Michael Owen will start as Manchester United’s fringe players take up the challenge of winning a third Carling Cup in a row at Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side faces Wolverhampton Wanderers in the competition for the second year running. Danny Welbeck’s goal handed United victory in last year’s third round.
Owen has largely been ignored this season amid Javier Hernandez rise at the club and Dimitar Berbatov’s excellent goalscoring form. But the 30-year-old, who is out of contract in June, scored twice as Ferguson’s side beat Scunthorpe United in round two last month.
The former Liverpool player failed to make the bench for United’s victory over Stoke City at the weekend but has scored seven goals in his last nine appearances in the Carling Cup.
Although the temptation to retain two-goal Hernandez is strong, the in-form Mexican is more likely to feature against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.
Owen could partner Italian teenager Federico Macheda in attack, while Bébé is set for a first start for the club following a surprise £7.4 million summer transfer. The Portuguese Under-21 international has made just two substitute appearances for the club to date.
Meanwhile, French winger Gabriel Obertan, Anderson and Darron Gibson could all feature in the Reds’ midfield as United seek a third final in a row.
However, the player’s progress is threatened by off-the-field issues, including an arrest amid newspaper allegations of involvement with illegal drugs and firearms.
Although Ferguson will continue the now long-held policy of fielding principally fringe players until the semi-final, the Carling Cup represents a realistic chance of silverware this season with other leading clubs also fielding weaker sides. Indeed, with Chelsea favourites to retain the Premier League and United probably short of the quality to challenge in Europe, the Carling Cup is arguably more important to United than ever.
Meanwhile, Wolves manager Mick McCarthy may also rotate his resources, although not necessarily resorting to the 10 changes he made in last season’s Premier League fixture at Old Trafford. The Irishman made a calculated gamble on his squad’s freshness. It was a decision that helped the Midlanders retain a place in the Premier League last season. The ridiculous £25,000 fine handed out by the Premier League is now made a complete mockery by the 25-man squad system introduced this season.
McCarthey’s men, who lost to Chelsea at the weekend, face United twice, Manchester City and Arsenal in a daunting series of fixtures over the next fortnight. It makes a Carling Cup run all-the-more important, says McCarthy.
“At this moment in time, wouldn’t it be great for us to have a cup run?” said the affable McCarthy.
“Everyone knows about the games we’ve got. We’ve just been beaten by Chelsea, we’ve got Man United in the cup, (Manchester) City in the league, United in the league then Arsenal in the league.
“So wouldn’t it be great to have a victory of any sorts amongst all of those? And if it’s going to be in the Carling Cup, let’s have it.”
It will take a monumental effort, despite United’s fringe squad, as Wolves have not won at Old Trafford in 30 years.
Opposition
Wolves – 4-4-2 – Hennessey; Stearman, Mancienne, Mouyokolo, Elokobi; Foley, Jones, Milijaš, Hunt; Ebanks-Blake, Bent.
Subs from: Van Damme, Edwards, Craddock, Henry, Fletcher, Ward, Hunt, Jones, Berra, Jarvis, Zubar, Mujangi Bia, Doyle, Foley, Guedioura,
United squad
Kuszczak, Amos, Smalling, Evra, O’Shea, Rafael, Fábio, Brown, Anderson, Carrick, Gibson, Hernández, Macheda, Hargreaves, Owen, Park, Eikrem, Dudgeon, Gill, Morrison, Brady, Bébé, Obertan.
Officials
Referee: L S Mason
Assistant referees: A I Halliday & S Burt
Fourth official: P T Crossley
Form
United – WWDWDW
Wolves – LWLLDL
that midfield is a car crash, don’t we have anyone in the stiffs who can play holding mid
I see United have Robbie Brady, Ravel Morrison and Magnus Eikrem in the squad for tonight.
I bet he get’s injured whilst scratching his cheesy balls.
Really wanna see Ravel Morrison play
That lineup looks like a partial solution to this season’s fixture congestion. Same again in United’s first FA Cup tie, and they’ll only be playing one game a week from January on.
They say Morrison is only 17! Bebe and Obertan, I hear should be starting as most of the regulars are being rested for the Spurs game.
Hope the “new” lads get to strut their stuff.maybe a Gem or two in there?
Brady , Eikrem , Dudgeon , Morrison should all play at least half a game……
i earnestly hope to see eikrem get a run. he seems to have real quality of a playmaker. he’s captain of the reserves and should get a run in ahead of the other youngster. with gibson and anderson starting can’t see too many chances created there. maybe obertan will show some magic, and clinical owen will put one in vamos UNITED!
I would like to see both Ferguson and Phelan in midfield. Even a Man Utd senior citizens team should be able to beat Wolves!
It is more likely to be an opportunity for a few players to play their way out of the squad: Macheda and cash to Roma for De Rossi, Anderson and cash to Porto for a case of quality Madeira wine, and Gibson and cash to Blackpool for a weekend getaway for Sir Alex and the misssus (which he’ll probably have to give to Rooney to keep him happy).
Sounds like a good move!
morrison is supposed to be Don – get the cunt on, has to be better than Andershite
Man Utd V Wolves Live On WatchMUFC.com
Been a lof talk on Morrison, hope he does feature in the game but hope he gets more than 10 minutes! SAF has a habit of giving youngsters 5 and 10 minutes of play only!
bebe starts.. full team soon
Looks like United will start like this:
Amos
Fabio / Brown / Smalling / Evans
Obertan / Gibson/ Carrick / Park / Bebe
Macheda
tbf, that’s our best 11….glad to see we are takin the cup seriously again..
ffs
surely brown wil be rightback and evans in the middle
looking forward to seeing park, heard he’s got a lot of talent, let’s see what he can do
Hey, on other websites, fans are calling for Mourinho to replace SAF next summer. I told this one guy that if Mourinho comes in, he will need a guarantee from the Glazers of 300 million to replace 90% of the current players with all his superstars and he will bring Ronaldo to OT with him. If he is refused the money, he will be GONE! Can only manage and get resuls with teams made up of superstars. You and I can manage a team of superstars, they are that good, really don’t need to show them how to play.
porto… european cup?
has failed to win the league once in the last 6/7 years
yeah hes useless
Amos, Brown, Smalling, Evans, Fabio Da Silva, Obertan, Carrick, Gibson, Park, Macheda, Bebe. Subs: Kuszczak, Neville, Hernandez, Rafael Da Silva, Brady, Eikrem, Morrison
wtf is up with owen?
i had him down to start
not even on the bench
he has a knack of scoring in this competition and it would have been good back up if he was at least a sub
bebe starts – lets see what he is made of
I would not say Mourinho is useless but if the club is filthy rich and has lots of money to bring in superstars and does not want to o longer invest in young players and decides to close its youth Academy, then he is the right manager for the job.
Would think the formation is something like this:
Brown Smalling Evans Fabio
Gibson Carrick
Obertan Park Bebe
Macheda
Would love to see the young lads play a blinder for a change, but am not optimistic.
ffs. not Park again!
its that gibcunt that worries me most not park
attendence 10,000?
anus savage exhaulting gicunt on 5 live
30 to 35,000 hmmmmmmmmmmm
link?
morgue like atmosphere at cold trafford
gibshite passing woeful
come on reds ffs
someone get a grip ffs
Slipping and stumbling all over the show, whats up with the pitch?
Hell of a lot of empty seats even for this stage of the Carling Cup
absolute bollox thus far
boring
I think Bebe looks good. Still very rough, but has a basic x-factor and hunger in my opinion.
Proper shit
Could do with a few more first teamers to add some much needed fluidity
ticket prices not reduced for the carling cup
hence the reason why its half full
fucking glazer motherfucking leeching gimp faced cock sucking ass licking owners
fucking shite game
even willing gibcunt to shoot on sight now
come on u fucks
nice effort from macheda
how the fuck did that dog munching fuck not score then?
bebeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Bebe, well in
Are you watching Daily Mail
great goal, good build up by Obertan. Wank celebration dance.
Bebe…lucky goal
good goal. Obertan has been really good
surely an o.g.?
thats right
do as the 1st teamers do
lose a fucking lead like a bunch of pussies
ffs
spastics
who’s this jarvis
time for little pea surely
Didn’t see that it was a deflection, still, good effort by Bebe. Have a decent game now. I notice that Bebe tends to attract two defenders to him, if he can learn to take advantage of that he’ll become very effective.
dont know but saf should buy him for £15 million or so
Park off, Hernandez on.
is that happening or is that wishful thinking?
christ, all of our players must practice finishing.
passing would be great too
Wishful thinking, although it looks like Hernandez is coming on actually.
Fucking hell Park scores
i take it all back
dog munching goal scoring beauty
great player, Park, I’ve always said that.
now focus on keeping it tight at the back ffs
ffs.the little fooker scores..nice
hmmmmmmmm chin rubbbbbbbbbbb
Obertan’s composure is definitely improving, not such a headless chicken now.
he does look like an easter island statue though – definitely related to silvestre
What’s going on??
Fabio’s been brilliant.
That’s a weird substitution. Fabio’s been doing well, and G-Nev is wank these days. Fabio looked pretty gutted too.
He’s a skinny Silvestre.
gibcunt losing the ball and wolves equalise
Fuck Gibson
What’s he doing that there for
Evans would have been shown the door a couple of years ago.
what a …ahhhhhhhhhhhh fook it
i hate that fucking cunt savage so much
can we throw him into the irish sea?
Wolves can smell victory here, would be a disgrace to lose this match after leading twice.
can we get a 3rd?
neville you fucking USELESS cunt, try making a tackle like you did last week you old twat, ffs!
this jarvis cunts got a lot about him
sweet pea on
can he feed gibson to the wolves?
Smalling looks better. I’m not sure if Evans is better than a backup player. Why put Neville on when Raf is on the bench? Neville just got bamboozled there. Honestly, he’s just not up to it anymore.
ooh Hernandez is a player, nice pass that. We’ve got a winner with him.
come on united
yeah all hernandez can do is run onto the ball; this cunt could be the real deal – fucking looks sharp in the middle of the pitch – and up for it, the likes of which you haven’t seen since an early Rooney or Tevez
good player.. one of those twats at the bbc says hes one of the best wingers in the league
aye
that twat is knob end savavge
Ipswich and West Brom thru
Hernandezzzz
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet pea
Now THAT’s a player of class similar to OLE
super goal…
Nice
says a lot about him that you just knew he was gona score that
awesome finish – full on confidence, kisses the badge – awesome work rate
What is the referee doing? Striptease? Taking his shirt off in celebration?
Kudos to Wolves…good game from em
stop kissing the fuckin badge
morrison on…
oh leave him alone u moaning wet fanny
celebrate the win
I thought Morrison was excellent.
the Unck is pissed off because Carrick set up winner for Hernandez and Park scored
the cunkl is always pissed off about something or other
He comes from Mexico, he’s our new hero, VIVA HERNANDEZ!
ffs
Ha ha ha – you got any better ideas!!!
fuck, that cameo was stunning. the only thing chicharito did wrong was miscontrolling the ball near wolves’ corner flag from a throw in injury time. super super performance.
bebe looked a bit shit unfortunately. still, he scored and set up macheda for a certain goal.
obertan looks loads better. problem is, he seems to be on a different wavelength from the rest of the team.
Unck has a weight problem, he’s trying to get into shape
how is the diet / training going Unck?
LKHF
in the 1st half, bebe was our best player according to bbc
it was his 1st start – he will improve and that goal would have lifted his confidence no doubt
sweet pea does look a bit special i agree
shrek should take note – doubt it though
double that ffs
I thought Obertan showed a lot of improvement and looked quite good, better than most of his teammates. Bebe looked much rougher, but still promising. Fabio played very well, should have stayed on. Gibson was mediocre, looked worse than most of the younger players. Likewise Evans. Smalling looked quite good, though he made some dodgy passes. Macheda didn’t have a good game.
All in all, I thought it was a pretty promising performance by the young lads. Most of them showed real signs of improvement.
I’d be banned if I told you what.
Whens he gona give Eikrem a game
I think Bebe looks exactly what he is: hugely talented, but much rougher than the other young lads who’ve been receiving top training for years. He was one of our best players today. When he learns a bit of composure, he’ll be very effective, it’s obvious already that his speed and strength scares the shit out of defenders, he usually had two defenders doubling up on him, and if he learns how to adjust to that like Ronaldo and Nani did before him, he could become very good.
apart from the fact I just had four bowls of tesco value cornflakes for dinner, its going great, ffs
u fat cunt uncle
and ur a poor cunt too
try tesco finest u pauper
neville came on and got skinned by jarvis immediately. why the fuck was fabio taken off? he did great, and always tracked his marker. 1 goal saving tackle.
I thought Obertan had a decent game. He does need to brush up on his decision making but that will only come if he plays more regularly.
I’m not paying 3.50 odd for a box of cereal ffs, outrageous
Macheda is useless. Bebe had a good game as he had been out injured and had not played any football for sometime.
Morrison is headed for stardom if he can keep out of trouble.
I’m worried about evans
macheda won’t make it
Macheda is still 19, a bit younger than the rest of them – give him time.
I suppose I’ve gotten so used to seeing Berbatov, Rooney, Owen waste so many goal scoring opportunities that I didn’t see Macheda’s performance as that bad.
Its good that the newspapers are saying that BEBE was the man of the match, especially after they were trahing him when he first came to OT. Hernandez is got his confidence now after getting more games and I hope SAF does not wait for another Carling Cup game to play Bebe. While he is fresh now and has scored a goal, I would start him again against Spurs, because he is just starting to find his groove. Also start Hernandez and Berbatov up front.
VAN de SAR
RAFAEL VIDIC FERDINAND EVRA
NANI FLETCHER ANDERSON BEBE
BERBATOV HERNANDEZ
I thought you were trying to lose a few pounds.
he should hire his arse out on hampstead heath
he’ll defi lose weight then
Against Spurs? Not a chance. I wish we could play 4-4-2, but Tottenham have too good a midfield for that; United will have to play 4-5-1. I doubt Bebe would start either way; I’m not sure he’s ready to defend against a winger like Lennon.
After the past few games,Smalling looks like a very good player. Has pace and reads the game well. Evans doesn’t look confident at all. Thought he would be our future Centre Back for years. Doesn’t look like thats going to happen.
Owen makes Maschede look 1st rate
They are the ones which fall on the floor and are then sold to Tesco’s as cheap as possible, then sold by Tesco for 3.50… ffs
Wheetabix are good for you, or Porridge Oats with only a little bit of sugar (if at all)…Try Allbran (if you can swallow that shite).
stop eating u fat bastard if u want to lose weight……
lol
Shop at Waitrose ya cheap bastard.
there’s no value
Stop quoting Fergum