[Mr Smith]

The two positions I am unsure about for this game are CB and the 3rd forward if Martial isn't fit enough to play.

I think it might make sense to bring Smalling in to combat Maguire's aerial threat on set pieces, if not I'd like to see Bailly back rather than Jones.

If Martial isn't fit enough to start then Sanchez can come in as a straight replacement on the LW, but if Lukaku gets the nod I hope we play the split Striker system like against Arsenal with Lingard in the false 9 role rather than Lukaku leading the line.

Rashford--------Lukaku
----------Lingard

This is the last game to bring Smalling back for. On his day he's probably better than Jones, but he's lacking match sharpness and Vardy will do him. Jones may not be our best defender, but he's performed reasonably well over the last 8 or so games, I'd keep him in for this one and then bring Smalling or Bailly in at Fulham which is a much more forgiving game after several matches out of the team.

 

[Longlivekeano]

———————-DdG——————

young-Lindelof—Smalling-Shaw-

———————Herrera—————-

————--Pogba——Mata———-

-Lingard——Rashford—Martial

 

[hobbers]

Just no Lukaku and Mata plz. No more shooting ourselves in the foot before we've even kicked off.

Unless Martial is still unavailable.

 

[Tony247]

I don't trust jones. I can take players who are sometimes bad, all of us are. But jones' brainfart s(t)inks.

Hope he does not start on Sunday.

 

[Tony247]

Just no Lukaku and Mata plz. No more shooting ourselves in the foot before we've even kicked off.

Unless Martial is still unavailable.

Lukaku as sub is fine. Mata can indulge himself if we are leading by minimum 2 goals and 3 minutes to final whistle. Then he can come and do whatever he thinks is football.

 

[mazhar13]

This will the match where Ole will get his first loss and finally be exposed.

Our right side is way too weak. Lingard's so bad at supporting our defensively poor right backs that Leceister will have a field day there. If Albrighton starts on the left, we are doomed. His crosses from that area will all go to the far post and target Jones' poor positioning. Matic will be in big trouble; he'll be too slow in covering the ground, and Herrera will constantly have to cover for him, leaving our right side even weaker. Pogba will be exposed, defensively, as the left winger will keep entering the space in between he and Matic time and time again, leaving us exposed to Maddison's creativity and Vardy's quick movement.

We can open them up and score goals, but we lack the quality on the right side to really hurt them. Lingard and Young and just poor going forward, yet we are so defensively weak there that we can't just field Dalot and anyone else together. Our best bet is to play Bailly at right back and Dalot ahead of him (like how Puel plays Pereira ahead of a more defensive right back), but that won't ever happen under Ole.

I'll call out the result as well: 3-2 to Leceister and papers (plus the Caf) questioning Ole's credibility as the United manager.

 

[Class of 63]

This will the match where Ole will get his first loss and finally be exposed.

Our right side is way too weak. Lingard's so bad at supporting our defensively poor right backs that Leceister will have a field day there. If Albrighton starts on the left, we are doomed. His crosses from that area will all go to the far post and target Jones' poor positioning. Matic will be in big trouble; he'll be too slow in covering the ground, and Herrera will constantly have to cover for him, leaving our right side even weaker. Pogba will be exposed, defensively, as the left winger will keep entering the space in between he and Matic time and time again, leaving us exposed to Maddison's creativity and Vardy's quick movement.

We can open them up and score goals, but we lack the quality on the right side to really hurt them. Lingard and Young and just poor going forward, yet we are so defensively weak there that we can't just field Dalot and anyone else together. Our best bet is to play Bailly at right back and Dalot ahead of him (like how Puel plays Pereira ahead of a more defensive right back), but that won't ever happen under Ole.

I'll call out the result as well: 3-2 to Leceister and papers (plus the Caf) questioning Ole's credibility as the United manager.

I'd imagine that was what a Mourinho pre-match teamtalk was like to justify having to park the bus, again.

 

[Foxtrot]

I think we will lose this. Ole's honeymoon will come to an end.

 

[Harry190]

This will the match where Ole will get his first loss and finally be exposed.

Our right side is way too weak. Lingard's so bad at supporting our defensively poor right backs that Leceister will have a field day there. If Albrighton starts on the left, we are doomed. His crosses from that area will all go to the far post and target Jones' poor positioning. Matic will be in big trouble; he'll be too slow in covering the ground, and Herrera will constantly have to cover for him, leaving our right side even weaker. Pogba will be exposed, defensively, as the left winger will keep entering the space in between he and Matic time and time again, leaving us exposed to Maddison's creativity and Vardy's quick movement.

We can open them up and score goals, but we lack the quality on the right side to really hurt them. Lingard and Young and just poor going forward, yet we are so defensively weak there that we can't just field Dalot and anyone else together. Our best bet is to play Bailly at right back and Dalot ahead of him (like how Puel plays Pereira ahead of a more defensive right back), but that won't ever happen under Ole.

I'll call out the result as well: 3-2 to Leceister and papers (plus the Caf) questioning Ole's credibility as the United manager.

If you can see it, I'm pretty sure the entire coaching staff can see it as well.

 

[Tony247]

what is this, predict-we-lose thread or anti jinx thread?

 

[AgentP]

This will the match where Ole will get his first loss and finally be exposed.

Our right side is way too weak. Lingard's so bad at supporting our defensively poor right backs that Leceister will have a field day there. If Albrighton starts on the left, we are doomed. His crosses from that area will all go to the far post and target Jones' poor positioning. Matic will be in big trouble; he'll be too slow in covering the ground, and Herrera will constantly have to cover for him, leaving our right side even weaker. Pogba will be exposed, defensively, as the left winger will keep entering the space in between he and Matic time and time again, leaving us exposed to Maddison's creativity and Vardy's quick movement.

We can open them up and score goals, but we lack the quality on the right side to really hurt them. Lingard and Young and just poor going forward, yet we are so defensively weak there that we can't just field Dalot and anyone else together. Our best bet is to play Bailly at right back and Dalot ahead of him (like how Puel plays Pereira ahead of a more defensive right back), but that won't ever happen under Ole.

I'll call out the result as well: 3-2 to Leceister and papers (plus the Caf) questioning Ole's credibility as the United manager.

Jose, is that you?

Seriously, this has been our problem with our previous managers. They always focus on our own weaknesses and how to cover them up instead of focusing on our strengths. They might score but we will score more. That should be our approach.

 

[AgentP]

Just no Lukaku and Mata plz. No more shooting ourselves in the foot before we've even kicked off.

Unless Martial is still unavailable.

Even if Martial is unavailable, it should be Sanchez who starts.

 

[AgentP]

I'm expecting Bailly to start instead of Jones with the rest of the line up being our best XI. Bailly has shown us a few times already that he can handle Vardy's pace and physicality.

 

[zenith]

I'm trusting ole to come up with a solid gameplan for this one. He made quite an accurate assessment of their team and and should have a good idea on how to combat it and come out on top.

He's also got a good understanding of the squad capability now and knows that some of the big names are not up to the mark, so better to use them as impact players

 

[bdspeedy]

Enough of the doom and gloom. We're winning this. Easy Peasy. 2-0 United win. Come on you lovely Reds.

 

[WR10]

This will the match where Ole will get his first loss and finally be exposed.

Our right side is way too weak. Lingard's so bad at supporting our defensively poor right backs that Leceister will have a field day there. If Albrighton starts on the left, we are doomed. His crosses from that area will all go to the far post and target Jones' poor positioning. Matic will be in big trouble; he'll be too slow in covering the ground, and Herrera will constantly have to cover for him, leaving our right side even weaker. Pogba will be exposed, defensively, as the left winger will keep entering the space in between he and Matic time and time again, leaving us exposed to Maddison's creativity and Vardy's quick movement.

We can open them up and score goals, but we lack the quality on the right side to really hurt them. Lingard and Young and just poor going forward, yet we are so defensively weak there that we can't just field Dalot and anyone else together. Our best bet is to play Bailly at right back and Dalot ahead of him (like how Puel plays Pereira ahead of a more defensive right back), but that won't ever happen under Ole.

I'll call out the result as well: 3-2 to Leceister and papers (plus the Caf) questioning Ole's credibility as the United manager.

Leicester have been in the mood to have a go at defences and are flying high after drilling Liverpool’s defence last game. I wouldn’t be surprised if your narrative played out.

Having said that, I think because of their willingness to have a go at us we are going to punish them badly. I don’t think Ole will make the same mistake as last game in the sense that he dissolved our right wing to try and accommodate rotation players

 

[kouroux]

This will the match where Ole will get his first loss and finally be exposed.

Our right side is way too weak. Lingard's so bad at supporting our defensively poor right backs that Leceister will have a field day there. If Albrighton starts on the left, we are doomed. His crosses from that area will all go to the far post and target Jones' poor positioning. Matic will be in big trouble; he'll be too slow in covering the ground, and Herrera will constantly have to cover for him, leaving our right side even weaker. Pogba will be exposed, defensively, as the left winger will keep entering the space in between he and Matic time and time again, leaving us exposed to Maddison's creativity and Vardy's quick movement.

We can open them up and score goals, but we lack the quality on the right side to really hurt them. Lingard and Young and just poor going forward, yet we are so defensively weak there that we can't just field Dalot and anyone else together. Our best bet is to play Bailly at right back and Dalot ahead of him (like how Puel plays Pereira ahead of a more defensive right back), but that won't ever happen under Ole.

I'll call out the result as well: 3-2 to Leceister and papers (plus the Caf) questioning Ole's credibility as the United manager.

I think what will happen (them exploiting the right side) but I'm hopeful and believe that the end result will be different. Not confident about this specially about the other cnuts who won

 

[Mcking]

It doesn't matter. We predicted Bailly and he started. And it's quite normal we would predict him again for a game with similar demands.

He was predicted to start in an FA cup tie, and as expected, he started in a game in which our two best forwards were rested alongside Jones. After a supposed great performance against Arsenal according to Redcafe, of course he was back in the predicted XIs for the next two actual league games. On the bench in the first, and when Smalling returned for the second game, he started the game from the stands.
So the can't-be-trusted-Jones keeps starting alongside the first XI, and fourth-choice Bailly continues making the predicted XIs. I guess it is just some who are desperate to see Bailly, trying to convince themselves that Bailly is better than Jones based solely on their undying love for Bailly. No suprises there.

 

[Nickthepip]

Won't be easy but this team is far more capable of putting away a Leicester team who are wanting to have a go at us on their ground than a Burnley side away from who want to sit deep and deny us space.

The fact they'll fancy their chances after their good results against the top six recently is precisely why I think we'll win today.

 

[haram]

We could get fecked on the counter with the pace of Vardy, Gray and Maddison. If we are pushing our fullbacks up we could have a real problem...

Ricardo Evans Maguire Chilwell

That defence is probably as good as ours as well.

 

[Wedge]

I think we will lose this. Ole's honeymoon will come to an end.

Lots of positivity, keep it up.

 

[tenpoless]

"Ole's honey moon is over" is the theme of the week. I'm fairly confident We will win this one. The people who changed their mind after Burnley game don't see the big picture, We're much better now. Play Matic, Herrera and Pogba and We should win.

 

[PaulRich]

If Albrighton starts on the left, we are doomed.

I think the day when we start shitting ourselves about going up against a Mark Albrighton we may as well relegate ourselves.

 

[soapythecat]

Thought test against a really physical and quick team. I think Fred, for all his flaws, will be useful today.
Leicester will sit deep, so how we break that down will be interesting.

 

[haram]

I think the day when we start shitting ourselves about going up against a Mark Albrighton we may as well relegate ourselves.

I mean, he is a league winner

 

[Litch]

I fancy us more against this type of team than the 'up and under' Burnley's of this world. Leicester will come to play and I think that will suit us....

 

[Adisa]

We could get fecked on the counter with the pace of Vardy, Gray and Maddison. If we are pushing our fullbacks up we could have a real problem...

Ricardo Evans Maguire Chilwell

That defence is probably as good as ours as well.

Their fullbacks are better all things considered.

 

[Leftback99]

We could get fecked on the counter with the pace of Vardy, Gray and Maddison. If we are pushing our fullbacks up we could have a real problem...

Ricardo Evans Maguire Chilwell

That defence is probably as good as ours as well.

That defence is better than ours.

 

[Adisa]

This game gives us a better idea of where we are.
I am worried.

 

[haram]

Their fullbacks are better all things considered.

That defence is better than ours.

Wouldn’t really disagree tbh.

 

[mitchmouse]

Bailly or Jones to start?

is that a real question? Jones should never start!

 

[FootyGirl88]

Leicester are a good team but I think some of you guys are doing too much. They're 11th in table scored 30 goals and conceded 30 goals too.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Must win this.

Our strongest team needs to feature.

 

[Cantonaaa!]

1-4

 

[haram]

Leicester are a good team but I think some of you guys are doing too much. They're 11th in table scored 30 goals and conceded 30 goals too.

Taken points off City, Liverpool and Chelsea as well. They may perhaps prefer sitting back and playing on the counter.

 

[Adisa]

Leicester are a good team but I think some of you guys are doing too much. They're 11th in table scored 30 goals and conceded 30 goals too.

They are like a poor man's Man Utd under Mourinho. Their record against bottom half teams is tragic but they are a very good side, especially when they don't have to play.

 

[Buster15]

Let's hope Martial is back for his one, otherwise we are screwed.

Manchester United are not about a single player.
Wether he is fit or not we should have a team capable of being Leicester if we really are capable of a top four finish.

 

[Buster15]

Enough of the doom and gloom. We're winning this. Easy Peasy. 2-0 United win. Come on you lovely Reds.

2-0 will be a fantastic result but easy peasy; certainly not.

 

[MadDogg]

is that a real question? Jones should never start!

Jones has outperformed Bailly since Ole took over. And the rest of this season under Mourinho. And all last season.

In saying that, I'm tipping Bailly to start this one. His pace might be needed against Vardy, although he also leaves us more open to being hurt by Maguire at set pieces. Shame Smalling doesn't seem to be ready as he's more suited to dealing with both.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Yup, if this goes south I'm blaming you.