It's April 7th and we've had yet another dump of snow in the Canadian Rockies! No wonder my plans for the weekend include being in front of the tv with Man United v Fulham and then the Masters being the order of the day! One of the many advantages of living in Canada, is that we get all of the top 4 games live each week (although it's still hard to get up for the lunch time games which kick-off here at 5:45am!!).
On the face of it, in a normal week, a home game against Fulham would be seen as a pretty certain home win. But of course with seven games to go in the league, a game sandwiched between two champions league matches against Chelsea, Rooney suspended and a semi against City next week, this is no normal week! It will be a hard game, but hopefully one that we can get through.
But there does seem to be a sense of momentum building up within the team and the supporters. In fact there has been ever since the defeat to Liverpool. Maybe it's the "siege mentality", maybe its the return to form of Rooney, the return of a number of players from injury or perhaps just the fact that at last we seem to be actually playing like Man United.
There has been a sense that each game is being taken one game at a time -- a cliche, but one that seems to have been lost on some of our rivals who have been rather more vocal in the press. SAF knows exactly what he's doing and the message seems to have got to the players -- well perhaps except Rooney and his incident with the camera. But even that may actually help with the final push. There is a huge perceived injustice amongst the fans following the FA's ridiculous ban, and I am sure that this is just as strongly felt by the players. It will just make them that bit more determined. That bit more a team. That bit stronger in the 3rd minute of extra-time when we need that goal to take the points.
So that brings us to this weekend. I feel that quite simply we have to win against Fulham to keep the pressure on Arsenal and Chelsea. Win and we go 10 points ahead of Arsenal before their game on Sunday away to Blackpool. Blackpool are fighting for their lives, strong at home and against an Arsenal team that has had some really disappointing results over the past few weeks ....... If we win, I can see a 1-1 draw there. As for Chelsea ..... the draw against Stoke was damaging last week and they will be hurting from our win yesterday. I expect them to win on Saturday but that may depend on whether or not they decide to rest players ahead of Tuesday.
I believe that SAF will look to freshen the side up again. Here's my thoughts on team selection (although the chances of me ever picking the same team as Sir Alex is pretty slim to say the least). Would love to hear your thoughts:
Keeper
Kuszczak
Van der Sar looked to be struggling a bit with a calf strain. Makes sense to rest him for Tues.
Defence
Fabio Rio Vidic Evra
No news yet on Rafa, but looked like he will be out for a few weeks. Hopefully just a dead leg, but even that could take a couple of games. So his brother should come in.
Likely to play Rio again to build up fitness in what should be an easier game for him.
Would ideally like to see Evra rested since he has looked off-form over the last couple of games. However, unless O'Shea or Rafeal are fit, Evra likely to play.
Midfield
Valencia Scholes Anderson Nani
Giggs to be rested after two games with Scholes coming in.
Anderson looked great for the reserves with two goals today. Time to get him back in the first team. Nani also fresh and raring to go.
Forwards
Berbatov Chico
Reckon Chico will be chosen to play with Berbi with Owen coming on in the second half. Of course this could easily be the other way round, but reckon we need to give Owen some play time in case we need him over the coming weeks.
Forecast
Going for a 3-1 win for United with a couple from Berbi and one from Anderson (well you never know, eh?). Chelsea to win 3-0 and Arsenal to drop another couple of points at Blackpool.
Would love to hear what you think!
No comments:
Post a Comment