Nov 03
Manchester United v CSKA Moscow: Preview
Darren Fletcher is expected to return to a side beset with absentees — to injuries and personal reasons. The manager took time out to shower yet more praise on Fletcher.
“Most people now recognise Darren Fletcher as a big-game player,” said Ferguson. “We have been aware of that for quite a while. Now he is getting an acceptance that he is a very important player for us.
“Our fans see that he is a key player in major games. That has been very important to the lad because it gives him a confidence. He has been missed in some key games recently and yes, it is great to have the boy back.”
He also intends, like all managers, to ensure we qualify to the next stage top of the table. [Video here]
He was doubtful about Rio Ferdinand even making it for Chelsea but defended him. I expressed a bit of concern for Ferdinand; his lack of pace in the City game — as well as against Torres — was worrying. But I also had a nagging feeling that he wasn’t playing at 100%. I think if it’s one week, two weeks or one month, it’s better if Ferguson sits him down and lets him take a break. It will do us better in the long term that way.
Meanwhile Michael Owen believes the Champions League could be the stage that would propel him on to England team reckoning.
“I can influence my chances by playing well and performing in the Champions League has to help. But I don’t go to bed thinking if I will play for England again. I think about playing well for Manchester United. The rest will take care of itself.”
As far as our starting XI goes, Rooney would be out. I saw Berbatov limp out of the Blackburn match, and he would be doubtful, with Park and Giggs definitely out. Owen would be upfront alongside perhaps, Welbeck. Valencia and Nani would be on the wings then with Fletcher certain to return in midfield alongside either Anderson or Carrick. Brown and Evans should be in central defence, Evra on the left, and there is a distinct possibility that Ferguson will plump for Neville at right back.
Prediction: 2-0 to United.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Manchester United drawn with Besiktas, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg
- CSKA Moscow vs Manchester United: Preview
- Liverpool vs Manchester United: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Sir Alex’s men for the third consecutive CL final?
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
I think Carrick will be playing alongside Fletcher. Would prefer Obertan to start instead of Nani but I know Nani would be given the preference and Obertan would make a substitute appearance at best.
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I somehow have the feeling that Anderson will start tonight and be on the bench against Chelsea. Guess only football pundits recognises the fact that he needs to be played consistently. The same with Nani. You cant just punch them down pick them up and punch them again….
How about some consistency?
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Consistency isn’t that Scotish for different every game
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@New one: I kinda of agree, although with Nani, I think he has been given a lot of opportunities. Look at Kiko, he was given just few opportunities last season and he did very well. Nani, well has tried a bit but the drive is not there and I must say he is not a team player. Look at the poor quality of his delivery presently. When He first joined United, his deliveries were almost impeccable. The FA cup game against Arsenal remains his best game to me. Honestly Nani needs to stop trying to be Ronaldo and just be himself. With Anderson its a different issue, the lad is growing but he needs consistency. A couple of goals will boost his confidence.
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I think it’s going to be a mish mash team, and that we’re likely to lose our ridiculous streak at OT in the CL. Had to happen sometime. CSKA know we don’t have our eyes on this match, whereas if they can get a win it puts them in real contention to get through. I expect Fergie to field:
———–Foster———-
-Neville-Evans-Vidic-Evra–
——Carrick–Scholes—–
—-Fletcher——-Nani—-
——–Macheda-Owen——-
Hoping that Obertan and Tosic get a look too
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@Beachryan: I am not quite sure but, i think Tosic is not a part of CL team that we have submitted to UEFA. So, then is he allowed to play mid way through…?????
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@ Onkar – yep you’re absolutely right, apologies. No Tosic. When will the boy be given a chance!? Sigh.
Anyone else find it hard to wait through the day when its a CL game in the evening…?
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@Beachryan: Yeah… Its very tough… Specially here in India… As for us wait is not till 7.45 in evening but, its till 1.15 midnight… Whats worse is you stay awake to see the match till midnight 3.30 almost and then catch up the office next morning by 8.30 leaving house by 7.00 in morning.
But, I think that fandom is all about isn’t it bro???? Man UTD love after all……..
Anyway, getting back to Tosic topic. I don’t know what Fergie is upto. I mean if I am not mistaken last time I saw him playing (in Carling Cup inthink) he looked ok… Definitely not as bad as some people make out. Infact he seems to have one of better close control and he has goos delivery too…
I mean can’t be as frustrating as Park is… Isn’t it??? Then why not try him more specially considering amount of time Park has got….
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@Onkar: You will be later than usual this time then. Ten Sports is tele casting the match on deferred live. At 3.15. I do not want to know the score before hand, kills the excitement. Should wait and see if I can resist it. The Milan Madrid game is on at 12 30. That should be a cracker too and knowing Fergie, he will field a 4-5-1 and bore us. So even though it sounds blasphemous, I’d rather watch the Milan Madrid game than fall asleep midway during the United game.
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@Onkar: I tend to agree with you on Tosic, he certainly has an eye for goal, and has good close control and he aint afraid to track back either, begs the question, why isnt he given more chances? Then again with all our wingers(Nani, Valencia, Park, Oberton), when do you get a chance to play him?
He may not have the physique for the english league, but I have seen him a few times and from what I gather, he certainly has the heart!
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@Grognard: Carrying on from the player in Player out topic. For all the talk about the Villa I don’t know why (or may be I know) but I have to say the player better suited for the job would be EDIN DZEKO. I mean he is at the right age when compared to Villa. I feel Villa at 28 has laready reached its peak. He in all fairness will take at least couple of months to settle down so you are getting hardly 2 yrs out of him whereas DZEKO is definitely lot better option at 23. Secondly, Villa is again more of Rooney in terms of his build which will not add that height to our attack which DZEKO will be able to provide. And last but not the least is the Price tag which DZEKO will have definitely cheaper then Villa.
Moreover if wolfburge is not in CL by Jan then I feel DZEKO will be available for even cheaper price as he will be cup tied and not many clubs will fancy him. may turn out to be a great buy at that time.
But, then again I would like to point one thing that we need a midfielder to create chances to our strikers so that they can bury it and even then they can’t then change the strikers. But, both of our fist choice strikers have shown in past that they can score hefty amount of goals but they would want better service and better tactical support from midfield and manager.
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@Aditya: I think just check the TV listing for ZEE Sports I feel if the TEN Sports in telecasting the match on delayed basis then ZEE Sports might be on live basis… Just check out bro…
And as far as knowing score beforehand concerns yeah… It really kills the excitement ….If the match is not on live basis then I am not watching it… Can’t get up in the midnight 3.30 to watch the match as it will screw my whole tomorrow in the office….
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@New one: The problem here bro is the will of the manager. I mean if he can make place for the Park in the team then he can fit any one in it. Just to say I am not discounting PARK here but all I want say is he no better than what TOSIC is. I mean at the worst Tosic might be as bad as PARK isn’t it????
Then why not try him for god’s sake… He may turn out well if not great….
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@Aditya: And rather than waiting till midnight you can try some streams if possible… There will be few available on here as well….
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@Beachryan: Why would he start Foster when they haven’t clinched anything? EVDS is far from tired having rested for most of the season and also needing match time to find his fitness and form. If we ever see Foster again it will be Carling Cup and game 6 of the group after we have clinched advancing.
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@Onkar: Valid point but honestly, although I like Dzeko a lot, I’m not sure he is the right player for us. The way our midfield is, we need players who can make something out of nothing. Take the ball 35 yards out and somehow find a way through the maze to score goals. Why? Because frankly, our midfielders and fullbacks do not provide enough quality service into our forwards. Dzelo is a striker that like most strikers requires service. Aguero on the other hand can create goals on his own and his speed and skill will better blend with the speed and skill of Rooney. Dzeko isn’t much for holding the ball up and playing the Heskey role for Rooney, so for me, he just isn’t the right fit.
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@Onkar: But you are basing this on what mate? How many times have you seen Tosic play? The point is he hasn’t played for the big club so rating him higher than Park isn’t really very fair. Park offers nothing in attack but his defensive skills are such that on the road against a team like Wolfsburg, he would be valuable to have. I wouldn’t start him or Tosic for that matter tonight as we are at home and we need to go out and score some goals. Tosic for me is too small and too light weight for the Prem. Some small players can hack the pace and the grind of the EPL but I do not believe he is one of them. Simply put, he was bought to be Ljajic’s man servant and nothing more.
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I predict a dull 0-0 draw, possibly also a loss for us. The only way we can win this is with help from the ref, cause we truly suck.
We way do we have the team or management to beat CSKA at Old Trafford, our players are just not good enough. Think Im gonna stick to watch the Milan-Real game instead, this game will only be a waste of time… 
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@Grognard:
How can you say that Dzeko wouldn’t get the required service needed to shine for us? The problem with United these days isn’t the amount of crosses floated into the box, IMO we have plenty of crosses, but we do not have a intelligent target man to get on the end of them. Rooney is to short, and even though Berba has the hight he just isn’t good enough in the air to provide any threath there. He needs the ball at his feet.
A norwagian pundit always highlight that United base their attacks on wing players and crosses into the box but lack the areal threath to be very successfull at it. I would urge you to count the amount of times we put crosses in during a match, because I think that you would be in for a surprise. Problem is that no one is at the end of those crosses and hence we do not create anything from them.
IMO a big, stron and intelligent target man would get onto those crossses a lot more than our current strike force does.
My issue with Dzeko is not wether he would get the needed support, it’s more wether he’s really good enough to play for us. After all, he’s just had a season and a half of top level football to date. And in a league that though not bad it’s not the pinacle of European football either.
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Welbeck is injured as far as I know so won’t be involved.
I figure it will be Fletcher/Scholes in the middle tonight with Ando/Fletcher to try battle the power of Chelsea’s midfield on Sunday, maybe even Carrick on Sunday if we play 4-5-1.
Owen will probably play along side Macheda. I hope Valencia and Evra get a break tonight. They will need to be at their best for Sunday, we can’t afford either to be hurt. Perhaps Obertan to come on for Valencia at 60 minutes and Fabio to play from the start. Neville on the right as he is not eligible for Sunday.
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Please fergie,win,loss,or draw,play some entertaining stuff.We are tired of sleeping in pubs trying to watch our defenders kick the ball upfield.
Fletcher is back? i hope his partner is allowed to play in a more advanced role
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Damn…the game is not on TEN Sports??? I cant wait till 3.30 to watch Fergie bore us all to death..I think I’ll just watch the comedy drama that will be Milan Vs Madrid..definitely better entertainment value
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@Vivek: It will be live on Zee Sports
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@owen…
I dont get Zee sports..dont think its available on Tata SKy..but like I said, would rather watch the Milan-Madrid comedy
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@owen: I hope bro it that it will be live on ZEE Sports…. But, as far as TV listing shows they are showing Chelski and Athletico game as the live game. I hope they will change it at last moment…
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@Grognard: Higuian is one such player – who can create something out of nothing. good thing is he can play wing forward role as well so with him we can play 4-3-3!
Aguero wud be an awesome signing but I think chelsea too are serious about him and we all know very well what happens when chelsea and utd go for the same player!
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@Grognard: I know bro that the KUN will do all the things that you have poited out… And he has that ability, Skills and more importantly the CHARISMA the so called X factor that our team is missing..
But, as I speciafiacally pointed out I was talking about the popular public opinion of VILLA to Man UTD. And for me DZEKO is more realistic choice than VILLA for the reasons I have poited out. Secondly, just try and count through the no of passes that Valencia make in a game fly through the box without any intervention from strikers (and then most of us feel that the delivery lacked quality, its the deficiency of the target man that united have). We never seems to have a player who attcks the NEAR/FAR post. Which wastes all the half chances that Valencia craetes. I think in this regards DZEKO will be very usefull…
And I am just restricting the comparison between VILLA and DZEKO not adding KUN to it as he is just not comparable to any one of these two he is far SUPERIOR to both of them…….
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While we are at it, a cheeky bid of 10m + Carrick for Febregas will do it for me
Wenger wud love it
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My prefered team for tonight:
Foster
Rafael
Evans
Vidic
Evra
valencia
Fletcher
anderson
obertan
welbeck
Owen.
That team is more then capable of a 2-0 win.
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Fans in the States… is the Utd game on FSC or Fox Sports???? I totally forgot about the game…
Now, I have to hurry home after a meeting to watch the game (or I could sit in my office and iraqgoals.com , magedtv.com or redlog.pl it all day
I kinda wanna watch Liverpool-Lyon and hope for their worst
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@NorwegianDevil: ND???? Are you Eddy in disguise?
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What is up with Giggs? Why is he out for so long? Or are we saving ourselves for the Chelsea hustle?
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: He’s got an injury – not seen exactly what. Perhaps a blessing as it forces more games on the likes of Nani and maybe Obertan. Ando’s first season, he got all those games because Scholes was hurt and did really well. Maybe Giggsy being out can be the kickstart for one of these guys – though an in form Giggs, I’d love to have for Sunday.
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@NorwegianDevil: The Canal+ “experts” know shit about football, except for Lars Tjernås` precious “Å NEI!” when Diaby headed the ball into his own net I cant think of anything they do right!
Ron Atkinson is a good aquirement, but otherwise they do fuck all. Id rather watch the games, their analysis is as useful as a drunken donkey.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: If he was me, he would have said at least one thing about Anderson.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: He has got a knee injury, so would be surprised to see him start on Sunday. Thank God Park is injured as well, probably means another chance for Nani or Obertan. They both looked fresh against Blackburn.
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@Footy4Eddy: troll much
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@gator: Yeah baby, rock the casba.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: The website says it’s on
FSCSetanta Sports.Like?
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@Footy4Eddy: haha i hope we see some key players rested today for the scum at the weekend. i can see oberton and at least one twin playing a part today.
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I prefer to go with this formation:
——–Foster———
Rafael-Brown-Evans-Fabio
Nani-Fletcher-Scholes-Welbeck
——–Owen-Macheda——-
Need to give rest to Valencia, Evra and Anderson to be 100% fit for the next game.
Prediction: 1-0 Owen to score
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@Ramkarthik: ill buy that team if scholes is pushed up to cam and isnt allowed to tackle
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@Onkar: The problem is that Dzeko may do all the things you say he can but I still do not believe he will receive the service from out players. I agree that Villa is too old for us to chase although I would not say no if he came here. Until we get midfielders or a RB who can deliver passes and crosses consistently well into the box and to our forwards, we could have Pele and Gerd Muller up front and it wouldn’t make much difference. If you see our forwards not in ideal positions to receive service, that’s not their fault, it’s Fergie’s fault for the system we play that demands our forwards track back and play much higher up.
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@Dan: Mate this is the frakken Champions League, not the reserves nor is it the Carling Cup. Get real, we haven’t clinched anything yet and you never take games for granted when you haven’t clinched.
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@Grognard: I think that’s not too bad a team. I think we can still beat CSKA at home with that. Considering our injuries, it’s not far from a reasonable selection.
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@Grognard: One word:
ANDERSON!!!
The man you seek, the man you need, the man you long for and get wet dreaming about at night, his name is Anderson Abreu de Luis Oliveira! 
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Lineup
VDS
Neville
Brown
Evans
Fabio
Valencia
Scholes
Fletcher
Nani
Macheda
Owen
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Seems the team is out. Someone can confirm?
VDS, Neville, Brown, Evans, Fabio, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Valencia, Macheda, Owen
Rooney on bench. Got it from Ben Hibbs on twitter.
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I am going to start today,thats sure
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@t_reason:
omg
omg
omg
omg
omg
omg
omg
OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!
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