Man Utd v Benfica. Pre match.

deisedevil

Any thoughts on the match tonight. Does anyone have any info on Johno, was it just a precaution taking him off on sat or is it more serious? What team and formation will Fergie go with tonight? Here's what i'd like to see.

Van der

O'Shea* Ferdinand Silvestre Richardson

Ronaldo Scholes Fletcher Park

Smith

Van Nistlerooy

or swop Ronaldowith Smith and put Fletcher on the wing

*bardsley if o'Shea is injured.

Mitch Connor

i reckon it will be:

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VDS
Bardsley--Rio--Silvestre--Richardson

Ronaldo--Fletcher--Smith--Park/Giggs

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Scholes

---

Ruud.

However, i would prefer to see Pique at center back and move silvestre to left back. We played Pique and Rio at the back a lot on tour, so i am a little surprised we have not seen a hint of it yet this season considering the defensive injuries we have suffered.

deisedevil

Tauren wrote:

i reckon it will be:

---

VDS
Bardsley--Rio--Silvestre--Richardson

Ronaldo--Fletcher--Smith--Park/Giggs

---

Scholes

---

Ruud.

However, i would prefer to see Pique at center back and move silvestre to left back. We played Pique and Rio at the back a lot on tour, so i am a little surprised we have not seen a hint of it yet this season considering the defensive injuries we have suffered.

:eek: Pique!!! I'd be worried if we had to play Bardsley tonight let alone Pique. The defence was poor enough at the weekend without weakening it even more.Also Silvestre is brutal on the left, a lot more steady alongside Rio,still not great but better. I'd rather see Fergie throw Pique in for a few league cup games than starting him off in a Champs League game, it'd be a huge mistake to go changing things even more. Worked throwin rooney into the thick of it but he had already had loads of action in the prem and with england.

RedorDead

Tougher game than most people make out. Benfica will be looking to capatalise on shiiite united displays lately.

I wonder will he start 442 after finishing with it on saturday? Hardly likely with rooney and saha out - and he wont blood rossi - so this is my team.


VDS

O Shea Rio Silv Richo

Fletcher Smith Scholes
Ronaldo Giggs
Ruud

tinofapples

I think under the circumstances we may struggle to get a result tonight. Under normal circumstances we should be winning our home games especially against teams like Benfica who while I don't believe are crap aren't the cream of European football.

Benfica could be a better team than Blackburn and we don't have the option of throwing Wayne on .

deisedevil

tinofapples wrote:

I think under the circumstances we may struggle to get a result tonight. Under normal circumstances we should be winning our home games especially against teams like Benfica who while I don't believe are crap aren't the cream of European football.

Benfica could be a better team than Blackburn and we don't have the option of throwing Wayne on .

That's exactly what i'm thinking, if they had problems scoring against blackburn and were that poor in defence then how will the fare tonight against what should be better opposition. Hopefully saturday was a kick up the hole they needed and we'll see a much better performance tonight. I'm not holding my breath though,could be a rough night ahead again.

PHB

VDS

O Shea Rio Silv Richo

Fletcher Smith Scholes
Ronaldo Park
Ruud

Will be the team

I'd like Pique in instead of Rio, to teach him a lesson, but that aint gona happen.
Rich and O'Shea will play beter in the European environment.
Ruud as always will score in the CL game
I expect us to win it, and it'd be a terrible result if we didn't.

mada999

oh yeah looking forward to Benfica winning tonight tis gonna be sweet!

RedorDead

PHB wrote:

Ruud as always will score in the CL game
I expect us to win it, and it'd be a terrible result if we didn't.

He didnt score v Villareal.
Im going to expect us to get nothing out of it, that way ill be happier if we do.

PHB

Exactly, so theres no doubt he'll score against Benfica

O'Shea looks unlikely to start unfortunately, so bardsely perhaps, or Pique. Its going to be a weird defensive line.

deisedevil

Wow :eek: , this makes interesting reading.

Roy Keane in CL since 2001-02


with without
Wins 12 14
Draws 6 5
Defeats 7 3
Win % 48% 64%
Loss % 28% 14%
Goals 45 47
Goals/game 1.8 2.14
Gls against 28 21
Gls against/game 1.12 0.95


It's a totally different story in the premiership though, heard a stat on points with and without(can't remember em now) but was blown away by it, something like last 45 games without keane only 39 points from them which is pathetic(could have that bit out.)

deisedevil

PHB wrote:

Exactly, so theres no doubt he'll score against Benfica

O'Shea looks unlikely to start unfortunately, so bardsely perhaps, or Pique. Its going to be a weird defensive line.

I honestly can't understand why they would play someone as young as Pique and throw him in at the deep end of a champions league match. Surely better to go with Bardsley who at least has played this season and has more experience.

PHB

Bardsley is not that much more experienced than Pique, and Pique imo is a better player.

deisedevil

I thought i heard they were looking to bring Spector back off loan, he was VERY impressive last season, i suppose he wouldn't be registered for champs league now anyways pity. Still could do a job in the prem though.

homerjay2005

was it not strange that fergie rested rooney on saturday considering the fact that we are without him tonight. very strange indeed, dont know what he was playing at. our back line is seriously depleted at the moment, this is a massive worry, i mean, at the moment, all we seem to have is ferdinand and silvestre, with josh doubtful. this is a disaster really and we should have signed somebody in the pre season. fergie has been unlucky with injuries....

keane, saha, ole gunnar, neville, heinze,browne,o shea, giggs, have all been out this season already.

anyway, tonight should see the following team be played


van der sar
bardsley,ferdinand,silvestre,richardson,
ronaldo,smith,fletcher,giggs,
scholes,
ruud

id rather see smith play as an out and out striker tonight with scholes midfield. however, unlikely fergie wil do that

wheres me jumpa

hoping for a big performance tonight. i really thought we would hammer blackburn at the weekend and get players firing on all cylinders. at home to benfica should be a game we win. obviously the three points is the most important thing but ive been waiting for a game to come along that will kick start our season.

Chucky the tree

0-2 to benfica

BKtje

was it not strange that fergie rested rooney on saturday considering the fact that we are without him tonight.

I think he wanted to try the starting 11 for tonight against blackburn.

county

3 or 4 nil to united, this will be the turning point in our season

mike65

---

VDS

---

Bardsley

---

Rio

---

O'shea

---

Richardson

---

Smith

---

---

Fletcher

---

Scholes

---

Ronaldo

---

Giggs

---

Ruud

---

Just announced (saw this on bbc Man Utd message board)

Mike.

super_furry

Could go either way to be honest. I reckon United will sneak it by the odd goal, but if they go into the break level or even behind, things could get nasty.

Mossy Monk

i'm going for a 2-0

besty

Ruud smashed the crossbar. Would have been a screamer. Scholsey is looking good in a more attacking role off ruud
ronaldo isn't looking great in the past couple of weeks. completley understandable considering what he has been through, but im just wondering wether he should take a little bit of time off...

Ronan|Raven

what happened ronaldo?

Pepe LeFrits

His dad died.

Spider_Baby!

Wtf is that supposed to mean, kaids? I aint watchin the match, what happened?

DoctorEdgeWild

Seriously, his Dad passed away just a little while ago. Ferguson gave him as much time off as he wanted but he chose to come back pretty quickly after the funeral in Portugal.

Guy:Incognito

1-1

Roddy23

that was some free kick

Ronan|Raven

Ok didnt know about that.

DoctorEdgeWild

Yep 'tis very sad as his Dad must have been pretty young.

United have been terrible tonight - absolutely no cutting edge, not quite enough to add my name to the list of people calling for Fergie's head though.

Fletcher, Smith, Ferdinand and O' Shea have no place in a starting XI for United.

On the positive side though, Bardsley has been impressive over the last couple of games. Hoping to see some more of him even if his current run has been forced through injuries.

Ten minutes left - A draw is nowhere near good enough.

KdjaCL

DoctorEdgeWild wrote:

Y

Ten minutes left - A draw is nowhere near good enough.

Yeah i know Benfice be gutted with the draw

Good to see Utd crossing for a change. Shame its coming to nowt tho.


kdjac

Pacifico

2-1 United.

Fair play they deserved that

DoctorEdgeWild

KdjaC wrote:

Yeah i know Benfice be gutted with the draw

- Sadly so true.



Yesss! 2 - 1 United - Van Nistelrooy from close range!

KdjaCL

DoctorEdgeWild wrote:

- Sadly so true.



Yesss! 2 - 1 United - Van Nistelrooy from close range!

Tbh Utd fans should be happy it came from a cross and not tru the middle.


kdjac

DoctorEdgeWild

Yeah, United's success over the last decade and a half was based mainly on using the space out wide. Both Giggs and Ronaldo have a fondness for cutting inside although I do like Bardsley's old fashioned 'race to the bye-line and bang it into the middle'. Van Nistelrooy is pretty good in the air and Rooney isn't too bad either. Any idea when Saha is back? I don't think much of him but he hasn't really gotten a chance in the United colours just yet.

Replacing Keane has become such a huge issue for United this year, Gattuso being the only man in world football capable of doing the job imo. Very slim chance of tempting him from Serie A though sadly.

Necronomicon

Can't fault the players tonight. A lot of injuries, but all the players on the pitch poured their heart into it. Bardsley and Richarsdon were very good tonight. Well scrapped win.
Giggs' performance tonight was proof of why he should be playing. He was outstanding I thought, plenty of crosses flew into the box. Van Nistelrooy was also very good and hard working on his own up front.

jonny68

Credit must go put to United they kept at Benfica until they eventully got the winner,not a great United performance by all accounts,i thought they played well in sections of the game,whereas Benfica at times looked quite dangerous on the break.

It was a cracking goal Benfica scored and much deserved as well but overall i thought United deserved it,Van Nistelrooy again fantastic,i must also mention young Philip Bardsley who was awesome on his CL debut,if he keeps playing like that he's got a good future ahead of him no doubt..wasn't a bad game at all, plenty of fast paced attacking Football which is what i like

PS-Also im thrilled,was down to my last few quid until payday this Friday so put a fiver on......

Bayern Munich
Juventus
FC Thun
Barcelona
Panathinaikos
Man United

RESULT my first Football coupon win so far this season despite some near misses

wheres me jumpa

giggs was very good tonight. happy to see him back. bardsley and richardson played well too. not a great performance. benfica had a lot of the ball and could easily have won it tonight. but they didnt, united kept fighting and for a change manged to get the goal they were pushing for. with villareal drawing tonight the group looks to be ours for the taking now so this was a big win.

with so many players to come back into that team, things can only get better.

DoctorEdgeWild

Hey Jonny86 - what sort of return did you get off that one? Congrats!

deisedevil

Thank god for that. Another poor result would have been a killer. Not too bad seein as so many big players out. Keane,Heinze,Neville and Rooney have been Utd's most consistently good players.
It's so frustrating watchin Fletcher, gives away the ball cheaply,very weak on the ball, brutal crosses, very poor shot and f-all imagination.
Scholes looked like he was annoyed with himself all night, at least he was gettin a bit closer to a goal, i think once he bangs one in he'll get a bit of form back with the pressure off.
Ronaldo had some good runs,few decent crosses but his shooting was poor. What i'm noticing lately is that we don't seem to be scoring from outside the box, seem to be trying to hard too always get into the box. So far off being a team who will challenge for anything this season though, a load to be done, can't wait for players to start returning from injury.

jonny68

DoctorEdgeWild wrote:

Hey Jonny86 - what sort of return did you get off that one? Congrats!

Im not sure mate im not really good at adding up odds maybe someone might do it for me..id say about €60 or so

€5 on

Bayern 1/4
Juve 1/6
FC Thun 7/5
Barca 4/11
Panathinaikos 6/4
Man United 1/3

RasTa

Bloody thun ruined my one !
Still have a chelsea and arsenal which pays out at almost 6-1 !

PHB

I think we fluked it tonight, didn't create many chances, didn't do much at all tbh.
Giggs was poor in the night overall, didn't have much luck getting in his crosses, and Ronaldo was poor on the finished product.
Fletcher was terrible at disributing the ball, but made some very very very important interceptions, one brilliant one at the end.
Smith was irrelevant.
Scholes was once again poor, creating little.
Van Nist was quality all night, great hold up play and typical Van Nist finish, from a half of yard out. His magical touch then shot would have been absolutely spectacular.
Defensivly we were weak.
O'shea had a bad mistake, but did ok otherwise.
Rio was weak, but looked solid in from the rest of the defense.
Bardsely was good, but attacking was no threat.
Richardson was active, but resulted in very very little.
VDS was quality again.

Davey Devil

jonny68 wrote:

Im not sure mate im not really good at adding up odds maybe someone might do it for me..id say about €60 or so

€5 on

Bayern 1/4
Juve 1/6
FC Thun 7/5
Barca 4/11
Panathinaikos 6/4
Man United 1/3

I make it €79.55

redspider

I really noticed the relief on Ferguson's face last night when the 2nd goal went in. It was not so much as a celebration, but a picture of a person who has stayed their execution. As Toshack said, what a picture.

I'm a Liverpool follower and we have enough problems of our own. But this season there are a couple of problems at Man U which you guys already know of, but what are the solutions?

The first I'll mention is the midfield problem. With Roy out, Ferguson is playing Smith in midfield, as the central and holding midfielder. But he is not a midfielder and just doesnt have the skills for it. Surely Man U have more players suitable for this role? He was at fault just as much as Scholes was for that goal at the w/e. O'Shea could probably do a much better job there.

The same goes for left back with Heinze out. Is Richardson a left back? I dont think so. Granted teams down through the years have played wingers in the full-back positions, such as Holland, and Liverpool in their day with McAteer, but the current football thinking is that good solid backs that get forward on occasion are whats needed, defenders first, that can cross and contribute, but they have to be defenders.

Then there is the Rooney/Van Nistelrooy situation. Can they fit into a 4-3-3 formation, or is 4-4-2 better, with Rooney playing off? The latter would seem to be, but Rooney and VanN dont seem to link well together. They need the likes of C.Ronaldo to create openings, and they need better supply of passes from midfield, which Scholes and Fletcher cant seem to supply. Scholes to me seems to be off the boil somewhat and Fletcher isnt good enough.

Man U did well to get Van Der Sar, he's old but will do a job for this season and the next and will save many goals. Ronaldo is also a key player.

just some thoughts from a neutral observer ...

redspider

homerjay2005

delighted with the win, every win for the next 6 weeks is a bonus, because bar heinze and baring injuries between here and then, we should have everybody back. rooney and silvestre should be back for the trip to fulham, and hopefully we will see keane,ole gunnar,browne,saha,neville,fortune all back in the next few weeks.

as for last night, i though bardsley was excellent, a big improvement from saturday, which i though was a weak performance. josh looked uncomfortable in the center, though he seemed to have an injury. rio was solid as was richardson. smith battled away and did well but gave away a nice amount of possession. fletcher and ronaldo were poor enough though ronaldo did have a very good period in the 2nd half when he DIDNT give the ball away. scholes had one of his better games for a while, played in a more advanced role.
van nistelrooy was outstanding, held up a pile of ball and had an unbelievable turn/shot offf the bar. scored a simple goal, but again, right place at the righ time. 7 goals already this season, he looks back to his best.

van der sar was excellent too

TheMonster

Heres the team Utd didn't have playing last night(I know Rooney was suspended and Park on the bench-apparently with a slight injury)

Neville Brown Sylvestre Heinze
Solkjaer Keane Fortune Park
Saha Rooney

Bearing that in mind the result was very good. Giggs,Ruud and Richardson were my pick but I thought Smith was a lot better - got forward more and was more positive in his passing

randomfella

RVN is the only positive to be taken out of that match. We scraped it with a bit of luck. Benifica wern't to shabby, which i'd already suspected.

yop

Was over for that one, sitting 3 rows from the front about 10 few for Alex, cracking seat to get.

Game is harder to analyse when u are at it than on TV I think, but I thought we were ok, got the result but for VDerS we were 2 behind.
Ronaldo was poor with the delivery.
I thought Bardsley did well.

I was funny that the players actually could hear Alex over all the noise and shouting, Phelan & Querioz did most of the running for him.

Got some decent picks too from where I was of the players, Giggs Freekick and the celebration.

Funny part was when I was outside with my young nephew MUTV asked us to comment on the match and from what my brother says we were shown last nite, cool!

besty

PHB wrote:

I think we fluked it tonight, didn't create many chances, didn't do much at all tbh.
Giggs was poor in the night overall, didn't have much luck getting in his crosses, and Ronaldo was poor on the finished product.
Fletcher was terrible at disributing the ball, but made some very very very important interceptions, one brilliant one at the end.
Smith was irrelevant.
Scholes was once again poor, creating little.
Van Nist was quality all night, great hold up play and typical Van Nist finish, from a half of yard out. His magical touch then shot would have been absolutely spectacular.
Defensivly we were weak.
O'shea had a bad mistake, but did ok otherwise.
Rio was weak, but looked solid in from the rest of the defense.
Bardsely was good, but attacking was no threat.
Richardson was active, but resulted in very very little.
VDS was quality again.

were we watching the same match? i thought giggsy was our best player last night. agree with everything else though.