I fully expect an easy victory today. It's not that I'm writing off Derby but I think the fact that we've already played them, and had them beat us, at Pride Park in the Carling Cup will have the effect of making sure there are no mistakes this time round. The defeat at Pride Park was an awful performance by us and I can see no way we'll have a repeat of that today.
The team could be interesting, seeing who's rested etc.. The Telegraph goes for the rather bold step of naming our team without any probable/possible proviso. Here it is: Foster; Rafael, Vidic, Evans, O’Shea; Park, Scholes, Fletcher, Nani; Tevez, Welbeck. Sky Sports suggest that "Rio Ferdinand is expected to play", so I would argue that the central defence would be any two from the three of Evans, Rio and Vidic. With the game against Fulham coming up midweek it'll be interesting whether Rio is played to get him up to match fitness or saved with that game in mind. The same could of course be said for Evans, and Vidic could be due a rest. So it's anyone's guess is what I'm saying... Evra back in the squad and the same argument could be made for him as well, and Rafael. Maybe substitute appearances for Evra and Rafael?
Ronaldo seems to have been hitting form recently so it's possible he'll start to keep it going, but I guess chances are he'll be rested. I see Tevez starting, with Rooney's return imminent. Looking at the strength of the team we fielded against Spurs in the last round (Foster, Neville, O'Shea, Da Silva Fabio, Vidic, Scholes, Carrick, Ronaldo, Tevez, Welbeck, Berbatov) I think it's odd that The Telegraph just assumes we'll be fielding a weakened team, although our injury list enforced that selection to a certain degree. With so many options in midfield it's hard to predict the starters, Berbatov could play up front and Welbeck on the right, or Berbatov rested and Welbeck upfront.
At this point I'll give up trying to predict the team, and just look forward to seeing who is selected. I'm going to assume it's going to look more like the team for the last FA tie than for the Carling Cup game at Pride Park (Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Anderson, Scholes, Gibson, Nani, Tevez, Welbeck).
I see it being a comfortable game - 3-1 to United is my prediction.The team could be interesting, seeing who's rested etc.. The Telegraph goes for the rather bold step of naming our team without any probable/possible proviso. Here it is: Foster; Rafael, Vidic, Evans, O’Shea; Park, Scholes, Fletcher, Nani; Tevez, Welbeck. Sky Sports suggest that "Rio Ferdinand is expected to play", so I would argue that the central defence would be any two from the three of Evans, Rio and Vidic. With the game against Fulham coming up midweek it'll be interesting whether Rio is played to get him up to match fitness or saved with that game in mind. The same could of course be said for Evans, and Vidic could be due a rest. So it's anyone's guess is what I'm saying... Evra back in the squad and the same argument could be made for him as well, and Rafael. Maybe substitute appearances for Evra and Rafael?
Ronaldo seems to have been hitting form recently so it's possible he'll start to keep it going, but I guess chances are he'll be rested. I see Tevez starting, with Rooney's return imminent. Looking at the strength of the team we fielded against Spurs in the last round (Foster, Neville, O'Shea, Da Silva Fabio, Vidic, Scholes, Carrick, Ronaldo, Tevez, Welbeck, Berbatov) I think it's odd that The Telegraph just assumes we'll be fielding a weakened team, although our injury list enforced that selection to a certain degree. With so many options in midfield it's hard to predict the starters, Berbatov could play up front and Welbeck on the right, or Berbatov rested and Welbeck upfront.
At this point I'll give up trying to predict the team, and just look forward to seeing who is selected. I'm going to assume it's going to look more like the team for the last FA tie than for the Carling Cup game at Pride Park (Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Anderson, Scholes, Gibson, Nani, Tevez, Welbeck).
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