Our weakspot

[Danamy]

Bridge will be playing Saturday 100%

 

[The Iceman Cometh]

I like Garrido. Got his faults, and he need sto stick on Valencia and not get drawn into the middle regardless!
In CC Semi 1st leg, Valencia hugged the touchline and had time to fold up his Newspaper & deckchair and still have oodles of time to collect the long raking passes.
This supply needs cutting out.

Tevez first Goal 5/1 ... get on and get in!

 

[johnny on the spot]

I don't mind Garrido either to be honest. Trouble is he's not quite a left-back, nor a wide midfielder...

 

[pee dubya]

I don't mind Garrido either to be honest. Trouble is he's not quite a left-back, nor a wide midfielder...

I've always wondered if he could do a job in central midfield, he's tidy enough on the ball, can tackle, decent shot, decent engine.

He might be crap there, but you never know.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

our only weakness is bennett.

This is very true..... I fear him more than Rooney.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

We kept a clean sheet with Stephen Jordan at left back marking the tranny at the swamp a few years back...

 

[Chipmeister]

our only weakness is bennett.

This is very true..... I fear him more than Rooney.

Afraid so, we really must hope for nothing contencious,need to get in front and keep playing.

Think about it, does anybody at the FA or media, Sky sports especially want us to beat the rags because if Chelsea win the title is effectively over with 4 games to go.

Thats bad for all the sponsors, really does not sit well with me.

 

[Bill]

We were left woefully exposed for Brum's goal the other day, and that was the fault of Garrido. He failed to see Jerome making ground and by the the time he did the ball was in the net. If he fucks up like that against the rags we're going to have a torrid time of it.

jerome was offside.

 

[John Wayne]

I feel our whole defence is a weakness at the moment. I cannot see United not scoring because we gift every team at least one goal. Garrido is a tidy footballer with good feet, but without Lescott and Bridge the left side of our defence is vulnerable.

The make up of the midfield will be an important aspect that Mancini has to get right. Do we play five in midfield to cancel out what is certain to be a United five-man midfield (Rooney up top on his own)? Or do we stick with the 4-4-2 that has served us so well for the past month. If it is 4-4-2, who will be the middle two in midfield? Barry is a certainty, but is the other one De Jong or Vieira? I'd prefer Vieira based on his performance at Burnley, but if we get the Vieira that played against Wigan, I'd sooner we play De Jong - even if it shackles our midfield a little more.

So many questions that need answering carefully. A win on Saturday is anything but a foregone conclusion.

 

[Chippy_boy]

So many questions that need answering carefully. A win on Saturday is anything but a foregone conclusion.

So true.

Genuinely, I would not be shocked if we won by 3 or lost by 3.

My guess is that despite our recent form, Mancini will not risk a thrashing and we play us 4-5-1 with Ade on his own up top and (shock horror) Tevez on the bench to start with. We will end up sitting back and we will all be moaning about how are we letting this happen after how we've played in previous games.

But - personally - I think this is the right thing to do. If we can keep a clean sheet for 30 minutes, they will be getting more and more desperate and we can hit them on the break and score.

It's going to be fascinating to see how Mancini plays it and how it pans out.

 

[The Iceman Cometh]

I feel our whole defence is a weakness at the moment. I cannot see United not scoring because we gift every team at least one goal. Garrido is a tidy footballer with good feet, but without Lescott and Bridge the left side of our defence is vulnerable.

The make up of the midfield will be an important aspect that Mancini has to get right. Do we play five in midfield to cancel out what is certain to be a United five-man midfield (Rooney up top on his own)? Or do we stick with the 4-4-2 that has served us so well for the past month. If it is 4-4-2, who will be the middle two in midfield? Barry is a certainty, but is the other one De Jong or Vieira? I'd prefer Vieira based on his performance at Burnley, but if we get the Vieira that played against Wigan, I'd sooner we play De Jong - even if it shackles our midfield a little more.



So many questions that need answering carefully. A win on Saturday is anything but a foregone conclusion.

To beat them, teams have to get in there face, allow them no time on the ball, harrie them into making mistakes. Do that and there easily beatable.
Press their back four (bellers, Taz, and Ady)
Shore up the middle (De Jong, Barry, and AJ)
Deny Valencia any service (preferably bridgey)
bring back Two Ton for one game to site on shrek ... literally.
Then we could play fly goalie!

 

[Deleted member 14625]

Our real weakness will be midfield, De Jong will sit back, play will end up in our third for long periods. I wouldn't worry about Garrido!

Uniteds center of midfield game is all about running fast as fuck, closing players down, harrying, hassling, tackling, fouling etc they will porbably have Fletcher Carrick and either Park or Scholes in there too and we may struggle with just De Jong who sits back and Barry who has no pace at all!

This is where they won the game at Old Trafford!

We should possibly sacrifice Adebayor for this game and put someone like SWP (not ideal by any means!) in the center to change them bullying and bossing us in there! If not we will have to get an early goal and sit back on it!

this is where the game will be won and lost and it is where United are very strong, will we be able to cope?

 

[Chippy_boy]

In "typical Bluemoon" style, people have seen a couple of recent results and decided that we are Barcelona.

Let's just remember we

were jammy to get a draw at Sunderland
hung on (just) for a win against Fulham having been comfortably 2-0 up
lost to Everton

And we have won our last 3 against dross opponents. Birmingham are BOTTOM of the league on the 6-game form guide. Wigan - 4 points from 24, 3 of which came from a win against Burnley. Burnley - enough said.

No doubt we have improved of late and are starting to look half-decent, but if we are over-confident and wreckless on Saturday we could get thumped. The rags are NOT Burnley!

 

[Danamy]

In "typical Bluemoon" style, people have seen a couple of recent results and decided that we are Barcelona.

Let's just remember we

were jammy to get a draw at Sunderland
hung on (just) for a win against Fulham having been comfortably 2-0 up
lost to Everton

And we have won our last 3 against dross opponents. Birmingham are BOTTOM of the league on the 6-game form guide. Wigan - 4 points from 24, 3 of which came from a win against Burnley. Burnley - enough said.

No doubt we have improved of late and are starting to look half-decent, but if we are over-confident and wreckless on Saturday we could get thumped. The rags are NOT Burnley!

Do you hire yourself out for Funerals?

 

[Freestyler]

I was worried about Garrido, he's a good player and on his day he's brilliant, but unfortunetely i don't think he's top 4 material,

I really hope Bridge is fit enough to start.<br /><br />-- Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:08 pm --<br /><br />

Our real weakness will be midfield, De Jong will sit back, play will end up in our third for long periods. I wouldn't worry about Garrido!

Uniteds center of midfield game is all about running fast as fuck, closing players down, harrying, hassling, tackling, fouling etc they will porbably have Fletcher Carrick and either Park or Scholes in there too and we may struggle with just De Jong who sits back and Barry who has no pace at all!

This is where they won the game at Old Trafford!

We should possibly sacrifice Adebayor for this game and put someone like SWP (not ideal by any means!) in the center to change them bullying and bossing us in there! If not we will have to get an early goal and sit back on it!

this is where the game will be won and lost and it is where United are very strong, will we be able to cope?

de jong thrives off games like this, he seems to get better when it's a bigger game, i would expect non stop tracking down and some tasty challenges from nige, once he get's his foot in early the midfield know they won't have much time on the ball, let him win the ball give it to Barry, then our front 4 can take care of from there.

 

[borassic]

Just put Valencia onto his left peg and drop tevez deep to create a 4-5-1/ 4-4-2 hybrid. We can't drop tevez.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Let's just remember we

were jammy to get a draw at Sunderland

Really, I thought Sunderland were lucky not to lose about 6 -1 to be honest. I take your broader point though. Saturday will be a genuine test compared to the last 3 matches and we will have a much better idea afterwards whether we really are favourites for 4th or not.

 

[Neil McNab]

I was worried about Garrido, he's a good player and on his day he's brilliant, but unfortunetely i don't think he's top 4 material,

I really hope Bridge is fit enough to start.

-- Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:08 pm --

Uniteds center of midfield game is all about running fast as fuck, closing players down, harrying, hassling, tackling, fouling etc they will porbably have Fletcher Carrick and either Park or Scholes in there too and we may struggle with just De Jong who sits back and Barry who has no pace at all!

This is where they won the game at Old Trafford!

We should possibly sacrifice Adebayor for this game and put someone like SWP (not ideal by any means!) in the center to change them bullying and bossing us in there! If not we will have to get an early goal and sit back on it!

this is where the game will be won and lost and it is where United are very strong, will we be able to cope?

de jong thrives off games like this, he seems to get better when it's a bigger game, i would expect non stop tracking down and some tasty challenges from nige, once he get's his foot in early the midfield know they won't have much time on the ball, let him win the ball give it to Barry, then our front 4 can take care of from there.

De Jong will be the problem IMO, If I were gaffer Ned would go into the middle, push Kompany alongside Barry in midfield and plop Zabaleta in at right back.

 

[Freestyler]

Let's just remember we

were jammy to get a draw at Sunderland

Really, I thought Sunderland were lucky not to lose about 6 -1 to be honest.

i agree, we easily could of had 6 or 7 second half.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Let's just remember we

were jammy to get a draw at Sunderland

Really, I thought Sunderland were lucky not to lose about 6 -1 to be honest. I take your broader point though. Saturday will be a genuine test compared to the last 3 matches and we will have a much better idea afterwards whether we really are favourites for 4th or not.

Re: Sunderland, yes I know we could have beaten them easily had we taken some of our chances, but we didn't and the reality was it took a wonder goal in the 91st minute for us to scrape a draw. We could EASILY have lost.

And re: me being depressing and hiring myself out for funerals, sorry to sound so negative. I really do think we have improved enormously and I have been a big Mancini fan from the start. It's great to see us playing attractive, attacking football once again. But I am just trying to keep peoples' feet on the ground. Saturday will be much much tougher test than anything we have faced in months. Even when we beat Chelski, they were playing shite. I do not expect the rags to be shite on Saturday - far from it.<br /><br />-- Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:39 pm --<br /><br />

Really, I thought Sunderland were lucky not to lose about 6 -1 to be honest.

i agree, we easily could of had 6 or 7 second half.

But we didn't and they were 1-0 up in injury time. I call getting a draw from there quite lucky.