Sir Alex Ferguson will make wholesale changes to the Manchester United team that faces Schalke on Wednesday night, with one eye firmly on Sunday’s Premier League showdown with Chelsea. The 69-year-old Scot will include Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and Paul Scholes in the side to face the German champions, safe in the knowledge that Schalke must score three without reply at Old Trafford to progress.
Such is United’s confidence in Europe this season – no defeats and eight victories from 11 matches – that the Scot can be forgiven for applying greater importance to the Reds’ weekend Premier League fixture. After all, Schalke’s performance in last week’s first leg was so underwhelming that few credit the former Bundesliga champions with much hope of progressing.
However, the Scot insists there is no complacency in the United camp for the tie, which could see the Reds reach a third Champions League final in the past four years. With Barcelona already in the Wembley showpiece, United must avoid a 3-0 defeat to ensure a repeat of the 2009 final.
But with United under pressure at home, Ferguson will gamble with United’s European progress against a team that scored five at Internazionale in the quarter-final.
“We feel we have a lot of work to do tomorrow,” Ferguson told the press on Tuesday.
“I think it is very easy to get complacent in modern life, there are many examples of it. But I hope nobody at Manchester United regards it as a formality tomorrow, I certainly will not be. I think the work ethic will need to be very high tomorrow, very high, in order for us to qualify.
“We know that Schalke have nothing to lose. That is the message he [Schalke’s Ralf Rangnick] will give to his team. I think they will have a go and try to win the match – there is nothing else they can do. Any coach in a semi-final must give his team that chance to try to win the match and I think we’ll find that he will have a real go.
“If you look at the experience of last year when we lost the league, the team were very tired against Chelsea after playing Bayern Munich on the Wednesday. That will have a bearing on my team selection. We’ve got two massive games, both as important as the other. There will be some changes. Hopefully the nucleus of the team is still good enough to win.”
Ferguson will rest key attacking players including Wayne Rooney, who has a tight hamstring in any case, Javier Hernández, Ryan Giggs and Antonio Valencia. Meanwhile Anderson, so ineffectual against Arsenal, could drop to the bench following Saturday’s defeat, with Darren Fletcher and Darron Gibson pushing for a place in United’s starting 11. Fletcher is likely to start on the bench after missing two months with a virus.
However, the Scot is likely to retain Rio Ferdinand, Edwin van der Sar and captain Nemanja Vidic in an experienced back four as United chase only the club’s fourth European Cup final win. Fabio da Silva misses out due to injury, with John O’Shea or brother Rafael coming into the side. Indeed, Ferguson says that the prize is too great for Saturday’s defeat to affect his players ahead of Schalke’s visit.
“We always have work to do in the next match. That is the great beauty of football at least. You always have the next game in which to do something and we’ve only had to wait three days. That is an important issue for us because it is a part of being a good team, how you can recover from a defeat.
“The interesting thing about last weekend was that the four [Champions League semi-final] teams all lost. So European games do take it out of you. I have to pick the right team tomorrow in order to have the same kind of freshness I need for Sunday’s match.”
Meanwhile, Schalke arrives in Manchester with no pressure having frozen at the Veltins Arena last week. Despite slipping to mid-table during a fraut Bundesliga campaign, coach Rangnick has instilled an attacking mentality in the Die Königsblauen that was rarely evident against United last Tuesday. Rangnick has promised a better display at Old Trafford; it could hardly be worse.
The coach welcomes back key defender Benedikt Hoewedes, while Dutch striker Jan-Klass Huntelaar could make the bench.
“Tomorrow we will show we can play better than we did last week and that we have learnt our lessons,” Rangnick told a news conference on Tuesday.
“In football you can get the chance so we will see what happens. When we played in Milan against Inter people didn’t give us much hope either.
“I think we have to be well organised in the first 10 minutes and then we have to take our chances when they’re presented, even if there are just two minutes left. You think of Manchester United and the Champions League win [in 1999] when they came back to win 2-1.
“If Sir Alex Ferguson does spare players it shows he has belief in his squad. And if we have a chance it is up to us to perform in contrast to the first-leg. We need to take a different approach, learn from that and apply the lessons tomorrow.”
Victory for the German visitors is certainly not beyond Rangnick’s men, although an open match will allow United to strike on the counter. In Raúl Gonzales Schalke retains a potent attacking threat despite the Spaniard’s poor showing in the first leg. The 33-year-old striker scored four goals in three games against United for Real Madrid, appearing in both legs of Madrid’s quarter-final win in March 2000. Raúl hit another brace when Madrid beat United 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu in a quarter-final tie three years later.
It might take a similar effort to knock a much changed United side out.
Match Facts
Champions League semi-final, second leg. Old Trafford, Manchester, 7.45pm
Teams
United – 451 – van der Sar; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Nani, Gibson, Scholes, Park; Owen, Berbatov. Subs from: Kuszazck, Brown, Evans, Smalling, Rafael da Silva, Anderson, Carrick, Valencia, Hernandez, Giggs.
Schalke – 4222 – Neuer; Uchida, Metzelder, Höwedes, Sarpei; Papadopoulos, Matip; Farfan, Jurado; Edu, Raúl. Subs from: Charisteas, Karimi, Sergio, Baumjohann, Schober, Avelar, Charisteas, Annan, Hao, Schmitz, Schober, Pliatsikas, Vasilias, Plestan, Kluge, Avelar, Draxler
Officials
Referee: Pedro Proença (POR)
Assistant referees: Tiago Trigo, Ricardo Santos
Additional assistant referees: João Capela, João Ferreira
Fourth official: Duarte Gomes
Form
United – WWLDWL
Schalke – WWDLLL
The unfortunate thing here is that, even if we win, we have the joy of playing Barcelona in the final. Fun!
We have a very real risk of winding this season out with fuck all.
I heard Sir Alex is interested in history and the great men who made history, Well at the battle of Agincourt (in the fourteenth century, I think),King Henry’s English army of 5900 men beat a heavily armoured French force of 60,000 men. As Henry says in Shakespeare’s play in his stirring speech to his men before the French attack: “anything is possible if our minds make it so”. Barca are so confident, so practiced in their way of playing that we need to force them to play differently, to have to think up solutions on the field itself not in the pre-match planning based on the presumption that we are so, so predictable. We need to make them anxious, unsettled, feeling like those French knights charging through a terrible rain of English arrows at Agincourt. Of course, there is another historical scenario, Barca score early and Lord Fegie, like the British army in France in 1940, panic, throw in the towel in the face of a blitzkrieg (German tanks and planes just crashing through) and try and head out of the stadium as fast as possible. If this should happen: if we fold miserably and uselessly in the final at Wembley (like we did in Rome, or even worse)– then we should just do everything we can to clear out the lot of them, because they will have brought untold shame onto this great club.
Haha, Agincourt… actual historians think it was a lot more even ;o)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt#Numbers_at_Agincourt
yup, well said.
garside, what the fuck are you on about?
Oh the Agincourt spirit thing — what the fuck am I on about? Well last night is what I was on about: suddenly we make it look so easy — 4 goals and ALL of them coming from midfield. Fluid attacking would seem to be the key against Barca — we have to put pressure on their defence and then uncertainty will spread throughout the team, attackers will have to track back and we can do it.
Satisfied?
Please not Gibson, ffs. Surely he’s had enough chances to prove he isn’t good enough for United?
He should know now from Twitter that everybody thinks he’s utter shite!
I don’t think Schalke will be as bad as they were at home
We partly made them that bad by relentless assaults on their goal
It’ll be different tonight – more chilled out
I’d play a combination of Fletcher and Anderson in Gibson’s place. Can’t risk Gibson and Scholes together.
While that is all very lovely, the parallels don’t quite work.
The key thing to remember is that Barcelona’s plan A – tiki taka – has yet to really be appropriately countered. Sure, Real have run them close and beaten them recently, but the fact is while we might have a better side, Real had individuals who could simply turn games in tight spaces.
For example, I’m not sure Carrick would or can cope with Barca’s high energy pressing all over the pitch and no doubt he’d make mistakes.
Our key man missing last year, Fletcher, is no doubt completely out of shape and out of form and practice – most likely if we go through, he won’t be in any condition to play the full 90 against Barcelona. He needs a good half an hour, 45 minutes tonight to even stand a chance. He won’t start, but he needs some game time.
Schalke won’t be the same side that was nervous and bottled it at home – they are under even less pressure now, away from home, two goals down – why the hell not just attack attack attack and see what happens. Literally nothing to lose – sounds like Arsenal a couple of days ago….
I firmly believe Fletcher missing (due to bullshit red) was a key reason we didn’t perfom against Barca. If we’d had Fletcher and Hargo last time round… we might’ve done it.
0-1 loss
What’s all this “must score three without reply”? They will go through if they win
1-3…..
With our regular defence and VDS playing, I cannot see them getting 3 at OT, or even 2.
Schalke is a very surprising team. Ferguson will probably adopt a defensive strategy and settle for a draw. Many regular will miss this game. Qualification looks like an easy task but Schalke will never give up the night. The main danger is an early goal scored by Schalke.
Miserable cock!
This surprises you? ;o)
Schalke will not play as badly as they did in first leg. I have a feeling we will under estimate them with out team selection. What a ridiculous situation to be in, worrying about whether a gamble will pay off because we need a fresh side against chelsea as we have been too inept to wrap up the league already.
I tend to agree. The pressing is the key part that worries me. That’s why we’re so poor away from home in the league, our midfield can’t stand high pressing. At home, the opposition is too scared and naturally falls back, but all our losses – even the Blackpool win – show the limitations of our midfield under pressure. Barca are probably the best at high pressing and this is why I tend to think we have little chance without some key injuries to their team.
For me, Fletch hasnt got a chance of starting at Wembley, it’s too late for him. Considering his form over the last year, I’m not sure it will be much of a loss anyway.
Tonight will be a cruise, I’d like to see Rooney get a rest. Hopefully Berba and Nani can recapture some form and confidence.
Its still a strong side and the bench is alright. Fergie is right to rest some of our key players. We stand to risking any of our key players to any serious injury considering the enormity of games we have ahead of us.
In any case we have one of the deadliest striking duo starting for us today, i believe to get the best of them we just need a dynamic/creative midfielder to give them the tailor made passes they need and there will be no stopping them.
Our success in in the C.L final will depend largely on the positioning of Rooney and Park. I am of the opinion that Rooney should be played on the left, while J.S.Park in the middle.
If fit fletcher could be very important in the finals.
I am still pondering if it will be best to start Valencia in the finals. Yes he has a destructive pace if given the chance to sprint and a great cross but how many bodies will be in the box to receive his cross.
Fergie possession, possession, possession. we should keep the ball at all cost. Positional disciple in the middle, we should always keep to our shape and not crumble under little pressure.
sorry we stand risking any of our key players to any serious injury considering the enormity of games we have ahead of us.
oh ffs
gibcunt plays tonite
just heard on radio 5
no rio, evra or vidic
berbs up front on his own
fucking bollocks team
krauts will look at our line up and just attack from the off as they have nowt to lose
that will put pressure on the back 4 and berbs will get fuck all service from the middle so it looks like it will be a long night
VDS Rafael Evans Smalling O’Shea Nani Gibson Scholes Anderson Valencia Berbatov
that is fuckig suicide imo.. whats goin on here, this will give schalke a massive boost
they wll throw evrythingat us now
Bench: Kuszczak, Evra, Vidic, Giggs, Fletcher, Hernandez, Owen
Giggs & Vidic to come on if it goes tits up
I’m glad we’re resting players with the Chelsea game coming up
i reckon you are right about resting the players but i would have started with the strongest possible line up and then rested them if there was nothing to play for in the 2nd half
that line up only gives the krauts more hope to attack
that said, we should have scored a bucket full last week and this leg would have been a formality
it will be a long night no doubt and if we get through, barca are stroking their proverbial dick waiting to bugger us to next season and beyond
If you start with a strong team then you can only rest 3 players
Schalke won’t expect to get anything at Old Trafford, not with this season’s monsterous home form
Evans is a risk though. But do the Krauts have a big cunt who can shit him up
berbs will be ineffective up front on his own ffs
need to start quickly from the off
no faffing around stroking their gonads
Just saw the team…………
Should be enough to get us through to the final.
i had the same opinion against the arse on sunday
come on united
que sera sera
Oh no… Evans, oshea and Gibson in a euro semi final?!
I shouldn’t doubt fergies genius but this looks effing ropey. Gonna be a loooong 2 hours to come
SAF saying he has to trust the lads
how many times has he trusted gibson and evans only to be let down
oh well we can live in hope that they both grow a pair of balls tonite and give us something to shout about
fucking diabolical our squad is innit
shocking team
with that midfield i bet iniesta xavi et al are shitting themselves
ffs
ffs indeed
1-1 draw methinks..if we are lucky…we have practically given them a goal start as well
here we go.. dont fuck it up.. evans!!!
shit it there
Gibbo looks a bit worse for wear, could be serious.
We live in hope…
Oh ye of little faith well done Toni.V
Great ball Gibbo!! lol
fucking hell
pass by gibson to tony
lovely
gibsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssson
How are we gonna win with Gibson on the pitch? Oh wait, he just scored!
Ha ha Gibbo scores WTF but well done.
Might have a real thrashing on here
OOH FFS
Neuer looked a right tit for Gibbo’s goal.
Well I’ll be fucked…
Who are we to doubt the master.
Gibson off now before he ruins it.
Shit
Complete opposite to last week – 2 chances, 2 goals
Gibson has been MOTM so far
Deary me lads stay switched on FFs
Smalling FFS
Valencia close
Class ball from Anderson
One of the passes of the season
Stupid from Scholes FFS
smalling fucked up big time for their goal
Brainless from scholes and anderson. Guardiola must be passing himself with the decisions they would get in the final. Fergie won’t be happy.
Some of the challenges are fucking ridiculous. I think some of the players want to miss the final.
Hi everyone, having to use my phone, as my pc is fucked, just need to stay tight now, and ease into the final.
gibson oshea evans can get sent of later if they want
Anderson’s tackle was cuntish and we may need him in the final.
Well so far so good, ref seems a bit card-happy so we need to be careful in the second half, but it would take a monumental cock-up not to reach the final now.
hi mad red
we need a 3rd goal before i feel at ease in this game
who would have thought that gibson is our motm 1st half?
think scholes should come off for fletcher – he does worry me with that yellow card already and it wasnt for a tackle either
I agree mate.
Neuer, do we still want him?
Scholes won’t play in the final. Anderson has more of a chance, I think. Take anderson off.
aye.. he is quality, his distribution is class
ooh ando… good save
Yeah Evra could do with a good run-out, he doesn’t get enough playing time and might be getting rusty…
Schalke look like a beaten side. Let’s not do anything daft.
knocking the dust off him
This is a match you’d expect Berba to get something out of, but I haven’t such much from him yet.
Guardiola wasted his time coming to the game. Many of our starters for the final have been rested.
I want a 3rd united goal.
we are so fucking useless from corners
get in ando… easy
stick that up ur kraut arses
3-1
fletch lives……..
Felcher’s back.
not really, hes not good up on his own, i expected little
apart from the mistake smallings been top notch again
They must of heard me.
holy fuck.. i cant believe my eyes
lovely ball by berbs to anderson there
Fucking hell Predator Junior is cooking tonight
Nice unselfish assist by Berbatov there. There really is a lot to admire about him as a player, as well as a lot that frustates.
To be fair to our second string lads, they’ve done well here. Schalke are a decent mid-table team, and Gibbo, Ando, etc. have put them to the sword here.
They must of heard me.
owen on to grab a goal or 3
That was a lovely chip from Ando to Owen. Maybe with a bit of belief and self confidence flowing through his veins, we might see the player he’s supposed to be.
what aball ando
Out of curiosity, why does it sound like the crowd are singing happy birthday?
its the krauts
andersons best game this season
Bring on Barcelona
For a team that looked different the lads have done themselves proud tonight, Darren Gibson, Anderson what has Ferguson done to them they were great.
fuckin easy… big finish to the season….. who would have thought it
Hopefully that’ll give us just the confidence boost we need for the Chelsea game.
actually gibson was pretty awesome tonite
maybe he needs a good kicking early every game
Well do lads, easy over two legs,
Much better than I expected. Very professional. Now onto chelsea.
funny that
Han, because when he normally, plays we all think that he needs a kicking.
OT is the only ground in the world that empties so quickly after a game ffs
their goalkeeper doesnt look so superhuman after all either
long drive to london
bring on the rentboy cunts sunday
anyone know the significance of tony v pointing to his right forearm after he scored?
tattoo of his daughter, i think.
Did you see how fast barca, emptied last night, man city empties right from the start of a match to.
aye yes even longer down to surrey
Yes, he is saying look wanking, does make you score.
Gibson plays well and Anderson scores two.
Fuck me.
And Osama was found.
Crazy shit happens in threes.
Well done lads, lets take the positives with the starting lineup we had I expected a cagey affair.
Anderson MOTM
Gibson played well too – clearly playing for his Twitter account
He did a few things he never normally does; ask for the ball, slide in and win he ball and track back and win the ball
Neuer had a mare
And you thought SAF had put a lousy team on the field. I thought the team was good enough to win this one. Schalke are just an average team, there was no need to panic. Don’t worry, we will beat Chelsea. The morale is high after todays win.
Good game from the also-rans… but really this tie was won last week.
Shalke were a desperate team, it showed for the first goal, that their left back was caught so far up the pitch… and after that, they were more or less beaten… what a ball from Gibson though.
Funny how Guardiola came to scout… and will have learned very little… he’d have ben better off coming to see us when the Renties visit.
Wemberleeeeyyyy… Wemberleeeeyyyy… Wemberleeeeyyyy na naaaa!
Its interesting that you would mention Guardiola because my friend was talking about him today. Guardiola has stated in the Spanish press that he would be interested in the United job if and when SAF retires. That would be great for United but as they say, most dreams don’t come true. Who you think should be line up against Chelsea? Do you think SAF will play a more attacking formation against Chelsea? We are the home team and we can’t just sit back and show Chelsea too much respect.
Agreed Herbs. I’d like to see this happen.
Nobody has mentioned how none of our players so much as smiled at the prospect of another European Cup Final
Fergie was loving it like
Is it because of the Chelsea match at the weekend or because we’re playing Barca?
We should not fear Chelsea or Barcelona. Play the United way and we will be successful. I look it at that playing at home against Chelsea and playing again at Wembley gives us the edge in both of these games. Yes Barca will be the heavy favorites but you have to look at from another angle. The right stradegy will be the key!
Strategy means fookall..Attack Attack Attack then you have a chance against a Über footy team like Barca..there again, maybe they will have a shit night on the 28th, seen enough cocky Utd teams go down 1:0 and lost the game cause they were too fookin full of themselves.
Agincourt…wet ground heavy cavalry..longbows need I say more?
Agree with above…attack em and no sittin back with thumb in arse.
We can’t let Barca get composed. In their comprehensive league victory over Real Madrid at the Nou Camp they seemed to be turning football into an art form, everything thought through perfectly, totally rehearsed or utterly instinctive and executed with aplomb. We have to make things chaotic for them (live up to our nickname `red devils’), so all their patterned football breaks down and they start to misjudge things and make mistakes (including, hopefully, mistakes in their own penalty area), and we must punish them for this. Our striking has to be killer: no missed chances or they will ride out the storm and take control. I see us winning through a devastating spell of say 20 minutes of play and a couple of goals. After that they have to come at us and we can play the counter-attacking game that we are so good at. We could even end up winning a high-scoring game (a real classico). I just can’t see us winning by playing a tight game because Messi, Xavi and Iniesta can find a way through even the tightest defences and we need a more open game to be able to exploit the open spaces and come at them with pace (especially down the wings). I am not sure who should start because most of the players in the squad have had really good games (mostly in Europe) and some very mediocre or sub-standard games (mostly in the league). But we do need pace and all things being equal, we should go for players who have pace over those that don’t (which would probably mean no Carrick and no Berbetov, and yet one could think of a scenario in which either or both of these 2 could be the players to do it for us. I think we should start with pace (and have pace in midfield) but keep some pacy players on the bench for a switch to a counter-attacking style of play once our noses are in front (Nani could be brought on late and maybe Carrick to provide service to the front-runners). If the plan doesn’t work and we stay level or they sneak ahead, then we need to gamble on bringing on extra attackers and unsettle them at the heart of their defence, and bomb them with crosses.
But what do I know? Sir Alex will have a plan — but it has to be a very good one (with fall-backs, if it doesn’t work) and it has to be a lot better than the plan he had in 2009. Ideally, it should be a plan that none of us would have anticipated (and thus sure to take Gardiola and his team completely by surprise).
Unexpected plan? Rooney, Berba, Hernandez, and Owen up front with Giggs behind and Fletcher playing sweeper :o)
This would give them a marking nightmare, that’s for sure. But what about getting down the flanks without Valencia or Nani?
had a feeling that keeper werent much cop, he had a worldy last week so what, friedel and jaskelianens done that often an theyre shit an all
Anderson is one of the most unpredictable players I have ever seen. He has been with us for four years & we still don’t know what we are going to get in any game from him. The good signs are that he has slimmed down a lot, he is running with the ball again, not playing as many shocking passes & occasionally really making a telling pass. If only he could become more consistent we would have a player.
So, would you gamble on him for the Chelsea game, or for the CL final? It’s such a tough call.
Going off that Carrick is likely to play we can’t play Anderson as well. Those two play well 1 games in 5 so the probability of them playing well at the same time is 2/10!!!
Its a pretty tough call, i’d start with Carrick and Fletcher. Somebody of real note isn’t even going to make the bench. Anderson might have missed out altogether if he hadn’t scored twice last night. Gibson, despite his goal and assist his no chance unless there are injures.
Actually if you are right on the 1 in 5 probability of each of them individually playing well, the probability of them both playing well at the same time is as extreme as 1 in 25. But there would be 2 in 5 possibility (in other words almost 50% chance) of at least one of them playing well, which is obvioulsy much more likely to occur.
Fletcher won’t be anywhere near fit enough to face Chelsea, not after such a long spell out. I’d have thought it’d most likely be Anderson and Giggs in central midfield, with Carrick on the bench. Possibly Carrick too if Fergie goes for 3 in midfield and 1 up front, but I don’t see it happening, I reckon Chicharito will play up front with Rooney floating between midfield and attack.
It’s extremely frustrating. Berba will not start against Chelsea or Barca. Carrick will start against Chelsea although he can’t run with the ball & despite his reputation very rarely attempts progressive passes & is often slow to close down. Anderson, on a good day, does all three. Give him credit for the final goal; he made a run late in the match & got into the six yard box. (Even he could not miss). Park looks certain to start in front of either Valencia & Nani although both are much more dangerous going forwards. Giggs will start, & despite his heavenly reputation as Super Hero & Bionic Man is not a proper midfielder. Carrick, Giggs, Park that’s three distinctly average midfielders. Fletcher, lets face it, has had an horrid season but let’s pray he drinks some magic potion & returns to his best for Barca.
Yep my maths might not be quite right there, but you get my point that playing them together rarely works.