After an encouraging start to the season question marks are already being asked of United’s title credentials given the form of rivals Chelsea, whose goal difference already reads +12, but Nemanja Vidic is confident United can learn from the Fulham result, stating,

“It’s hard to take. I think we would have been happy with the result – if not the performance – if we had won, but there are definitely some points to take from the game. The goal we lost at the end was a shame and we probably need to improve at set-pieces.”

The visit of the Hammers may prove to be an excellent opportunity for some of the fringe players to make their case for inclusion in the first team, though we can be sure Edwin van der Sar will be between the stick come kick off.

The back four in front of him will probably remain consistent, but Chris Smalling is pushing Jonny Evans for a chance to prove his worth. Rio Ferdinand is still out with a knee injury but is nearing a comeback, and Gary Neville started for the reserves in midweek against Manchester City, so he will be back in contention soon as well.

Much has been made of Paul Scholes’ recent form, but the midfielder may be given a breather as either Ryan Giggs or Michael Carrick step into the midfield. Nani and Antonio Valencia will no doubt occupy the wing berths as United have a perfect opportunity to increase their goal difference.

Anderson, despite playing for the reserves is still short of fitness after only returning to training this week, but Owen Hargreaves remains out.

Wayne Rooney is available after his stomach bug and will be hoping to stop his goal drought, he has failed to score for club or country in 13 matches in addition, he has provided just one assist in United’s last nine league matches. He will likely be partnered by Dimitar Berbatov or Javier Hernandez in attack.

West Ham boss Avram Grant is expecting a tough match, “You know that it will not be an easy fixture, especially for us who are trying to get everything more organised and are only at the beginning of a process. It’s not an easy game, but I don’t think Manchester United will have an easy life tomorrow.”

Though Scott Parker, who will be making his 250th career league start, is “dreading” the match.

Matthew Upson may be fit to return following the facial injury he suffered after being kicked in the face during the match with Bolton.

Winston Reid could also return to the side along with Robert Green and Kieron Dyer who were rested for Tuesday’s Carling Cup win over Oxford United. Tal Ben Haim and Manuel da Costa may also be in contention for Saturday’s game following short spells on the treatment table.

Thomas Hitzlsperger is out with a thigh injury, he joins Jack Collison and Zavon Hines who are both on the long-term injured list.

The Hammers are without an away win in the league since the first day of last season when they beat Wolves 2-0, a run of 19 matches.

Last season Ferguson’s men did the double over the Hammers winning 4-0 at Upton Park in December and then a 3-0 victory at Old Trafford in February. United have also won their last five matches against West Ham and have scored 14 goals in those games to the Hammers’ one.

Prediction: 3-0 United

Probable Line Up: van der Sar, O’Shea, Evans, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Nani; Berbatov, Rooney

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Going into the match Sir Alex Ferguson will be well aware of his dismal recent record at Craven Cottage as United have lost their last two matches at the venue – 2-0 and 3-0 respectively. Something Sir Alex is all to aware of,

“We’ve had a bit of a topsy-turvy time at Craven Cottage the last couple of years,” Sir Alex concedes. “We ended up with nine men two years ago, and then last season we’d gone too far with the players we were using at the back.”

United are still without long-term knee victims Rio Ferdinand, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves, while Patrice Evra should be fit after a clash with the advertising boards in the dying stages of the Newcastle win.

The back five should remain unchanged but it will be interesting to see if Ferguson starts will Paul Scholes, who is clearly in top form but age has caught up with the ginger ninja, so he may be used sparingly by the manager. Nani and Antonio Valencia both impressed last week, but Ji-Sung Park may get his first league start of the season.

Wayne Rooney is likely to miss the match with a stomach bug thus leaving a starting place up front alongside Dimitar Berbatov. Will Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez get the not, or will Sir Alex go win an older head in Michael Owen?

One point to note is that Fergie has never lost a game to a club managed by one of his former protégés, adding weight to Sunderland boss Steve Bruce’s suggestion that Ferguson tries even harder in such fixtures. Something Fulham boss Mark Hughes agrees with,

“Invariably he seems to pick his strongest team against me, but I take that as a sign of the respect he has for the teams I’m involved with, because he knows I set up my teams to give his a hard time,” agreed Hughes.

“He likes to make sure we know our place, and rightly so! He’s always competitive, and, obviously, going up against guys he’s previously worked with, he’s always supportive of us, but he always likes to beat you. That doesn’t change.” Hughes concluded.

Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and defender Paul Konchesky, who both missed the match against Bolton last week, are rated doubtful for the game. Though Konchesky will have a late fitness test. Diomansy Kamara, Andrew Johnson and new signing Philippe Senderos are long-term absentees, but Belgium international Moussa Dembele could be thrown straight into action after only signing this week.

United though will have to keep striker Bobby Zamora quiet, he was Fulham’s top scorer last year with 19 goals and scored in the 3-0 victory over United last December. Clint Dempsey is another who can get amongst the goals especially when arriving late into the box from midfield.

Comfort though can be taken from the fact that United have won 10 of their last 12 games against Fulham in all competitions.

Prediction: 2-0 United

Probable Line Up: van der Sar, O’Shea, Evans, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Fletcher, Scholes, Nani; Berbatov, Hernandez

***

Betfair is the official Manchester United betting partner and we here at Red Rants have partnered with them to offer a free £25 bet when you register.

Unlike other betting sites, Betfair allows you to place bets when the game is running and choose the odds at which you want to play. What allows you to do these things is you’re betting against other fans, not the bookie, so if you want better odds than are currently available, for example, you can place an order for a better price (but bear in mind that if your price is unrealistic your bet is unlikely to be accepted).

But despite that, it’s a bit odd that I am not worried. I would like Rooney to get more matches to regain his form of last season, but the promise Hernandez has shown means that it gives us more opportunity to see the Mexican international in action.

This can only be good. We don’t have to rely heavily on Rooney’s fitness if Hernandez, Berbatov and Owen (Macheda to a lesser extent) step up to shoulder the burden.

In midfield, we have the familiar problem we’ve had for a while now. Scholes cannot be expected to replicate his brilliant form. (If he does it will be a miracle of nature.) Carrick needs to step in, and, along with him, Anderson. Question marks are over Anderson—we really don’t know what shape he’s in. Fletcher can be relied upon. But Carrick has to shed his indifferent form from last year. But all this is familiar territory.

As for the first XI, I highly doubt Fergie will change from last week, even if he hasn’t really fielded the same XI in consecutive matches for a long time. Park could be selected to play in the wing because Fulham can be a tricky place to be. And if Park is selected it will most likely be a 4-3-3 formation with Nani on the other wing.

But if he were to stick with a 4-4-2—which is what I think he’ll go with—he’ll stick with the same XI (except Rooney, if reports are to be believed.) I would hope Rafael is played at right back from the start.

Prediction: 2-0 to the reds.

via ManUtd.com

The once promising midfielder was never really the same since his injury due to Pogatetz’ horror tackle. It may be said that his short-lived spell at SC Braga in Portugal didn’t do him any good either. A shame, but here’s hoping he’s carves out a nice career for himself with Santos.

“I’m feeling good. I’ve been training for two weeks and I’m very happy. I think maybe very soon I’ll come back again and start playing normally with the rest of the team. I have had no problems at all with the injury. I’m just running and training now really hard, so I can come back and train normally with the team.”
“I think the new season will be very difficult because a lot of teams are becoming strong,” he admitted. “But in pre-season we have looked very strong and I think we will come again this season and we will aim to win everything.”

via ManUtd.com

After escaping unscathed in a car crash, he should be glad he’s not had a bigger setback. There have been plenty of questions on his attitude, leave alone inconsistent displays. And it remains to be seen how he puts those things behind him and focusses on regaining a midfield spot—a task made more formidable given Fletcher’s near-unimpeachable status and the other spot held by Scholes or Carrick.

It’s a fair shout to say that if he doesn’t manage to establish himself this season in the first team, it’s going to be hard for him to stay on. Anderson was the one to catch everyone’s eyes when he was signed alongside Nani. But it’s Nani who has established himself as a starter while Anderson has gone off the rails, blighted by a mix of injury and inconsistency.

Public perception has been that this summer is quiet on the transfer front. In reality it’s not been quite at all. If you add up signings made during last season and during this summer we’ll realize that the club has in fact spent about £25m on players. True they’ve been spent with the future in mind, but they are signings nonetheless, and what we cannot ignore is that hard cash has been put into players. This is not something that we can write off as pure PR, because money has been spent.

This is not to extricate the Glazers from blame; far from it. We would have spent much more in the presence of a different ownership model—maybe even not had to spend because we’d already have had a better squad, but let’s not fantasize now.

But the question worth asking is: has the money been judiciously spent on signings? To answer that we’d need to go off our hunches, and other suppositions. (“Hernandez already looks a world beater!” “Smalling is a bit raw.” “Bebe? Who? £7.4m? Wha—?”)

Take the case of Bebe. My initial reaction was one of confusion. It’s partly owed to the statement from the official website which had him down as a striker. It’s a bit like Arsenal buying another midget who player behind the striker when what they needed was someone who was more lethal and in the box. But subsequent reports and *sigh* YouTube clips of him showed he was more an attacking midfielder who played either on the wing or behind the striker. Much better, then. Or is it? Well, it’s not really the price that bothered me. But the series of events that led to his signing. He was playing in the Portuguese third division, and signed up by Vitoria Guimares only a couple of months ago. By David Gill and Ferguson’s own admissions they were aware of him only a month ago. Add to that he was a Carlos Queiroz recommendation. His last scouting network find was Manucho, and the one before him Nani and Anderson. But the latter duo were already quite well known in various scouting circles. Manucho and Bebe, less so. Again, Manucho is just one data point, and there’s a significant difference between playing in the Angolan league and being snapped up by a Portuguese top division club. But still, the fact remains that Ferguson moved swiftly to snap up Bebe—paying over the odds in the process—just so others don’t get hold of him is rather odd, considering his recent caution in the transfer market, and his pronouncements about the “lack of value”.

In essence he was splashing over half the value of a star player like Mesut Ozil on an unknown. This is not a criticism of our scouting network, but more about a seeming lack of a plan in the mind of Ferguson. It seems he is as capable of falling to the whims of impulse. Yet he talks about caution and lack of value. They just don’t add up.

I am not calling for us to sign Mesut Ozil. From what I’ve read, and heard from media sources, there has been a solid interest from the club, but the complications arise from the indecision by Ozil himself, Bremen’s quandary over playing him in the upcoming Champions League qualifier (and hence, losing value) or selling their star player at the risk of possible exit from the Champions League qualification stage (and losing millions thereby). Also, there are a host of agents, and assorted hangers-on from his entourage trying to act on behalf of him, often without his or his agent’s knowledge.

I’ve said this earlier: I’d like Ozil to come, but if not, I’d much rather see Cleverley get an extended run. I’d like a more assertive midfielder who has the legs to move forward and help in our attack. Carrick is more composed and less dynamic. Scholes prefers a deep-lying role at his age. And Fletcher is better at mopping up and protecting the defence. If we ever needed to sign a ‘finished product’ I’d want someone in that role. If not, then we move on and look forward to the new season.

Ferguson once again decided to have a pop at the fans. To be honest, this sort of news doesn’t shock me anymore. I cringe when I hear it, or read reports and quotes from Ferguson, but it’s evident that he’s bent upon sucking up to the Glazers and showing contempt for the fans. And from here on, I’ve decided to compartmentalize—block the outrageous nonsense he spouts about fans, and focus on the season and his performance during the matches as and when it happens. It’s not about ignoring the ‘pressing issues’ regarding his attitude towards fans, but every time he opens his mouth about supporters, he isn’t going to be unpredictable. Everything I’ve had to say on him about that has been said. Little value in adding to noise, and redundancies. But every football match is new, every performance—win, loss, draw—is a new experience despite the years, and that is always worth discourse. So talking more about the actual football and less about off-pitch is what I’d like to do more of from now on. (Talking about the actual football—what a novel idea eh?)

Moving on, I have a lot to be optimistic about this bunch, despite my misgivings about the future. The starting XI is as good as any. Rio’s fitness is a worry, but the rise of Evans is important. This is a big season for our right-back Rafael. Neville is a club legend, but I would honestly like him to sit back and mentor Rafael more. Not since Ronaldo have I been as excited about a new signing, as I have with Hernandez. His eye for goal is something and ability to play on the shoulder of the last defender is something we’ve entirely lacked since the departure of Ruud and, to a lesser extent, Louis Saha. Rooney and Tevez always gave effort, often at the cost of not playing like a classic striker. Rooney has steadily improved every season in his goal scoring tally, but there’s something about Hernandez that will hopefully strike fear in opposition defences. He’s also exactly the sort of striker Berbatov would love.

I have my reservations on the midfield, partly because I don’t rate Anderson enough, and partly because I felt Carrick went backwards last season. I hope Carrick returns to his usual steady self, because it’s a damn indictment of our midfield if a 35-year old Scholes is the best we have.

Anyway, onwards and upwards we go. Hopefully the shower at Eastlands keep up the dreadful form they showed against Spurs.

The preview to our opening match will be up tomorrow.

Till then.

via Blackburn Rovers Official Site.

I had a look at their squad and it looks a bit thin in the strikers department. Hopefully he gets a fair share of games. A season-long loan deal is probably good for him because on evidence of his pre-season performances he’s not going to get a nod ahead of Rooney, Berbatov, Owen and Hernandez. Even so, Macheda would be ahead of him in the pecking order.

via Boss: Cleverley must stay – Manchester United Official Web Site.

Several reports over the past week said he’d be moving out on loan, but he isn’t. Yesterday, I’d remarked that I would prefer Cleverley to stay at the club. I would still like us to either loan or sell Gibson and give Cleverley an extended run in the side. If we’re not buying big stars we might as well give our more promising youngsters an extended run.

via Vida happy to stay – Manchester United Official Web Site.

Great to hear, but my hunch is that this is his last season at the club, and that Smalling was bought with a view to eventually replace him. Which is great—buying Smalling, that is. We can’t really say the same of our midfield.

In other news, SkySports.com on Welbeck:

Skysports.com understands Manchester United have agreed to loan out Danny Welbeck to Sunderland. The Black Cats made an enquiry about taking the highly-rated striker on a season-long spell at the Stadium of Light.

And the Daily Mail reckons Roberto Martinez has sealed a loan deal for Cleverley at Wigan.

If true, I hope Welbeck gets enough minutes at Sunderland. I trust Steve Bruce to give him more minutes. I don’t believe Welbeck will make it at United, but given regular minutes in the Premier League could change things.

On the other hand, I really like Cleverley a lot. In fact, if we were not to buy any midfielders come 1st of September, I’d probably give him a good go in the centre of midfield ahead of Gibson. I was worried about talk of a possible loan move to Newcastle or Bolton because he’d likely play for a side that will be forced to scrap their way through the season. Wigan could also be forced to do that, but Roberto Martinez likes his side to actually play football. And if that means playing Cleverley more often in the attacking role, then it would be wonderful.

Hopefully it’s Wigan instead of Bolton or Newcastle.

via Airtricity League Select XI 1 Manchester United 7: match report – Telegraph.

Quite. I don’t want to jump too readily onto the Chicharito-bandwagon because I try to wait till I see it in a proper contest, but Hernandez is making it difficult for me.

More of this in the season please. Oh, and Owen, what a great goal!

Meanwhile, all goal videos here.