he was our best player on the tour. of course premier league is another step up but he should be physically and mentally ready. let's see tonight
///VS///
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Date - Friday, August 10 2018
Kickoff Time - 2000 Hrs BST
Venue - Old Trafford, Manchester
League standings and form guide
Manchester United:
Leicester City:
Previous Meetings
Leicester City 2—2 Manchester United
Manchester United 2—0 Leicester City
Leicester City 0—3 Manchester United
Manchester United 4—1 Leicester City
Manchester United 1—1 Leicester City
All-Time Record
Manchester United wins: 59
Leicester City wins: 32
Draws: 29
Pre-Match Pressers
José Mourinho
Claude Puel
Team News
Manchester United
Nemanja Matić, Antonio Valencia Diogo Dalot, Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera and Sergio Romero ruled out. Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young, Paul Pogba, Phil Jones and Eric Bailly not available or doubtful.
Leicester City
Matty James ruled out. Jamie Vardy, Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans, James Maddison and Nampalys Mendy doubtful.
Know the opposition
Leicester City Football Club (nicknamed The Foxes, The Blues, City, and Blue Army), are a professional football club based in Leicester. Leicester City was founded in 1884 by a group of old boys of Wyggeston School as Leicester Fosse, before joining the Football Association in 1890. In 1919, when League football resumed after World War I, Leicester Fosse ceased trading due to financial difficulties of which little is known. The club was reformed as Leicester City Football Club, particularly appropriate as the borough of Leicester had recently been given city status.
Leicester City have enjoyed moderate success through the years - winning 3 League Cups, and reaching the final of the FA Cup 4 times - prior to their odds-defying Premier League title win in 2015/16. Leicester City's most prominent rivals are Nottingham Forest, Coventry City and Derby County, and they have been playing their home games at The King Power Stadium (originally named Filbert Way) since 2002.
Familiar Faces
Danny Simpson, Matty James and Jonny Evans
Referee
Andre Marriner.
Mourinho still holds the support from the majority of fans, but it dipped with United’s performances and limp Uefa Champions League elimination to Sevilla in March. Last season started well but faded badly for Mourinho’s men. This one must start well even though Mourinho must do that without his players who reached the latter stages of the World Cup – he wanted every player to have three weeks’ holiday. United finished second in the Premier League last season, 19 points behind Manchester City. I expect a genuine title challenge after five seasons without coming close. I also hope for more entertaining football and a backlash won’t be far away if it doesn’t come. Mourinho has made improvements and deserves that third season in charge, but there will be serious questions asked if United are 19 points behind their noisy neighbours this year.
Getting 90 points should put United in contention to win the title. That is a 9-point improvement on last season, which should be do-able when you consider that United lost too Huddersfield, Newcastle and Brighton the three newly promoted clubs. Obviously, the hope is that City will not be able to stay at ridiculously good level they played at last season which will help United close the gap and allow us to at least put in a genuine title challenge.
United’s first 10 games are relatively gentle and should provide us with the chance to get plenty of points on the board by the time November rolls round. Mourinho has put pressure on the players a bit here because he has created a cloud around the club with his demeanour in pre-season, but behind the scenes the player’s mood is good. Mourinho with the media is totally different to the Mourinho with the players, but it does feel that only a convincing start to the season will remove fans’ worries about a lack of transfer activity and general negative vibe around the club. The time for judgement begins with this game, a game I expect United to win and maybe need to win so negative momentum the manager has helped create does not build.
Leicester’s usual approach is to sit-deep and use their speed to play on the counter-attack so United will probably dominate the majority of possession here. United will have plenty of individual quality on the pitch but under Mourinho we are yet to witness any true understanding between the United attacking players when they have controlled possession. Another problem could be a potential lack of width, Sanchez likes to cut inside from the left and Juan Mata will want to float between the lines from the right so attacking width will have to come from the full-backs. Matteo Darmian will play from the right despite the fact he is still expected to leave in the European transfer window because Valencia and Dalot are both injured. Darmian is more of a defensive full-back rather than a good over lapper so United might lack penetration and end product down the right. On the left Luke Shaw will start despite speculation that Mourinho doesn’t rate him particularly highly. This is a great opportunity for Shaw to finally make the left back position his own. At his best Shaw is dynamic and speedy going forward with tremendous acceleration. He's the type of player who can receive the ball in a defensive position, distribute neatly into midfield, then immediately find offer the option of a return ball on the overlap. He is exactly the sort of player United need at full-back, last season a big problem down the left was the lack of a naturally overlapping left-back. Sanchez's drifts in-field robbed United of width; while Ashley Young has manfully adjusted to the full-back position, he also enjoys cutting inside onto his right foot, making United's attacks somewhat predictable. Shaw naturally overlaps his winger to stretch the play before swinging crosses into the box. The problem is he has never looked truly confident since he broke his leg in 2015. The club want Shaw to be a success, but I feel he probably needs to move to a mid-table club to rebuild his confidence. United is not the place and Mourinho is not the manager to redevelop your confidence, so it will be interesting to see how Shaw does in the opening few weeks while Ashley Young builds up his fitness. I would not be surprised to see United struggle to create good chances to score here and it may take a moment of individual quality or catching Leicester out on the counter-attack to break the deadlock. Sanchez is the man most likely to produce something, he enjoyed a summer break after continually playing in tournaments with Chile in previous summers. He has looked very sharp in pre-season.
Vardy’s absence for Leicester and Mahrez’s sale to Man City robs Leicester of most of their attacking threat. Those two were responsible for around 50% of Leicester’s goals last season. Kelechi Iheanacho will lead the line on his own and will look to make threatening runs in behind but it’s unlikey that Leicester will get many chances here. Mourinho will want to make sure that his defence is well protected. I think this will be a tight game, but a United win.
It’s really hard to predict how either side will line-up for this game because so many players are missing due to the short turn around after the World Cup and injuries. I think United will look something like this;
Subs - Grant, Lindelof, Jones, Fellani, Lingard, Martial, Lukaku.
Sanchez was by a Margin then AP.
It’s really hard to predict how either side will line-up for this game because so many players are missing due to the short turn around after the World Cup and injuries. I think United will look something like this;
Subs - Grant, Lindelof, Jones, Fellani, Lingard, Martial, Lukaku.
I definitely don’t stream all our matches online for free which not only saves lots of money but actually means one could watch the games that aren’t broadcast on Sky or BT. Illegal and immoral though so I don’t do that.
Enjoy yourself.
Nothing to be nervous about. It's not a contest to see who spends the most money, it's a contest to see who wins the most points. Pretty sure our squad is still better than the likes of Wolves, Fulham and Everton.
That's very interesting, who the heck is going to play RB. Jones?
McTominay?That's very interesting, who the heck is going to play RB. Jones?
Lindelof most likely. Have to change my lineup for the 5th time.That's very interesting, who the heck is going to play RB. Jones?
all i hope for in this game is that the 11 on the pitch just go out there and torch leicester. What is the best way to turn the media narrative around? 3/4/5 goal win on opening day. Just balls to the wall attack and get OT rocking. Players have things to prove, spots to win and spots to retain. They need to be rocking for the first second of kick off.
Put the transfer BS behind and smack leicester. Come on UNITED!!
Too much of a gamble for my liking. And maybe in the under squad he dabbled there, but never for the senior side, doubt Jose would take that risk, first game of the season.
Luke Shaw
Eric Bailly
Andreas Pereira
David de Gea
Fred
Victor Lindelof
Juan Mata
Andre Marriner
replaced by Marouane Fellaini
replaced by Scott McTominay
replaced by Romelu Lukaku
