Following the fretting over which players were going to start in defence for United tonight, following the injuries to the majority of our defenders, it has been confirmed that John O’Shea, and more importantly I’d say, Jonny Evans, have passed late fitness tests and will be in the starting XI.
Van der Sar, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Fletcher, Ronaldo, Berbatov.
Of course, I’d probably rather see Rafael, Wes and Neville all starting at right back ahead of JoS (sorry!), but that is a lot more solid looking defence than we’d feared!
We’re looking at Park and Fletcher on the wings, Giggs and Carrick in the centre, with Ronaldo just behind Berbatov?
Subs yet to be confirmed, although I’m hoping to see Wayne Rooney’s name on there! Whilst I’m sure Ferguson is just being cautious, following the lad’s recent return from injury, I never like to see him omitted from the starting line-up.
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glad to see that both concerns made it. im guessing they just gave Evans some painkilling injection and he can make it through feeling invincible. which works. because thats what our defense is showing it can be.
rooney is on the bench
surely flethcer in the centre, not the wings
I think it’ll be more like 4-3-3 with park and rommie on the ‘wings’ up front with berba. That’ll mean a slightly more cautious 4-5-1 when not in possession. The late(ish) introduction of Rooney and/or Tevez, who will be champing at the bit to get on the pitch, could be a master stroke by SAF!
Come on Reds!! 2-0
oohaahcantona88 – Nah as Giggs can’t play on the wing anymore. Would rather see Ronnie on the wing and Rooney up front, and Fletcher left back in Manchester but that’s just me…….
*ronnie
What we are looking at Scott is 4-5-1.Park and Ronaldo on the wings with a 3 man midfield.Fergie used the exact same system at the Olimpico last year.Rooney is on the bench as is Tevez.SAF obviously doesn’t think he can handle 2 games in succession at the moment.And even though i would have liked to have seen Carlito,i think that’s the best line up he could have.I am glad to see O’Shea and Jonny fit.I just hope that they won’t be too tentative because of their injuries and obviously pray to god that all 4 of the defenders see through the game unscathed.I am bit more optimistic now.Scoring a goal with this line up will be a bit hard though.
Wooo Hat-Trick for Berba!!
4-4-2
Ronaldo and Park on the wings.
Fletcher and Carrick in the middle.
With Sir Ryan Giggs supporting Berba upfront
2 Away goals tonight!
Subs: Foster, Rooney, Nani, Scholes, Fabio Da Silva, Gibson, Tevez
The last 20 minutes should be interesting with so many attacking players on the bench.
Wazza will be like a coiled spring…………expect to see him on just after half time! 0-0 half time 0-2 full time. Come on you Reds!!!!!
As expected, O’Shea is fit. I wasn’t sure about Evans though. With all the hoopla made about out frailities, I think that this very much a different match than the ones that the papers were making this out to be with all our injuries.
Hopefully Mr. Evans’s ankle can handle the work and I believe that we will be okay.
I just hope we are not getting too cute with the tactics n playing Park ahead of both Rooney n Tevez. I mean I can understand Rooney being on the bench considering he’s just returned from an injury but Tevez can provide all the attributes that Park can n plus some more imho.
Plus he’s a complete team man n will perfectly understand the position. But lets just say that SAF is the manager of our great club for a reason shall we?
Would have loved to see Tevez from the start though.
hope we play as well as we can and take our chances, we could get a good win here
Plus theres only Fabio as a defender on the bench. I really hope that the medical team is sure about the injury status of John O Shea n Jonny Evans
A better line-up than I thought I would see. The midfield and front have the meddle needed to compete away in Italy. Berbs is so hungry to prove himself at this level. IMO this is his biggest game of his career. Ronnie will have the passion to prove that the trophies DO belong at his house. As said in an earlier post, Wazza and The Cave Man Carlitos will be chomping at the bit to get some game time. I can’t wait to see them unleashed on the San Siro.
Up the Reds….Glory, Glory
United completely dominating but have nothing to show that…
Really hope we dont have to pay for that.
I also hope we don’t pay for that.Does anyone remember the last time that United have been so dominant at such a grand stage?Rooney for Giggs at the 60th minute park might be just what we need.I am afraid we might have a repeat of the Emirates game.
I hope you take back the O’Shea dig Scott, he was a rock tonight in defense and held Ibramovich in check for large portions of the night. Thought we played well and should be disappointed we did not get the win. All in all a good showing on a big stage but made some poor decisions on the final decision. Julio Cruz was spectacular today and was lucky Ronaldo’s shot wasn’t a foot to his left or United would have stole won late. Good game but I am still uneasy about the next game.
I really thought Cordoba should have been sent off for the two footed challenge he committed on Rooney right after the ref blew for a dubious decision on Rooney which was not a foul and definitely not a yellow.
Gutted,absolutely gutted.How did we draw this game?One has to assume that if Rooney had been more fit he would have started instead of Berbatov.It’s a smae that Giggs lost our best chance in the first half.The way modern football works,0-0 at home is a good result.However,if the crowd at Old Trafford repeat their Barca performance,we should go through.Don’t forget that by then we should have Rooney fitter and Vida,Anderson,Brown and Neville back.It should be a thrilling match.Tonight we made a new record for the longest unbeaten run in the Ch.League.If one side has the potential to be the first to repeat a Ch.League triumph it’s this group of players.Congrats to our 2 Irishmen.They were rocks!
its a shame but it is still 0-0. cup tie at ot.
was a bit annoyed not to see wayne on earlier. he could have definately made an impact.
Costas: I’m gutted too! 0-0 plays into maureens hands, 10 men behind the ball and hit us on the break…….. Well that’s what he will try, but the facts are they are just not good enough. Unless we have a real bad night we will get through to the next round.
Is it just me or did I detect a hint of bias in Drury and Beglins commentary tonight?
I would not be too worried that we “failed to score” as we can take them back to Old Trafford and do the cunts. Nothing at all to be afraid of and barring no injuries and the return of Vidic and Wes/Rafael/Nev we will be in a good position to proceed. Have to admit I am disappointed that we didn’t manage to get a goal first half with all the possession but with the line up we had to play tonight its no real surprise. All the lads at the back did their jobs well tonight and for large periods Fletch and Carrick controlled the middle of the park. For Fletch to play the way he did considering his personal problems I take my hat off to him.
No, all in all we went to the San Siro with a makeshift defence and once again kept a clean sheet. 2-0 at Old Trafford.
Gutted we couldn’t score the all important away goal tonight. We sure deserved it! I agree that victory by a 2 goal margin will be needed at Old Trafford. Will be another classic Champions League night and the fans will be really behind us and up for it.
King Eric: What do you expect from a scouse twat? Surprised ITV managed to show the whole match!
I can see us scoring at Old Trafford and beating Inter quite comfortably.
Italian sides rarely travel well and we played them off the park on their own patch for 60-70 minutes. We had a makeshift strike partnership of Giggs and Berbatov (and nearly scored on several occasions), whereas in the 2nd leg we’ll probably have Rooney and Berbatov up front. Scholes will be back in the middle spraying passes all over the park. Inter failed to penetrate our makeshift defence with the much vaunted Adriano and Ibrahimovic, a backline that will surely be a lot stonger in the 2nd leg.
Of course we can and should beat them. I am not at all concerned that we failed to score. One has a tendency to build up Mourinho into something he isn’t. We had him rattled and put his team on the rack at times tonight – and we’ll do so again at OT, I’m sure.
Kevin–I dont think thats a dig at Oshea at all. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want Rafael, Wes or Gary over Oshea?
Not impressed by Inter at all. What a boring, sloppy team. With Vidic back in the squad and Evra with two more weeks under his belt, same for Rooney, we can sweep them aside at OT. COME ON UNITED
You’ve got to be positive and say thats a good result though its a shame we didnt score at least one.
Was it me or were Inter really average?? I mean ibrahimovic had to move to the left as Rio snapped just about every ball he got and adriano looked old, unfit and not very brazilian. Carrick completely stopped stankovic the entire game, I thought our defending was incredible again, and with vidic back in the second leg, I cant see them scoring at OT (wouldnt bet against it but none of their TOP players were really dangerous tonight, and they had maybe 3 good chances if that)
Anyway it will be incredible game but colbert youre right, italian sides do rarely travel well, and I remember feeling a bit like this in 2007 when we lost 2-1 away at Roma and we beat em 7-1 at OT. With a massive atmosphere like the barca semi last year, United will shit em.
Pity Rooney didnt have more time on the pitch though. Would make this all much more stress free if he had some of Giggs chances himself.
Is Rooney still injured? I cant even remember what his most recent injury was?
Anyway second trophy of season on sunday hopefully. UNITED!! UNITED!!
Drew – I apologize I did not fully grasp the point Scott made. I think O’Shea proved tonight he is a quality defender and a great professional. He has been given his fair share of stick and continues to improve year in and year out. He is versatile and while Rafael might have given us more bite going forward his active style mixed with his inexperience would have been taken advantage of by Ibrahmovich. O’Shea’s versatility and the fact he is a veteran put him into position to play an outstanding game tonight. He is highly under rated by his teams fans and it is a shame in my eyes. The great news about it all is the debate on who Fergie should pick to play is one that leaves us all happy as each choose is a good one for different reasons and the best man is at the helm to make the choice. While I misunderstood Scotts point he showed he was the right choice and I don’t believe anyone of them would have done as well.
yea sheasy had an awesome game against inter (except when he got shredded down the flank once by ibra).. sheasy made every challenge and tackle count, i lost count how many times he broke down an attack coming down his side… all u haters can suck it.. sheasy is red thru and thru more so than some of u.