EPL Manchester United vs Arsenal | 29/08/09, 17:15 | SS1

[progman07]

If Cesc is injured, it will be Diaby, no questions about it (though there are always questions about his fitness).

 

[stuart]

Im away on Saturday and have no idea if i'll be home in time to see this. I really hope to see at least the second half. It's shaping up to be an absolute cracker and, despite not being as good as some are claiming, i still fancy us to have them.

 

[OohtobeaGoonerGal]

Rooney's going to score.

Then it's a good job that he scored his 100th goal against Wigan then I guess they can't have everything.

 

[Unforgiven]

I hope they play Berbatov, he is useless against good teams.

 

[xcdude24]

I'm really really up for this one, but unfortunately i'll be flying home the moment the match starts.

There's a lot to be said about this match, but I think i'll wait until later in the week, when we'll have a better picture of our injury situation.

 

[go49oner]

Vidic could be suspended

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1208506/Vidic-left-facing-trial-television-Rodallega-slap.html?ITO=1490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... l?ITO=1490</a>

 

[asajoseph]

He should be.

Have to say, thought Webb did a superb job of handling that situation. Normally, he's awful, but I think he got that one right.

 

[number_0]

I hope they play Berbatov, he is useless against good teams.

We know how useless players fair against us (bentley, keane, ali, etc..)

 

[McIntyre]

Vidic could be suspended

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1208506/Vidic-left-facing-trial-television-Rodallega-slap.html?ITO=1490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... l?ITO=1490</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sadly, he won't be. Even if they give him a retrospective punishment United would appeal it to prolong the process and make him available for the Arsenal game. Either way I can't see a punishment being enforced by next Saturday. The FA won't do anything to ruin their first showpiece game of the season.

 

[McIntyre]

I'm disappointed we've suffered all these injuries so early in the season. If we have to play Song, Diaby and Denilson as our midfield triumvirate against United I can't say I'll be happy at all. But this is what I feared when we failed to make the required signing in the middle. :x

With our re-jigged formation Arsène was probably banking on Rosicky or Nasri covering for Cesc, but typically they're both injured too.

Ultimately though, even Nasri and Rosicky would be considered cover in the wide positions also, so a Song, Diaby, Denilson combination was always possible.

Strangely enough, I think we can beat United because I think our defence is on form enough to keep them out and any combination of our front three could damage their makeshift defence.

But I'm worried that what will let us down is our midfield, three players who can all fold under pressure, give away possession easily and get outfought. If a couple of them have a stormer then we'll have no problems, but as I feared before the season started we've been left with a midfield that isn't reliable enough at a key moment.

Had we bought the experienced midfielder we really needed Cesc's absence wouldn't be a problem.

Like I said though, for some reason, I can still see us winning this game.

 

[Galahad]

If form and injuries is anything to go by, ManU stand no chance...they have Ben Foster in goal would oyu believe it??? No Ferdinand aswell...that sounds like 3 goals to me...OR we have another of those Sheffield United away games as in 06/07 with Phil Jagielka in goal and we only managed 1 shot on target :-/

Cant call it until its over...But Im buzzing for it.

 

[McIntyre]

I was hoping that with Ferdinand and Evans injured, Vidic would have failed to make it back and we could take on a United defence comprised of the likes of O'Shea and Neville.

I would've loved to give that sort of United defence a pasting to make up for the time they raped our makeshift Stepanovs/Grimandi defence, then bragged about it forever more. :roll:

I would've loved to hear them bleating about how their defence was understrength, proving what hypocritical motherf*ckers they are! :roll:

But sadly Vidic is back, so we'll just have to trounce them with half their first team defence anyway!

 

[Biggus]

I would love to f**k the asses out of their head, and win this game with 0-2 or really humilate them,

What Holland said.

This is always the big one, we're in a rich vein of form now, nobody doubts that we can beat them and I hope its not a severe wake up call to those of us carried away by our good start.

 

[Jasard]

Oh man I'm gunna be so pumped up for this game on match day. Its so odd to say so much rests on a game this early but it does. If we can do them the confidence amongst the players is going to be sky high.

I miss the days where us as fans and the players would go in to a game with no fear, expecting a win.

Shame our players dont huddle before and after games any more, showed great unity.

 

[McIntyre]

Shame our players dont huddle before and after games any more, showed great unity.

But maybe it showed a fake unity, something someone was forcing on everyone. I know it doesn't compare but I've been involved in a fair few teams in various sports at amateur level and me and a few others always felt kind of awkward doing the huddle business. The huddle has to be a team thing, outright. If there's people who aren't interested it's not worth a jot.

Clearly we've decided to go a different route and I don't think it shows we're less united. I don't have to huddle with the team to want to battle for them, and the first few tackles and the moment you start playing, the team instinct should kick in.

That's just my opinion. But I did notice that when we were doing the huddles there were players who clearly didn't want to be there.

 

[Floating]

What is the actual Fabregas situation? Might he miss this all-important game?

 

[sagreig]

What is the actual Fabregas situation? Might he miss this all-important game?

Wenger said we'll know more in 48 hours (that was on Saturday afternoon), so we might get some news today. If not, then we'll certainly get an update before the Celtic game.

It would be a massive loss if we have to play the game without him.

 

[Gurgen]

If Ferdinand and Vidic are both out I really expect us to get a win here.

 

[patrick42uk]

I feel our high line could be particularly effective in this game. Will be itneresting to see if Wenger tweaks the tactics/formation. Same with Ferguson with the 4-4-2 they are playing at the moment.

 

[ricky1985]

I think if we can really squeeze the game, not only with a high line but with the same aggressive pressing we employed against Everton and Celtic - that they will struggle to deal effectively with it. They aren't a good enough passing side to pass it around us. Should give us plenty of opportunities for counter-attacking (one of the reasons I reckon Diaby will start).