Mario Balotelli, Toure brothers, and Gareth Barry unavailable for FA Cup derby
by Gene Um on Jan 5, 2012 8:37 PM GMT
in Manchester United: FA Cup
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A soft landing is not in the works for Manchester United after their recent two successive league defeats: a FA Cup tie at the Etihad Stadium versus leaders Manchester City awaits them. However, for that match, the 'noisy neighbours' will have some key players unavailable. The African Cup of Nations competition begins on January 21 and Ivory Coast has exercised their right to call in players for the international competition two weeks prior to it's start. Two of these players, brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure, are amongst those players participating.
City manager Roberto Mancini had requested for his players to be available for Saturday's match but this was denied by Ivory Coast manager Francois Zahoui. The Ivory Coast side is set to gather in Paris on Saturday before traveling to Abu Dhabi on Sunday for a two-week training camp. Here is what Zahoui had to say about the matter:
"Clubs know the rules. I'm expecting them for the FIFA deadline."
Source: BBC
In addition to the Toure brothers, Mario Balotelli is expected to be unavailable for the clash as well. The Italian striker sustained an ankle injury prior to City's recent match with Sunderland. Furthermore, midfielder Gareth Barry is suspended for the match after he was sent-off in City's most recent match versus Liverpool.
During Mancini's press conference for this FA Cup tie, he anticipated that he may only have 17 players available for the match. A player that is very familiar to United -- Owen Hargreaves -- may feature against his old club. Here is what Mancini had to say about the midfielder during his press conference:
"Owen has worked with the team for the last week without problems. Owen needs to play and to work."
Source: mcfc.co.uk
The holiday fixture list has been congested for all English clubs but after Saturday's match, every club has the following midweek off from competition. Therefore, it could be reasonably anticipated that both United and City will field strong sides for this early-stage FA Cup tie. A victory for United could provide a bit of redemption for the league derby defeat at Old Trafford and it could also help alleviate some of the pain from their recent defeats. A victory for City could prove to be psychological blow to United and it perhaps could set the tone for the season's latter half.
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This would be a lovely time for Mancini to rest David Silva :)
His form has dropped though recently…. well, from Iniesta-like to still very good.
Editor-in-Chief for The Busby Babe | SB Nation Soccer Contributor
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yea i think we can go abit more attacking now
Without toure and barry in middfield will b a massive loss for them. If someone tightly marks silva we should be good.
Hopefully our players play properly and wazza bangs in a couple
(ps hope hargreaves walks off inured)
I actually think it may be best to defend deep and counter vs City
If I can find some time before Sunday, I’ll write a tactical post on why (one man’s opinion anyway). I’ll have the preview up in about 24 hours time.
Tactically, I think our 2007-08 side would give trouble to nearly every current top side in the world. Best counterattacking team I’ve seen in my lifetime.
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Deep defending is a recipe for disaster for our current side
I know West Brom and Sunderland did that with a well organised defense with no intention to attack altogether. Or course, both matches have also seen a few Shitty shots hitting the bar, as well as outstanding goalkeeping performances from the defending sides.
With the exception of Lindegaard, we have no defenders capable of stopping Shitty’s inevitable waves of attack. I don’t see how we’re able to sit deep against the physicality of Dzeko and Aguero with Silva and Nasri lurking right behind them. We just don’t have the personnel, chemistry nor experience to do that right now.
Without Vidic and the form evra and ferdinand have been in, its not looking good
Deep defending wise, juist far too fragile. we need to hold possesion and take our time and carrick has to play in midfield and swing attacks from flank to flank
holding possession vs City doesn't matter much
and slowing tempo vs them is even more disastrous. Every side that has had success against them has conceded possession, defended deep, exploited their lack of deep-lying playmakers, and hit them quick on the counter.
When City become frustrated and predictable in attack against deep-defending, they’ve been prone to losing discipline and having too many players ahead of the ball when they lose possession. Thus, their vulnerability to the coutnerattack.
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We don’t really have anyone who can unlock that defense, to be blunt. If we hover around their box we’re just begging City to kill us on the counter. In the Community Shield we scored our first two goals after some fantastic movement on and off the ball by Cleverley and Nani, and let’s be honest, we don’t have that anymore for whatever reason. Even without Vidic, I think this team is at it’s best defending and countering.
"Can Manchester United score? They always score... Peter Schmeichel is forward... Beckham, in towards Schmeichel- it's come for Dwight Yorke. Cleared... Giggs with a shot- SHERINGHAM!"
just last week, we were coming off of successive 5-0 victories
and we were arguably in peak form for this current season. So it’s there. It’s just that we have the tendency to just lay an egg this season at times. Who knows what team shows up.
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completley disagree
I’m not conceding we’re the inferior team, but the history of this game has shown that any side can defend deep if they apply their tactical assignments correctly.
Keep things compact and narrow and it clogs things up for their attackers. City have the tendency to become predictable in attack. I talked about this prior to the derby… http://www.thebusbybabe.com/2011/10/22/2506026/what-tactics-will-sir-alex-ferguson-use-in-the-manchester-derby . The tactical issue wouldn’t be their attackers, it would be their lack of deep-lying playmakers. They don’t have anybody that would force us come out and close them down.
In the derby, we were simply too open their ‘interiores’ for that game continually exploited the space between the lines. http://www.thebusbybabe.com/2011/10/25/2510057/tactical-review-manchester-united-1-6-manchester-city-citys
Editor-in-Chief for The Busby Babe | SB Nation Soccer Contributor
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makes you wonder if Fergie will use his 'big-game' 4-3-3/4-5-1 hybrid
The only issue with that is our limited selection in central-midfield and the (relatively) plethora of choices we have up front. Although Welbeck is capable of playing the wide left forward role.
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