United vs Liverpool : PL - Sunday 24th February

[ibromurph]

We all know the back 5 and the front 3. They all pick themselves. The conundrum is around the midfield 3.

I would prefer if Klopp didn't go for the dogs of war approach (Hendo, Milner, Gini) as he did against City.

I want to see a midfield of power, skill and pace in Gini, Fabinho and Keita, just as we did at home against these lot. Even if we switch to a 4-2-3-1 and put Keita on the left again and Mane on the right.

 

[Hansern]

We were two nil up after ten mins but sturridge had scored both. Frankly doubting my dream's reliability here

This was better than my dream though.

 

[manwithnoname]

This was better than my dream though.

Neither seem likely enough for me to pin my hopes on, which is a shame.

 

[Hansern]

Neither seem likely enough for me to pin my hopes on, which is a shame.

Haha, indeed.

 

[manwithnoname]

Haha, indeed.

Hopefully someone more reliable can have a more realistic dream before Sunday and share it with everyone.

 

[rurikbird]

Klopp isn't going to do it so regardless of whether it's interesting or not it's merely a theoretical conversation. It would of course spell the end of Matip's time at Anfield.

Not necessarily. If Bayern’s Javi Martinez could be selected at CB ahead of one of their 3rd or 4th choice CB for tactical reasons or Mascherano played there ahead of a natural CB, why not Fabinho? There is a valid tactical argument for sometimes playing a DM at CB.

You can read Klopp’s words as indication that it’s a possibility:

 

[Jerry Laser]

Bex & I had a fucking huge row last week, when she told me that her cousin's (who she's really close with) baby's christening is on Sunday.

I fucking HATE christenings anyway, for obv reasons, but usually go along, hate it, get drunk, & do my best not to tell everyone they're being stupid cunts (tbh this is pretty much my usual plan for most large gatherings of people in a social setting).

Anyway, I told her there was no fucking way on Earth I was going, & we had an almighty row. She then realised, about an hour later, that the christening is actually on Saturday & she'd looked at the calendar & just assumed it was the Sunday as they're usually on a Sunday not a Saturday.

I was very fucking relieved, simply cos obv that row is no longer an issue, yet for some reason known only to her, she was still pissed off, about the now hypothetical clash & my now null & void response, for fucking ages.

Women are fucking weird.

Havent broached the subject again since i said "you're extremely lucky im coming on the biggest game of the season"

Tbf Ive said its the biggest game (each time for certain games) of the season probably about 8 times in the last few months....

Now she's dead to the line.... but fuck me it is the biggest game of the season and I am missing it! and I only have BT and cant bloody record it either....

Well, who knows maybe not watching might be more entertaining, sitting there having tea and cake being polite trying to not watch my phone saying "get-in you bastard" and the like.....

I bet they bloody know its Utd Sunday too and they are just waiting for me to say oh BTW....

Women are snakes.

 

[tombrown]

I will also miss the match as I need to work at the local dive centre on Sunday - I committed to it thinking it was a 4pm kickoff, and couldn't subsequently back out. I'm OK with it as I would be a bundle of nerves watching it.

Also the omens are good :

• The last time I missed an Old Trafford match was in 13/14 when we won 3-0
• The only other match I have missed this season was because I was working in the dive centre, and it was the Spurs match at Wembley.

I think I have this covered

 

[gkmacca]

Two contrasting press conferences. Our manager polite, respectful and positive, theirs bitter and petty. I know he's called 'baby-faced' but it's high time he grew up.

 

[Frogfish]

Not necessarily. If Bayern’s Javi Martinez could be selected at CB ahead of one of their 3rd or 4th choice CB for tactical reasons or Mascherano played there ahead of a natural CB, why not Fabinho? There is a valid tactical argument for sometimes playing a DM at CB.

You can read Klopp’s words as indication that it’s a possibility:

It's not (a possibility). Klopp will not start Fabinho at CB, when we have a perfect;y viable CB available, and when he needs him more at CM.

 

[Insignificance]

Two contrasting press conferences. Our manager polite, respectful and positive, theirs bitter and petty. I know he's called 'baby-faced' but it's high time he grew up.

Maybe I saw a different one... but I think he did allright . Not the natural charisma as Klopp and not the smartness either. But more inexperienced than bitter and petty?

 

[Frogfish]

Looks like martial and lingard are fit then. Lingard is dogshit, but martial is pretty quick and full of himself.
Let’s just hope due to this good news that they feel all super confident and decide to come out and play attacking football the cunts. Or, they could bottle and play like the shithouses they are.

Lingard, 26, injured his hamstring in the Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain 10 days ago and was expected to be out for up to three weeks.
France forward Martial, 23, could also return from the groin injury he picked up in the first half against PSG.
"Jesse is looking OK. I hope with Anthony," said Solskjaer.
"Anthony's was a different muscle, so we think he might be ready and hope that Jesse will.
"We've got two more days so they've got to get through these two sessions. They've not been part of training yet but they've been doing some recovery work."

 

[Insignificance]

It's not (a possibility). Klopp will not start Fabinho at CB, when we have a perfect;y viable CB available, and when he needs him more at CM.

He should start VVD at DM and let him kick Pogbas ass for an hour or so....

 

[gkmacca]

Maybe I saw a different one... but I think he did allright . Not the natural charisma as Klopp and not the smartness either. But more inexperienced than bitter and petty?

He's got previous from when he was at Cardiff. He has an LFC past to live down, and my god he tries way too hard to do so.

 

[Jerry Laser]

It's not (a possibility). Klopp will not start Fabinho at CB, when we have a perfect;y viable CB available, and when he needs him more at CM.

We will need Fabinho in midfield as a barrier against Pogba. He is the biggest threat to us on Sunday.

 

[Raz]

Strangly enough I had a dream about this game, barely get enough sleep to sleep. Anyway we beat them 1-0 and it was a worldly from about 25/30 yards out. Don’t remember by whom. Realistically, we will lose this game for one simple reason, they will want it more.

 

[MomoWASright]

Raz, please explain why they will want it more?

 

[Raz]

Raz, please explain why they will want it more?

No

 

[Dreambeliever]

Wtf? How could they possibly want it more.

Zero chance of that.

Cannot wait for the game. To have a game to go top going into March is fantastic progress.

Would be fantastic to do it while bringing Utd fans back down a few pegs too.

 

[rurikbird]

We will need Fabinho in midfield as a barrier against Pogba. He is the biggest threat to us on Sunday.

Pogba moves all over the pitch. If you want to man-mark him or something like that, I would go with a more mobile player like Hendo or Gini. The best argument for Fabinho for me is his superior passing.

 

[6TimesaRed]

I see Joel Matip has been practising on his daring runs from defence for this game

 

[gkmacca]

That Matip Moment - when you realise you've run into their half of the pitch:

 

[Matt]

This is what I see when he crosses the halfway line...

 

[Frogfish]

Interesting to see how the Mancs (on RC) fancy their chances (pretty similar to when they played at home to PSG) :

United to win by 1 goal : 43%
United to win by 2 or more : 28%
Draw : 19%
Liverpool to win by any score : 10%

 

[Frogfish]

Looking at United's recent form (since so much has been made of their run) it's interesting to note that 5 of those teams are the Bottom 5 of the PL, note also that if you actually watched the whole match (I saw the games vs. Leicester, Arsenal, Brighton & Spurs) they have only been really impressive against Chelsea (so I heard) and pretty good vs. Arsenal (and even in that game Arsenal had spells where I thought they were going to get something from the game).

Spurs murdered them (as did PSG) and God only knows how De Gea kept them out. Leicester and Brighton could very easily (deservedly) have got points and Burnley were very close to winning at OT, giving up 2 goals in the last 5 mins.

It's an impressive run on paper but rather less so if you had actually delve into it in depth and have watched some of those games. Hopefully their luck runs out tomorrow.

[xtable=skin1]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Chelsea 0:2 Man Utd{/td}
{td}18 Feb 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}CL{/td}
{td}L{/td}
{td}Man Utd 0:2 PSG{/td}
{td}12 Feb 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Fulham 0:3 Man Utd{/td}
{td}09 Feb 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Leicester 0:1 Man Utd{/td}
{td}03 Feb 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}D{/td}
{td}Man Utd 2:2 Burnley{/td}
{td}29 Jan 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}FC{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Arsenal 1:3 Man Utd{/td}
{td}25 Jan 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Man Utd 2:1 Brighton{/td}
{td}19 Jan 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Tottenham 0:1 Man Utd{/td}
{td}13 Jan 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}FC{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Man Utd 2:0 Reading{/td}
{td}05 Jan 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Newcastle 0:2 Man Utd{/td}
{td}02 Jan 2019{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Man Utd 4:1 Bournemouth{/td}
{td}30 Dec 2018{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}PL{/td}
{td}W{/td}
{td}Man Utd 3:1 Huddersfield{/td}
{td}26 Dec 2018{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Also PL Cardiff 1-5

 

[Hansern]

Read that Vidic said van Dijk wouldnt get into the Utd team, and OGS has said Fergie might do the pre game talk in the dressing room.

God I hope we beat them.

 

[Woland]

They got beat 2-0 in my dream last night. But this time by The Ev. Terrible predictions here, soz

 

[MomoWASright]

I dreamt we won 3-0 and city lost on pens.

 

[Squiggles]

Fucking bricking it. I'm glad I'm working during this match and can just detach myself from it, because the thought of United ending our title challenge inspired by a Fergusson team talk makes me nautious. This is arguably Klopps biggest league match since he joined. We have to win it, IMO.

 

[mark1975]

Maybe I saw a different one... but I think he did allright . Not the natural charisma as Klopp and not the smartness either. But more inexperienced than bitter and petty?

They're the ones making more of it, Ole was bitching about us just after taking over, there's a bitterness beyond rivalry there. Let them talk, if he thinks his team needs a pep talk from Fergie before the game then whatever, we'll be dignified as always and just get on with the game. I hope we fucking destroy them.