Manchester United vs. Chelsea

Starting XI: ------------ Van Der Sar ---------------------
- Fabio ------ Ferdinand --------------- Vidic -------- Evra
Valencia ------ Carrick ---------------- Giggs -------- Park
---------------------- Rooney ----------------------------
--------------------------------- Hernandez --------------

Bench: Kuszczak, O´Shea, Smalling, Anderson, Scholes, Nani, Berbatov
 
This will not be easy whatsoever.

Chelsea played very well at Old Trafford in the Champions League. Lampard should have scored early and they still played pretty well even with 10 men.
 
manufanatic said:
not really.
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So it was a walk in the park? It was a comfortable victory? I don't think so.

Had Lampard and Torres had their finishing boots on it would have been a different game.

Chelsea is a great team and they are phsyically intimidating all over the pitch.

We will have to be at our best to get a victory.
 
I just hope we react well and don't panic if Chelsea do get ahead
 
I think even if we win this game, we won't have any celebrations at OT because it is mathematically possible for them to catch us. Man I don't want us to celebrate at Blackburn. I hope the trophy presentation would be against Blackpool.
 
RDCR07 said:
I think even if we win this game, we won't have any celebrations at OT because it is mathematically possible for them to catch us. Man I don't want us to celebrate at Blackburn. I hope the trophy presentation would be against Blackpool.
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Of course it would be, it's always the last home game of the season no matter when it's won.
 
Can't imagine what will happen if we lose this. We call Arsenal bottlers but if we were to let a 15 point lead on March 1st evaporate to nothing...
 
Fergie: "Rooney fit, Fletcher won't start against Chelsea. We're all aware of the magnitude of Sunday's game."
 
So excited about this, and after weeks of trying, finally got my hands on a ticket!

VDS

Fabio - Rio - Vidic - Evra

Valencia - Carrick - Giggs - Park

-----------------Rooney

-------Hernandez

2-1 United.
 
Feed Me said:
So excited about this, and after weeks of trying, finally got my hands on a ticket!

VDS

Fabio - Rio - Vidic - Evra

Valencia - Carrick - Giggs - Park

-----------------Rooney

-------Hernandez

2-1 United.
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Yeah, that's got to be the team, unless Fergie decides JOS should play at RB.

We're used to crunch games at United, of course, but they just don't come any bigger than this. Chelsea will fancy their chances after closing the gap to just three points, but I'm banking on our fantastic home form, and the "feel-good" factor that the CL win engendered, to pull us through.
 
Win this the title is surely ours anything less it be nerve-wrecking stuff for the last 2 games. :nervous:
 
VDS
O'Shea
Vidic
Ferdinand
Evra

Valencia
Giggs
Carrick
Park

Rooney
Hernandez

for me..
 
Is that a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 with Park tucked in and Rooney on the flank? I don't see how Giggs in a centre midfield position would work in a flat 4-4-2 with one of the strongest midfields in the world.
 
now our schedule has eased off and we rested some players we should have no excuses.
beat them and it's ours. lose and it's theirs.
 
I had a dream last night about this game. We lost 1-0. Rooney and Scholes got sent off. Evra missed a sitter in the 90th minute and we spent all of injury time pissing it about the back four for some reason. I woke right on the full-time whistle genuinely angry.
 
Amir said:
Fergie: ".....We're all aware of the magnitude of Sunday's game."
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Good. I was worried that with all this Champions league stuff going on no one at the club would have had the spare time to check out the league table.
 
RedThaiDevils#7 said:
We'd still win the title even if we lose imo.
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No, I really can't see that. With a +2 goal difference advantage at a minimum, you'd have to fancy Chelsea to put a fair number of goals on the board against Newcastle to add to that whilst we have a tough game at Blackburn. Assuming it then went to a goals shootout on the last day, we'd have too much to do, and I'd fancy Chelsea to beat Everton if they have to.

A win would obviously be great on Sunday, and a draw more than satisfactory. Defeat is unthinkable.
 
I wish I could go asleep and not wake up until 4pm on Sunday. It's making me ill waiting on this blasted match, I just want it fecking over with.

At the moment, I'm 60-40 in favour of us. If any team can come and beat us at OT, then it's Chelsea. But we'd be slight favourites given our home form and hopefully we'll do enough to win the match (and effectively the league).
 
I keep going to the main forum to find discussions about this game and it's all about Barca, thought maybe here there might be more going on but, not much.

Am amazed really - this game is so bloody important - even to the CL final as we bottle the league and it could have a huge effect on us going into the final. We absolutely must win, not just draw on Sunday - we can do it, we will do it.
 
Given how much my own mind has wondered towards wembley in 3 weeks time, I just hope the squad is able to focus on this game and so deliver the intensity and desire that will be required if we are to win the game. I think the team who will win this game is the side that wants it the most.
 
Im surprised so many on here are leaving Nani out for this, after all he has been our most productive attacking player this season and started the home leg in the champions league against these.

I think Park will start on the right to cover the attacking runs of Cole as he did in the champions league tie at OT, Nani on the left to utilise his pace against Ivanovic.


.................Van Der Sar

O'Shea - Ferdinand - Vidic - Evra

..Park - ..Carrick - .Giggs.....Nani

......................Rooney

...............Hernandez
​
Is what im 99% certain we'll see, exactly the same team that handed them there arse at OT 3 weeks ago.
 
Dont worry Sammy SAF will make sure the lads forget Wembley.
 
Not too worried about this one. Don't know why.

I think its because I've been convinced for about 2 months that we'll win the league. The fact that we are so close to losing it is unfathomable and hasn't sunk in.

I'm sure come 4pm Sunday I'll be nervous.
 
Chelsea defence can set up Torres assault


Alistair Magowan - BBC Sport | 11:27 UK time, Friday, 6 May 2011


BBC - Football Tactics: Chelsea defence can set up Torres assault


The stage is set for the Premier League title showdown between Manchester United and Chelsea on Sunday.

It is likely to be a relatively open game - as many recent encounters between the two sides have been - yet there is a key difference for this match as Sir Alex Ferguson's side only need to draw.

Chelsea, on the other hand, must win. If they repeat the result they earned at Old Trafford last season, they will go top of the table on goal difference.

United find themselves in this position after losing to Arsenal last weekend, when Michael Carrick and Anderson formed a two-man central midfield - with Wayne Rooney dropping in to help out - and were overrun by Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, Alex Song and Aaron Ramsey.

But given the circumstances surrounding Sunday's match, former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin believes that United will opt for a change in personnel.

"I do the tactical notes for the away team in Chelsea's programme and I hate doing them for Manchester United because they are the one team that change more than anyone else," he says.

"If anyone else other than Sir Alex Ferguson changed their tactics that much you would assume they are worried about the opposition but when he adapts his tactics he's doing it because he thinks it is right to exploit the weaknesses in the other team. It's a very different thing from most managers.

"Tactically, I can't see United going 4-4-2 as they have against Chelsea in the past - they are reacting to the situation they are in. They only need a draw so there's no need for them to be so open. I suspect the sensible thing will be 4-4-1-1 with Rooney behind Javier Hernandez or it could be Ryan Giggs behind Rooney.

"They were beaten this way by Arsenal but I think they didn't use the right players. I would suspect that you can't always leave Giggs and Paul Scholes out because of their ability to be comfortable on the ball. Carrick didn't have his best day either against Arsenal and he has played well this season.

"The biggest question is over Anderson, because up until the Champions League semi-final second leg against Schalke on Wednesday, he had not done that well this season. That all goes onto the back burner if the returning Darren Fletcher is risked. If he is fit, and Ferguson thinks he is up for an entire game, he will use him."

Although Chelsea have to win to stand a realistic chance of winning back-to-back Premier League titles, Nevin does not believe boss Carlo Ancelotti will make significant alterations to his side, other than starting with Didier Drogba instead of Fernando Torres.

"I think what Chelsea need to do is keep as much as possible in their back pockets for the last 15-20 minutes," Nevin says. "If they go up there and do what they are comfortable with then it is that usual 4-3-3. Everybody knows that last time in the Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford they played Torres in the middle of the front three and it didn't work. I don't blame Torres for that, but that system doesn't suit him, as Chelsea do not have a scheming midfielder like Liverpool's Steven Gerrard.

"You would have Florent Malouda in there, Drogba and then Salomon Kalou or Nicolas Anelka on the right but what I would hope is, if they are not winning, then they really take a chance. What I would like to see - and I think eventually they will to do this - is Yossi Benayoun playing behind Torres.. When they bring Torres on and not Benayoun I always think: why bother? Torres will keep making the runs and people will rarely find him, but Benayoun will because he can play the killer pass. Maybe that is what Chelsea will do; play 4-3-3 and then adapt a version of that with Drogba on the right of the front three and then Torres through the middle. You must have Benayoun in the midfield though."

Another key difference from the two Champions League quarter-finals between the two clubs is the return of Chelsea centre-back David Luiz.

The Brazilian made a significant contribution the last time Manchester United and Chelsea squared up in the Premier League, scoring his side's first goal and then being lucky to stay on field after a foul on Rooney.

Nevin says the defender's initial surge in form, where he also scored against Manchester City, has now dropped away and the 24-year-old would do well to keep his game simple against United.

"I think he had that initial two or three games where he was very special but then people could clearly see what his weaknesses were: he dives in too quickly and he's a bit impetuous," Nevin adds.

"But I think the manager will have told him that this is the type of game where you just do your job. Break forward when the opportunity is on but only when the opportunity is on, and don't get carried away. I think he will continue to try and nip in and take the ball but I'd be wary because you can't do that against Hernandez. In games like these you need to be a sensible defender."

It is that approach which has got Chelsea into this position, according to Nevin.

"For me, everyone talks about United's defence being the best around with Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Edwin van der Sar but I can't see past Chelsea's back five, With Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry and Luiz, I don't think there is a better defensive unit, maybe in Europe. I've continually said that people should not write off Chelsea but it's not that amazing given that they had games in hand and United had tough away games, plus the fact that they've not been great away from home this season."

With home advantage, Ferguson's side will be odds-on to get a result but against the meanest defence in the Premier League and with Torres likely to be introduced from the bench, there is a clear strategy to throw the hosts off course.
 
Allforone said:
Im surprised so many on here are leaving Nani out for this, after all he has been our most productive attacking player this season and started the home leg in the champions league against these.

I think Park will start on the right to cover the attacking runs of Cole as he did in the champions league tie at OT, Nani on the left to utilise his pace against Ivanovic.


.................Van Der Sar

O'Shea - Ferdinand - Vidic - Evra

..Park - ..Carrick - .Giggs.....Nani

......................Rooney

...............Hernandez
​
Is what im 99% certain we'll see, exactly the same team that handed them there arse at OT 3 weeks ago.
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That team would offer us nothing going forward on the right hand side. At least switch the wingers around and have Nani on his stronger side. No idea why Park would be prefered to Valencia btw. Valencia does the same work defensively but offers so much more in the final third. I think he'll be our most dangerous player on Sunday. He must surely start
 
An extremely hard fought 2-1 win I reckon.

Hernandez to seal the title.
 
I am also saying 2-1 - Rooney, Herrnandez, Lampard

VDS

Evra
Vidic
Rio
Rafael

Valencia
Park
Giggs
Carrick

Rooney
Hernandez
 
Shitting it. Can be a wonderfu(e)l Sunday but also a very bad one. Good thing is that no matter what we can still win the league . Just keep in mind that between 68-93 we would all have loved to be where we are. Lucky ones going on Sun, save your throat and let it all out for 90+ mins. As fergie and the players say, they really do feel unbeatable when OT is at it´s finest
 
We must not lose momentum. There's no reason to not go out there on Sunday and put an end to this league's campaign. Not only that, but it will essentially ease off some pressure off someone like Fletcher, who has to get every minute possible under his belt to get back on track.
 
The situation is actually almost the same that it was before the 2nd UCL game.. A draw will set us up nicely but a loss is a catastrophal. feck I don't even wanna say that..

We need to show our superiority and field an experience side which will overcome the challenge.
 
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