FA Cup 19/20: Norwich vs Manchester United - 5:30pm

jsp said:
Got to expect some rotation here but I think Norwich will go first XI as they know they’re down in the league so might as well chuck the lot in for the cup.

Romero

Dalot Bailly Maguire Williams

Fred McTominay

Greenwood Mata James

Ighalo

Can see him having most of the usual starters on the bench but he’ll want the guys who’ve hardly played since we came back to get some minutes.

Not a fan of that starting XI but hard to tell what he’s going to do
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The players have had three months off so no need to rest anyone
 
We’ve been very poor even with the big guns on.

I’d assume we go

Bruno
Greenwood
Rashford
Martial
Pogba

Should it go to pens
 
Winnie red said:
The players have had three months off so no need to rest anyone
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You ever played football?

They might be elite athletes but 3 games in 8 days is a big ask rotation was always on the cards but I think he went to far.

We have another game on Tuesday then again on Saturday.

The schedule is relentless if you don’t rotate within 2 weeks the whole team will be in the physio room.
 
Why is Krul at Norwich? He seems like a really great keeper, at least against us he keeps making nearly impossible saves. Canaries fought hard and made us look pedestrian. Oh well. Onwards.
 
Tbh he wasn't good today. He kept trying things and he has a superb work ethic but it just wasn't happening for him today. They need to find a place for him and pogba in the same team.
 
Cosmic Slop said:
Why is Krul at Norwich? He seems like a really great keeper, at least against us he keeps making nearly impossible saves. Canaries fought hard and made us look pedestrian. Oh well. Onwards.
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He’s a big game player. Awful a lot of the time.
 
Krul is a solid prem keeper but he’s a mid table keeper be surprised if a club doesn’t pick him up.

Great penalty stopper and a master of the time wasting tactics
 
RichH2016 said:
From what I could see Fernandes was a class above everyone else.
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He looked exhausted about 70 minutes. He is great to have on the pitch because he wants to attack attack attack always, and whenever the goal opens up he shoots. I think it's good for the rest of the players to feel less pressure when they shoot. I think he's a brilliant player. He didn't really shine beyond the others out there today though, maybe everyone was a little tired. He had an off day.
 
Yeah Bruno definitely did tire and his mind by the end was a little shot I think. Definitely needs a rest against Brighton.
 
Think Bruno going 120 minutes probably means he rests vs Brighton but he seems to be a super fit guy so guess it’ll be see how he recovers.

Probably means Shaw drops to the bench to with Williams getting a start Maguire will be fine for the next game.

I think yesterday kind of showed the drop off in level between our starters vs Sheff Utd in the front 3 and the starters yesterday. The speed and movement just wasn’t really there to hurt Norwich and they grew in confidence.

I lost patience with Lingard a long time ago I’d rather see us give kids a chance than use him any more he’s had his chance and it’s time to change.

Mata great pro but in this team I think his time has come to slows us down to much and physically not what we need.

Ighalo obviously no world beater but good enough to be your backup he’s here until January wouldn’t be surprised if he stays for all of next season unless we buy a striker in the summer.

Was disappointed in Dalot yesterday just don’t think the lad has it might be running out of chances he needs to go and play regularly and develop his game.

Bailly makes me very nervous but I do think he’s a better option alongside Maguire but never trust injury prone players.
 
Bailly seemed nervous when on the ball. Maguire is our best defender by far so we really need to give him a settled partner so they can develop a solid understanding. I'd bring Smaling back.

Mata, Dalot and Lingard should all be moved on. I'd like to see Mata join the coaching team.

Rest Bruno for the next game and stop messing with the back four.
 
Smalling is not the answer to this teams problems he needs to be sold along with Jones they’ve had their chances we have to move forward and going back to Smalling is moving backwards.
 
jsp said:
Smalling is not the answer to this teams problems he needs to be sold along with Jones they’ve had their chances we have to move forward and going back to Smalling is moving backwards.
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I agree, we cannot be taking such backward steps. That said I can see O-Dog's point, Smalling is likely (to a degree) a victim of the shit show that was United for a number of years, he is and always was a good professional but what is done is done.
It is onwards and upwards under Ole. The rebuild is well underway, the club culture has been restored and there is great unity within the squad.
Ole has played some master strokes in this rebuild, no longer do we have players thinking they are bigger than the club, no longer do we have all the stupid and embarrassing social media. The players know the meaning of representing Manchester United and we are on our way back to the pinnacle of domestic and European football over the next couple of years.
 
Cosmic Slop said:
He looked exhausted about 70 minutes. He is great to have on the pitch because he wants to attack attack attack always, and whenever the goal opens up he shoots. I think it's good for the rest of the players to feel less pressure when they shoot. I think he's a brilliant player. He didn't really shine beyond the others out there today though, maybe everyone was a little tired. He had an off day.
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I just thought whenever he got on the ball he looked a cut above. He knew what he wanted to do. Ok it didn't always come off but he'd have a picture in his mind. He'd take a touch to buy himself time on the ball. He never looked rushed or pressured.
 
Shoot said:
I agree, we cannot be taking such backward steps. That said I can see O-Dog's point, Smalling is likely (to a degree) a victim of the shit show that was United for a number of years, he is and always was a good professional but what is done is done.
It is onwards and upwards under Ole. The rebuild is well underway, the club culture has been restored and there is great unity within the squad.
Ole has played some master strokes in this rebuild, no longer do we have players thinking they are bigger than the club, no longer do we have all the stupid and embarrassing social media. The players know the meaning of representing Manchester United and we are on our way back to the pinnacle of domestic and European football over the next couple of years.
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Smalling is a solid squad player would have absolutely no problem with him being in the squad but to his credit when he was told he would be in that role this season he said he wanted to play so asked to leave. That's the sort of character you want your players to have to many have been happy sitting around old Trafford on big contracts not playing.

The issue at centre back really is Lindelöf for me is to similar to Maguire so they don't make a good pair both have the same weakness. The two lads who might blend with Maguire Bailly and Tuenzebe are still fairly inexperienced and also injury prone. I do think Bailly is on his last chance if he doesn't stay fit now we simply have to move on which means buying another centre back which will cost silly money. You can't rely on injury prone players you're always better off getting shot of them and buying guys who you can rely on to stay fit and healthy.

This summer Smalling, Jones and Rojo should all be getting moved on but with Covid that's unlikely to happen now but certainly all 3 players should be out somewhere on loan next season even if we can't sell them.
 
RichH2016 said:
I just thought whenever he got on the ball he looked a cut above. He knew what he wanted to do. Ok it didn't always come off but he'd have a picture in his mind. He'd take a touch to buy himself time on the ball. He never looked rushed or pressured.
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Totally agree. He really is different class from the rest of 'em. He's also the type of player that makes everyone around him better because he always wants the ball, and you know his 1st and 2nd and maybe even 3rd choice option is going forwards. I love him.
 
jsp said:
Smalling is a solid squad player would have absolutely no problem with him being in the squad but to his credit when he was told he would be in that role this season he said he wanted to play so asked to leave. That's the sort of character you want your players to have to many have been happy sitting around old Trafford on big contracts not playing.

The issue at centre back really is Lindelöf for me is to similar to Maguire so they don't make a good pair both have the same weakness. The two lads who might blend with Maguire Bailly and Tuenzebe are still fairly inexperienced and also injury prone. I do think Bailly is on his last chance if he doesn't stay fit now we simply have to move on which means buying another centre back which will cost silly money. You can't rely on injury prone players you're always better off getting shot of them and buying guys who you can rely on to stay fit and healthy.

This summer Smalling, Jones and Rojo should all be getting moved on but with Covid that's unlikely to happen now but certainly all 3 players should be out somewhere on loan next season even if we can't sell them.
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The spaces those 3 are taking should go to academy players. We don't need 3 alternate CBs on crazy money. We have our 2 starters (Maguire, Lindelof), 1 alternate starter (Bailly), then 2 academy players. The academy needs to do better if those academy players aren't up to snuff.

We never would have gotten to see how great Williams and McTominay are if we had more deadweight hanging around. Our academy is part of our club and they should be involved more.
 
I think that leaves us an experienced centre half short. We know bailly is always injured as it appears is tuanzebe
 
If we go into next season with Maguire, Lindelöf, Bailly and Tuanzebe that should be enough to get us through the season the 3 lads who I said we should sell are just fat around the squad and Smalling who is the one who'd be worth keeping has made it clear he's only interested in being here if he's a starter.

The injuries are obviously the biggest concern as how much trust can you put in Bailly to stay fit.

As far as I know there's not much in the academy that looks first team ready in terms of centre back options so if we had injuries it would likely be someone like Matic stepping in as a centre back in an emergency.
 
If we can’t trust people to be around because of perma injuries we should move them on. I’d have no problem moving on all 4 of Jones Bailly Rojo and Smalling. Bringing one other in and having them plus Tuanzebe, Lindelof and Maguire. 4 first team CB’s should be enough to get you through a season.
 
jsp said:
As far as I know there's not much in the academy that looks first team ready in terms of centre back options so if we had injuries it would likely be someone like Matic stepping in as a centre back in an emergency.
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Young guy called Teden Mengi - already training with the first team. A very bright future indeed and sometimes you are worried about young guys and the physicality of moving into the first team - not this guy!
 
Just think you have to be realistic about the business the club will be able to do this summer unless you think the perfect partner for Maguire is available I don't really see them buying another centre back this summer. I think Bailly bit like Shaw gets one more shot next season to prove they're up to it if they don't push on then the following summer those two spots need to be addressed.

Yeah Mengi is a name I've seen around but haven't seen him myself as I don't watch the academy stuff but I guess like Tuanzebe he will probably be going out on loan somewhere before stepping into the first team unless there's an injury crisis of some sort.
 
Mengi is the one who possibly could make the step up. He is strong and pretty fast. It would just worry me that the only experienced centre halfs we have are Maguire, lindelof and bailly, particularly as bailly is hardly ever fit
 
If they don't trust Bailly they'll probably keep Jones around as he's unlikely to go anywhere and it'll be just hoping that one is fit when the other one is injured.
 
jsp said:
If they don't trust Bailly they'll probably keep Jones around as he's unlikely to go anywhere and it'll be just hoping that one is fit when the other one is injured.
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Keeping Jones would be such a mistake for United. He's always injured and when he is healthy he's not good anyway. Move on. Give Tuanzebe those opportunities.
 
Hasn't Mengi been training with the first team?
oh, bit late to party, I see it's been mentioned :oops:
 

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