Article: Official Swansea vs Man Utd Match Preview & Thread| Swansea City, Manchester United, Football

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Swansea City................................... vs ...................... Manchester United
The Liberty Stadium
Swansea
Referee Mike Dean
Sat 19-11-11 17:30 PM KO

For travel info/info on the stadium click HERE
For links to watch the game online, click HERE
​

Welcome one and all to the match thread for the game between Swansea City and Manchester United. This is the first visit to Swansea for any of the Premiership's "Big Guns" and the fans are anticipating this game more than any in my living memory. Easily the biggest team to play in Swansea in a league match since their last brief sojourn in the upper echelons of British football, I can honestly say that for me, this is the match I have been waiting for over all others. Honourable mention to referee Mike Dean, who still hasn't been forgiven by the Swansea fans for giving Cardiff a debatable penalty late on while losing 1-0 to the Swans in the last ever derby at their old ground, Ninian Park.

The Match;

Swansea come into this game high on confidence after a stirring performance at Anfield, holding the much lauded Liverpool to a 0-0 draw... much to the delight of Manchester United fans as well as Swansea fans, I'm sure. Since surrendering 3-1 away at Norwich, the Swans have put together three good performances, where, if they hadn't have thrown away a two goal lead at Wolves, they would have picked up 7 points out of the last 9 available. Swansea have seemed to "grow" into the Premiership and their last performance, despite the 0-0 scoreline, was arguably their most impressive, dominating the game for large periods away at a team expected to challenge for European qualification.

Since "that match" Manchester United have not conceded a goal, scoring seven and winning their last four games. Granted, one was Aldershot, and one was another team whose name I can't pronounce, but for Manchester United it will be reassuring to see the teams defensive unit tightening up. Vidic is now back in the fold, and this will further aid the cause as they set about trying to reclaim the ground lost on their big-spending neighbours.

Prior Form; (most recent at top)

Liverpool 0 - 0 Swansea Premier League
Swansea City 3 -1 Bolton Premier League
Wolves 2 - 2 Swansea Premier League
Norwich 3 - 1 Swansea City Premier League
Swansea City 2 -0 Stoke Premier League

Manchester United 1 - 0 Sunderland Premier League
Manchester United 2 - 0 Otelul Galati Champions League
Everton 0 - 1 Manchester United Premier League
Aldershot 0 - 3 Manchester United League Cup
Manchester United 1 - 6 Man City Premier League

Team News;

For Swansea, an international break is perhaps more of a respite for Manchester United, with less players travelling to play for their respective countries. Stephen Dobbie is fit and pushing for a place, while Kemy Augustien must now be considered fully fit. The week off will no doubt have been good for Garry Monk too, who's been nursing a nagging a strange problem with his back, which has been making his foot go numb. Alan Tate, a former Man Utd trainee, misses out with a broken leg and Ferrie Bodde is still unavailable after undergoing minor surgery on a recurring knee problem. For Steven Caulker, the game comes too soon and he will be gutted to miss out on testing himself against some of the best players in the league, if not the world.

For Manchester United, Owen misses out with a thigh strain and Smalling is unavailable with an ankle injury. Welbeck is possibly set to miss out although he apparently only suffered a minor calf strain, so could well be fit. It's also rumoured Tom Cleverley will be fit, which could provide some much needed drive and inspiration from the centre of the park. All of these pale in importance to that of the return to fitness against Sunderland of Nemanja Vidic, now probably United's most important defender ahead of Rio Ferdinand who seems to have lost a yard of pace. It's unclear whether Ashley Young will be fit or not, a blow to Manchester United's options out wide.

Trivia; - "Courtesy" of Opta

Completely guessed lineups;

Swansea

Vorm

Rangel
Taylor
Williams
Monk

Britton
Gower
Allen

Sinclair
Dyer

Graham

Manchester United

De Gea

Jones
Evra
Vidic
Ferdinand

Nani
Valencia
Cleverley
Fletcher

Berbatov
Rooney

Key Battles;

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vs

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Danny Graham vs Nemanja Vidic

Swansea's lone frontman is attempting to continue where he left off at the Liberty, where he scored late on in their last outing against Bolton. Graham and Allen combining will be something to watch for, and Vidic with his partner Ferdinand will have to be careful not to gift opportunities to them as the Swans will undoubtedly press them high up the field.

Brendan Rodgers ahead of the game;

Darren Fletcher ahead of the game;

 

Analysis;

The main point of discussion pre-match, at least between myself and Leeeeon, has been on what formation Sir Alex will go with. I've gone for a 4-4-2, but I think there's a good chance he could ultimately use a 4-5-1 and go man for man with Swansea's midfield.

In this variation of Man Utd's formation, how Fletcher and Cleverley fare against Swansea's three man midfield of Gower, Britton and Allen will be key. I fully expect Swansea to be able to retain possession against their more illustrious opponents, but if too much room is given to Swansea to create, the burgeoning confidence of Joe Allen could once again be key. If, however, Manchester United wrestle control of the middle of the park then Swansea could be in trouble. For me, a worst case scenario is for Manchester United to get an early goal. If this happens, they have players that can punish us as we won't be able to sit and build quite so patiently 1-0 at home.

Ashley Williams and Garry Monk are going to be up against a very, very good set of strikers, who despite costing 21 million pound less than Carroll and Suarez (can you believe that?!) are undoubtedly going to give our centre-backs a rougher time of it. Monk in particular is going to be particularly exposed to the pace of Rooney and Hernandez, and expect to see Rangel and Taylor tucking in to help cover the centre backs fairly often. I expect Fergie to go with Berbatov partnering Rooney because Berba had a habit of scoring bucketloads of goals against "lesser" teams last year, and he'll be hoping to kick off his season at the Liberty.

Dyer and Sinclair are going to be up against two players with real pace in Jones and Evra, but from what I've seen the Swansea players do still possess more pace, albeit marginally. If either can steal a march early on then they'll take confidence from this and with the crowd behind them they could well torment the United defence. Danny Graham is going to be up against it really, isn't he? There aren't many tougher asks than playing up front on your own against Ferdinand and Vidic, and he'll undoubtedly put in another shift up front. He'll need to be supported, but he's looked full of confidence of late and will be looking to impress in front of the TV cameras.

As I've stated, I think Swansea could well retain a lot of possession, but my worry is that Manchester United will have too much quality, and will be too clinical, on the counter-attack. I think the Swans will have over 50% of the ball, and at a complete push (with a good result too possibly) possibly even close to 60%, but I don't think this will reflect the game. I think more or less any time Manchester United get the ball down with reasonable amounts of bodies bombing forward, they will create problems for the Swans defence and it will be down to sterling defensive work from Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Monk and Taylor if we get any points, or a clean sheet, out of this game. It almost goes without saying that Leon Britton will be crucial in retaining possession. He has become synonymous with the way they football and he will need to be his usual cool composed self to help feed the ball out wide to the wingers without being pick-pocketed by Fletcher, Cleverley, Rooney et al.

Having said all that, I do have that irrational maniacal fan inside my head screaming "we can do this!" . I know it makes no sense, and I know that Manchester United will be clear favourites, but I fancy the Swans to nick a draw here. I think that for all the work Sir Alex will have done prematch telling his players never to underestimate anyone, players like Nani and Rooney will not take kindly to having to chase the ball for portions of the game, and could become frustrated. I think this could be a 0-0 or a 1-1 draw, but if I had to place a bet you'd have to go with the bookies and say it's going to be an away win.

Iechyd Da.

Scott

Scottswan's famously biased, ill-fated and banned prediction;

Swansea City 1 - 1 Manchester United

Please sponsor me for Movember HERE - raising money for prostate cancer research.

 

scott you got that sunderland beat man utd 6-1 not man city

 

Whoops! Cheers mush...

 

no problem, dont think the mackems can score 6 all season nevermind in 1 game haha

 

Great thread Scott , I always try and learn something new everyday, and your thread certainly made sure of that

I am completely thrilled to see man utd visit the liberty for the second time and I hope their fans enjoy a real good welcome, even if half of em come from Swansea !

Anyway I am hoping against all known logic on this game to get something out of the game, we are massively mismatched on paper, and Utd should win the game, but like saint and greavsie used to say, it's a funny old game, so I am going for two scores, swans 2-2 utd and swans 0-4 Utd , well I know which one I prefer lol

 

im going for a win for the one and only swans. i couldnt care less if it was a 1-0 win or a 5-4 win. got plenty of money on it.

funniest thing in work the other day a guy came up to me and said utd going to smash you. coming from an arsenal fan so in response to him i said what like they did to use. he then said want to put a £10 on it. when swansea played in arsenal he wouldnt bet then. that pissed me off wouldnt bet on his own team. hate people like that. i just told him to **** off but have plenty of bets with other utd fans. my brother is a utd fan but he wont bet with me.

 

An excellent read, as ever, Scott. I hope Ashley Young doesn't play. He's good.

 

Quality thread scotty. I don't really have anything to add cos you covered everything, except I CANNOT ****IN WAIT FOR THIS GAME!

 

im working sat morning but then home for the 3 s's (****, shave, shower) and out to watch the game with about 10 utd fans so hope we win so i can get the banter going.

 

Wonder where the Utd fans are, must be down Wind Street

 

Evening. Here's one.

Thank you Scott for a release from the tedium that has become the endless argument over whether that horrible **** Suarez is a racist or Evra cried wolf. **** it.

I for one can not wait for this game. As a Mancunian who lives in Swansea I know how big a game this is and I just hope it isn't a let down football wise.

I expect United to win of course, I think the quality of our side should prove to be too much and three of our most important players have had a two week rest having not played for England but I've no doubt Swansea will make a huge contribution for themselves and wish both sides well.

As one of you lads above said, can't ****ing wait. Gutted I didn't blag a ticket.

 

Thanks Scott ..... winning this game makes every bit of sense as Arsenal losing by a ton to United and then United getting thumped by City. Who'd have thunk; but it happended. And I'm going for a win for us, not because of being maniacal but because we're going to be good enough, on our patch, to get a result .... and United are not invincible. They were outclassed by Barcelona at Wembley last season so I don't think they cope too well against a team that is obsessed with posession .... and we certainly are, heck we've even conceded a corner with a bad 40 yard back pass rather than lose posession. United no doubt are going to come to play and play to win. They will hit the target, they always do, and Vorm will have to be at his very best. Question is this: we will get chances, will we be composed enough to capitalize or will we bottle it as we did at Liverpool. Time will tell.

Over here, the game is on Fox Soccer Channel starting at 12:30 ET.

 

Great thread again Scott as usual.

At last we get to see a team that won't park the bus and that will actually sell their allocation of tickets.

In response to this business with Suarez, I reckon he's not a racist (Blatter told me so). His big problem was that it looks like he had English lessons from John Terry !!

I wonder if Giggs will play, seeing as the games in Wales he may not bother turning up.

As for the game itself , Utd should be too strong for us so sadly I predict a gallant defeat where we'll gain a few new friends because of the way we play but alas no points.

 

excellent thread Scott, cant wait for 330am Sunday morning or is it 230am, keep forgetting if we are 9 or 10 hours ahead of you guys

 

Joe Allen is out !! Heard it here first but my god what a blow!! As if it wasn't hard enough already without losing our best player of late.

 

What a way to introduce yourself as a new poster - or maybe WUMMER.

Time will tell!

 

Wummer it is

 

probs the same guy who posted it on planet swans, claims to have inside knowledge, but no knowledge about why he's out?

 

That would be horrendous but Routledge was class against Liverpool so would come straight into the side. Whoever said they wondered if Giggs was playing... I'd say he can't play in the middle of a 4-4-2 as they'll have too much running to do...and playing him at left wing means surrendering the right side to Nathan Dyer, pretty much! Don't see it happening, but you never know...