chance in the Champions League and the first 11 games have proven that. We have managed to stay around the top because we can call on Evans and Brown to fill the void at the back and that's the case with almost every position in the team, except for maybe a replacement for rooney. Now after beating Arsenal by luck and comprehensively losing to a Gerrardless Liverpool, it's clear that our starting 11 is probably 4th best in the league. We needed a penalty and an own goal against arsenal and we were beaten by a better side against liverpool. Now against Chelsea, I think we need to play 4-5-1 to stand a chance against their midfield.
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Posted by Arzerouni on 11/02/2009
If Rio and Vidic are back, Our starting lineup should be something like this:
Van der Sar,
Oshea, Rio, Vidic, Evra
Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, scholes, Giggs.
Rooney.
I have not seen Berba play a single decent game against big teams, so we should play 4-5-1 with giggs on the left and Anderson playing at a more advanced role. Chelsea love playing with their full-backs, and their Midfield is great with Essien in there. So in order to beat them we need to use Fletcher on the right to stop Ashley Cole's runs and Giggs and Anderson to stop either bosingwa or Ivanovich. Fergie played hargreaves on the right in the Champions league finals against chelsea and Cole was taken out of the game, the same strategy needs to be utilized for us to stand a chance. This starting line up is not great offensively but is formidale defensively, we need to play counter-attacking football and make the most out of our set plays. Cause that's Chelsea's main weakness this season at least.
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Posted by Nazri on 11/03/2009
Giggs could play, but yes Fletcher is probably a better than Anderson for a big games like this.
Giggs still can offer his decisiveness even though he's not getting any younger. I agree with those comment above about Scholes, so just stick with those 4 men midfield of Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs and Valencia where ever their position is.
Rooney and Berbatov still can lead the attacks.
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Posted by MUfan on 11/03/2009
We should play 4-5-1, and try to provide a cover for the back 4, and try to stop Anelka and Drogba from coming contact to the ball. I just hope that Rooney would perform a Magical strike, and help Man Utd to earn 3 points. It will be fantastic if we could keep a clean sheet against them.
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Posted by daniel on 11/03/2009
We should try and be compact at the bridge with 3 in the center of midfield. Even though we have seen a free scoring chelsea, i do believe that their diamond formation is still suspect. Having fletcher and anderson will give us the steel that we need. Scholes will provide the spraying of the passes with giggs and rooney operating down the wings, leaving berbatov upfront. Rooney is not as effective playing the lone role so i think berbatov should do better. the backfour shd remain the same with possibly brown taking the right back spot. i think there s every chance united can get a result and we should approach this in a positive way. i think its about time nani left because he hasnt settled in. give obertan a bit more exposure and i'm sure he can come good.
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Posted by Shimo on 11/03/2009
Charity Shield game we showed we can play with the power of Chelsea. They grew into the game that's for sure but, we've also shown that we become stronger as the game goes on longer this season.
The City game was hardly a lucky win, we battered them to no end in the second half. Some sloppy mistakes but, we were clearly the better team that day. Arsenal game we showed our mental toughness as well.
Berbs hasn't played well in a big game for us because either he is left on the bench or our midfield is playing so badly, that they can't get our forwards involved or our defenders are just lobbing up balls to areas the forwards have no chance. To put blame on him for not showing up for big games is not right. All strikers become anonymous when their support is non-existent, very rarely with a bit of luck maybe they get that one strike when their team is playing badly to turn the game.
Fletcher, Anderson, Carrick for me on Sunday with Rooney left, Valencia on right and Berbatov up top Sun.
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Mark Payne writes about football for a variety of media outlets. He reported on the 2010 World Cup for Australia’s ABC network and worked at one of the FIFA fan sites. He has been ESPN’s Manchester United correspondent for four years. His writing attracts a worldwide following and in 2011 this blog was nominated for an award. To contact Mark for football discussion e-mail him on markpayne.editor@hotmail.com at any time. He wears lucky socks on match days.
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