Football Fixtures 22-23rd March **Spoilers**

Status
Not open for further replies.

Anders0n

Anders0n

Anders0n

Soldato
Joined
6 Jul 2005
Posts
5,712
Saturday, 22 March 2008

Aston Villa v Sunderland, 15:00
Blackburn v Wigan, 15:00
Bolton v Man City, 15:00
Everton v West Ham, 17:15 - (Setanta Sports 1)
Middlesbrough v Derby, 15:00
Newcastle v Fulham, 15:00
Reading v Birmingham, 15:00
Tottenham v Portsmouth, 12:45

Sunday, 23 March 2008

Chelsea v Arsenal, 16:00 - (Sky Sports 1/HD1)
Man Utd v Liverpool, 13:30 - (Sky Sports 1/HD1)
_________________________________

Thought I'd make this thread a day early due to the big games on Sunday.

Massive weekend as far as the title race is concerned. If Chelsea and United win then it's pretty much between them two. If Arsenal and Liverpool win then it becomes a 3, maybe 4 (;)) horse race again.

Our likely team:

------------Reina------------

Carra---Sami---Skrtel---Arbeloa

-------Mash---Alonso-----------

Kuyt-------Gerrard--------Babel

------------Torres--------------

That formation has been working well for us recently. Arby in for Aurelio as he'll be better at keeping Ronaldo out. Kuyt isn't my number 1 choice in that position but we've been winning games with him there so I don't think it's going to change.

We are due a win over United in the league and form wise it looks like this maybe the time, we are playing very well and United have been struggling to score. Unfortunately Fergie realises how big this game is and he knows how to get his players up for it, so the result is far from predictable.

In the past we've dominated United only to lose by a unlucky goal, hopefully Torres doesn't go missing and we have a decent attacking threat. I expect Babel will be fairly lively as well. I was hoping Rio would have been out for United but it's obvious Fergie's talking bull, hopefully we plays the woeful Giggs and Scholes to make up for it. :p

These games are rarely high scoring so I'm going for a 1-1 draw in both. Obviously I would love a Liverpool win but being realistic I think it will be a tight and cagey game. Chelsea may get the win but I'm not sure yet, they are in far better form than Arsenal but form plays little part in these games, it's all about what you pull out of the hat on the day.

I've been looking forward to Sunday all week, so bring it on! :D
 

johnyccc

johnyccc

johnyccc

Associate
Joined
24 Sep 2006
Posts
1,267
After Bolton, I am not too optimistic of our chances for Sunday :(
Losing Rio would be a big blow.
I was a little surprised to see our defense for the bolton game, given the prospect of Rio missing Liverpool.
Surely it made sense to play the back four who would play in his absence, to give them a chance of forging something of a unit.
Also, seeing Pique start at CD gives me worries.
imo - no rio should see Pique as RB with wes as CB. He is the more experienced and has more speed to deal with Torres.
With Tevez playing the whole match (and perhaps his attitude on display) I predict he wont feature Sunday.
Rooney as the lone attacker usually doesn't work.
I can see SAF going with:
------------VDS------------------
-----Wes--Rio*--Vidic--Evra-------
----------Hargreves---------------
-------Carrick--Scholes------------
----Ronny-------------Giggs-------
------------Rooney-----------------

With only really Ronalo offering any support.
 
Last edited:

Ripper

Ripper

Ripper

Soldato
Joined
25 Jan 2003
Posts
11,536
Location
Newark, Notts
VdS
Brown - Ferdinand - Vidic - Evra
Ronaldo - Carrick - Anderson/Fletcher/Hargreaves/Scholes - Giggs
Tevez - Rooney

Don't care who plays in midfield as long as Carrick is one of them.

If Rio is out, O'Shea at RB and Brown in the middle.

Fergie might surprise me but I really don't see us doing anything other than 4-4-2 with Tevez/Rooney up top. We're at home after all, and its not Europe :p
 
Last edited:

Sho

Sho

Sho

Soldato
Joined
21 Sep 2006
Posts
4,856
Location
Oldham
If Rio plays, then Rio and Vidic should have an easy day against torres.

I'll take a 1-0 win imo. Ronny getting the goal :D
 

Ripper

Ripper

Ripper

Soldato
Joined
25 Jan 2003
Posts
11,536
Location
Newark, Notts
Fergie has re-iterated that VdS, Saha and Ferdinand are all unlikely to play, and stated that'd he'd be happy to go with Hargreaves at RB and Pique in the centre. Don't believe him though, he's not gonna leave Brown out.
 

NokkonWud

NokkonWud

NokkonWud

Caporegime
Joined
1 Oct 2004
Posts
26,316
Location
Redcar
BaZ87 said:
I will be absolutely shocked if Ferdinand and VDS don't start. Fergie does this every time we play you.
Click to expand...

Usually when Ferguson says someone is out they're out. He's not Mourinho.
I'd be surprised with Ferdinand though, he has such a fantastic fitness and recovery time it would be surprising to see him out for over a week injured, especially for such a big game.
Kuzsczak will worry me if he plays, he's almost clueless from set-pieces, he doesn't know whether to come and collect, stay on his line or what, his handling in the air is also about as bad as I've ever seen from a professional goalkeeper, so I'd expect Liverpool to whip in crosses and free-kicks like there is no tomorrow.
 

BaZ87

BaZ87

BaZ87

Don
Joined
9 Jun 2004
Posts
46,538
Sorry Nokkon but thats not true. I can remember countless times in the past when Giggs and Scholes were meant to be out for 2-3 weeks then the morning of the game Fergie comes out with something along the lines of, "they woke up this morning and they felt fine so we gave them a fitness test and they're fit to play".
 

atpbx

atpbx

atpbx

Soldato
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
21,453
As long as Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo start we should be ok.
Liverpool don't like playing teams who keep it on the deck and pass it around, even inter who were woeful created a hat full of chances that they didnt take when they played it in and around the liverpool defence.

I've got a feeling pool might be so pumped for this they self destruct.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom