How can we beat Manchester United

[Eluwande Yomi 15]

It's okay, we all get frustrated, and yes when we lose to United i will be different on my opinion and getting angry, i know i will, but i also know i will eventually calm down. Now look at the negatives and positives United have from that game, they are in winning form, and are expected to beat us easily next sunday, now Ferguson is a miracle worker, he is just very clever and knows what he has to do to win this game, now theres a chance they can come complacent and over confident, it's unlikely becaues of Ferguson, but there's a chance of it, United at the moment though don't seem to be falling a sleep. They can take advantage if we are playing bad, that's why we can't play bad full stop. I think we will get out played, but who knows, hopefully Ferguson doesn't know much about AVB, and AVB is unpredictable and comes with a sly win. I think we will get trashed if we just play the same team with the same chemistry what we have been doing so far this season. That's why i think a big gamble is what's best for us.

I get your point mate, but i dont think bos could be the gamble! I think the gamble has to be a tactical one! AVB should be clever enough to know that our form can only get us a draw if we play well! (Unless we get a penalty)

[DONI CFC 26]

We have to win is a very important game

i want to see Drogba Torres and Lukaku forward

[Kojo 4,676]

I get your point mate, but i dont think bos could be the gamble! I think the gamble has to be a tactical one! AVB should be clever enough to know that our form can only get us a draw if we play well! (Unless we get a penalty)

I disagree, Bosingwa has all the qualities in my opinion to play as a right winger, and it's a gamble to put him there, mainly due to the fact he's a right back, but i'm not putting him there like he will play amazing, i'm putting him there because we don't have much of a choice, if Lukaku did play in the middile which is highly unlikely, he would be fantastic with good wingers, and if we put Sturridge there he will just cut in rather than cross, and i think Lukaku would be better with two wingers who are willing to cross the ball for him. But Lukaku i highly doubt will be playing at all, but it's a very risky gamble in my opinion, but he can't put a worse performance in than Torres put it that way.

Sturridge is the only one who i can think who is suitable to put down in the centre at the moment who actually has a chance of playing, where as lukaku wont play full stop. And if he's playing down the middle then who is going to play on the right?, yes Anelka but he's not sharp enough and is a huge risk, if he isn't playing well he will let the whole team down not just himself, and Anelka just doesn't have the confidence to do well against them in my opinion. And should i even mention Kalou?, no i shouldn't. So yes Bosingwa would be the best option there in my opinion, if we do play Sturridge there, but i don't think it will happen.

I can see Mata-Torres-Anelka as the starting forwards easily.

[DYC. 7,542]

There are two things we absolutely shouldn't do:

Play a high defensive line

We don't have the right CBs for it and Man Utd are at their most dangerous on the break because of their pace and their ability to combine at high speed.

Start with Anelka

I don't think I've ever seen a bigger big game flop, every single time he doesn't manage to deliver.

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

----------------------Sturridge--------

Mata-----Lukaku---------------------

----------------------Meireles--Ramires

------------------Mikel--------------------

Cole-----Terry------Ivanovic--Bosingwa

-----------------Cech---------------------

Since United play quick and wide, we'll need our defense to sit back a little, and Mata and Ramires should play wide so our fullbacks won't have to go forward too often.

We should have Mikel play anchor man so he can keep a close eye on Young and/or Rooney. Up forward, I'd like to see Lukaku play deeper and support Sturridge, who'll use his pace to strip the defense. Shouldn't be worse than Torres without his confidence.

And at all times, shoot, shoot and shoot. That clown in goal, with the way he's been playing, should make at least a couple mistakes if we can just abuse him.

[TopDrog 119]

Lol at the people asking for lukaku. Boys got potential but even messi didnt get put straight into el classico!

[TopDrog 119]

I can see a 3-1 defeat in all honesty and Im prepared for it. We are not going to win the title this season and its time people start being realistic...

[HNKS 508]

If we play like we did in the first 60 minutes of today then theres no reason why we cant grab some points. However Im worried about complacency within our defence. Hopefully Luiz has a good game on tuesday thus starting for united game.

[termninja 5,290]

I would expect points if we had an on form striker and a solid defense, but without those it will probably be decided with how good Rooney, Nani and Young will play along with some luck...

[BLionheart 516]

Playing against a very strong in form Man utd side at old-trafford with our current is hardly a happy time , there is only one man who can win us this match it's not mata or lamps or torres or drogba or terry or cech ... It's AVB !!

we can't beat Man-utd whether in terms of players quality or current form , our only hope is a tactical stroke by AVB .

He must close down spaces for man utd players pressuring them and making it as hard as we can for them, I would deploy a 5 man midfield of Mikel - Rami - Lamps - Miereles - Mata with torres infront of them , we should be extra cautios that we don't concede becuase it will be very hard to come back against them in old trafford and it will lead to us freeing more space for them to exploit .

I would say keep things tight , and wait for a torres - mata moment of brilliance .

[Laylabelle 9,539]

By bribing the ref..apprantly thats how we've won all our games against them.....

[DanAdibi! 106]

I can see a 3-1 defeat in all honesty and Im prepared for it. We are not going to win the title this season and its time people start being realistic...

I don't understand why you say we can't win the league. Is it because we are not scoring loads.

Mourinho's first 10 PL games at the club look like this:

1-0 win v Man Utd

1-0 win v Birmingham

2-0 win v Crystal Palace

2-1 win v Southampton

0-0 draw v Villa

0-0 draw v Spurs

1-0 win v Boro

1-0 win v Liverpool

0-1 defeat v Man City

4-0 win v Blackburn

And we won the league by 95 points that year.

So give AVB some time.

[TopDrog 119]

mate our team was different back then. Its got nothing to do with our attack but everthing to do with our defence and midfield(!) Our defence has been nothing short of shambolic since last October. Contrast this to the mourinho era when we had arguably the best centreback pairing there was on the planet: Terry and Carvalho. This was protected by Maka, need I say more about him. Midfield had the burstful youthful energy of lampard who promised those 20 goals every season and had the engine of essien behind him to dominate the centre. And what do we have now? Ramires, albeit pacy and skilful, has a very annoying habit of going missing midway through the match and can get brushed off easily unlike essien (of the past, not present!). Its the begining of the end for lampard who does nothing but slow our buildup instead of driving forward himself (!). Spraying the ball left or right keeps the passing ticking but he is no iniesta or xavi and never was! Our attack is arguably better than that of mourinho era but needs AVB to get Torres firing on all cylinders again which I honestly believe can happen again. Giving him 10 minutes with anelkalouda on the pitch actually does more harm than good!

[Waterfall 893]

mate our team was different back then. Its got nothing to do with our attack but everthing to do with our defence and midfield(!) Our defence has been nothing short of shambolic since last October. Contrast this to the mourinho era when we had arguably the best centreback pairing there was on the planet: Terry and Carvalho. This was protected by Maka, need I say more about him. Midfield had the burstful youthful energy of lampard who promised those 20 goals every season and had the engine of essien behind him to dominate the centre. And what do we have now? Ramires, albeit pacy and skilful, has a very annoying habit of going missing midway through the match and can get brushed off easily unlike essien (of the past, not present!). Its the begining of the end for lampard who does nothing but slow our buildup instead of driving forward himself (!). Spraying the ball left or right keeps the passing ticking but he is no iniesta or xavi and never was! Our attack is arguably better than that of mourinho era but needs AVB to get Torres firing on all cylinders again which I honestly believe can happen again. Giving him 10 minutes with anelkalouda on the pitch actually does more harm than good!

Is that why we had to best defence in the league last season?

[SW_Blue 71]

The way Manure have started this year reminds me of last year and I hope they f*ck up bigger than we did.

Right now they 'seem' to be invincible is because they quite honestly have too much pace up front, and in the wings - Black CR (Nani), Granny shagger, Dickarito and Young. The Arsenal game has really gotten their tails up thanks to Arsene playing Fergi's bitch as usual. But, IMO their defense is shite and can be put under pressure. How do we do that? By playing guys upfront who can muscle or run them down, and Torres doesnt make that list for now. Im for Sturridge, Mata and hell even Lukaka just to surprise them and make it a lil unpredictable for Sir Redface.

At the back, we need Cole and Bosingwa for the pace with JT and Luiz, who i think should play purely because he does well against them and will be raring to go.

Cech

Bosingwa-Luiz/Ivan-JT-Cole

Meriless-Mikel-Ramires

Sturridge-Lukaku/Drog-Mata

[TopDrog 119]

Knew that was coming! Who else did you expect to do better than us? United with all the injuries to their defenders last season? Liverpool, with Roy at their helm? City, who were understandably taking time to gel? Arsenal, lol! We got shredded to bits against all the teams from the top last season and the one before that (remember tottenham and city the season we won the double). There lie the ominous signs of what was to come...

As much as it hurts me to say this, come next Sunday we'll see whos right

[Kojo 4,676]

By bribing the ref..apprantly thats how we've won all our games against them.....

I disagree with that, when we beat them 1-0 at home, yes it was not a free kick, when we beat them 2-1 at away, Macheda was also at fault with handball, when we beat them 2-1 at home that was a penalty for Zhirkov, people seem to think you have to severly injure them in the box for it to be a penalty, sorry but if it's a free kick it's a penalty.

[warnie_666 1,081]

This thread has "I'm shitting my pants" written all over it.

Just nullify the crosses from nani and young and we should be good.

I would be tempted to play Branislav on the right to nullify their wingers but that would send out a message before the start that we have come here to defend.

It is going to be about who attacks more and who pins the other back.

Remember Rafa against Scolari at Bridge? We destroyed almost all the teams with our fullbacks bombing forward but Rafa decided to take the attack to us and have riera and Kuyt attacking along the wings thereby pinning Cole and Bosingwa back.

Also another important thing is that Man UTD wouldn't play such an open game with us. If they do they would be destroyed.

[Blue Armour 4,468]

The appropriate topic would be, how do you stop them from scoring? I feel a 0-0 draw would be an excellent result at Old Trafford, if we can guarantee a home win later.

Now, its unlikely AVB will set our team out to defend,. United, even as good as they are, can get frustrated if our midfield can press and move the ball as quickly as it did in the Sunderland game.

Our defence is good but it needs to be more consistent in order to prevent cheap goals. We could get punished by their forward line for our mistakes...

ATM the main advantage the two Manc teams have is that their CF's , Rooney and Aguero are in great form. Although Sturridge looks like scoring any time, I feel we need our CF, whether it be Drogba orTorres, needs to start scoring at least occasionally, even if it isn't for a 30-goal haul by the end of the season

So I feel our defence will need to have an A-game, and our midfield should harry them for possession as much as possible if we need to come away with any points

[lecter 84]

Really hope we don't play the high line we used at home against WBA and Norwich. We need to be defensively rigid because their attack is scary. Mata will be the key. He needs to have a superb game

Is that not going to be the key in every game we play this season? Speaks loads about our options upfront and its scary!