Closed Man United v Chelsea

[Laylabelle 9,360]

ooo that would no doubt cause even more speculation

[haranr 485]

We have to come with an attitude of a "non-favorite" in order to win.

It's going to be tough.

Line Up-

Ivanovic Luiz Terry Cole

Ramirez Van Ginkel

De Bruyne Mata Hazard

Lukaku/Torres

*Ba must not play.

[Jase 43,479]

Worth noting that this game is played just 4 days before we face Bayern in the UEFA Super Cup and they play their German league game this Saturday. So Mourinho might have that game in mind when making his team selection for this game against United but no doubt this is far more important than that Super Cup match.

And Mourinho will hold his pre-match press conference for this United game tomorrow at 1pm UK time.

[borriske 330]

Since Lukaku is our best attacking option, maybe we should use him at his best, i.e. right now as an impact sub. If we start him, perhaps he will struggle and then we have no back-up option. So for me Torres (shudder) to start

[Peppen 934]

What I think the line-up will be:

Cech

Azpi - Ivan - Terry - Cole

Ramires - Mikel

KDB - Oscar - Hazard

Torres

What I hope we see:

Cech

Azpi - Ivan - Luiz - Cole

Ramires - KDB/Van Ginkel

Mata - Oscar - Hazard

Lukaku

I think it'll be a very tough game, but like Jay said, we'd do good against teams coming at us, utilizing our counter-attacking possibilities.

2-2 is my guess.

[Special Juan 27,429]

Give Ramires the freedom of OT, he will tear their midfield apart.

[JayC 171]

I predict a win. I think we'll continue to do very good against teams that attack us and struggle against teams that park the bus just like last season. Our squad is superior to united's and Jose should out-smart Moyes when it comes to tactics. What I'm worried about is team selection as Jose doesn't seem to know the players too well yet.

Iva should not play at RB; not in this game, not ever. In fact, I just switched my fantasy PL team around just so Iva would be in the center and not at RB, because even there I don't want to see him at RB!

I think Mata should start. He usually does very well against united, and he'll find the spaces he likes against united. But I expect him to be benched after yesterday's performance, unfortunately.

I don't think I can get myself to watch the game if I see Lampard's name in the starting XI.

My prediction;

Manchester United (2) vs (1) Chelsea

(v.Persie) (D.Welbeck) - - - (E.Hazard)

-------------------------------------------------

Probable team; 4-3-3/4-5-1

======================

De Gea

Smalling - Rio - Vida© - Evra

Carrick

Jones------Giggs

Valencia ------------------Welbeck

- v.Persie -

---------------------------------------------------

Don't expect to see an overly attacking team strategy for this game. We know your central-midfield is stronger than ours. Moyes will look to pack it a bit I thnk, so it isn't easy to keep the ball there. Or just limit Hazard and Mata's options, and space. Although possession isn't so crucial to be honest - as it worked allowing Swansea the ball and to pass it around until they advanced... then they were shut down. They're a good passing team and they had little joy. Moyes is defensively well organised. Still early days, but there are signs. We looked very solid last game. This is what we will see. A much better Manchester United defensively. We'll retain our forward players/play, and be harder to score past. Whilst Fergies' style was very exciting, it was always nail-biting stuff. I think Moyes will shake this off, and have us defend really well. He does seem to be applying the pressing as I hoped- but not overly, for our players legs.

This team is basically a 4-5-1 defending, with players that will work hard. Welbeck and Valencia drop back into the holes on the flanks when defending - equaling the 4-5-1. At the same time the team has so much pace down the wings. Perfect as Chelsea can be exploited at RB and LB in my opinion. Ivanovic never looks convincing but I'm pretty sure he'll play there since Mourniho said that's his place. Pretty sure of that anyway. Zaha could probably terrify Cole if he gets the chance....not to mention Nani. I don't think Chelsea have the fire-power to beat us. Furthermore, your central defense is weaker. Terry will have no answer to the pace. The depth of our bench would be pretty stupid for this game - Rooney, Kagawa, Nani, Hernandez, Zaha; Januzaj. That's not all of them, but you say you have a stronger team - looking at that bench, I'm not sure you do. We have Rafael out too, and are still able to put out a strong squad.

Lets do a basic sum up out of interest. I'll try and stick to the same position played for comparisons.

(Assuming 100% squad availibility)

GK; De Gea vs Cech 1-0 (Keeper of the season - it's close however)

RB; Rafael vs Ivanovic 1-0 (Getting close to the complete RB, and has been more impressive lately - and Iva is Out Of Position for me)

CB; Vidic vs Luiz 0-1 (This would be Vidic all day if it wasn't for recent injuries)

CB; Rio vs Terry 1-0 (Team of the year Rio....oh yeah)

LB; Evra vs Cole 1-1 (I'm being kind to Cole here after Evra's season - and you know it)

CDM; Carrick vs Mikel/De Bruyne (No point) 1-0

LCM/LF/CAM; Kagawa vs Hazard 0-1 (Hazard with the game time to prove himself)

CAM/SS; Rooney vs Oscar 1-0 (Last seasons contribution speaks for it's self)

CM; Cleverley vs Ramires 1-1 (Both are just good squad players)

RM; Valencia vs Mata 0-1 (Best comparison, since you generally don't use convential wingers)

CF; Welbeck vs Torres 1-1 (Welbeck is in form but it's up in the air)

ST; v.Persie vs Lukaku 1-0 (Why bother)

SUBS;

Nani vs Schurllee 1-1 (Nani is clearly better but his form is dreadful - hence the draw)

Hernandez vs Ba 1-0 (More goals - way more important key goals)

Anderson vs Lampard 0-1 (Anderson will be eating something somewhere - he won't care)

Smalling vs Cahill 1-1 (Whilst Smalling doesn't get that many run outs, he's certainly no worse than Cahill)

Zaha vs Moses - 1-0 (Zaha shown more in a couple of weeks than Moses in six months)

SCORE: United #13. Chelsea #9.

In my summation our squad is still better after no signings. Don't say I'm biased, those player scores are fair. I'm not going to say you couldn't make an argument somewhere but it's as fair as I can see. I think some of you vastly overrate your squad. You would fall apart without Mata and Hazard. We motor on with nobody with any world-class creativity from centre-attacking-midfield. We can easily replace any of our team members with the exception of Robin and not really be weakened. You cannot - and with those striking options I'd settle for third. Not even Jose Mourniho can make Fernando Torres play well. As for Demba Ba - we all know his priority was the money. Which leaves you Lukaku; excellent striker but needs to play every game to make the progress, and I don't know if he's going to get them games. Mourinho is desperate for some world-class attacking goal scorer. He's worried, and rightly so.

Anyway.... *The Champions* are about to send out an unstoppable warning - fear us; I predict a wake up call for you all. We are the champions, and we will show you why on Monday.

[Strike 7,218]

Don't think any of them will play any part, let alone starting.

they should imo. provided they are fit.

[Tomo 21,733]

@JayC, Your seriously under-rating Cech and Ramires, while over-rating Torres.

[didierforever 7,349]

My prediction;

Manchester United (2) vs (1) Chelsea

(v.Persie) (D.Welbeck) - - - (E.Hazard)

-------------------------------------------------

Probable team; 4-3-3/4-5-1

======================

De Gea

Smalling - Rio - Vida© - Evra

Carrick

Jones------Giggs

Valencia ------------------Welbeck

- v.Persie -

---------------------------------------------------

Don't expect to see an overly attacking team strategy for this game. We know your central-midfield is stronger than ours. Moyes will look to pack it a bit I thnk, so it isn't easy to keep the ball there. Or just limit Hazard and Mata's options, and space. Although possession isn't so crucial to be honest - as it worked allowing Swansea the ball and to pass it around until they advanced... then they were shut down. They're a good passing team and they had little joy. Moyes is defensively well organised. Still early days, but there are signs. We looked very solid last game. This is what we will see. A much better Manchester United defensively. We'll retain our forward players/play, and be harder to score past. Whilst Fergies' style was very exciting, it was always nail-biting stuff. I think Moyes will shake this off, and have us defend really well. He does seem to be applying the pressing as I hoped- but not overly, for our players legs.

This team is basically a 4-5-1 defending, with players that will work hard. Welbeck and Valencia drop back into the holes on the flanks when defending - equaling the 4-5-1. At the same time the team has so much pace down the wings. Perfect as Chelsea can be exploited at RB and LB in my opinion. Ivanovic never looks convincing but I'm pretty sure he'll play there since Mourniho said that's his place. Pretty sure of that anyway. Zaha could probably terrify Cole if he gets the chance....not to mention Nani. I don't think Chelsea have the fire-power to beat us. Furthermore, your central defense is weaker. Terry will have no answer to the pace. The depth of our bench would be pretty stupid for this game - Rooney, Kagawa, Nani, Hernandez, Zaha; Januzaj. That's not all of them, but you say you have a stronger team - looking at that bench, I'm not sure you do. We have Rafael out too, and are still able to put out a strong squad.

Lets do a basic sum up out of interest. I'll try and stick to the same position played for comparisons.

(Assuming 100% squad availibility)

GK; De Gea vs Cech 1-0 (Keeper of the season - it's close however)

RB; Rafael vs Ivanovic 1-0 (Getting close to the complete RB, and has been more impressive lately - and Iva is Out Of Position for me)

CB; Vidic vs Luiz 0-1 (This would be Vidic all day if it wasn't for recent injuries)

CB; Rio vs Terry 1-0 (Team of the year Rio....oh yeah)

LB; Evra vs Cole 1-1 (I'm being kind to Cole here after Evra's season - and you know it)

CDM; Carrick vs Mikel/De Bruyne (No point) 1-0

LCM/LF/CAM; Kagawa vs Hazard 0-1 (Hazard with the game time to prove himself)

CAM/SS; Rooney vs Oscar 1-0 (Last seasons contribution speaks for it's self)

CM; Cleverley vs Ramires 1-1 (Both are just good squad players)

RM; Valencia vs Mata 0-1 (Best comparison, since you generally don't use convential wingers)

CF; Welbeck vs Torres 1-1 (Welbeck is in form but it's up in the air)

ST; v.Persie vs Lukaku 1-0 (Why bother)

SUBS;

Nani vs Schurllee 1-1 (Nani is clearly better but his form is dreadful - hence the draw)

Hernandez vs Ba 1-0 (More goals - way more important key goals)

Anderson vs Lampard 0-1 (Anderson will be eating something somewhere - he won't care)

Smalling vs Cahill 1-1 (Whilst Smalling doesn't get that many run outs, he's certainly no worse than Cahill)

Zaha vs Moses - 1-0 (Zaha shown more in a couple of weeks than Moses in six months)

SCORE: United #13. Chelsea #9.

In my summation our squad is still better after no signings. Don't say I'm biased, those player scores are fair. I'm not going to say you couldn't make an argument somewhere but it's as fair as I can see. I think some of you vastly overrate your squad. You would fall apart without Mata and Hazard. We motor on with nobody with any world-class creativity from centre-attacking-midfield. We can easily replace any of our team members with the exception of Robin and not really be weakened. You cannot - and with those striking options I'd settle for third. Not even Jose Mourniho can make Fernando Torres play well. As for Demba Ba - we all know his priority was the money. Which leaves you Lukaku; excellent striker but needs to play every game to make the progress, and I don't know if he's going to get them games. Mourinho is desperate for some world-class attacking goal scorer. He's worried, and rightly so.

Anyway.... *The Champions* are about to send out an unstoppable warning - fear us; I predict a wake up call for you all. We are the champions, and we will show you why on Monday.

i actually liked your post until u started the comparision of the squads.

LOL at zaha better than moses, de better than cech

and LOL max at cleverly equal to ramires.

also evra was good last season?? is that why u r looking to bring in baines as a no.1 LB inspite of having a decent replacement in buttner.

[JayC 171]

@JayC, Your seriously under-rating Cech and Ramires, while over-rating Torres.

I had to tip De Gea after last season. I rate Cech highly. I do however think Cleverley is as good as Ramires.

i actually liked your post until u started the comparision of the squads.

LOL at zaha better than moses, de better than cech

and LOL max at cleverly equal to ramires.

also evra was good last season?? is that why u r looking to bring in baines as a no.1 LB inspite of having a decent replacement in buttner.

Hey, I don't mean to annoy any of you. Say if you feel I've got it wrong. My player judgement is not perfect.

My argument is simply - your squad is not better than ours. I should have made that clear.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Anyway.... *The Champions* are about to send out an unstoppable warning - fear us; I predict a wake up call for you all. We are the champions, and we will show you why on Monday.

The only area you're better than us is at striker, we have no one to match RVP or Hernandez. Apart from that, we match or better you in every other individual position.

It will be a tough game for us, since it's away and Moyes 1st home game, but your ridiculous "we're champions and will show you why" statement could easily back-fire, since it will still be a close game if the 5 meetings between the 2 sides last season is anything to go by. Of which you only won once - with an offside goal btw.

[JayC 171]

The only area you're better than us is at striker, we have no one to match RVP or Hernandez. Apart from that, we match or better you in every other individual position.

It will be a tough game for us, since it's away and Moyes 1st home game, but your ridiculous "we're champions and will show you why" statement could easily back-fire, since it will still be a close game if the 5 meetings between the 2 sides last season is anything to go by. Of which you only won once - with an offside goal btw.

It will be close, yes. I'm fired up for this ;p

Maybe overly confident, I admit.

The difference will probably be RvP.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

@JayC, Would you like to do opposition views for us?

Btw, you're kidding yourself if you think De Gea is better than Cech. Although, tbf, the only time I've seen him put in genuine world-class performances is against us. And Cleverly as good as Ramires? Come on.

[Barbara 15,149]

Not sure if we should be starting Lampard for 3 matches in a row...he looks kinda tired already. Agree with the rest of your lineup

I'd like to see Ramires - Essien or Ramires - Mikel as the two midfielders...then if we need some inspiration and/or a goal, Lampard can come off the bench for a cameo.

you're absolutely right. It escaped me (as I copied and pasted someone before me and just changed a few players).

You're point is very relevant and I think instead of that he will try Ramires + Essien. So this is the team I think Mourinho will favor (not my personal choice)

Cech

Ivan - Luiz - Terry - Cole

Ramires - Essien

Kevin - Oscar - Hazard

Torres

Mata must play because we need him to add minutes, but I don't think he should start. We'll probably have plenty of counter-attack chances - as one would expect Utd to attack in their own turf, but even if we don't, I think this match screams for speed and Kevin is much faster than Mata. Also I wish he'd have Azpili in the right, but I know he'll have Ivan. I have no doubts though that Torres will play again and Ba won't even feature the bench.

[Peppen 934]

My prediction;

Manchester United (2) vs (1) Chelsea

(v.Persie) (D.Welbeck) - - - (E.Hazard)

-------------------------------------------------

Probable team; 4-3-3/4-5-1

======================

De Gea

Smalling - Rio - Vida© - Evra

Carrick

Jones------Giggs

Valencia ------------------Welbeck

- v.Persie -

---------------------------------------------------

Don't expect to see an overly attacking team strategy for this game. We know your central-midfield is stronger than ours. Moyes will look to pack it a bit I thnk, so it isn't easy to keep the ball there. Or just limit Hazard and Mata's options, and space. Although possession isn't so crucial to be honest - as it worked allowing Swansea the ball and to pass it around until they advanced... then they were shut down. They're a good passing team and they had little joy. Moyes is defensively well organised. Still early days, but there are signs. We looked very solid last game. This is what we will see. A much better Manchester United defensively. We'll retain our forward players/play, and be harder to score past. Whilst Fergies' style was very exciting, it was always nail-biting stuff. I think Moyes will shake this off, and have us defend really well. He does seem to be applying the pressing as I hoped- but not overly, for our players legs.

This team is basically a 4-5-1 defending, with players that will work hard. Welbeck and Valencia drop back into the holes on the flanks when defending - equaling the 4-5-1. At the same time the team has so much pace down the wings. Perfect as Chelsea can be exploited at RB and LB in my opinion. Ivanovic never looks convincing but I'm pretty sure he'll play there since Mourniho said that's his place. Pretty sure of that anyway. Zaha could probably terrify Cole if he gets the chance....not to mention Nani. I don't think Chelsea have the fire-power to beat us. Furthermore, your central defense is weaker. Terry will have no answer to the pace. The depth of our bench would be pretty stupid for this game - Rooney, Kagawa, Nani, Hernandez, Zaha; Januzaj. That's not all of them, but you say you have a stronger team - looking at that bench, I'm not sure you do. We have Rafael out too, and are still able to put out a strong squad.

Lets do a basic sum up out of interest. I'll try and stick to the same position played for comparisons.

(Assuming 100% squad availibility)

GK; De Gea vs Cech 1-0 (Keeper of the season - it's close however)

RB; Rafael vs Ivanovic 1-0 (Getting close to the complete RB, and has been more impressive lately - and Iva is Out Of Position for me)

CB; Vidic vs Luiz 0-1 (This would be Vidic all day if it wasn't for recent injuries)

CB; Rio vs Terry 1-0 (Team of the year Rio....oh yeah)

LB; Evra vs Cole 1-1 (I'm being kind to Cole here after Evra's season - and you know it)

CDM; Carrick vs Mikel/De Bruyne (No point) 1-0

LCM/LF/CAM; Kagawa vs Hazard 0-1 (Hazard with the game time to prove himself)

CAM/SS; Rooney vs Oscar 1-0 (Last seasons contribution speaks for it's self)

CM; Cleverley vs Ramires 1-1 (Both are just good squad players)

RM; Valencia vs Mata 0-1 (Best comparison, since you generally don't use convential wingers)

CF; Welbeck vs Torres 1-1 (Welbeck is in form but it's up in the air)

ST; v.Persie vs Lukaku 1-0 (Why bother)

SUBS;

Nani vs Schurllee 1-1 (Nani is clearly better but his form is dreadful - hence the draw)

Hernandez vs Ba 1-0 (More goals - way more important key goals)

Anderson vs Lampard 0-1 (Anderson will be eating something somewhere - he won't care)

Smalling vs Cahill 1-1 (Whilst Smalling doesn't get that many run outs, he's certainly no worse than Cahill)

Zaha vs Moses - 1-0 (Zaha shown more in a couple of weeks than Moses in six months)

SCORE: United #13. Chelsea #9.

In my summation our squad is still better after no signings. Don't say I'm biased, those player scores are fair. I'm not going to say you couldn't make an argument somewhere but it's as fair as I can see. I think some of you vastly overrate your squad. You would fall apart without Mata and Hazard. We motor on with nobody with any world-class creativity from centre-attacking-midfield. We can easily replace any of our team members with the exception of Robin and not really be weakened. You cannot - and with those striking options I'd settle for third. Not even Jose Mourniho can make Fernando Torres play well. As for Demba Ba - we all know his priority was the money. Which leaves you Lukaku; excellent striker but needs to play every game to make the progress, and I don't know if he's going to get them games. Mourinho is desperate for some world-class attacking goal scorer. He's worried, and rightly so.

Anyway.... *The Champions* are about to send out an unstoppable warning - fear us; I predict a wake up call for you all. We are the champions, and we will show you why on Monday.

Don't particularly agree with your player ratings, but I see your point. We shouldn't be underestimating United, afterall they are champions. But I think we have a slightly better team this year, however most of our players are not proven yet.

Cech is better than De Gea.

While I don't think Terry should be a starter, I don't think Rio should of been anyway near the team of the year. End of.

Cole and Evra, don't agree either.

Ramires and Cleverly tie? Nah.

While I do concede that Zaha has a much higher ceiling than Moses, I believe Moses could contribute more as of now.

[JayC 171]

@JayC, Would you like to do opposition views for us?

Btw, you're kidding yourself if you think De Gea is better than Cech. Although, tbf, the only time I've seen him put in genuine world-class performances is against us. And Cleverly as good as Ramires? Come on.

Well I honestly think Cleverley is slightly underrated, if you check his passing accuracy, it's good for a CM. However he does lack creativity, yeah. Ramires is pretty normal too, nothing special about him really. It's close.

Like I said too, De Gea won the league and was voted in TOTS - I can't really argue with that.

And yeah I can have a go at the questions, sure.

Don't particularly agree with your player ratings, but I see your point. We shouldn't be underestimating United, afterall they are champions. But I think we have a slightly better team this year, however most of our players are not proven yet.

Cech is better than De Gea.

While I don't think Terry should be a starter, I don't think Rio should of been anyway near the team of the year. End of.

Cole and Evra, don't agree either.

Ramires and Cleverly tie? Nah.

While I do concede that Zaha has a much higher ceiling than Moses, I believe Moses could contribute more as of now.

Fair comments. It can be argued either way what you've questioned.

[Ankit 3,176]

Anyway.... *The Champions* are about to send out an unstoppable warning - fear us; I predict a wake up call for you all. We are the champions, and we will show you why on Monday.

I so hope that your manager feels the same way and fields an attacking line up with his team taking the game to the opposition but sadly i feel Moyes will do the opposite!