Rooneys hatrick earns him a starting place and Berbatov is due a start and Nani will start to. Anderson or Scholes will hopefully come in for the anonymous Gibson. Nani will come in for Giggs and hopefully Rafael is back but if he is not Fabio can still do a excellent job and was impressive today. Valencia really looked good today and I mean quality, which surprised me as I thought it would take him much longer. But I his attitude is 1st class and he should start. He has shown he still has terrific pace and his hold up play and confidence in possession is top class. People will ask for Hernandez to start but in this game we need a striker who can hold it up and spread the play and that is Berbatovs main role. We can't play 451 VS Chelsea and we should just attack them because we need an away goal or 2. Hernandez coming off the bench would be ideal. Hopefully VDS will return and with Ferguson you never know. Maybe just Maybe Rio could return but I doubt it. Team should be ..............Rooney Berbatov Nani..Anderson/Scholes Carrick Valencia Evra..........Vidic........Smalling....Rafael/Fabio/Brown .........................VDS
I'd ideally like Hernandez to start but that surely won't happen. I'm having major doubts over our center midfield pairing, I would go for Scholes and Carrick seeing as Anderson has just come back from injury. Park's a prime example of not being match fit. We cannot risk playing unfit players in major games, we got away with it today. But, that could be a crucial mistake on a European night.
I agree - Anderson surely won't be risked from the start after so many games out with a knee injury. But I reckon we'll put Chicharito in the starting line up cos he's more likely to grab a breakaway goal than Berbatov - it's the away leg so we're probably going to sit back and try to grab an away goal whilst focusing on not conceding. Berbatov doesn't do well when we're playing on the counter, and Chicharito was rested today implying he'll probably start in mid week. I reckon the formation will be: ....................Chicharito ......................Rooney Nani........Scholes.......Carrick..........Valencia Evra..........Vidic........Smalling.........Rafael/Fabio .........................VDS But I wouldn't be surprised if SAF sprung a surprise on us...
Ferdinand has also said on Twitter that he has resumed training with the squad. I wouldn't risk starting Rio, since Smalling has been immense for us this season. Rafael will also be on the bench for the Chelsea game.
who likes the look of Fabio? its like clones with him and his brother as they are both terrific going forward and Fabio did well today and was that the first time he completed 90mins!!!!!
I dunno - Rio has been pretty immense as well, and Smalling did look a little out of sorts defensively at times today - Vidic had a word with him a couple of times about his positioning. Will be interesting to see who's preferred. Fabio looks great going forward, but a little short defensively at the moment. I wonder if the game against Arsenal was SAF trying him out as a future left winger? Good to have a solid backup on the left to allow us to switch Nani to the right if we need him there or if Valencia's out.
swarbs we all know valencias return has been terrific but what do you think of his pace? do you think he is regaining it?
That's what I was just thinking - no sign of any loss of pace against West Ham yesterday. Wayne Bridge must have a bit of twisted blood after that duel.
As happened against Barcelona in the final the much maligned Fletcher's energy will be missed against the Chelsea midfield. Man Utd have no equivilant player they can use .
Good call nolhman (for once). Park starts the games vs Chelsea more often than not, and offers more going forwards than Fletcher anyway.