FA Premier League

Newcastle United 0:1 Manchester United

St. James' Park

Kick-off
Wed, 4 March 2015 @ 7:45pm GMT
Status

Closed

Discussion Live Updates 53 Your Lineup Prediction

  • Status
    Not open for further replies.
    bosnian_red said:
    Wilson not being in the squad makes me think that falcao will be on the bench, as I doubt he would lineup without any striker on the bench. Maybe I'm just being super optimistic and clutching at straws.
    Click to expand...
    I think Louis is almost starting to view Fellaini as a striker / No 10 :(
     
    bosnian_red said:
    Wilson not being in the squad makes me think that falcao will be on the bench, as I doubt he would lineup without any striker on the bench. Maybe I'm just being super optimistic and clutching at straws.
    Click to expand...
    No that's actually seems like a logical reason. I think that's exactly why Wilson isn't with the squad.
     
    Surprised by how many people are expecting Falcao to be dropped, when he was subbed last match everyone wanted him to stay on. Does no one think he may have found some confidence and that it would be vital for him to start this match?

    I expect a 4-2-3-1 with Falcao up top, Rooney as #10, and Januzaj + Young on the wings. Di Maria most likely dropped and will come off the bench.
     
    bosnian_red said:
    Wilson not being in the squad makes me think that falcao will be on the bench, as I doubt he would lineup without any striker on the bench. Maybe I'm just being super optimistic and clutching at straws.
    Click to expand...

    First thing I thought of too. Still would honestly rather have Wilson as a sub than Falcao, as he has the ability to stretch tired defenders, among other traits.
     
    bosnian_red said:
    Wilson not being in the squad makes me think that falcao will be on the bench, as I doubt he would lineup without any striker on the bench. Maybe I'm just being super optimistic and clutching at straws.
    Click to expand...

    Maybe, but LvG said he considers Fellaini as a striker also.
     
    Brightonian said:
    One by one the strange things LVG was consistently doing with the starting line-up in the first half of the season are disappearing. Took a long time to kill off 352 but that seems to be gone now. Herrera finally seems to be heading towards being a regular starter, thankfully. Smalling and Rojo are close to looking like a first-choice CB partnership, as they deserve to be.

    Hopefully Rooney will soon be back to playing exclusively as a #9 or #10 again, and Shaw can stay fit for the rest of the season and get settled as our first-choice LB.

    Today, hopefully:

    DDG
    Valencia Smalling Rojo Shaw
    Blind
    Herrera AdM
    Januzaj---------------Young
    Rooney​
    Click to expand...

    i agree with pretty much everything here. only worry would be lack of "steel" in centre mid... plenty of flair but i think we might get out-muscled.
     
    Also, hard to drop Evans and Smalling after the Sunderland game. Both were exceptional I thought, especially Smalling. Be interesting to see if Rojo starts.
     
    dirkey said:
    Everyone seems to be wanting a midfield of Blind, Herrera & ADM/Mata. Am I the only one who thinks that is far too weak? Blind would be left to do too much defensive work alone.
    Click to expand...

    Pretty much every match we play at the moment we utterly dominate possession. 'Defending' for us in that case is not about tacklers and physicality, it's about players who aren't going to lose the ball in daft positions. You can put Fellaini in on the basis that he's big and fouls a lot, and he'll end up gifting possession/free kicks in dangerous areas and costing us goals. Better to stick with 'lightweight' midfielders who will keep hold of the ball.

    A lack of defensive strength in midfield hasn't been costing us recently, an inability to turn possession into goal-threat (and goal-threat into goals) has been. Beefing up the midfield won't help us there.
     
    Mciahel Goodman said:
    Also, hard to drop Evans and Smalling after the Sunderland game. Both were exceptional I thought, especially Smalling. Be interesting to see if Rojo starts.
    Click to expand...

    Smalling was great but Evans was only ok, and has otherwise been poor recently. I'd much rather see him dropped for a Rojo-Smalling CB partnership (they have been by far the best for a few months now) and Shaw at LB. Or Young, if LVG is feeling adventurous.
     
    Brightonian said:
    Pretty much every match we play at the moment we utterly dominate possession. 'Defending' for us in that case is not about tacklers and physicality, it's about players who aren't going to lose the ball in daft positions. You can put Fellaini in on the basis that he's big and fouls a lot, and he'll end up gifting possession/free kicks in dangerous areas and costing us goals. Better to stick with 'lightweight' midfielders who will keep hold of the ball.

    A lack of defensive strength in midfield hasn't been costing us recently, an inability to turn possession into goal-threat (and goal-threat into goals) has been. Beefing up the midfield won't help us there.
    Click to expand...
    I don't really agree. I look at the way Sunderland walked through midfield the other day, early on, when Wickham should have released Defoe. Just a personal taste thing, hopefully I'm wrong. I do like the 3 in midfield look, but I prefer it with Carrick & Blind - once Carrick is fit that is.
     
    Rafael is going to start - just have a strong feeling even though there is every indication is done here.
     
    Brightonian said:
    Smalling was great but Evans was only ok, and has otherwise been poor recently. I'd much rather see him dropped for a Rojo-Smalling CB partnership (they have been by far the best for a few months now) and Shaw at LB. Or Young, if LVG is feeling adventurous.
    Click to expand...

    I've been criticising Evans as much as anyone this year, but he did look solid at the weekend. I still think he's on his way in the summer, so probably will see Rojo back in the starting XI.
     
    dirkey said:
    I don't really agree. I look at the way Sunderland walked through midfield the other day, early on, when Wickham should have released Defoe. Just a personal taste thing, hopefully I'm wrong. I do like the 3 in midfield look, but I prefer it with Carrick & Blind - once Carrick is fit that is.
    Click to expand...

    Again, that had nothing to do with defensive strength, it had to do with a silly loss of the ball when we had committed players forward. Chucking in Fellaini (with Carrick out I can't think who else you would be suggesting) won't help us in that sort of situation - his horrible lack of pace would, if anything, make us less able to recover - but it might make losing the ball like that more likely.

    And we can't be committing fewer players forward, given that at the moment our problem is not defending but a lack of effective attacks on goal.
     
    Shimo said:
    Rafael is going to start - just have a strong feeling even though there is every indication is done here.
    Click to expand...

    One of my favourite United players of the last 10 years or so. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be seeing him. LvG prefers Valencia, and failing that, would probably go 3-5-2 before using Rafa.
     
    Mciahel Goodman said:
    I've been criticising Evans as much as anyone this year, but he did look solid at the weekend. I still think he's on his way in the summer, so probably will see Rojo back in the starting XI.
    Click to expand...

    Solid is about right, but one solid game after several bad ones definitely isn't enough to make it unfair to drop him.
     
    Brightonian said:
    Solid is about right, but one solid game after several bad ones definitely isn't enough to make it unfair to drop him.
    Click to expand...

    Yeah but it's interesting because what message does it send if you drop a player who performs well. The Januzaj/Di Maria decision will be the most interesting. I think Di Maria starts, but Januzaj is in far better form.
     
    Mciahel Goodman said:
    Yeah but it's interesting because what message does it send if you drop a player who performs well. The Januzaj/Di Maria decision will be the most interesting. I think Di Maria starts, but Januzaj is in far better form.
    Click to expand...

    I think the opposite, Januzaj will start with Di Maria coming off the bench.

    I expect:

    De Gea
    Valencia Smalling Rojo Shaw
    Herrera Blind
    Januzaj Rooney Young
    Falcao

    Subs: Fellaini, Di Maria, Carrick
    ​
    Maybe Mata/Fellaini in Rooney's spot and Rooney to take Falcao's spot but after last game I am curious to see whether Falcao can excel from here on, we need a good striker, and I think Rooney played very well in his #10 role.
    ​
     
    Brightonian said:
    One by one the strange things LVG was consistently doing with the starting line-up in the first half of the season are disappearing. Took a long time to kill off 352 but that seems to be gone now. Herrera finally seems to be heading towards being a regular starter, thankfully. Smalling and Rojo are close to looking like a first-choice CB partnership, as they deserve to be.

    Hopefully Rooney will soon be back to playing exclusively as a #9 or #10 again, and Shaw can stay fit for the rest of the season and get settled as our first-choice LB.

    Today, hopefully:

    DDG
    Valencia Smalling Rojo Shaw
    Blind
    Herrera AdM
    Januzaj---------------Young
    Rooney​
    Click to expand...
    This lineup makes a lot of sense.

    That's why it probably won't happen.
     
    BringNaniBack said:
    I've got a funny feeling we might actually win comfortably for once with a big scoreline, maybe 4-0 ish. Its probably just me being hopeful but you never know.

    We are so shocking away from home so I don't know why I have this feeling and common sense would say its going to be another close game.
    Click to expand...
    I love feelings like this. Common sense is way overrated, anway.
     
    Let's hope the team actually turn up this time and not let us down. It's pretty much a must-win game.

    Yes, common sense say we will struggle, but maybe the team hath woken up.
     
    I'm sure this has been asked before, but is this on British television anywhere or will I have to resort to scrabbling round the internet?
     
    Where's the guy who does the FIFA stimulation on our match day thread? Don't want to jinx it but we won every match each time he did this FIFA stimulation.
     
    Brightonian said:
    Again, that had nothing to do with defensive strength, it had to do with a silly loss of the ball when we had committed players forward. Chucking in Fellaini (with Carrick out I can't think who else you would be suggesting) won't help us in that sort of situation - his horrible lack of pace would, if anything, make us less able to recover - but it might make losing the ball like that more likely.

    And we can't be committing fewer players forward, given that at the moment our problem is not defending but a lack of effective attacks on goal.
    Click to expand...
    I'd once again respectfully disagree :)

    I think we need more width, and I think one crucial aspect of our play & "philosophy" is to use that width to stretch teams. Therefore, we need full backs who are willing and able to get forward to help the wingers. If that is the case, we need more than Blind sitting back, on his own, to mop up any counter attacks. And I don't really feel either of Herrera nor Di Maria have the positional sense at present to do this. Di Maria certainly doesn't, and shouldn't as it's not his game. And as much as I don't particularly think Fellaini is good enough to be a long term starter, if you just get him to sit back there, he would do it.

    Those are just my thoughts anyway. When Carrick is back, I'd like to see himself and Blind there as a base to both launch the attacks, and mop up the counters. Right now, I'd probably put Fellaini in there for Di Maria. Then again, I think it's a toss up between Di Maria and Januzaj, with Adnan edging it based on current form. Di Maria obviously the better player, just not playing well.
     
    Reddevilboy said:
    Where's the guy who does the FIFA stimulation on our match day thread? Don't want to jinx it but we won every match each time he did this FIFA stimulation.
    Click to expand...
    I bet Blatter loves a bit of FIFA stimulation :nervous:
     
    Status
    Not open for further replies.
Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

David de Gea image David de Gea 52% of 719 votes

Runners-up

Show more results

Player Ratings

6.0 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 486 ratings.
Submit your ratings
View full results

Score Predictions

394,51,102
  • Man Utd win
  • Newcastle win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 29% Newcastle 1:2 Man Utd
  • 14% Newcastle 1:1 Man Utd
  • 13% Newcastle 0:2 Man Utd
  • 11% Newcastle 1:3 Man Utd
  • 7% Newcastle 0:1 Man Utd
  • 5% Newcastle 0:3 Man Utd
  • 3% Newcastle 2:1 Man Utd
  • 2% Newcastle 2:2 Man Utd
  • 2% Newcastle 0:5 Man Utd
  • 2% Newcastle 2:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Newcastle 1:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Newcastle 2:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Newcastle 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Newcastle 0:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Newcastle 1:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Newcastle 3:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Newcastle 3:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Newcastle 3:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Newcastle 5:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Newcastle 2:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Newcastle 5:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Newcastle 3:2 Man Utd
  • 0% Newcastle 4:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Newcastle 1:5 Man Utd
Compiled from 547 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Newcastle
  2. Man Utd
Possession
32% 68%
Shots
9 11
Shots on Target
2 5
Corners
4 1
Fouls
6 14

Referee

Anthony Taylor

Man Utd Lineup

Substitutes

Lineup Predictions League Table View your Lineup Prediction