Mar 14
Manchester United vs Fulham: Preview
After an imperious display in the Champions League against AC Milan, it’s back to the bread and butter of the Premier League as Fulham make the trip up north to face Manchester United, a team they inflicted a 3-0 drubbing to, in December.
Confidence will surely be sky-high following the 4-0 victory over Milan and Wayne Rooney will be looking to add to his 30 goal tally this season. The omens are good for United as Fulham have only won once at Old Trafford in 47 years, that was a 3-1 victory in 2003.
Edwin van der Sar will again start as goalkeeper. The Dutchman will have the reunited centre-back pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in front of him, something the Serb is delighted about and commenting on the partnership,
He stated: “We understand each other – he knows how I will react in certain situations and it’s the same the other way round.”
It is inevitable Patrice Evra will start at left-back and Gary Neville at right-back following impressive midweek showings. Wes Brown is out with a broken bone in his foot and John O’Shea is no nearer a first-team comeback.
After a couple of matches with a five-man midfield, Sir Alex Ferguson should revert back to a more familiar four-man set-up with Michael Carrick returning to the line-up following his European suspension. Darren Fletcher should be beside him giving Paul Scholes a well earned rest. Antonio Valencia was one of the star performers on Wednesday and will retain his place on the right side. Ji-Sung Park was immense during the week and has earning an opportunity to replicate his European form in the League.
Sir Alex will have to do without Anderson who is out for the season with a knee injury, in addition, Owen Hargreaves’ comeback has been delayed yet again, and despite returning to training this week Ryan Giggs is still nursing a broken arm and will not feature.
Wayne Rooney is the man of the moment; so expect another goal or two from the world’s most potent striker. Partnering Wazza will be Bulgarian superstar, Dimitar Berbatov. Still trying to win over some fans, he has shown in recent weeks the kind of player he can be with a number of standout performances.
Ferguson was full of praise for Fulham manager Roy Hodgson, tipping him for the England manager job once Fabio Capello steps down,
“Roy Hodgson has great experience, the kind of experience you need in international management. He would be ideal for that type of thing”.
He continued by calling for calm in the weekends match following the victory over AC Milan:
“Our performance level was good. The minute we scored the second goal it became better and in fairness I think that goal knocked the stuffing out of them and there wasn’t really a way back after that.
So, of course, it was a fantastic result for us, but as I said we need to calm ourselves down a little bit.”
Fulham boast a team beaten in one of their last six league matches and one that trounced United at Craven Cottage earlier this season. February manager of the month Roy Hodgson will no doubt have a well organized unit at Old Trafford and one that have February’s player of the month Mark Schwarzer among its ranks.
One man to watch out for is Danny Murphy; the former Liverpool player has a knack of scoring against United, though has a slight groin problem. Bobby Zamora has eight league goals this season and is the Cottagers’ leading scorer, while Damien Duff is enjoying a new lease of life with the London club.
John Pantsil has a knee injury and Kagisho Dikgacoi is doubtful with an ankle complaint.
Some comfort can be taken from the fact that Fulham have not won away since the opening weekend victory against Portsmouth and United have went over 10 hours since they last conceded at home.
Prediction: 3-1 United
Probable Line Up: van der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Neville; Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher, Park; Berbatov, Rooney
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Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (542)
Stephen (493)
RedDevilEddy (462)
Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
Just watching Hargo in the reserves now! So exciting to see him playing again.
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My lord, the Curly-Haired one lives!
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Always flattering to still see your name mentioned after such a long time
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@RM: You’re wrong. He needs the media badly. His bad reputation is fostered through the media and his bust ups with managers, referees and the FA only take on a more negative light and against him due to his animosity towards them. If he was friendlier towards the media, perhaps then the media would make more of a stink to the FA about why Gerrard didn’t get suspended and why Rio got 4 games? But as it was something that could screw over Fergie, they were mum about the whole affair. If you are friendly and cordial you make more friends and allies. He’s only hurting his team with his belligerent attitude.
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Well he’s done alright for himself so far with or without the media’s help. He also has a reputation within the game that we don’t really see or hear about and apparently that reputation is held in the highest regard.
Also you seem to be making some assumptions about the Gerrard incident. I read about it so they didn’t exactly stay silent and I doubt the media could have done much more about it anyway since the FA were fairly clear that they couldn’t do anything about it. I think your qualms should be with the FA and their strange rules with regard to retrospective punishments.
Anyway I see where you’re coming from but I’d rather see him give ‘em hell
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@RM: It’s not the silence regarding the media, it’s the fact that when we do something wrong, they immediately take a side or a position against us and right editorials condemning us. If Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal players or managers do anything wrong, the condemnation is not as loud or judgmental. Fergie has a target on his head and the media just lives for the day when he breaks the rule or codes of conduct. They do have a nasty double standard towards and this has a lot to do with the relationship or lack of that has been tarnished by his attitude.
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@Grognard: They just hate United’s consistent success. They’d do the same to any team in the same situation.
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@JB: Fuckin hell!!! A revenant!!!
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@Grognard: Only thing that concerns me about the game against LiverPOO is that Torres has Vida’s mark. He knows exactly what Vida’s weekness is – Attack Him with PACE on his right side, and move him away from goal. Torres is scoring plus goals again as is Rooney, but Rooney is yet to prove himself against L’POO whereas Torres has proved himself against United. Fergie had better make sure he has somebody on Torres who can take him out of the game
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: L’Poo will never fall apart against us mate – they want to beat us too much ALWAYS! They are not going to win the league, and they would hate us to get the 19th PL title to better their record. So they will be all about blood, guts and thunder. We know Fletcher is already beaten before he goes out on to the field with his latest scared public attitude to L’Poo, so it is up to the rest of the lads TO REFUSE TO BE BEATEN by equally giving blood, gutd and thunder back again only MORE SO. Give Fletch a jersey with a yellow stripe, cos I am disgusted at his L’Pool are such a great team, will be hard to beat, and they are coming to beat us
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