Sir Alex Ferguson says he has “no idea” who will be fit for tomorrow night’s 157th derby as the flu virus sweeps though Manchester United’s camp. The list of players who have contracted the ‘flu over the past week now runs to 12, with a further six players out or rated doubtful for the clash against Manchester City at Eastlands on Wednesday night.
In addition to Owen Hargreaves and Michael Owen, who are both suffering from hamstring injuries, Nani has a groin problem and is rated doubtful by manager Ferguson, although that may be a typical pre-match ruse from the Scot.
Long-term injured duo Wayne Rooney and Antonio Valenica definitely miss out, while Ryan Giggs has trained for 10 days following a hamstring complaint but is unlikely to play after being hit with the virus.
In total a full team has been laid low by the ‘flu in the past week, including Anderson, Federico Macheda, Darron Gibson, Jonny Evans, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick.
Meanwhile, Rooney continues to train on his own at Nike World campus just outside Portland, Oregon, with the SPARQ team and is not due to return to Carrington before Saturday. The striker looked fit while put through some simple jogging and ball exercises yesterday.
Ferguson, philosophical about his team’s reduced options, may turn to some of his squad’s lesser lights for the four mile trip across Manchester.
“We’ve still got some players out with ‘flu and some players were sent home yesterday,” said Ferguson.
“So we’re not in a great position at the moment. Hopefully tomorrow we’re better, but there seems to be a lingering aspect of this virus going around and there’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve a strong squad and we just carry on.”
United beat City on three occasions last season, with late goals proving the difference between the two sides. However, Ferguson is aware that City’s financial power since being taken over by the Abu Dhabi Royal Family in 2008, has closed the gap between the two clubs.
“If clubs have money and want to spend it, they will,” said Ferguson.
“Chelsea did the same. So did Sunderland back in the 1950s. It is not an unusual thing. It is a fact of life.
“The only difference is that City is an untapped well at the moment. But it is difficult to say whether it is inevitable they are going to win the league at some point. It is still a difficult league to win.
“Obviously, in many people’s eyes, having the money is a lot better than not having it.”
The latter Ferguson says without a hint of irony, having defended the Glazer family’s debt-fuelled business model over the past five years.
Despite United’s problems this season closing out wins Ferguson’s team has now emerged victorious six games in a row and is unbeaten in 24 matches spanning two campaigns. United has also won the last four Premier League derbies against City, since a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford in February 2008.
Meanwhile, left-back Evra says that City is obsessed with United, while the Reds focus on winning trophies. Something the Blue half of Manchester has not experienced in more than 34 years.
“I can say it would be nice to beat Manchester City because it is a special game – it is the derby and everyone wants to win – but it is not the priority,” Evra said.
“The priority is to win the league but make sure we don’t lose the derby.”
Asked what he thinks of City’s suggestion the blue half of Manchester is now the best team in the city, the defender said: “They always say that and they never beat us.
“We need to win every game. We don’t need to just win against Manchester City. We look to win the league, that’s it.
“If we win, it is a good result for Manchester United — it will be normal. It will not be so special. When we start the league season, we think about winning every game.”
City manager Roberto Mancini will be without striker Mario Ballotelli, who was sent off against West Bromwich Albion at the weekend. The Italian forward received a straight red card for stamping on Youssuf Mulumbu but has appealed the three match ban.
Emmanuel Adebayor is doubtful with a calf injury but former Red Carlos Tevez has returned from a trip home to Argentina and will play.
Opposition
City – 451 – Hart; Boateng, Kompany, Kolo Toure, Zabaleta; Milner, Barry, De Jong, Yaya Toure, Silva; Tevez. Subs from: Given, Richards, Kolarov, Johnson, Vieira, Lescott, Wright-Phillips, Jo, Boyata, Bridge.
United squad
Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Rafael, Brown, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Smalling, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Obertan, Bébé, Carrick, Scholes, Fletcher, Anderson, Park, Nani, Berbatov, Hernández, Macheda.
Officials
Referee: Chris Foy
Assistant referees: Andy Garratt & Bob Pollock
Fourth official: Lee Probert
Form
City – WWLLLW
United – WWWWWW
fucking hell, bastard flu
would much rather Raph than OShea but Taggart will defo see this like Evra – better not to loose this one, given the squad and league position.
i don’t see oshea starting it will be rafa. oshea will be taken to the cleaners by shitty’s left widemen
if what SAF is saying is true indeeed, then we are merely counting bodies. a patched up x1 could find it difficult. despite both berba and chicarito’s apparent need for support upfront (as opposed to playing lone striker) i see a 4-5-1 in order considering the away nature of the fixture at wastelands.
given the winning form the team is in, we can take this but performance needs to be much better from the team than last w/e when 3 lung park saved our bossoms
yep – five across the middle – esp., since Tevez will drop deep to support their middle. thanks fuck that bastardtelli is banned,
Can’t predict the team with so many questions about available personnel. I think Fergie might be tempted to go 4-4-2 on the basis that there’s no point going toe-to-toe with City central midfield, better off passing through and around them. Their creativity is poor anyway, so maybe we don’t need three in midfield.
Might see something like:
VDS
Raf Rio Smalling O’Shea
Park Fletcher Carrick Obertan
Berba Hernandez
Nani being available would be a huge boost.
My thinking is that United be be outmuscled in midfield anyway so Ferguson may opt to play two strikers and use Hernandez’ pace on the break. Flexible with Hernandez or Park able to operate from left, as has been the case in some of United’s recent matches. Berbatov up top on his own with Park left is going to hand City the initiative and slow United’s ability to break.
VDS
Rafael Rio Vidic Evra
Nani Carrick Scholes Fletcher Park
Chico
I strongly feel that we will go with only 1 striker upfront because I suspect Fergie will want Park to do a man marking job.
Our last 8 visits to Eastlands reads:LWLWLWLW.
I hope and pray that we don’t lose against these bastards tomorrow.
I agree totally. It sounds like our tactics will be determined by whoever is fit to play though, so who knows.
who is there for park to mark they play three holders and two floaters milner an silva behind the striker, milners not worth marking and silva should be carrick and fletchers job, yaya toure gets forward put if we put park on him he’ll get raped
Hernandez’ pace might also force them to defend deep, making the gap between their midfield and attackers even wider.
Park to track Silva all over the, erm, park as he is their creative focal point at the moment. Hernandez up top on his own I’d imagine, what with Berba either being ill or dropped of late.
Gonna be tough but reckon we’ll do ’em.
Will City bottle the first 20 minutes and give us the half way line like they did in this fixture last season
Or will they be ‘avin it
Lots of players out but if that’s the line up its still a reasonably strong one. Will be interesting to see who goes on the bench. Draw will be a good result, a win a brilliant one.
Even though they usually have a tendency to play negatively, I reckon they’ll actually have a go at us tomorrow.
fuck i’m gonna miss the game.
anyway, i’d love it if chicharito started, berba on the bench.
i hope nani’s fit, doubt it though. if carrick is fit, he must start alongside fletcher and scholes.
ffs if rio and vida were firing on all cylinders, i wouldn’t be worried about shit.
as things stand, my prediction is 2-0 with 2 tevez goals.
If he has 12 players out with the flu, they will not be up to par. Taking a big risk playing sick players.
VAN de SAR
RAFAEL SMALLING FERDINAND FABIO
EIKREM SCHOLES MORRISON PARK
BEBE HERNANDEZ
We’ve been through this; think, THEN type ;o) Oh and stop bumming Bebe.
Scholes is suffering from a bug, but you include him? So why not Vidic? You leave out Evra, who is fit to play by all accounts I’ve read and heard.
You then suggest a four man midfield including two very, very inexperienced players and ignoring our only fit half-decent midfielder, Fletcher?
Then Bebe, useless in his last game, up front against a top class defence with Hernandez.
I’m assuming your logic is; put a really weak team out and if we lose we can shrug it off.
Do you not think it’s far more likely we’ll see O’Shite in the middle of a 5 man midfield?
Rafael Smalling/Vidic Rio Evra
Park O’Shite Fletcher Obertan A.N Other
Hernandez
According to Skys fantasy predictor… Vidic, Scholes and Berbatov, all doubtful.
huh? dude, are you okay?
Just saying what I read.
Lets just get amongst the fuckers. They’ll come at us like headless chickens for the first 30 mins, and if they don’t captalise on it they’ll run out of ideas. Silva is a good little player bit it will be a baptism of fire for him tonight, he won’t have ever played in a game so frantic and a couple of early crunchers on him will probably loosen his apetite. I simply don’t rate’em. Barry and Milner clearly went there for the bucks and are not cutting it for me. If Tevez and Silva get looked after properly (are you listening wobbly gob?) we should be fine.
hehe, sorry alf. that was directed at herbie’s post, the one above yours. fuck knows what he’s on.
I’m not the only one who’s gone past regarding his posts as idiotic to actually getting riled by the stupidity then? :o)
I’ve always just thought he was just 12 or something
hope we can put something like this out:
vds, rafael, ferdinand, vidic, evra, fletcher, carrick, scholes, nani/obertan, park, berbatov/hernandez
Prediction: City 1-2 United
I think you’re pretty spot on Rob. Although I fear O’Shite will be involved in the midfield. Nani might make a 2nd half cameo if needed. The Ginger Prince… fingers crossed eh? Vidic and Park especially will want to play, and be played, even if not fully recovered.
vds, rafael, ferdinand, vidic, evra, fletcher, O’PIE, scholes/ANDERSON, obertan, park, hernandez
Right… well, if reports are true, and the virus has spread like they say… he may not be far wrong.
We’ve got real problems finding a fit 11.
I hope he is wrong, we don’t want to encourage him, bless!
i think everyone is over the virus,
sar
brown/rafael rio vida evra
carrick scholes fletch
nani berbs park
nervous already
has to be right – the extent of the virus could be a fergal mind game / bullshit
What I’m getting at is, even my Carling Cup team is too strong for Man City. If you play Bebe, do not use him as a winger. Play him in the middle behind the striker or play him as a central striker.
Shut.
The.
Fuck.
Up.
// Carling Cup team is too strong for Man City //
Yes, that’s right. Our 3rd string is too strong, at Eastlands, for the strongest City team in… well… decades. What the FUCK are you on mate? Can I get some?
I think Park could be crucial tonight. I’d like to see him playing just off the lone striker so that he can hassle de Jong and Barry when they’re in possession – similar to his Milan performance. However, I fear that due to the small squad available he may have to play out wide.
anderson could maybe play,hopefully in a more advanced role if he is included
The best job for Park, would be to shadow Silva.
yeah, agree with alf. de jong and barry are not pirlo, we can leave them be.
someone needs to look after tevez, he is a dangerous little ugly cunt, they are dangerous everywhere i suppose, A johnson is a worry.
====================================================================================
The trouble with Jimmy Spark is he’s far too lightweight. De Jong and Barry will bully him. He spends more time on the grass than Bob Marley ever did. Its far too big a game to trust Jimmy in a lone role anywhere. Stick him in the middle of the pitch and get him doing Scholesy’s donkey work, that would be far more effective.
From journo on Twitter, forget who: Rio, Vidic, Evra, Berba, Scholes, Fletch all fit to start for Man Utd tonight after virus. Nani over injury and should start
Tevez hasn’t played in a while as well… but will he be full of running and tear up our defence?… or will he be a bit cold, and out of touch?
he will bust his balls against us, this game will mean the most to him
barba and nani start.
tevez will be doing his damndest to fuck us – a headless chicken is nowt compared to what he will be trying to do tonite
hey mad red
glad to see u could join us tonite
hope we can get a decent team out there
ffs…suck his cock why dont you
i can’t…….
cos ur ahead of me……
jealous bitch
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes, Carrick, Nani, Berbatov, Park.
Subs: Amos, Brown, Smalling, Hernandez, O’Shea, Obertan, Gibson.
Man City: Hart, Boateng, Toure, Kompany, Zabaleta, Toure Yaya, De Jong, Barry, Silva, Tevez, Milner.
Subs: Given, Richards, Adebayor, Adam Johnson, Kolarov, Lescott, Vieira.
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
Strong team
Was this flu thing bollocks or what
If we lose Fergie will use it an excuse
The line ups dont look particularly exciting. Id take a 1-0 with Park popping up in the 95th minute or Hernandez bouncing it in off his nose or something.
come on reds
Rio has to pull his finger out in this game. We need him to be on his game the idiot.
hi cal
long time no see
xxx
Got a fucking bastard stream at last ffs
No early bottlejob from City
which is?
http://atdhe.net/27978/watch-manchester-city-vs-manchester-united
Hi Han!
Honestly, why is Rio not able to move the ball from the back again these days? He just passes the ball sideways to Vida. Carrick eh?
come on reds, Hi Han.
We’re doing alright so far.
how the fuck does brian kidd live with himself
1st blackburn and now these cunts
evra ok
bollocks bring on hernandez
evra close
Wahey… Nani the fanny.
thx alfie
sweet pea needs to come on pretty soon – he is best on as a sub and not starting at the mo
Gareth Barry is being very aggressive in this game. He has had a go at Nani and Rafael. And that Chris Foy is not doing anything about it.
FFS Scholesey… SHOOOOT!
dis bollock jointed
fookin useless
this is a derby and there is absolutely no fire this half
ffs get a fucking grip
This has got draw written all over it
defence is keeping us in it
Nani is in fuck-about mode tonight…
I can see a few cards coming out tonight… maybe even a couple reds.
Rafa… get in his face Son.
ha ha Rafael taking it to Tevez
Not bad.
rafael still working up tevez at h/t
needs a bit more bite
gibcunt on to shoot every time he gets the ball would make it more eventful
Watch Paul effing Scholes ruin it for us tonight as he gets himself needlessly sent-off the ginger twat!!!
Good on you Rafael son. Sock it to that two faced ugly idiot. Can someone get Michael Carrick into this game for God’s sakes! Why o why is that Geordie such a wimp? Why? I absolutely despair of him sometimes.
Berbatov just cannot do the lone striker thing.
at the moment berbatov cannot even do the striker thing
is he competing with shrek for who goes the longest without scoring?
That Rafa is a ballsy little fucker…
City keeping us waiting to try and rattle us ‘cos they’re shit
Brown will put the boot in
passing the ball but no end product
berbatov ffs
Bring Chico on for Park.
come on united
someone step up to the plate ffs
Lots of decent passing and threat, but no one looking to take a shot.
every attack goes shit once Park gets involved
come on united.
Here we go… O’Shea for Evra… city are in trouble now.
We’re on top now
City are looking to hit us on the break
I thought it would start off like this with City being cowards
Fuck sake… one of my biggest complaints about Ferguson… he always waits too long to make changes… Park is not helping, bring on Chico, ya drunken cunt!
give me a pea bob….
Arsenal win, Chumpski win, but the Verrrmin drop points again… 1-1
park faffing again
come on sweet pea
Chico on
someone needs to give that robbie savage a good fisting
cunt talks as though he has won a shitload of medals – criticising berbatov on 5 live
he aint fit to lick any united players boots
O’Shite
This was a game where we really needed Rooney.
brown u dozy fucker
Wes, you dummy.
Carrick has been class
Not great, but a point at Eastlands with a team recovering from flu… it’s not BAD is it? Fuck… I’m just getting over it… couldn’t last 9 mins let alone 90!
A stoppage time substitute?
City should be embarrassed.
Fucksake 3Lung!
Full time 0-0
So much for Park’s excellent form. The number of possessions in good areas he squandered with too soft passes… I couldn’t believe that he stayed on while Berbatov went off. FFS Fergie!
Under strength Utd holds a 0:0 in the wastelands…not bad
have to be happy with that point
city played like a bunch of pussy wimps
if – and it’s a big if – most of the united players out there were recovering from a virus, then it was a hard graft session and well played to the lads
if the virus was 1 of safs mind games, then pretty piss poor effort
Well, I consider that 2 points dropped… but I’m not too upset… we were easily the better team, and the Bitters will look at that game and still feel second best in Manchester.
we were the only team going to win tonight, all the talk from city. bollocks.
I missed the first half, but we definitely dominated the second half, it was very lopsided. I was really impressed by our possession, especially against the much vaunted City midfield that Chelsea couldn’t break down. Scholes, Fletcher, and Carrick out passed and out tackled City’s lot throughout that half, it was almost like us against Barca in Rome.
But we didn’t bloody score, but it’s embarrassing for them too. How many hundreds of millions spent, and they park the bus playing at home against their greatest rivals? Pathetic.
Frustrating to drop points, but we comprehensively proved that we are still the best team in Manchester.
Lay off Ji people. to be fair he had gone through a mountain of work and he started to tire and that was when he started giving the ball away. Carrick got better in the 2nd half. City are USELESS and Macini is a lemon. To think they sacked Hughes for this – serves the fool right though for taking the job in the first place.
Am glad we did not lose. We are getting better in terms of form and I just wished that Valencia was fit so he could have played on the other flank so that Nani would have run riot.
City bottled it second half
We dominated the ball which is surprising
I’d have taken a point before kick off – especially after they beat Chelsea – but the way we played makes it feel disappointing
If they play like that at Old Trafford we’ll do ’em comfortably
Some positives to be had here for sure:
1. 0-0 isn’t a bad result – Chelsea lost 1-0 at Eastlands
2. Carrick, Brown, Park, Hernandez and O’Shea looked very solid backups so the squad depth is looking good.
3. Related to the above, Carrick is looking like is back to his best. Could save us £s.
Fletcher was ace. One second he’d be up on the right wing putting in a corner, next he’d be tackling Tevez in the middle of the pitch to shut down their counterattack. I think we undervalue a lot of our players because they don’t ever want to leave United, so there’s none of the transfer bollocks hyping them up; but if Fletcher’s agent started putting out stories in the paper of clubs being interested, you’d definitely see big figures bandied around for him.
berbatov needs to grow a pair
and quick
I’d have taken a point before kick-off but I thought our decision making in the final third (in the 2nd half) was disappointing. We couldn’t seem to execute that final killer ball to actually create proper chances. I would have liked to have seen us take more risks in the final few minutes and play with a bit more tempo, get more people up the pitch.
Wes Brown, for example, did all the hard work in one particular instance. He turned the City player inside out before inexplicably cutting inside and then cutting the ball back to a City player when all he had to do was put in a cross.
City were about as threatening as Brian in a lesbians only sauna. As well organised as they were, I thought we could have more of our possession.
Frustrating.
so true
Yep Fletcher was in all action mode for sure. Another clean sheet for the 4-5-1 formation. Will definitely be used as we get deeper into the European campaign.
To be fair to our lads, City defended well and in numbers. It’s not often you come up against such a good team, top 4 quality, that only want to park the bus. If the Arse or Chavs did it I’m sure we’d have a really hard time scoring too.
I said before, Man City are not a good team, I was never worrying about losing to them, thats why I said the Carling Cup team can beat them. Mancini is fighting to keep his job and he knew if he lost this one, he’d be gone tomorrow Morning.
Nonsense… Mancini did himself no favours last night.
He took a team that on paper, and on home soil, should have at the very least given us a real game… yet they played as if they were trying to avoid relegation.
If we’d have played with a bit more direct purpose ourselves, we’d have won comfortably.
I couldn’t believe how much we looked like Arsenal in the final third at times… trying to walk the ball through, instead of just risking a shot.
the only positive i take from lat night was that i got an hours extra sleep when boredom finally kicked in and i dropped off with half an hour to go.
Let me see if I understand what you are saying: you got an extra hour of sleep by snoozing through the last half hour of the match? Something doesn’t add up.
days last longer and the sun shines brighter in an lkhf wworld
onelovecap4knobheadforeverlkhffaffing
*pumps fist on chest in respect to our leader*
Ah, here I was thinking it had something to do with a post-match wank after a good result. My bad.