Sep 29
Brum vs Reds: Preview
We visit St Andrews Stadium to play Steve Bruce’s men today. The Birmingham players would feel confident after managing to hold Liverpool to a draw last week. If they manage to escape with points today, they would feel very good about their chances of survival this season.
Brucie’s made his team rather tough to beat, bringing in his combative qualities. They will do what many teams have been doing against us — park the bus, and stay extremely disciplined in defence.
We should, however, going by how our performance is progressively improving, beat Brum comfortably. If Saha is 400% fit then there is a chance he might start alongside Rooney. He seems pretty determined this season, though.
“Anyone who says I am not willing to play until I am 100 per cent fit is not telling the truth,†he insists. “I have never refused to play for the team, yet last season I was hearing claims about me not being psychologically committed. I now feel I am close to last year’s top form,†he adds. “I am not far away and the more minutes I gain on the pitch, the better I will play.
“My aim this year is to stay fit and show people the real Louis Saha.â€
Encouraging stuff from the Frenchman. It must be noted that despite not making any start he is our leading goal scorer this season. Of course, one was a penalty. Nonetheless he’s got the desire. Let’s see if he starts.
If that doesn’t happen, we should have Tevez alongside Rooney, which isn’t too bad of an option either. Ronaldo and Giggs would play on the wings while Carrick and Scholes will be in the engine room. Speaking of which, Owen Hargreaves ‘could’ be on the bench today. I am having my doubts about that happening. Closer to the game, we’ll probably know the line up. (This preview was written much before that.)
This should be a 4-4-2, and now that most of our attacking players are back, we could see a performance with more flair and adventure. Although, being an away fixture, an element of caution is very much on the cards.
Prediction: 2-0 to United. (Rooney, Ronaldo to score)
Player to watch out for: Oliver Kapo.
Feel free to discuss away in the comments.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Giggs and Brown to Remain Reds | Ex-Reds Clash | Wenger Threat | Takeovers And Other Such Nonsense
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Chelsea v Man Utd: Preview
- Man Utd v Barcelona: Preview
- Portsmouth Preview
Tags: Manchester United News
Craig Mc (195)
RedDevilEddy (170)
Opti (135)
Moscow is my heaven (96)
Ian (95)
If hargreaves doesnt make the squad today then i fear theres seriously something wrong wit him
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i think saha should be our next super sub, i would rather have tevez playing alongside rooney at the bigining then taken off for saha with 30 minutes to go. notice that both sahas goals have been him of the bench. i thought it was a bit weird letting saha take the penalty, i wanted ronaldo or rooney, cant remember if tevez was playing at that time.
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Hargreaves wont be playing with Scholes and carrick is such good form.He can stay on bench for a bit until he has that german league game back.What good he used to play their .Once he gets that form he will keep on going.
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Today I think could be the game were we really get going (i hope so because I’m going to see the next game). If Hargreaves is fit then we almost have a fully fit squad and can finally start getting back to last season’s form
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@ dan
you say saha should be our “super sub” because “both saha’s goals from the bench”
an irrelevant point simply because he hasnt started any games yet – so you cant make that comparison
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i never said because, read again.
man city pissin me of right now.
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Its live on on Five Live (Audio only) if you cant watch it, although I’m sure there will be some links to watch somewhere. Hoping for a good performance today, Arsenal and Liverpool seem to be doing not three bad so we really need a menacing performance today.
Ill post back if I find any links.
Good luck lads, 40mins and counting….
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thank god for virgin and setanta,
Man Utd
01 Van der Sar
06 Brown
05 Ferdinand
15 Vidic
03 Evra
07 Ronaldo
16 Carrick
18 Scholes
11 Giggs
10 Rooney
32 Tevez
Substitutes
29 Kuszczak, 08 Anderson, 09 Saha, 19 Pique, 22 O’Shea
fergie really wants anderson to shine, picking him over nani, but what can you do, im guessing nani will start on tuesday or get a full second half.
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so far the brummies have had a really good start, van der sar stopping 3 shots, rooney had an early chance tevez with a good early skill, forcing a fantatics challenge from the brummies, tevez rooney partnership is doing quite good so far
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Dan Nani’s sitting on the bench in between Saha and Anderson, I didnt see O shea there…
Its not too bad a match, Giggs has been terrible though, Evra’s been even worse, and Birmingham have had a few chances, we havent had any real ones, Scholes(maybe) should have had a penalty, Cameron Jerome should have scored 2 after V.D.S passed the ball to him about 30 yards out and he had a good chance in the first minute, V.D.S made a good save, from that corner quedrue nearly scored, and then Ferdinand cleared off the line from a Header from Mc Sheffrey Ronaldo has looked dangerous but wasteful, Rooneys hardly been in the game and Tevez has been pretty good.
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we’re playing slacky, giggs is playing shite, carrick is back to his reguler form which is running away from the ball, heck, scholes has been playing further back then him.
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conor sitting on the bench and being on the bench for a football game is 2 different things.
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half time report: Manchester united are playing fantastically, however this is only in small patches, we will have moments of brilliance, then drift back playing poor football, which is really disappointing, the referee has not given us a single decision our war in Birmingham’s half, speaking of half, our defensive half has been poor, we have been giving away possession a lot, and we’re not used to being closed down for every single ball, a positive, has to be giggs, is playing well to, but then has moments where he goes back to playing badly.IF we get more time on the ball, then this game is ours, however, if get we closed down, then birmingham may run away with this
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Total Rubbish. Giggs is playing like crap as is Scholes and Evra. Sloppy sloppy mistakes. From my count Birmingham should have 3 or 4 goals. All we deserve was a clear penalty. Carrick hasn’t made any mistakes but he has been invisible and the two wingers are moving in and clogging what little room Rooney and Tevez has. Then again, if they play wide and cross the ball, both Rooney and Tevez lack the physical presence to compete for high balls in the box. Put Saha on for Tevez (who has worked very hard) and replace Giggs with Nani. This has been the worst half United have played in two years. We are lucky to be scoreless.
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Oh shit
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nice goal
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RRRRROOOOOOONNNNNNNAAAAAALLLLLLLLDDDDDDDOOOOOOO
we dont deserve it though
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god i hate you grognard, you say your a fan but not once have you written something good about united.
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dan , he has, once though in the last thread:
“Give Anderson time. He is only 19 and he is also suffering from culture shock. We can’t expect every teen phenom to be as good as Ronaldo right out of the gate. He needs time to find the fitness required for the fast paced EPL game as well, he needs to become comfortable in his surroundings. I think everyone’s expectation of Anderson were very unrealistic. What he needs now is hours on the pitch and positive reinforcement from Fergie and the rest of the coaches. I think he will show his special skills more by season’s end and I think he will be dynamic in two years from now.
Patience is the key. this kid is not Kleberson or Djemba Djemba. Just two years ago Fabregas was not playing all that well for Arsenal. Look at him now. Anderson I feel will follow a similar time schedule until he starts repaying the club and supporters for their investment and faith”
thats the only time ive seen him positive,
man u are still playing shit,but we’re one nil up football is a crazy game
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another game, another clean sheet, another one nil, another 3 points,
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another 1-0 win.a scrappy win at that.where’s the united that we know?
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Dan you are nothing but a bloody crybaby. Just grow up and take it like a man. Stopping trying to bully contributors to this blog like myself. If you don’t like or agree with my comments, just ignore them and move on. That’s what I do with yours. And unlike you I don’t hate anyone writing their feelings on a blog because I find it ridiculous to spew that kind of venom against someone I don’t even know. Lets agree to disagree and just get on with your life bloke. And by the way I am just as much a fan as you are. I just call it as I see it. I never knew responding with honesty was strictly verboten. JEEZ!
Now in regards to the match, United got away lucky I’m afraid to say. Brilliant take by Ronaldo but we honestly didn’t deserve the points. But a win is a win and lets move on.
Serious thought must be taken however over the poor play of Giggsy and Scholes. They are great players and I love them but I fear that their best may finally be well behind them.
It’s not so much the lack of chances that they had or created, but their total sloppiness.
Careless passes almost cost us dearly today.
On a positive note I did love the work rate and hustle of players like Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo. Birmingham attacked us today and if we were a little sharper with our passes I think we could have scored a goal or two more on counters. Hargreaves would have been a godsend out there instead of having Scholes track back. Ronaldo really ran at defenders
and I find it kind of frustrating that even though he did this it didn’t seem to create the space and openings for the two strikers. They all tend to crowd each other at times.
Finally, kudos two Rio and Vidic once again. They are very solid back there. I’m overjoyed with the three points but more hard work is needed. We need to figure out how to defeat a team that aggressively presses our players so closely. We have no time on the ball to think. Meanwhile we drop back and play a zone and only press players when they reach our third of the pitch. I’m surprised Birmingham never ran out of gas playing that way. Steve Bruce did a marvelous job preparing Birmingham and was unlucky to not get at least a point for a job well done.
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so whens your next chapter?, i didnt insult you, you insulted me and im the bully, from what ive read you only look at the negatives of things and people which isnt good habit.
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Dan: Shut up, all Grognard did was flesh out the points you made about 3 posts above him. To be quite frank I can’t really disagree with anything he said, the performance was a pile of crap.
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Saha needs to play and be the target.hargreaves is starting to scare me now.how can a player be forever injured?rooney and tevez need to make more runs in behind the defence.dam how many goals have we scored?this has to stop.but we second sugar daddy fc drew so id rule them out.arsenal and pool are next.5 wins on the bounce!
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jb i could do you really think i care what you say. He’s negative person through and through.
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5 1-0 nils now and i still feel tevez is shite
why does saha not start is fergie making him another ole ala subs special or what
and anderson needs to play giggs get injured or something sorry man but ur holding up our youth
looking forward 2 tuesday
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dan would u leave it now
i know he posts big big replies and frankly i never read some completely but its his opinion cut the personal slacking negative positive blah blah
I still say tevez is shite so i guess i’ll be negative as well right chill relax breathe in breathe out
lets wait for tuesday alright mate
PS :- This is in no way ass licking of grognard and figer up the back to u plz dont take it personally
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gigs gave the ball away too much for my taste. teves is still working verry hard and battling for the ball give him time but i want to see anderson or nani come in for gigs evry game at least 30 min to end. i think saf is giving him the sbc record then we will see him sit. how manny more starts till the record. 20 or so?
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Indianpunk I wouldn’t say Tevez is shite but he certainly looks to be the wrong man at the wrong time. That being said he was our best player today and he and Rooney may yet hit it off. I doubt Saha will be a super sub, a ratio of 1 goal in 30/40 sub appearances prior to this season very much suggests he needs to be involved from the start. Giggs must surely have played himself out of the team, he was Birmingham’s best player by breaking down every attack, it was like Nicky Butt’s performance against us for Newcastle in the FA Cup a couple of years ago! Once again it is a concern when the main attacking thrust is once again coming from our left back.
Dan: I’m glad to see we are on the same wavelength because I have as high an opinion of your posts. Grognard may be excessively negative at times but he does bring some interesting and valid points to the table. There are certain contributors however who offer nothing more than barely legible, inane ramblings. I will let you decide who I am referring to at your leisure.
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Difficult game and Utd come away with the points. Pool could not beat this team at Anfield and we have moaners and whiners complaining about the way we got the result.Yes it was not vintage Utd, yes it was another 1-0 , yes Giggs and Scholes played shite , but we still won.
Was a good sign to see Tevez and Rooney upfront , playing some clever passes to each other. Ronaldo seems to have that spark back. Was an interesting substitution , bringing Saha on for Giggs. Awesome to think of Saha , Rooney and Tevez , and Ronaldo on at the same time. Maybe the way we will play against Roma. Saha leading the line with the 3 behind him.
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Lets all look at the bright side here, Birmingham have so far proved that they are no pushovers (Pushed Chelsea to the limit got a draw against ‘Pool) so this wasn’t going to be an easy fixture and we came through it with three points. Brum did what no one expected them to do – attack. Usually teams who play against United just park the bus but this was a decent enough game and Brum did their part.
As for the performance yes it’s not what we all wanted to see but most teams play well at home (I remember last season we struggled to beat Watford away) so an away win is always good. I think that Ronaldo should play as an out and out forward because we need his heading skill up front because today Rooney lost so many aerial battles it wasn’t countable. Giggs gets into the positions but seems to have lost his ball control. Scholes and Carrick are lying way too deep and seem to be lacking in adventure. Lets hope EVDS gets back soon although Kuszczak did quite well when he came on.
P.S. what’s with all the trash-talking? Dan – Grognard has a right to his opinion and I usually take time after a match before I comment but if I didn’t I would be quie angry with a lot of recent performances. He must be a fan if he takes the time to write so much about the team and a lot of his critiscism is justified because in no way have United played well this season. Let’s just hope for another 7-1 on Tuesday
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The build-up these days is getting slower plus there are many ‘attacks’ but no decent attempts on goal, I mean the sting is not there and chances are also not clear-cut. Good to see Tevez involved more and sad to see again Ronaldo bailing us out. The defence is quite good and after we go 1-0 up, I feel somehow we wont let one in … but again after 1-0 the desire to score more is not so evident, at least to me .. hope SAF sees to that… This bedding-in period is very loathsome, cant wait when all our players are in full flow.. United will be unstoppable then.
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giggs and carrick were crap..carrick couldnt find his teammate frm 15 yards..
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when hargreaves is fit we’ll be at full flow, we can free up scholes and have an excellent passer of the ball, i think the system we have is good with deep-lying strikers, ive noticed that when sahas on and becomes a target man, he stays up there gets the ball and instea of passing it, he either trys to keep it and run at dfenders and gets tackled or fouled.
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Does anyone have the fifa 08 man utd team list? aslong as pique evans and simpson are in it im happy, all our summer signings are in it to right?
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dan fifa 08 is really not what we all expected but new signigns are in and tevez gets in starting lineup as well but i’ll have to check on the evans and pique and simpson one havent had much time to play it yet
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