League Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg

Nottingham Forest 0:3 Manchester United

City Ground

Kick-off
Wed, 25 January 2023 @ 8:00pm GMT
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Discussion Your Lineup Prediction

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    Adam-Utd said:
    The City ground is going to be absolutely bouncing for this. Their first semi final in how long against United.

    With our tired legs i'd be happy getting out of there with the scores level tbh. People predicting 4-0 wins are being quite unrealistic IMO.
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    They have just had a hard game on Saturday and will be without their no.1 keeper. A draw won’t be a bad result.
     
    Dannn411 said:
    The first team is dead on their feet. The final 20 mins of the last two games tells us that. There has to be changes made. And other than Rashford, we are hardly pulling up trees in midfield or going forward. Changes need to be made there too. Fred was a sub at Arsenal and Casemiro did not play so they will be fresh. Bruno and Eriksen are tired and are not playing well. They need to be rested.
    Garnacho and Pellistri can do a job out wide. Garnacho is already a bonafide first teamer and Pellistri was great against Charlton. Why not play them both? If they don't look good after 45 or 60 mins, you can make a change.

    In defence, Shaw is tired. It showed against Saka yesterday. Varane also needs to be nanaged as he is playing so many games in a short period of time coming off an injury last month. If Maguire can't do a job at Nottingham Forest, he should be sold immediately.
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    We are asking for an uphill task in the second leg if we go for wholesale change in this game. Forest are to be respected. And the first team players can have a week off after.
     
    De Gea
    AWB--Maguire--Martinez--Malacia
    Casemiro--Fred
    Antony--Bruno--Rashford
    Weghorst

    Hardest decision for me is whether to start Rashford or not because we really need him fit. But I'd look to take him off after 60 mins for Garnacho.

    Hopefully Dalot is fit enough for the bench. I think the game comes a bit too soon for Sancho but hopefully he's fit enough for a place on the bench vs Reading or next week. It will not be an easy game that's for sure.​
     
    I'd expect a few changes, but nothing too dramatic with it being a semi final against a team in decent form, especially with a home game against Championship opposition on Saturday.

    I'd probably expect to see something like; De Gea; AWB, Maguire, Martinez, Malacia; Casemiro, Fred; Antony, Fernandes, Garnacho; Rashford.
     
    KiD MoYeS said:
    We are asking for an uphill task in the second leg if we go for wholesale change in this game. Forest are to be respected. And the first team players can have a week off after.
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    But what if playing tired players is a bigger risk? We have 10 games in the next 32 days and that’s after 3 games in 8. 13 games in 40 days is insane.
     
    hobbers said:
    Full strength. Win comfortably. Rest a few vs Reading and a few more in the return leg. Basic squad management.
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    Pretty much this. We could maybe rest two or three who are a bit leggy but this is a cup semi so it needs to be treated as such. We also need to get back to building momentum again after two poor results.
     
    With casamiro back and Fred fresh i think we can afford to rest Erikson.
    Id also look to rest Shaw as Malacia is a good replacement.
    potentially rest Varane and play Maguire Too.

    Rashford has to play for me, always a risk of injury in any game but we are toothless without him.

    Garnacho in for Workhorse. It would be nice to see Sancho feature too.
     
    I’d like to see some game management from EtH.

    Shaw and Malacia are equally capable at LB so start alternating them for a few games.

    Garnacho could do with 90 mins and is capable of that so let Rashford have a night off for once.

    Casemiro will be back so how about giving Fred 90 minutes alongside him so that Eriksen can have a rest.

    Playing a game every 3-4 days the last couple of weeks will catch up on them.
     
    De Gea
    AWB - Lindelof - Martinez - Malacia
    Casemiro - Fred
    Antony - Bruno - Rashford
    Weghorst
    ​
    Eriksen, Varane and Shaw need resting and Rashford should come off for Garnacho in the second half.
     
    I don't see what the fuss is about, AWB, Malacia, McT, Fred, Garnacho, Anthony and Weghorst have more than enough to beat Forest, we don't need to be further tiring out Rashford, Eriksen etc.

    Ideally there would also be someone other than Bruno at #10, but it might be prudent to start Bruno to knit the above together.
     
    I think we'll line up like this. Trying to kill it in the first leg. Do away goals mean anything? Hopefully bring on Sancho around 50-60 min and give him a run out ahead of the weekend Cup match.

    De Gea
    AWB - Maguire - Martinez - Malacia
    Casemiro
    Fred - Bruno
    Antony - Rashford - Garnacho
     
    RonaldoVII said:
    Thought that might get some love. We've just played City, Palace away and Arsenal away in a week and the squad is fairly thin. This is a two legged game with Old Trafford in the 2nd leg. I think the back 5 and 2 CMs are fine and nobody would be overly surprised if we lined up with them. It's only the front 4 who are backups and even then there's Garnacho who's on the edge of the first 11.

    Swap Mainoo for Bruno and it looks completely different.
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    We play forest away, reading home, forest home.
    Let’s get the win at forest so we can chill at reading and maybe even 2nd leg.
    After the second leg it’s palace, Leeds x2 and Barcelona
     
    RuudTom83 said:
    I’d like to see some game management from EtH.

    Shaw and Malacia are equally capable at LB so start alternating them for a few games.

    Garnacho could do with 90 mins and is capable of that so let Rashford have a night off for once.

    Casemiro will be back so how about giving Fred 90 minutes alongside him so that Eriksen can have a rest.

    Playing a game every 3-4 days the last couple of weeks will catch up on them.
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    Shaw and Malacia are absolutely not equally capable at LB or any other position, but yes, Malacia should start this game. He's been getting a fair amount of games anyway though.
     
    Such a pointless exercise to have 2 legs, just to get the bigger teams through. The lower side would have more chance of an upset in one leg, very very rare they get through 2 games against better opposition.

    Anyway, I'll take a draw then beat them at OT if we cant get the job done innthis first game.
     
    Having just watched Steve Coopers pre-match: “Cup semi finals don’t come along very often and we have to treat it as it may be the last.“

    No new Injuries so probably:

    Hennessey
    Aurier - Worrall - Boly - Lodi
    Yates - Frueler - Mangala
    BJ - MGW - Lingard
     
    LordSpud said:
    Such a pointless exercise to have 2 legs, just to get the bigger teams through. The lower side would have more chance of an upset in one leg, very very rare they get through 2 games against better opposition.

    Anyway, I'll take a draw then beat them at OT if we cant get the job done innthis first game.
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    The deal with Sky in the UK is worth ~£80M for 15 games, as part of the EFL's broadcasting deal with Sky. I reckon broadcasting an extra 2 semi-final games is worth at least £15million.

    It's probably more for the TV money and sponsor exposure rather than for sporting reasons.

    Going off the numbers provided here: https://www.sportspromedia.com/news...ghts-rebate-carabao-cup/?zephr_sso_ott=L4dvTU
     
    Forest
    De Gea
    Bissaka
    Malacia
    Varane
    Martinez
    Casemiro
    Antony
    Fred
    Weghorst
    Bruno
    Garnacho

    Reading
    Butland
    Dalot
    Malacia
    Maguire
    Lindelof
    Mctominay
    Sancho
    Fred
    Martial
    Eriksen
    Garnacho

    Everybody in need of it gets a week rest. Keep Rashford on the bench if we're struggling.
     
    AFC NimbleThumb said:
    We haven’t won a trophy in what, half a decade? No trophy is Mickey Mouse at this point.

    Like EtH said post match, ‘If you want to win trophies you must change your mentality’.
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    Difficult for our fanbase, you have to remember the last manager told them trophies don’t matter and are for ego purposes.
     
    Our schedule is absolutely ridiculous and tomorrow our third away game in 7 days.

    Will be tricky at the City Ground so start strong and look for a positive result to take back to OT. Don’t mind a draw or tight defeat as would fancy us at home in the second leg.
     
    RuudTom83 said:
    I’d like to see some game management from EtH.

    Shaw and Malacia are equally capable at LB so start alternating them for a few games.

    Garnacho could do with 90 mins and is capable of that so let Rashford have a night off for once.

    Casemiro will be back so how about giving Fred 90 minutes alongside him so that Eriksen can have a rest.

    Playing a game every 3-4 days the last couple of weeks will catch up on them.
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    Exactly this! I was hoping he would rest a few players for the palace game last week but it didnt happen, in the end we lost out on both games.
     
    Blood Mage said:
    De Gea
    AWB - Lindelof - Martinez - Malacia
    Casemiro - Fred
    Antony - Bruno - Rashford
    Weghorst
    ​
    Eriksen, Varane and Shaw need resting and Rashford should come off for Garnacho in the second half.
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    This is probably about right.

    3-4 changes from the last game, one of which strengthens rather than weakens. It will be a bit easier to change more players in the subsequent home games rather than this away game. Our home form is very solid this season, whilst away is noticeably less so.

    The midfield two will be fresh and so will Malacia. Those are the areas that needed us to run the most against Arsenal. Wan-Bissaka should be OK as he hasn't played loads this season and didn't go to the WC to boot. If he does tire at the end, we can bring on Maguire and move Lindelof to RB if we have the luxury of doing so (unless Dalot is fit then we can sub him on for some minutes then start one of the next two).

    Use the substitutions wisely if we can. Bring in Maguire, McTominay, Garnacho at the weekend. Ideally, we should be able to make sure everyone doesn't start one of the next three, but only if we keep winning.

    You can give the entire first XI a rest by changing a different 3-4 players each game over this cup run. I think that is the best approach. Oh, and ideally this will be the perfect time to reintroduce Sancho. Sub him on or start him at OT against Reading if he's ready. He will get a huge ovation IMO and it'll make him feel a lot better.
     
    Last edited:
    Bobade said:
    I don't think it does look completely different. You've still got the very easily penetrated midfield, and worse, the classic defensive pairing of Maguire and Lindelof, who we have seen make error after error. I know its only the league Cup, but I'm super keen to win this. Not averse to bringing in Garnacho and maybe even Pellistri but I think we need a bit more there in the defence. Case to shield Maguire and Lindelof, or Martinez in place of one of them at least.
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    You need to rotate and I think you are over dramatising things a little. Maguire /Lindelof formed a pair two years ago when we finished second, with an average of 1 goal conceded per match if I’m not mistaken. That was with the big leaking hole McFred in midfield and not like today with super midfielder Casemiro shielding the back line. Today Martinez average 1.7 goals conceded per game as a reference. They are good enough for rotation.
     
    cyberman said:
    But what if playing tired players is a bigger risk? We have 10 games in the next 32 days and that’s after 3 games in 8. 13 games in 40 days is insane.
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    People don’t seem to understand that.
     
    ————-———-DdG————————

    —Dalot——Varane—Maguire-Malacia-

    ———————-Casemiro———————

    ————Bruno—————-Fred—————

    Rashford——-—Martial——-Garnacho-

    we’ll nick it 1-2 martial brace
     
    SirScholes said:
    We play forest away, reading home, forest home.
    Let’s get the win at forest so we can chill at reading and maybe even 2nd leg.
    After the second leg it’s palace, Leeds x2 and Barcelona
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    Tough to argue with this, except the first leg is at Forest so not sure we'll beat them by a few in the first leg even with a strong team.

    The Reading match should be the one we risk lots of youth on. Something like:

    Garnacho-Weghorst-Sancho
    -------Mainoo------Fred------------
    -------------McTominay------------
    Malacia-Lindelof-Maguire-AWB

    and if we lose, so be it. Top 4 and the League Cup is what a good first season under Ten Hag looks like.
     
    Olecurls99 said:
    Forest
    De Gea
    Bissaka
    Malacia
    Varane
    Martinez
    Casemiro
    Antony
    Fred
    Weghorst
    Bruno
    Garnacho

    Reading
    Butland
    Dalot
    Malacia
    Maguire
    Lindelof
    Mctominay
    Sancho
    Fred
    Martial
    Eriksen
    Garnacho

    Everybody in need of it gets a week rest. Keep Rashford on the bench if we're struggling.
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    Same for me but Pellistri/Sancho for Eriksen. The guys who can't get hurt are Varane, Casemiro, Rashford and Eriksen and right now Eriksen looks the most likely to drop a level due to being overplayed, especially since we have so little quality cover in his position. I'd be tempted to give Eriksen and Varane both the cup games off, now that Wood has signed for Forest and is a good matchup for Maguire, with Casemiro marking Gibbs-White (who could terrorize Maguire they should probably line them up as a front 3 and let Gibbs-White confuse Maguire and just plant Wood on Lisandro).
     
    Frank Grimes said:
    This is going be a lot tougher than many think. We need to make some changes but not too many.
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    Yeah still have to go there in league as well as do rest of top 4 actually. They don't make it easy just ask scousers & Chelsea
     
    Looking forward to a break from the PL. It's been a tough week in the league.

    Can only hope the players are motivated to put themselves in a position to win something and deliver in the next 3 games.
     
    NotoriousISSY said:
    Looking forward to a break from the PL. It's been a tough week in the league.

    Can only hope the players are motivated to put themselves in a position to win something and deliver in the next 3 games.
    Click to expand...

    Yeah haven't looked ourselves since Casa booking
     
    LordSpud said:
    Such a pointless exercise to have 2 legs, just to get the bigger teams through. The lower side would have more chance of an upset in one leg, very very rare they get through 2 games against better opposition.

    Anyway, I'll take a draw then beat them at OT if we cant get the job done innthis first game.
    Click to expand...

    It's so weird. Random league cup semifinals are 2 legged affairs. Why not the fa cup? Why not the final? Etc.
     
    DDG - AWB, Maguire, Lindelof, Malacia, Fred Mct Erikson, Bruno, Weg, Garnacho - if it all goes tits up - we got the second leg to put it right.
     
    NoPace said:
    Same for me but Pellistri/Sancho for Eriksen. The guys who can't get hurt are Varane, Casemiro, Rashford and Eriksen and right now Eriksen looks the most likely to drop a level due to being overplayed, especially since we have so little quality cover in his position. I'd be tempted to give Eriksen and Varane both the cup games off, now that Wood has signed for Forest and is a good matchup for Maguire, with Casemiro marking Gibbs-White (who could terrorize Maguire they should probably line them up as a front 3 and let Gibbs-White confuse Maguire and just plant Wood on Lisandro).
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    Wood is cuptied - it’ll be a front 3 of Johnson, MGW and Lingard/Scarpa.

    Either that or MGW as a 10 and Johnson and Surridge in front. That’s usually the formation that finishes a game but Cooper could start with it.
     
    Olecurls99 said:
    Forest
    De Gea
    Bissaka
    Malacia
    Varane
    Martinez
    Casemiro
    Antony
    Fred
    Weghorst
    Bruno
    Garnacho

    Reading
    Butland
    Dalot
    Malacia
    Maguire
    Lindelof
    Mctominay
    Sancho
    Fred
    Martial
    Eriksen
    Garnacho

    Everybody in need of it gets a week rest. Keep Rashford on the bench if we're struggling.
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    Forrest is two legs - I'd play the reserves in the first tie. Worst case scenario we can turn it around at OT.
     
    VP89 said:
    Forrest is two legs - I'd play the reserves in the first tie. Worst case scenario we can turn it around at OT.
    Click to expand...

    Personally would rather go strong to try and finish the tie tomorrow night but others may well feel differently on this
     
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Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

Lisandro Martinez image Lisandro Martinez 62% of 230 votes

Runners-up

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6.5 Total Average Rating

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Score Predictions

155,16,20
  • Man Utd win
  • Nottingham Forest win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 32% Nottingham Forest 0:2 Man Utd
  • 18% Nottingham Forest 1:2 Man Utd
  • 12% Nottingham Forest 1:3 Man Utd
  • 9% Nottingham Forest 1:1 Man Utd
  • 9% Nottingham Forest 0:1 Man Utd
  • 7% Nottingham Forest 0:3 Man Utd
  • 4% Nottingham Forest 2:0 Man Utd
  • 3% Nottingham Forest 2:1 Man Utd
  • 2% Nottingham Forest 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Nottingham Forest 0:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Nottingham Forest 3:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Nottingham Forest 5:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Nottingham Forest 1:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Nottingham Forest 0:9 Man Utd
  • 1% Nottingham Forest 1:0 Man Utd
Compiled from 191 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Nottingham Forest
  2. Man Utd
Possession
33% 67%
Shots
13 15
Shots on Target
4 6
Corners
6 5
Fouls
5 11

Referee

Michael Oliver

Man Utd Lineup

Substitutes

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