So here it is, three months on from Manchester United’s coronation as Premier League champions in May and Sir Alex Ferguson’s team is ready to mount a spirited defence. Installed as favourites from the off, United is seeking a 20th domestic championship in what could still be Ferguson’s final season in charge at Old Trafford. In the Scot’s way are Manchester City and Chelsea, each desperate to land silverware over the next nine months, Arsenal, reeling from Cesc Fabregas’ loss, and Liverpool, resurgent under Kenny Dalglish.
Indeed, United’s campaign could not start with a more difficult programme over the next two months. Ferguson’s outfit faces each of last season’s top six sides before Christmas, while the United manager wrestles with a much-changed team. New signings Ashley Young and David de Gea should make their Premier League debuts for the club in United’s opening fixture against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthornes on Sunday. Meanwhile, teenager Phil Jones should make the bench, and returning loanee Tom Cleverley is in the squad after impressing last weekend.
However, United kicks off its defence with up to six players missing. Ferguson is definitely without concussion victim Javier Hernández, along with Antonio Valencia, who has a knee problem, and virus afflicted Darren Fletcher. Meanwhile, Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra and Danny Welbeck could also miss United’s opener with injury. Rafael da Silva will not be involved after dislocating his shoulder on Friday.
Hernández is four weeks away from full fitness according to the 69-year-old United manager, while Carrick was forced to pull out of England’s squad during the week with a tight hamstring and Evra missed France’s match with a knock. Carrick could make the game but Evra is rated doubtful. Fletcher and Valencia are now back in full training but are unlikely to be ready for the first team until late August.
“We’ve got a doubt with Patrice Evra,” Ferguson said on Friday.
“He got an injury last Sunday, he missed the France game. We’ll give him until tomorrow but he is doubtful. Darren Fletcher’s training very well and he’ll play in the Reserves on Monday, so will Valencia. Chicharito is still maybe 10 days away from taking part in any football training. It’s not a concern, it’s just a precaution given the fact he had concussion a couple of years back.
“They’re the only injuries we’ve got really. We’ve got a strong squad at the moment, a big squad and I’ll be taking 22 players down to West Brom.”
Ferguson’s key selection decision may come in central midfield, with the club privately briefing media on Thursday night that the bid for Internazionale midfielder Wesley Sneijder is now dead. The Dutchman’s £200,000 per week wage demands have seemingly scuppered a deal that would have cost United up to £100 million over a five-year contract.
In the Dutchman’s stead – with Samir Nasri off to City this week – Ferguson will choose from Anderson, Ryan Giggs, Carrick and Cleverley in central midfield. Cleverley excelled against City in the Community Shield at Wembley and Ferguson admits that the second-half performance from his young side has given the Scot much food for thought ahead of the Baggies tie.
However, with Darron Gibson consigned to the reserves Ferguson is desperately short of central midfield options. Whether there is a plan B that includes dipping into the market is as yet undefined.
“I think picking my team is made easier by the second-half performance last week in some ways,” added Ferguson.
“I still have to respect the experience of the ones who came off at half-time. When you’re 2-0 down in these big games, you don’t expect what we saw. But Welbeck has played two or three times for us at Wembley in the League Cup final and FA Cup semi-final, so, for him, we know his temperament for the big occasion.
“What we wanted to find out was how Jones equipped himself, Smalling and Cleverley too, and they did fantastic. We should know about Cleverley because he’s been with us a long time, he’s been with us since he was 12 years of age. You get to know boys in depth during that time, you get to know their temperament and their character.
“The only reason I didn’t start Cleverley was I just felt the powerful players they have in midfield like Yaya Toure made me a bit cautious about playing him from the start.”
Elsewhere Ferguson is likely to select experience in last season’s top goalscorer Dimitar Berbatov, even if Welbeck passes a late fitness test. The youngster played 85 minutes against City at Wembley, leaving Berbatov fighting for his place in Ferguson’s team
Indeed, Michael Owen might be in line for a start but for a minor knock picked up on United’s tour of the United States this summer.
If competition for places in almost all positions characterises United’s squad this season, then it is required with a highly competitive campaign ahead. Ferguson believes that up to six teams are in competition for the Premier League title, with the ‘real stuff’ beginning this weekend.
“They all knew last week was the Community Shield,” said the United boss.
“It was not the real stuff. That starts on Sunday. Wembley was an occasion. There was rivalry and everyone was motivated. We have to show that in every game. It is going to be tough. It will be a hard campaign, it always is. We will waken up to the fact last week was a different game.
“City are still short of a bit of fitness, have Aguero to come in, Tevez to come back and they might buy another two players.The experience Chelsea have is better than anyone. Terry, Drogba and Cech have been there for yonks. They have been involved in the last seven titles. You cannot, in any way, dismiss them.
“The expectation will be on Liverpool to improve given the money they have spent and you can’t rule Arsenal out either. They used to talk about a top four. Now it is the top six. That is even more interesting for everyone.”
If the Reds are to wrap up a 20th championship the Scot believes his side must improve away from home, starting with West Brom on Sunday. While United dropped just two points at Old Trafford, the away record was worse than any title-winning side since the mid-1970s. United won just five away games last season; just two sides have ever won a 20 team title with fewer away wins: Newcastle United in 1906-07 and Sheffield Wednesday in 1929-30.
That away form will face another stern test on Sunday, with Roy Hodgson revitalising the Baggies since joining as manager last winter. West Brom comfortably avoided relegation and will be targeting a top half finish come May.
Hodgson will be without Steven Reid who has a torn calf muscle but Peter Odemwingie’s ankle and Youssouf Mulumbu’s abdominal strain have cleared in time to play. Meanwhile, winger Jerome Thomas and midfielder Paul Scharner will play if fit and new £7 million signing Shane Long could make his début.
Match Facts
West Bromwich Albion versus Manchester United, Premier League, The Hawthorns, Sunday 14 August, 4pm.
Likely Line-ups
Albion (4-4-2): Foster; Jara Reyes, Tamas, Olsson, Shorey; Brunt, Mulumbu, Scharner, Dorrans; Long, Odemwingie. Subs from: Fulop, Fortuné, Dawson, Roofe, Mantom, Jones, Mattock, Cox, Thorne, Wood, Thomas, Tchoyi, Morrison.
United (4-4-1-1): de Gea; Smalling, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fabio; Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Young; Rooney; Berbatov. Subs from: Lindegaard, Jones, Evans, Cleverley, Giggs, Park, Diouf, Welbeck, Owen,
Form
West Brom: n/a
United: W
Referee
Mike Jones (Chester)
The midlle of the park is still the problem after the long three months..Hope we hit the ground running and put an end to the away game hodoo rite from the off…
After the performance at Wembley we will win this comfortably 2 – 0 or 2 – 1 nuff said.
I concur with my learned friend ^^
2:0 to us – Rooney and Nani
I think we will win this game quite comfortably.
But I firmly believe that Tom Cleverley ought to start.
tough game i think, 1-2 united.
I wish everyone would shut the fuck up about the midfield!!!! Ando will come of age this year, he was soo good at the end of last year and was excellent during pre season, jones can play there if needed, fletcher will come back and cleverley is bursting onto the scene to play a good role in the first team. Giggs is also now a cm really and if there was an injury crisis, rooney could drop in there because in my view he will become a cm when he loses his pace. He is the only player I have seen who can pull off 30 yard passes like scholes. EVERYONE STOP GOING ON ABOUT THE MIDFIELD!!!
If he signs someone then great, if he doesnt then once again we will make do and win the title, 2-1 united in this one I think.
The only thoughts I have going into this game are; can we win away from home, and can we play well
People have every right to talk about the midfield as it’s the key to turning this team from domestic to european champions. The current set of midfielders are unlikely to bridge that gap. Given our domestic dominance over the last 20 years we should have 5 or more european titles under our belts but we don’t. The reason over the last 4 years has been the midfield. Hoping that players will come good is not the sort of planning that we should be undertaking but thats exactly what we are doing. We are just hoping that Ando, Carrick, Cleverly, Young and now Pogba perform beyond expectations. Giggs is not an effective CM when playing against world class CM’s. I’m sorry to bring it round to the same old reason but quite clearly the Glazer imposed transfer strategy has prevented us from competing for Nasri and WS. If a couple of highly paid CM’s elevated us to a level resulting in 3 UCL trophies over the next 4 years what price would you put on that? What relevance is resale value to us as fans if we are successful? Knowing what we know about Cantona, Keane or Ronaldo did anyone really consider resale? No! It’s about trophies in the cabinet and playing great football in the process. Sitting watching in the full knowledge that two new CM’s are the key to greatness and then witnessing in total frustration at the transfer saga unfolding whereby we are consistently undone by the Glazers ownership is enough to annoy anyone. So, AsherMUFC its totally justified that people complain about the midfield because it highlights problems with our squad, our transfer policy and our owners. It’s a problem on many different levels.
Every word you say above is true.
0-3 BTW
even with sneijder or someone of that quality, a midfield of Valencia, Sneijder, Carrick and Nani (just an example) dont have a patch on Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Pedro/Sanchez
Hence (in part) my comments. We need to strengthen the midfield ideally with 2 CM’s. The current set of CM’s are not good enough and the youth are not ready and may not be good enough. We need to buy but wont for the reasons I set out. Without the Glazers we could afford it. Unfortunately the way to get close to Barca involves splashing some cash. 3 finals in 4 years and 1 win is not good enough for Man Utd.
also 3 finals in 4 years is excellent, I do agree about resale being a factor which shouldn’t be thought of but the money for sneijder is just silly (35million transfer fee + 200k over 4 years = about 80million . The way to beat barca is not by splashing cash this season but by building gradually over the next few years…..
Much poorer side than us, only a win is acceptable given the other games we have frontloaded in the early part of the season. Don’t care who we play in central midfield, we should have far too much footballing for West Brom to handle. Want to see us draw a clear line under last season with a no-nonsense away win against weak opposition.
Asher
You told us to fookin shut it about the midfield and then start commenting on anothers post about the midfield..
STFU ASHER
anyhoooo 21:1 win for West Brom. Cleverly to score!
tenner on united minus a goal. i think we will brush them aside easy enough
Will be interesting to see what format we play today. As we are away from home I would prefer 4-5-1. When we go 4-4-2 away from home we always ship goals. If we have to chase the game we could always bring Berba or Welbeck on and change.
Carrick holding, Anderson and Cleverley in the middle of the park for me.
Always right back is a position which is up for grabs. I thought Fabio did well in the European Cup final, but it seems Rafael and Smalling are ahead of him for that slot now.
jones
it should be fabio at rightback if rafael is injured
Yep Fabio would be the best option if Rafael is out.
fabio looks a slightly better player from what ive seen of him
How did he injure himself this time? Was he pole dancing? FFS.
Fabio is the more measured of the two. Rafael is liable to getting a bit too excited and not read play as well as is brother. Rafael could work as an auxillary winger, but Fabio reads the game better and is less likely to mistime a challenge.
dislocated shoulder. think he did it in training. fabio will go off injured after 60 mins today if he starts
The players we have now give us so many options, the Da Silvas, Smalling, Jones and Park can all play multiple positions.
young anderson rooney cleverley nani can play a few positions aswel
Yep correct, its a fluid mix.
i wanna see anderson get forward more, driving at the defence. if he is allowed to do that i think he will have a good season
any team news?
gea smalling rio vida fabio nani cleverley anderson young rooney wellbeck
very young team..
berbatoss is now fifth choice get in
The season starts now, come on reds.
That’s a fantastic team
Can we win away from home
Can we dominate
here we go.
vey good start.. fabio bombing forward
we’ll need to keep bombing forward to keep the pressure off our new gk
What is De Gea doing…
Rooooooooooooooooneyyyy
roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooney
get inn rrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooo
nice goal
backed roo first goal win 2-0. c
Fucks sake, just came out of the shower and missed the goal.
wow
exhillirating stuff from the forward line
And we’re off… get in…
Class finish, Rooney
De Gea has me worried though. He’s all over the place in the box. I can see him costing us
Rooney 0-1 nice start.
give De Gea a chance it will take him a few games to settle in the prem.
havent heard cleverleys name yet
The game is flying past Cleverly
evans coming on ahead of jones…hmmmmm
Great run from Ando, beat 3 in midfield
He’s been good so far
fucksake nani. splendid build up though
Rafael is out of action for 10 weeks according to the bbc. Ffs
2-0?
nooooooooooo
bugger
Fuuuck Nani
That would have been some goal
We’re playing exciting attacking football like the 2006 season
Phil Neville in the away end
nani missed the target again
that should give DG some confidence with that save
oh fuck
take that back
embarrassing
De Gea should get that
It’s not like it was coming at him quickly
who recommended DG?
same scout as bebe?
come on united
Should be going in 3-0 up! Nani’s missed two relatively easy chances
the move for West Brom goal began with Anderson’s laziness. Stupid mistake by De gea though
Should be going in 3-0 up! Nani’s missed two relatively easy chances. And th less said about their goal the better.
The question remains: will Wellbeck ever take a shot on?
how the hell are wba still in his match?
need a 2nd half like last sunday
Looks like we will struggle to win this game now when we should be winning it comfortably…
What did we or Fergie ever see in De Gea?
He’s renouned for being crap at long shots and has zero presence about him
So then, great attacking football ala 2006, but shite at the back
De Gea will be targeted as a weak link. West Brom are peppering the goal with long shots after he fucked up for the Dzeko goal
He’s dodgy on set pieces too. Although after 2 or 3 fuck ups early on, he stayed in his goal
come on now united. we can win this.
Staying glued to the line can be just as bad as coming out and fucking it sometimes. Bloody frustrating. Afew good saves but then theyre followed by stupid errors. Surprised Lindy didn’t get the nod after his preseason. But the kid deserves a chance. Or three..
bit early to saty that sid…
De Gea made a mistake it can happen its his first PL game main thing he learns from his mistakes.
foster looks dodgy too
I’m more worried about the fact that I’ve now seen Wellbeck play a solid 150 minutes as main striker without taking a shot..
I don’t doubt he’ll come good, but he’ll cost us between now and then
why is evans coming on?
think that dutch fella went to roma for 6 million.. strange
anderson loses the ball yet again…
even rooney looks off the boil now
A top class CM would bring the best out of our current midfielders…some vibrant attacking play but no real calm and controlling player…
Also I’m very disappointed if Welbeck is seen as new top striker!
For Vidic
Tempo has dropped. Usually a bad sign for us.
thats as maybe
but that wise old sage savage is v impressed with him on 5 live
so thats ok then…
I would have brought jones on. Seems to bring a lot of energy when he comes on. Which is just what we need atm
welbeck off now.. berba on ffs hes useless today
pick the pace up united
On the plus side we’re actually dominating possession stats in an away game
Doing fuck all with it like, but still
come on reds
where’s the zip gone this half?
I would agree.. Except berbatov is pretty much the only person i can think of who could actually slow this game down any more
Oh here comes the trusty Bulgarian handbrake. I hope it’s one of his good days.
First game of the season, main competitors all drew and folks are bitching, lets not forget that the new players and your Welbecks and Cleverleys need proper competitive football to gel with the rest of the lads.
Exactly….we shouldn’t be in that position tho should we!!!
Anderson and Nani have been completely useless
Cleverley has played well. Our defence, him and Young can take some credit today.
Fuckin hell that tchoyi is turning us inside out! Sign him up.
Fuck, if we backpass anymore we’ll be playing in the Birmingham rd stand! Where’s the intensity?
anderson has been consistently bollocks since he has joined us
Great! Rio gets injured in the first game of the season
Let’s see what Jones can do
time for evans to come of age
Watch Jones raise the tempo now. He looked like an attacking centre back at Wembley.
Anderson was brilliant in the first half. He is shite in this half. But when he can be arsed he is very good
nice welcome for de gea there.
DG is looking like a little boy lost out there
De Gea fouled
Doesn’t go down as a fuck up
terrible half…
come on younggggggggggggggggggggggggg
yessss
If we nick this in the last 10 mins I’ll be well imprssed
Get in. Young!
come on united score.
OG makes an appearance in the first game
they heard me sweet.
Fuck you “Nay Sayer´s” Goal
Now we need to be solid as fuck at the back
No fuck ups
get in.. was freaking out.. if it stays like this de gea owes me 100 quid because of that howler.. cunt
Loving the ashley young song
And i was just about to post:
“West brom got the measure of young about an hour in and we haven’t seen fuck all from him since.”
I believe this is called eating your words.
goal keeper getting elbowed in the face is probably not the right time to compare how ‘different’ Premier League is from the Spanish League
What are they chanting?
Young!!!!!!!!!!!!! he’s been bloody brilliant on the left.
will it go down as a og?
Ashley young’s name to the tune of “baby give it up”.
yeah think it wil. shot as off target
is it a reid og.
De Gea holds onto it… thank fuck for that
thought so, but Young gets the credit.
Lol i was shitting it as well.
cheating bastard
Ah, haha. Couldn’t hear over the commentary.
West brom have honestly been the better team the last half hour or so.
Ref clamping down on diving. Good to see.
he needs a confidence boost. cant be easy going to another country so young, lots of pressure at united. he will come good.
MANCHESTER IS MY HEAVEN- SIR MATT BUSBY
Oh fuck imagine if foster had scored the equaliser…
Away win!!!
get in.. start with an away win while our rivals are droppin points, good weekend
yes 1-2 sweet.
That crossed my mind as well.
Thank god we won that. That was always going to be tough game.
Wasn’t a classic performance but we won when are main rivals all drew, give the lads a chance its the first game of the season.
Fabio was immense. Full of running, very good reading of the game and great attitude. Brilliant player.
Jones and Young looking good
DG needs more time and a new diet and a shirt that fits – he doesnt inspire much confidence at the moment at all but needs a few games
still a win is a win in spite of bollockless anderson doing his best to imitate carrick
nani is still so frustrating – brilliant and awful in equal measure
rio looks screwed for a few weeks so glad that evans has had some time
i said on Friday this would be tough, and that we would win 1-2. i am a prophet.
One of the worst sub appearances I’ve seen ever from bollockless
with the injurys in the second half, we have to be happy with that win.
It’s tough on the keeper but fergie and his backroom team did their scouting work and thought de gea is the right replacement for van der sar. He will have to adapt to the pressure of playing in England quickly.
So did I
oh go suck some schlong
i backed unted 2-0.. roo first goal. de gea owes me money. shabby looking weird cunt
just needs scooby on the touchline
Ando did the job of two men when we didn’t have the ball. Cleverly was nowhere defensively. Rooney covered and occupied most of the space that Cleverly should have been in during the first half. When Rooney tired of doing that in second half and our back line stopped pressing high Ando couldn’t cover the space in the middle. As for Wellbeck I still don’t see what he has to offer? He doesn’t look explosive off the last man, not a goal poacher nor is he much of a play making pivot? Jones, Smalling, Fabio Evans, Ando Young all good. Rooney in the first half class!
You reading my thoughts you monkey shagging cunt ?
why can you slaughter anderson and I can’t slaughter bollockless
play nicely otherwise i’ll send knobhead round to fiddle with u
I agree with what they are saying on sky about de gea. He needs to build up confidence. He also needs to bulk up or else he will get bullied against these teams. Get his physique in order and hopefully the rest will come together. Unfortunate that he won’t have Rio and vida talking to him during games for a little while. He needs to settle down and get used to working with a regular back 4.
join in , plenty of room
Berbatov has more to offer than predator lite
most of the criticsm of him is unfair – yes he has had a bad patch but he still offers us more than that round arse has the past 3 seasons
why do you think monkeys have a red arse. its all the red rant crew tearing it a new arse.
Rio out for 6 weeks and vida may be out for 2 weeks, according to fergie.
not great news, smalling and evens and jones, must step up, evera back next week.
evra needs to step up more than any of em
jones and smalling have been better than him vidic.n rio so far
well that’s the first stressful game of the season out of the way.
anderson was ok today.welbeck was shit. rooney run himself out covering for himand put ando under serious pressure. cleverley was watching the game go by for the most part.
cleverley is young and learning his way along, he is bound to have up and down games.
hes a year younger than anderson…
Yeah, the kids showed bollocks
Raf is out for 10 weeks, Rio out for 6 weeks and Vidic out for a ‘few’ weeks
We’re gonna have a very young defence. The kids are gonna have to hit the ground running. With a dodgy De Gea in goal, it’s gonna be interesting
whens evra back? fabio jones smalling evra as aback 4 will be fine, spurs at hme up next i think.
Fergie said Evra will be fit next week
Who is placing injury curse on our defenders? 2 games into the season and we are 3 defenders down. May well be good for Jones and Evans.
Yep if we have another defensive injury crisis like a couple of years back we will be in trouble.
We have the 8 first team squad defenders and that’s about it. The better reserve team players are midfielders and forwards.
Wes’ brother Reece and youth captain Tom Thorpe would be the best academy defenders to warm the bench if needed.
o’shea going was a mistake
this^^
even i agree with this ponce
Every year, I swear…every bleeding year. Oh well, best to get the defensive crisis out of the way nice and early in the season rather than later on in the season.
He’s currently injured as well, so he wouldn’t have been much use
I think he may be a croke. If so then Fergie did the right thing in getting rid
go play with uncle’s gonads
why do you disrespect the best ranters so much??
clearly inferior
you accentuate the characteristics that befit a ponce
tbf
Lol
Class
a serious question…
does anyone know why our players wore a black armband?
As a tribute to those 3 guys who got run over last week durig the riots
Death of our title defence, based on lack of midfield purchases
Miserable sod!
Also – is it just me then, but I thought Cleverley had a decent game. He made himself available more often than not and made some cracking little passes……or did I dream it?
He was ok, but he doesn’t make me think… “who needs Sneijder?”
thanks for that
but why did the united players wear black armbands and not the albion players – after all those poor guys were from brum weren’t they?