Last year, to the relief of all Manchester United season ticket holders who were forced in to purchasing Carling Cup tickets, our lads were dumped out of the League Cup at home to Coventry.
Sir Alex Ferguson was less than impressed, loaning out the youngsters who he didn’t feel pulled their wait in the 2-0 defeat.
A year later on and it is Middlesbrough we take on at home, but a similar side is expected to play.
Who do you want to see in the starting line-up?
Jonny Evans put in a good performance against Chelsea at the weekend and we need to give him as much game time as possible if we are going to keep him. The lad seems keen to go back to the North East so if Ferguson is serious about him being a future first teamer for United, we need to give him as much action as possible.
Danny Welbeck is a player fans have been talking about for a good few years, but we’ve seen little of him in pre-seasons. Only 17-years-old, getting a game against Boro in the League Cup would surely be a dream come too. And a repeat performance of that against the bitters wouldn’t go a miss!
Gary Neville could do with game time, so playing him for the first hour wouldn’t be a bad idea. We take on Bolton at the weekend, the club who we were playing when Neville picked up his initial injury over a year ago. Getting more minutes under his belt wouldn’t be a bad idea and Boro should provide him with a reasonable test.
The same applies for Ronaldo, who obviously isn’t back to his best just yet, after substitute appearances against Villarreal and Chelsea.
Darren Gibson, who had a less than impressive pre-season, despite his blinding goal against Peterborough, has admitted he needs to shine tonight.
“The gaffer and the players were really disappointed when we lost to Coventry last season,” he said. “We want to stay in as many competitions as possible this year.”
Now that it’s not compulsory to purchase tickets for this competition, I am eager for them to stay in it as long as possible. It’s great experience for lads who otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to play for the first team, so we should take advantage of that as much as we can.
Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken out about the players available for tonight, revealing that Manucho and Fabio Da Silva are ruled out with injury.
“I’m disappointed that Manucho hasn’t recovered completely from a metatarsal injury, this would have been a good opportunity to look at him and Welbeck in combination,” he said. “I also have it in mind to look to youngsters like Jonny Evans, Darron Gibson, Danny Welbeck and Rafael, though unfortunately not his twin brother Fabio. He has a shoulder injury and is having an operation. My team will involve changes. There will be a mix of youth and experience.”
Which line up do you hope Ferguson picks for this evening?
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My Line up would be as follows:
PIG – Gk
Rafael – RB
Evans – CB
Vidic – CB
O’Shea – LB
RW – Ronaldo
CM – Hargreaves
CM – Anderson (Have him in hole just behind wellbeck)
CM – Gibson
LM – Nani
ST -Wellbeck
Subs:
Berbatov
Neville
Mauncho
Park
What about Possebon?
Kuszczak
Rafael Evans Vidic O’Shea
Gibson Possebon
Ronaldo Anderson Nani
Welbeck
Forgot about Possebon completely!!! I would repalce Gibson for him and see how he goes. I think this boy can take over Scholes’s passing and control over a game. He is pure class from what I have seen of him so far
Van der sar.evra ,vidic,jonny evan,brown,owen, anderson,ronaldo,nani,tevez,rooney,barbatov
Kuszcak
Neville (c), Evans, Brown, O’Shea
Rafael, Possebon, Anderson, Nani
Welbeck, Ronaldo
This way, we could bring Gary off and slide Rafael back or Wes over. Nani and Ronaldo should be given a chance to work things out together on the wings. Finally, Possebon and Anderson are the engine room of the future. Vidic, Park and Berbatov ride the pine…
Hey Phelan has gone on to assure us that Manucho will get some playing time tonight so he better be put in the line up, from the bench though to avoid set backs.
Meanwhile i’l love to see Possebon in the team too.
its a shame the u are even including Ronaldo to play calling cup. Arsenal will field in some boys from youth level, the age range is between 16-21. This is great. I wish man utd can do the same.
…………..PIG
Rafael Brown Evans Oshea
….Possebon..Fletcher
Nani……………….Anderson
……Tevez…Wellbeck
PIG
Rafael Evans Brown O’Shea
Ronaldo Possebon Anderson Nani
Tevez Welbeck
I think its more important atm to give those coming back from injury some game time. I am hoping to see Ronaldo, Hargo, Nani and Berbatov start the game tonight as i feel these are the first teamers that we really need to get fully fit.
Asides from them, im hoping to see Rafael, Evans, and Possebon start, with maybe Wellbeck, Gibson and Manucho coming on for about 30min.
What do you guys think about giving Ole a spot in the dugout tonight,giving SAF some input on the game? he has an unbeaten record so far with our reserves, and he probably knows our young players better than most. This could be very valuble learning experience for him to have a taste of what its like to be part of the management team,and his knowledge of our young players wouldnt hurt.
A bit off the topic,but what do you guys think of CQ comming back wen SAF retires, and having Ole as his assistant for a few years and promote Ole to manager (if he progresses in the manner in which we all hope) when CQ decides to leave?
to john T: Manucho is still out.
Such a shame..fabio and manucho are injured. Really wanted to see manucho play and show us what he’s got. And todays game would have been perfect for him.
But agree also…some of the first teamers need games to get fit and match time under their belts. And we dont want to get knocked out early again. Cos it is a chance, maybe the only chance to bleed the youngsters. And for boro this is their only chance for a shot at a trophy. So they’ll play their strong team. Hence a mixture would be good. So nani, ron, andy, hargo and berba to get some match time with the young kids
GK:Kusczack
DR: Rafael
DL: O’Shea
DC: Evans
DC: Vidic
MR: Ronaldo
MC: Possebon
MC: Anderson
ML: Giggs
FW: Berbatov
FW: Tevez (Manucho if fit)
Subs:
Heaton (VDS if fit)
G.Neville
Ferdinand
Hargreaves
Nani
Rooney
Welbeck
I think we need a strong bench in case anythng goes wrong..Boro’ look good this season and they’ll be up for it.
getting dumped out yet again with these kind of teams,coventry laid to bed your side last year and this year boro will do the same.
fergerson is not wenger,so why is he trying to re-coup the arsenal way?
I predict something like this, I would like to see Rooney get some time. He desperately needs ‘THAT’ goal, that sends him on a run!
———————————–Kuszczak
O’shea——– —–Evans———————-Brown——————-Rafael
Ronaldo————-Possebon—————-Gibson——————-Park
———————————-Berbatov
——————————————Welbeck
No.1 Goon Fan, you should have left the word “Fan” out of that name! As if Alex Ferguson will ever ‘try’ to be like Wenger. They are both great managers in their own right, Wenger was not the first and won’t be the last to bring players through to play well.
Have you ever heard of Sir Matt Busby?