Wayne Rooney will lead Manchester United’s attack as the Reds visit Everton on Saturday lunchtime. The former Blue, dropped from this fixture by Ferguson last season, will face the inevitable cacophony of abuse on his return to Goodison Park. But at the end of a tough week for the club manager Ferguson insists Rooney will start the fixture.
While Rooney is retained from the side that lost 6-1 against Manchester City last weekend, Ferguson is expected to make several changes in Liverpool. Indeed, a quartet of players are under genuine pressure after the heavy defeat to near-neighbours City. Ferguson openly criticised defenders Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra on Sunday, while United’s dysfunctional central midfield pair of Anderson and Darren Fletcher could be relegated to the bench on form alone.
Yet it is Rooney on whom the greatest pressure resides, with manager, team-mates and supporters expecting a big performance from the 26-year-old striker.
“He’s had mixed success going to Everton,” admitted Ferguson on Friday.
“He’s scored a couple of goals in previous games and gets booed as normal. He got booked in one game and I took him off because he’d been booked and there was no way I was going to give the referee an opportunity to send him off.
“That’s where the hype around the ground in terms of him getting booed every time he makes a challenge comes into it. He’s had mixed fortunes there but he’s scored a couple of goals and done well in some of the games and hopefully that will be the case tomorrow.”
United has previously suffered heavy defeats to Newcastle United in 1996, Southampton the same season, and Chelsea three years later. In those campaigns the club went on to win the Premier League title, underlining that one result does not a season make.
“It’s been a tough week for everyone,” added Ferguson.
“It was bad result but we have to get over it – the fans, players, employees, staff – everyone was involved in the disappointment. We must kick on. We enjoyed Tuesday night but we need to show ourselves tomorrow. We hope we can recover from the disappointment of last weekend. We’ve done that well over the years and we have to do it again. Nothing changes in football. The challenge is always there to be the very, very best which we hope we can do now.
“It’s not going to be an easy game. I went to see that game on Wednesday and in typical fashion of a David Moyes team they were all committed. He’s had a few injuries and he rested a few players which is the norm in the cup, but they still represented their club very well. They all put a shift in and are always committed. We know what Louis [Saha] is capable of – he has fantastic ability and we have to make sure we do our best.”
Ferguson may be without winger Ashley Young for the short trip west, with the former Aston Villa player suffering a toe injury in training this week. Young’s expected absence adds to the Scot’s selection dilemma in wide areas, with Nani poor against City. Antonio Valencia and Park Ji-Sung each completed a much-needed 90 minutes at Aldershot in midweek and at least one of the pair should start.
Ferguson will welcome back Tom Cleverley, who is pushing for his first Premier League start since 10 September. The 22-year-old midfielder was carried off with an ankle injury against Bolton Wanderers but started United’s 3-0 win over Aldershot. Despite the bright start to the season United’s performances have markedly deteriorated in Cleverley’s absence.
“We have one or two knocks,” Ferguson said of his playing resources.
“Ashley Young has a toe injury and we’ll see what he’s like today. The knocks are nothing serious and I hope we’ll have a strong enough squad for tomorrow.
“Tom has got the potential, the expectation lies with everyone. For any United player, we expect a certain standard. Tom played his first game on Tuesday night – we gave him an hour. He had trained for about 10 days so he was in good physical condition for it. Given that we have a game tomorrow, I think an hour was just about right for him.”
Meanwhile, Korean Park says the United squad is focused on the job ahead despite the disappointment of last week. The 30-year-old could start in Young’s stead at Goodison Park – just the third of his Premier League season – where United drew last season after conceding two late goals to David Moyes’ outfit.
“We have to concentrate and everyone has to turn up to show the City game has not affected us,” Park told ManUtd.com.
“We have to get over that. We have to put it right on the pitch and we have to prove it. It’s a very important game to us and we have to go there and fight to get the points. It’s not an easy game at Goodison Park – it’s always difficult there. Just look at last season, when we were winning 3-1 and in injury-time they scored two goals.”
Everton, knocked out of the Carling Cup by Chelsea in mid-week, may have more than one reason to rue the 2-1 loss against the Londoners. While game went into energy-sapping extra time, midfielder Royston Drenthe was sent off for two bookable offences and will miss the fixture through suspension. Meanwhile key Evertonians Tim Cahill and Phil Neville are both out injured.
Yet it is on Rooney whom all eyes will focus, including a hostile home crowd against which Ferguson sought to protect his star player last season. It is, says Moyes, an animosity from which Everton supporters should move on.
“Wayne would be the first one to tell you – he would be delighted to come back with his wee boy and watch Everton,” Moyes added.
“He is bringing up his son as an Everton supporter and he will always be an Evertonian. He’ll get criticism because he left the club but time has moved on, we’ve moved on and so has he.”
By Saturday afternoon United supporters will know whether the team has moved on from last Sunday’s demoralising defeat or not.
Match Facts
Everton versus Manchester United, Premier League, Goodison Park, Saturday 29 October 2011, 12.00pm.
Likely Line-ups
Everton (4-4-2): Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Osman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Coleman; Vellios, Saha. Subs from: Mucha, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Stracqualursi, Barkley, Hahnemann.
United (4-4-1-1): De Gea; Smalling, Jones, Vidic, Evra; Nani, Cleverley, Carrick, Park; Rooney; Hernandez. Subs from: Lindegaard, Fabio, Evans, Ferdinand, Pogba, Fletcher, Anderson, Berbatov, Welbeck, Valencia, Owen, Diouf.
Performance stats
- Manchester United covered just 106.09km in the game against City last weekend – the side’s second lowest tally of the season – with Darren Fletcher covering the most ground with 11.29km
- Yet United still contains three of the top ten players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, including Ashley Young and Luis Nani, who have each put in 37 crosses so far this season.
- Nani is also in second place for most dribbles completed (34) and Young in fourth (33).
- In the opposition Marouane Fellaini remains the Toffees midfield heartbeat, averaging 11.911km per game.
- However, the Index underlines how much Everton will miss Royston Drenthe, who scored his second Everton goal against Fulham last week. The Dutchman’s two goals have come from just five attempts, with four on target. He has also laid on three assists this season.
- One time United transfer target Jack Rodwell scored his first goal of the season against Fulham. The young midfielder has returned to form this season, making 11 interceptions and winning 87 per cent of tackles attempted.
Form
Everton: WLLLWL
United: DWDWLW
Officials
Referee: Mark Halsey (Welwyn Garden City)
Assistant referees: S Bennett, A Halliday
I would put Smalling in for Rio, and Jones at Right Back. Smalling is, for now at least, the better Centre Half of the two, and plays much like Rio, so he should work well with Vidic. God help us, though, if Park and Evra are paired on the left side. Park will get tired of getting knocked down near the touchline, move infield, and leave Evra to do everything down the left on his own. If United do not score early, I expect a bore draw or United leaving it late to secure all three points. 1-1 or 1-2 is my guess.
“with Nani poor against City.”
How was he “poor” ? TheLads’ tactics were to funnel the ball wide left at every opportunity so that Ashley Young could skin Micah Richards – but he didn’t do that. Nani – who usually eats Gael Clichy’s lunch – was starved of the ball.
richards was named motm weren’t he, such was youngs shiteness
caps got a lot to answer for with him
this is rodwells big chance to gain a move to us
and barkley
fucking rape us
3-1
Just looking forward to seeing Cleverley play again. Hope he starts.
well at least someone on here is back to form this week
Everton v Man Utd line-ups
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Jagielka, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Saha. Subs: Mucha, Stracqualursi, McFadden, Gueye, Barkley, Vellios, Mustafi.
Man Utd: De Gea, Jones, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Welbeck, Cleverley, Fletcher, Park, Rooney, Hernandez. Subs: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Owen, Berbatov, Nani, Fabio Da Silva, Valencia.
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
Brilliant! Sir Alex puts Evans in at Centre Back with Vidic, so Vidic has to move to the other side.
terrible team. why cant evans just move?? dont think it matters that much anyway
Too right. We’ve got inexperience down the right flank and incompetence down the left.
EDIT: or are we playing a 4-3-3?
so where’s rooney playing
goodison park
will be welbbeck on the wing i would say,,442
hold on fletchers playing, brilliant
a consolation goal means he keeps his place
Evens great, as long as we win i dont care, will Rooney play on the left, or up front?
up front i would say…welbeck plays on the wing..
terrible team
i’d put berba in evans place for a start
going to be a long 90 mins
would have preferred him starting the kids even
should still win and we will be fired up.. come on reds
come on united
start with some fire in your bellies
evans letting coleman thru in the 1st 10 secs
nice
v nice
park should have scored
Any streams on Justin website?
where is our defence?
absolutely nowhere
still getting abck for citys 6th
I found links on hostream.net
post them then you cunt
carling cup draw anyone?
why is this match an early kickoff if its not on sky????
http://www.sportz-for-free.org/channel1.html
It’s not a great stream, but it’s the only one I could find in english.
We’ve done OK so far without really creating anything.
yawn yawn yawn
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet peaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
CHICHAAAAA
Get in. 1-0
get in.. mexico mexico
1-0 yes
little pea.
sweet
Nice set of passes!
sorry to excited,
This game not being on TV is really irritating me. I hate watching football on the internet.
no it is little pea but i just prefer sweet
http://www.sportlemon.tv/v-2/12/20/v-322130.html
Better…
I get HD in this one ( if you can call it HD…)
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/_/source/espn3/id/272842/
http://www.hostream.net/channel-1.html for anyone still hunting for a stream.
Well read by Jones that.
clearly makes a massive difference having someone who can play cm in the team
Fletcher is so shit it’s embarrassing. Giving the ball away like that, typical of him.
The hell is wrong with Fletcher?
still suffering form that virus
must be the longest bout of flu anyone has ever had
UNITED V CRYSTAL PALACE
Fellaini was looking for that. Diving twat.
arsenal v man city
chelsea v liverpool
cheers mad red
we are getting out muscled again in the middle
Walls don’t jump anymore?
Pffft…
Why doesn’t Baines play for a better team?
no value bollocks etc
Park has been poor; bring on Nani or Valencia and put this game to bed. I wonder if Park will play every game until the IPO?
cup draw
Arsenal v Man City, Man Utd v Crystal Palace and Cardiff v Blackburn.
saha looking for a goal and we are helping him look for it too
Everton will score, sooner rather than later. They are getting towards our goal far too easily.
Chelsea v Liverpool
goodnight liverpool
rent boys 1 up
not often i want the arse to win but…
Ross Barkley on to rape our midfield.
why is rooney playing so fucking deep again
ffs stay in the middle and stick berba on to support hernandez
agree.
evans u fucking cocksucker
Fucks sake Hernandez. WTF was Evans playing at earlier?
Must be your fav player!
ffs cleverley out
Nani time…
come on reds
fucking grow a collective pair of balls instead of tickling your fanny
evans = the new gibson
some one needs to stop that italian afro cunt
welbeck unlucky
We are playing a dangerous game here, letting Everton have a go at us. We need a second goal.
Rooney playing central midfield today is SAF finally waking up to the fact that we need quality there.
our 1st corner after 62 mins ffs
get the berbs on now – need some one to hold up the ball anywhere on that pitch
berba on for little pea.
Midfield is so so shit.
tell us something new
Big Man has scored for the Rent Boys. 2-1
Evans is having a shocker.
cleverley injured????
we are definitely going to concede
Come on united.
be nice ffs
why the fuck do we sit back waiting for them to come at us?
lol Magaye Gueye.
our defending has been like that, absolute chaos when Everton have the ball in and around the box
This game can;t end soon enough
come on reds
score a second and make it easy for the last 5 mins
ffs more added time for the linesman now
The assistant getting treatment :)))
fuck this is killig me……..
6 fucking minutes
6 minutes……….fuk off
Get up Gueye.
arsenal level..
some cunt please hold the ball up
We were shite but we won, which is the main thing.
good win , we needed that.
wow that was painful in the extreme
good 3 points but why make it so fucking tight?
not a great performance, but a win at Everton is not easy, happy with that.
chelsea 2 arsenal 3.
Great win!
Arsenal V Chelsea is a class game..2-3 to Arsenal!
Theo just scored a great goal!
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits…..
Good win, especially if Arsenal beat Chelsea.
Played some lovely football before the goal and ten minutes after it, but all the rest was pretty poor to be honest. Surely the necessity of playing Rooney, easily our best forward, in a midfield position shows how desperate we are for some quality in the centre of the park.
Great to see Vidic back.
if its not to arsenal then who is it too
It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t reassuring, but it is three points.
arsenal lol 2-3.
You didn’t see the game, did you? Can’t blame you, to be fair.
our goalie doesnt look shit now does he?
I was watching United online and I have sky to watch the Chavs/Arse game
de gea will be the top manin a few years
as i did. good match chel v arse, some shocking defending.
3-4 NOT to Arsenal! lol
fuck me its 3-4 arsenal.. or not to arsenal if your welsh
If this scoreline stays the same (which is maybe unlikely), then John Terry will DEFINITELY make the headlines tomorrow. He slips and falls flat on his face as he tries to retrieve a stray pass by Florent Malouda, allowing Robin van Persie to run clear, round Petr Cech and slot home. Now, can the Gunners hold on this time?
gotta love that cunt…
3-5 lol
renties love it up them
FUCK ME!!!
rvp hatrick…. think hes scored 29 goals in 28 games… if he wasnt made of glass he would be one of the best out there
only if u go and scrub ur arse
and mouth. scrub everything
our utter raping last week doesnt seem as painful after that rent boy result who had 11 on the pitch for the full 90 mins
now for wolves and west brom to do one too
don’t do 3 somes or sloppy seconds
if u want him that bad, take him and punish him for his cheek
i dont do onesomes ya dirty brute.. was just looking out for ya,
hmmm
not sure i understand
maybe u just like to play hans solo?
this is what i get for speaking to fucking nerds…
stop looking in the mirror then u twat
baahh. not one of your better ones han, you should be thoroughly ashamed
Sir Alex Ferguson revealed on Saturday that defender Smalling picked up “a small fracture on his foot” which kept him out of the Premier League champions’ 1-0 win at Everton FC. “I think he’ll be out for a month and it’s unfortunate that one,” he said, adding: “Ashley Young has a toe injury that is not going away so he could be out for a couple of weeks.”
In other news, Sir Jimmy Saville has died. RIP.
can’t be on form all the time now can i???????
That’s what Brian, tells his ladyboy.