It is an interesting question that is being much debated around the UK radios right now. This could go any number of ways. For Evra, it is naive to think that he won't be the subject of boos and potential abuse (hopefully not racial). The real question Fergie has is, can Evra handle it and could the team cope with the rash of injuries that seem to suddenly have hit without him?

In the long run, it might be best for Fergie to sit Evra. It isn't right that a player might be intimidated off the pitch, but in reality, such is life. It doesn't make it right, but it may be the best way to diffuse an otherwise volatile situation. It would be a shame to see this have a huge effect on what should be a good game. The fact that Suarez isn't playing may make things better or worse. It will alleviate some of the tension on the pitch, but may heighten it in the Kop.

Continue reading this post »

Hi although I rate Paul Scholes as one of the all time greats to wear the red of Man Utd I fear for the future of the highly rated Paul Pogba & Ravel Morrison. Both are reported to having their heads turned by the likes of both Milan clubs, City, Barca etc. What chance have they got if the answer to the midfield problem is to bring a 37 year old that was looking after them in the reserves back into the fray. Give youth a chance it has worked in the past and Utd have a great name for giving youth a chance. I have seen these lads (Morrison has had a few problems off field) but they are serious serious prospects. Lets get them involved. Carling cup appearances against Palace is not enough and to loose them for 300,000 for development costs to rivals would be a disaster. Does anyone have information on their current contract as there is confliciting stories?

This looks to be an interesting January window. With the injuries to the Manchester United squad, I look forward to seeing if Sir Alex Ferguson will look for a solution or decide to wait it out for the return to fitness of all the casualties. It is a similar situation to 2009(I believe) when Ferguson decided not to spend when there was a dearth of defending options due to injury.

The one place I, and I'm sure everyone else, pray a replacement is pursued is central midfield. The loss return of Paul Scholes is still being felt and the long term illness of Darren Fletcher just adds to the lack of options. The sight of Rafael in central midfield is something I hope to never witness again. Let's all hope a quality addition is found in this window to help for the run-in.

More after the jump.....

Continue reading this post »

Not sure this should be a fanshot but here it goes.

Just want to remind all the American Man United supporters that this week's league match againist Everton won't be televised. I checked the schedules on Fox Soccer and Fox Soccer Plus and it's not on TV. It's not ESPN2's match of the week either (the Chelsea match is). Just wanted to tell people this.

Good news though if anyone is a subscriber to Sirius Satellite Radio. They broadcast the radio feeds of all the league matched for United, Chelsea and Arsenal. You atleast people like myself can listen to the can since i'm a subscriber.

Here's the links to both TV schedules if you don't believe me:

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/tvschedule?tvTab=shows&accessType=directURL&seriesID=65937

http://foxsoccerplus.com/images/Assets/Programming/Week44-October11-FSPlus-Clean.pdf

It sucks, because I love watching my club on TV, but it is what it is.

In short - No. There was no way that anyone could have predicted that Manchester City could have inflicted such a painful and humiliating defeat on Manchester United before the kick-off. But was a United defeat on the cards? Honestly there was a very good probability of that happening.Let's get right to business.

Fergie scrapped the 4-5-1 that he employed against Liverpool last weekend and reverted to the succesful 4-4-2. But two very interesting changes were Nemanja Vidic being dropped from the squad and Jonny Evans starting ahead of Phil Jones in the central defensive role alonsgside Rio Ferdinand and Carrick being dropped altogether. Darren Fletcher started alongside Anderson in the centre of midfield and Danny Welbeck started ahead of Javier Hernandez. For City, Mancini's hand was forced into relegating Nigel de Jong to the substitutes bench due to his injury. This meant that Yaya Toure dropped back to a central midfield role from the advanced role he played against Aston Villa last week and James Milner started in the right side of a attacking troika alongside Silva and Balotelli, behind Sergio Aguero in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

United vs City - starting formations

United had adjusted well against Arsenal who played a similar 4-2-3-1 earlier in the season. But unlike Arsenal, City varied their tactics and as a result United's 4-4-2 suffered. The first tweak Mancini did to his tactics was having Milner interchange positions with Silva and cover both wings. Especially whenever United's wingers were on the attack, Milner tracked back diligently and helped his full-backs out. Milner covering both wings and generally being a major nuisance resulted in an extra man when City came forward on a particular wing and made United's full-backs contend with two wide players attacking their wing. Cisty's first goal was a prime example of that - Milner and Silva engaging Smalling and the former then laying the ball on a platter for Balotelli to score. Until that point it was the home side who were doing most of the attacking. But City's one moment of success showed the flaws in United's gameplan.

Another point that has to be raised at this point is United's defense giving Milner, Silva and Balotelli all the time in the world when they had the ball. Silva's to Milner, Milner's pass to Balotelli and Balotelli's finish just didn't have any player in a red shirt trying to prevent them. Rio Ferdinand's positioning also has been pretty poor on a disturbingly increasing basis. Another of United's issues has been the lack of a creative midfielder. I had mentioned this earlier as well, Cleverly is being sorely missed by this United side. Even today, Carrick would have been a better bet in the midfield than Fletcher.

United did have shots on goal in the first half but they were mostly from range and at Hart. Infact United had the better first half stroking 306 passes compared to City's 234. A mouthwatering comeback was definitely on the cards. But just 64 seconds into the second half Jonny Evans' recklessness got himself a red card and exposed United who were feeling the strain of their 4-4-2 being outwitted. After the incident City hit 262 passes while United could muster only 183 at a success rate of 78%. A noticable feature about United's gameplay was that they were intent on passing the ball bang onto their wings, but with Milner and Barry tracking back into the wings it was increasingly difficult for United's wingers to get their crosses in. Nani especially had a very torrid game. He was handled very effectively by Clichy but that was also a result of the Portuguese's reluctance to pass the ball to Smalling who had darted into City's box more than once only to throw his hands in frustration on seeing Nani try to pass it to Young or Rooney.

United's substitutions also didn't help them as Hernandez and Jones struggled for positions as City had started exerting their dominance over the fading hosts. The situation was ideal for a work-horse like Park Ji-Sung but Fergie thought otherwise and by the time the game ended, United's players had given up. Three goals in the stoppage time just added more sheen to the score-line, but City had won the battle very comfortably long before that.

http://442footballfever.wordpress.com/

Manchester United Supporters Club of Canada (MUSCC) expands into Windsor, Ontario with official opening of new branch  

The world’s most popular soccer club, Manchester United, have a fan base of more than 300 million worldwide. Manchester United, more commonly known as the ‘Red Devils’ have a song, "take me home United Road, to a place I belong." This month that road extends to Windsor, Ontario when the official Manchester United Supporters Club of Canada (MUSCC) opens a new chapter in the city of Windsor. The venue of choice is The Manchester Pub located at 546 Ouellette Ave.

MUSCC, first established in the early eighties, is made up of Manchester United fans from all over Canada. The main purpose of the Club is to bring together supporters of the ‘Red Devils’ by providing venues to watch the games and social activities to build camaraderie. The opening of the Windsor branch adds to the growing network of branches across Canada which now includes Toronto, Cambridge, London and Vancouver.

MUSCC, based at the Main Event Bar in central Toronto, is the official Canadian branch, hosting various social activities and providing a comprehensive benefits program to all Canadian members which include the opportunity to purchase tickets to see Manchester United at their home ground, Old Trafford, in England.

Continue reading this post »

60% possession, 16 attempts at goal with 9 on target (65%), 2 goals up in 17 minutes and the formidable fortress of Old Trafford - United fans could have been forgiven if they had thought that the match was over by half time. But the reality was far from it. Basel scored twice in quick succession in the second half and actually led the tie for 14 minutes before a 90th minute header from Ashley Young salvaged a point for United. United are having a weird season - they are dominating possession, scoring heavily but have also been susceptible to be scored against. David de Gea holds the record for the maximum number of saves made in the Premier League this season with 38 saves - hardly the stat for the 'keeper of a table-topping club. Much has been made over the emergence of the young guard at Old Trafford but it is clear that their backline is missing a colossus in Nemanja Vidic.

Sir Alex Ferguson, as usual, opted for a 5 man midfield in the European competition with United lining up in a 4-4-1-1 with Ryan Giggs starting just behind Danny Welbeck.At least the 4-4-1-1 was better than the flat 4-5-1 line up that started against Benfica. Basel lined up in a 4-4-2 meaning this game would be open. But their German coach Thorsten Fink made one tactical tweak - playing narrower. United tend to play wide and switch the ball between flanks to make maximum utilization of the wide Old Trafford pitch.

If you notice the starting line-ups, you could see that Besel's wingers Fabian Frei and Zoua Daogari played a lot narrower compared to United's wingers Valencia and Ashley Young. Young with his searing pace gave a torrid time to Basel's RB Markus Steinhofer. United's width combined with the fact that Basel playing narrower led to the home side dominating possession in the starting phase of the game.

United also pressed forward a lot with Fabio almost playing like a second right winger. The Brazilian often drifted forward exchanging positions with Valencia. It was Fabio's cut back to Giggs that set up Welbeck for his first goal. The very next minute, Welbeck scored again from another of Gigg's pass. United were very much in the ascendency but they also could have conceded 2 goals by that time. Frei first fired wide after being set up by Streller's flick over Ferdinand and then Streller didn't notice Daogari who came in unmarked and squandered a chance to set him up to score. That was United's problem - their defense was too slack. Whether it was due to them being complacent that their opponents were Basel or that they were up by two goals or it was Rio's age and Jones and Fabio showing their inexperience, But there's no denying that United's defensive slackness was their undoing. If not for Basel's wastefulness in front of goal and de Gea's instincts, United might have been trailing well before half time. I have selected two instances which should have sent warning bells ringing in the United camp, but sadly it was not to be.

a. Daogari chance

Xhaka passes the ball to Alexander Frei and the striker sets off towards United's goal. Streller moves left and stretches Evra. Rio and Jones are left with the task of shepherding Frei and the situation would have been under control. But the problem was Fabio was too far up the field and he didn't react when Xhaka passed the ball to Frei. This left Daogari who was playing narrow to simply dart into the box and suddenly the situation became 3 on 3 with Daogari left completely unmarked. Frei passed the ball to Daogari but he missed the opportunity to score. Let off for United and especially Fabio.

Continue reading this post »

"For the neutrals it was fantastic and open. Some of our football was terrific but we were so careless we could have thrown it away. We did OK when we got the ball to Nani and Ashley Young [in the wide positions] but when we tried to be clever in the middle of the field we kept botching it up and Chelsea kept counter-attacking."  – Sir Alex Ferguson summed it up perfectly. This was a weird old game, which will be remembered for the glaring misses by both teams.

As expected Manchester United lined up in a 4-4-2 and Chelsea in a 4-3-3 (or what I call a 4-1-2-3) The only changes from what was expected was Jonny Evans taking field as Ferdinand hadn’t fully yet recovered from his hamstring strain and Darren Fletcher lining up alongside Anderson. For me this was surprising as Fletcher has actually regressed in the last couple of seasons and he looked fairly pedestrian against Benfica and was hauled off at half time. But maybe Fergie wanted someone in the middle of the field who provides a bit of assuredness to accompany Anderson. I still believe Carrick should have started, but hey I’m not the boss. Andre Villas-Boas, seemingly impressed with what saw against Bayer, included Fernando Torres in the starting lineup.

To analyze this match, I think it would be best served if we discern the match into 3 periods of 30 minutes each. The first 30 minutes saw Chelsea dominate proceedings with United playing catch up. United tried moving the ball to the wings and let their wingers cut loose against Chelsea’s full-backs, whereas Chelsea started moving the ball more through the centre. In the first 30 minutes, United had attempted 187 passes with a success rate of 83% and Chelsea on the other hand attempted 150 passes with a success rate of 85%. But the point to be noted here is Chelsea had moved 47% of their succesful passes through the centre of the field whereas United had moved only 36% through the centre. Another point to be noted is 28% of Chelsea’s central midfield passes were in United’s half, whereas a paltry 14% of United’s passes were in Chelsea’s half. 23% of United’s passes through wings were in Chelsea’s half and 27% of Chelsea’s passes were in United’s half. The field was set – United were going to hit the wings, while Chelsea were trying to punch the weak underbelly of United’s central midfield. The first 30 minutes were largerly dominated by Chelsea, not in possesion, but in terms of chances created. Chelsea had 10 shots on goal and United had 1, but the score was United 1; Chelsea 0. Smalling might have been marginally offside but the blame has to be squarely put on Chelsea’s static defensive line. Ramires could have equalized, but his weak shot was saved well by de Gea. United’s central midfielders Anderson and Fletcher had a combined accuracy of 81% whereas Chelsea’s midfield troika of Ramires, Meireles and Lampard had a phenomenal 93% accuracy.

The second 30 minute period saw a furious battle in the 2nd third of the pitch as both teams struggled to impose their dominance. United stroked 192 passes with 83% accuracy and Chelsea attempted 169 passes with only 78% accuracy. This was the period which saw the game yield 3 goals and saw Nani stamp his authority on the match by coasting past Mata as if he was non-existant on the pitch and hit an imperious 20 yarder past Cech. Jones’ lung bursting run resulted in Rooney tapping in his 9th goal of the season. The 2 goals were significant as Chelsea’s defense was happy to let United’s wingers come up to the final 3rd before trying to crowd them out. Maybe this was due to Chelsea not wanting to be sucker-punched on counters while attacking through their full-backs, but the gamble failed and United scored 2 and should’ve had one more only for Rooney to slip while taking his spot kick. Soon after the break Chelsea pulled one back through Torres who ran past Jones to take substitute Anelka’s pass and score.

The third period of 30 minutes was a war of attrition with United refusing to wilt and Chelsea trying to catch the hosts out on their seconds of vulnerability. United’s wingers ran willingly and a mighty 64% of United’s passes were through the wings. Chelsea too did try wing it as Cole found it a bit easy running at makeshift RB Valencia as they passed 52% through their wings. The percentages might sound close but the numbers give you a different picture. United threaded 100 passes through the wings while Chelsea could manage only 53. Torres and Berbatov missed with the former vying for the ‘miss of the season’ award (if there is one anyway).

The overall conclusion could be had both teams, especially Chelsea had taken their gilt-edged chances, the score might have been entirely different. United pressed the Chelsea full backs well restricting them to just 91 passes delivered and this could be put into perspective if we consider their average this season of 148 passes per game prior to this match. United also dominated possession thereby spoiling Villas-Boas’ strategy of possession football. Chelsea’s decision to stand-off the attackers in the midfield cost them dear and the strategy of Meireles and Lampard against Rooney was wrong. Chelsea could have used a Essien or even Mikel yesterday. United out passed Chelsea and their wingers ran well without cutting in as they have done in the previous matches. This was to by-pass Chelsea’s 3 man midfield and to press Bosingwa and Cole into submission. Consider Young, Evra and Nani’s positioning. They clung on to the line more when compared to the previous games when they tended to cut in.

Nani, Young and Evra – clung to the sidelines

Villas-Boas might have lost his first game as Chelsea boss, but there are clear signs of improvement under him. Torres has been linking better with his teammates in the new formation  and the introduction of Anelka when the team was 3 down showed real guts on Villas-Boas’ part. Fergie’s team selection was perfect except for the central midfield pairing of Fletcher and Anderson. It’s weird to say that United are missing a young player who has started only 4 games for them, but such has been the impact of Cleverly that Carrick and Fletcher can be viewed as a downgrade. Anderson too has been playing better with Cleverly. The move of introducing Valencia at RB was strange especially considering that Fabio was on the bench. Maybe Fergie has his doubts on the young Brazilian or maybe is he trying out a Barcelona trick of playing a midfielder in defense? Let’s wait and watch. But for now United are the deserving leaders in the Premiership after wins over 3 of the top 6 clubs.

IMO, Phil Jones will become the best defender in the world within five years. He will be captain if England. Hell, he might just captain United too. I rate him that highly. He is a natrual leader.

At around £17M, his aquisition is another brilliant deal from that man Fergie. He probably has kept an eye on him ever since his Premeir League debut against Chelsea, where he was undaunted and solid against Drogba, who at the time was in fantastic form and one of the most feared strikers in the world.

But what I want to ask is, at what point will Rio start hampering his development, without adding to the team?

Continue reading this post »

Personally, my first choice midfield is Fletcher and Carrick with Anderson as replacement for the either 2.

However, Cleverley recent display have got many pumped up. I don't think he'll be that much huge factor come March/April/May where I expect Fletch and Carrick to be at top form, with Anderson/Cleverley forming the 3rd midfielder if we're playing 3 in the middle in big games.

Reading a lot of comments on soccernet and goal.com somehow overpraised the current midfield imo though. They are really good but not really yet fully tested though..

Against City in the Community Shield, City went into a shell to defend that 2 goal lead. Against Spurs, there was no Modrid or Huddlestone. Against Arsenal, there was no Nasri or Fabregas. Not taking the credit away from the talented duo though.

But no doubt it's fun watching the young United playing like champions though.

So what are the TBB's fans thought about this??