Manchester United 3:0 Stoke City

Lucky McLuckerson · Jan 5, 2018

Telecast Schedule and Info

.........VS .....

Date - Monday, January 15 2018
Kickoff Time - 2000 Hrs GMT
Venue - Old Trafford, Manchester

League standings and form guide

2. Manchester United: WDDDW

18. Stoke City: LWDLL

Previous Meetings

Stoke City 2-2 Manchester United

Stoke City 1-1 Manchester United

Manchester United 1-1 Stoke City

Manchester United 3-0 Stoke City

Stoke City 2-0 Manchester United

All-Time Record

Manchester United wins - 38
Stoke City wins - 22
Draws - 29

Pre-Match Pressers

José Mourinho

Paul Lambert

Team News

Manchester United

Eric Bailly and Zlatan Ibrahimović ruled out. Anthony Martial and Michael Carrick doubtful. Antonio Valencia returns to fitness.

Stoke City

Bruno Martins Indi ruled out. Jesé Rodríguez, Erik Pieters, Glen Johnson and Ryan Shawcross doubtful.

Know the opposition

Stoke City Football Club (nicknamed The Potters) are a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Stoke City was founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863 when pupils of Charterhouse School formed a football club while apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway Works works in Stoke-on-Trent, and the club changed its name to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. They are the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts County, and are one of the 12 founding members of the Football League which was founded in 1888.

Although Stoke haven't enjoyed a lot of title-winning success in their 150 year old existence (the 1972 League Cup victory over Chelsea under Tony Waddington remains their only major trophy), they have fielded the likes of Stanley Matthews, Gordon Banks, Alan Hudson and Dennis Violett over the years. Stoke's most prominent rivals are Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, and local club Port Vale. They play their home games at the Bet365 Stadium (previously known as the Britannia Stadium).

Referee

Anthony Taylor.

Familar Faces

Darren Fletcher (at United from 1995-2015), Ryan Shawcross (2002-2008), Mame Biram Diouf (2009-2012)

Damien · Jan 5, 2018

De Gea

Lindelof Jones Rojo Shaw
Matic Pogba
Mata Lingard Martial
Lukaku

Offside · Jan 5, 2018

Early goal is a must.

Raw · Jan 5, 2018

These are utter shite. Therefore we'll scrape a 1-0 win and Mark Hughes will have a right old moan about it.

Wednesday at Stoke · Jan 5, 2018

Finally a long break to work on some training sessions.

PoTMS · Jan 5, 2018

Someone for God’s sake stop Choupo-Moting. The shitc**t only turned up against us the entire season.

AltiUn · Jan 5, 2018

When is this match? We owe them after last time. Despise Stoke, absolutely loathe them.

Jacky Quacky · Jan 5, 2018

De Gea
Valencia Smalling Jones Shaw
Matic
Lingard Pogba
Mata Lukaku Martial

Scarecrow · Jan 5, 2018

10 days? That's grim.

alsabi · Jan 5, 2018

Scarecrow said:
10 days? That's grim.

Quite a luxury for the squad after the hectic festive schedule. Of course it's also our fault we're not playing in the League Cup in midweek...

Silas · Jan 5, 2018

De Gea

Lindelof Jones Rojo Shaw

Matic

Herrera Pogba

Lingard Lukaku Martial

Devil may care · Jan 5, 2018

Hopefully we go back to the 4-3-3 for this.

TMDaines · Jan 5, 2018

Scarecrow said:
10 days? That's grim.

United have just confirmed via e-mail that it moves to Saturday if Stoke get a replay. That is fecking ridiculous notice and I’ll have to miss it if so and am out of the country, so won’t be able to move my tickets on.

Please note, should Stoke City face a replay following their FA Cup Third Round tie against Coventry City tomorrow, our Premier League game against them (currently Monday 15thJanuary, KO 8pm) will revert back to being played on Saturday 13th January, KO 12.30pm.

SirAF · Jan 5, 2018

Scarecrow said:
10 days? That's grim.

It's wonderful!

IrishRedDevil · Jan 5, 2018

10 days rest for the lads

charlenefan · Jan 5, 2018

Team should be...

---------------De Gea---------------
Valencia--Smalling--Jones--Shaw
----------------Matic----------------
----------Mata-------Pogba----------
Lingard-------Lukaku-------Martial

Subs: Romero, Lindelof, Blind, Herrera, Fellaini, Mkhitaryan, Rashford

That team should surely batter this poor Stoke side

Brightonian · Jan 5, 2018

Devil may care said:
Hopefully we go back to the 4-3-3 for this.

Yep, that XI looks perfect. Lukaku might have a quiet game wrestling their CBs for 90 minutes but Pogba would put in a MotM shift in the space created, especially with two CMs behind him.

Android1974 · Jan 5, 2018

My main curiosity is to see if, when Matić and Pogba both feature in a midfield two, Pogba is still kept to the right. Or if the signs we've seen lately are confirmed, with Pogba on the left, even with just two midfielders and the #10 drifting to the right, to Herrera's usual position in a midfield three.

Sandikan · Jan 5, 2018

Most important thing is that Stoke don't lose tomorrow, or Hughes will likely be sacked before we get a chance to smash his boys

JinnerJamie · Jan 5, 2018

A win, by 3> goals, a clean sheet, great performance and Mark Hughes being put out of his misery. I'll take the first 4 and the latter would be the icing.

peridigm · Jan 5, 2018

Match is so far away it feels like an international break.

deafepl · Jan 5, 2018

Expecting Jessi hat trick, Martial and Lukaku goal. Pogba two assist, Martial assist, Lukaku assist and Jessi assist. Result 5-0

BluesJr · Jan 5, 2018

For once I don't mind a big break, the players need it and we'll be back fresh. I wonder if we'll have a new signing by then too...

ash_86 · Jan 5, 2018

Can't believe we lost points against these clowns in the reverse fixture. Need to whip them this time

Android1974 · Jan 5, 2018

Although the players need a rest, so long a pause when we're clearly picking up form, judging from the last two games, is unadvisable.

Android1974 · Jan 5, 2018

peridigm said:
Match is so far away it feels like an international break.

That's what Mourinho brings, we're usually in the fighting for the cups so we don't get a rest.

Android1974 · Jan 5, 2018

ash_86 said:
Can't believe we lost points against these clowns in the reverse fixture. Need to whip them this time

Remember the formation and the midfield players we had in that game?

el3mel · Jan 5, 2018

The team should be fully fresh after that break. Most players should be back except Bailly and the suspended Young.

I expect something like that :

David
Valencia - Jones - Smalling - Shaw
Matic - Pogba
Mata - Lingard - Martial
Lukaku

Android1974 · Jan 5, 2018

el3mel said:
The team should be fully fresh after that break. Most players should be back except Bailly and the suspended Young.

I expect something like that :

David
Valencia - Smalling - Jones - Shaw
Matic - Pogba
Mata - Lingard - Martial
Lukaku

That's pretty much our best team right now. But there's that issue, if Pogba sticks to the left in a midfield two with Matić. Of course, like Mkhitaryan tonight, almost in 4-3-3, Lingard could drift to the right and cover it, allowing Pogba to the left.

Pace Abuser · Jan 5, 2018

Got tickets for this

ash_86 · Jan 6, 2018

Android1974 said:
Remember the formation and the midfield players we had in that game?

Can't remember, but just revisited. Looks like a good lineup to me. Mid 3 of Ander Matic and Pogba, which we will be playing this time too hopefully. Says we played a 4231. Anything I missed?

MonkeysMagic · Jan 6, 2018

It really is about time we gave these game-raising t**ts a good hiding. And I’m sure when he finally gets his marching orders, no one will ever miss Hughes and his sour face gracing the OT stadium as a manager.

Android1974 · Jan 6, 2018

ash_86 said:
Can't remember, but just revisited. Looks like a good lineup to me. Mid 3 of Ander Matic and Pogba, which we will be playing this time too hopefully. Says we played a 4231. Anything I missed?

Exactly, the problem was that formation was wrong then against Stoke, we were flying in 4-2-3-1, dropped it and only got a draw.

BluesJr · Jan 6, 2018

Stoke have been a very annoying team recently, hope we can get 5.

Gerald G · Jan 6, 2018

De Gea
Valencia--Jones--Smalling--Shaw
Matic--Pogba
Mata--Lingard--Martial
Lukaku

or

Herrera--Matic--Pogba
Lingard--Lukaku--Martial

ivaldo · Jan 6, 2018

AltiUn said:
When is this match? We owe them after last time. Despise Stoke, absolutely loathe them.

You've been here two years! The time and date is at the top of every match day thread.

AltiUn · Jan 6, 2018

ivaldo said:
You've been here two years! The time and date is at the top of every match day thread.

Oh yeah of course :lol:

I think the lads could definitely use this break, was a very tough December but we seem to be getting back into our stride a little now.

ivaldo · Jan 6, 2018

AltiUn said:
Oh yeah of course I think the lads could definitely use this break, was a very tough December but we seem to be getting back into our stride a little now.

We all made mistakes, like how I could confuse 2 years with nearly 4 :lol:

.

Agreed. Most of our injured players are returning and should be rating to go in 10 days time.

Havak · Jan 6, 2018

Really need to thump this shovel of shite, even if I'd feel a bit sorry for Mark Hughes if a big loss here was the final nail in the coffin for him. The board at Stoke may be thinking if he goes out of the FA Cup to Coventry then it's worth getting rid next week so they can get their replacement in whilst there's a decent gap between games. It's a tough call for him, as at this point it'd be him getting the January window and then you have to give him a chance to put some results together. Getting beat for five away at Chelsea then losing at home to Newcastle will be difficult to take for a side that's traditionally decent defensively and good at home. They have Huddersfield, Watford, and Brighton at home after us, with Bournemouth away in-between, so there is a chance there to string some results and probably get 3/4 of the way to safety.

As for us, we've got Burnley and Spurs away after this, so dropped points in this game would just put us in a lot of bother. Lukaku with a goal and an assist on his return means he should just be back in the starting line-up for me, supported by Lingard and Martial who seem to be in the best form out of our attackers. Matic will return to partner Pogba in midfield and then it's a toss up out of Mata, Herrera, or Fellaini for the other place. Mkhitaryan has a chance as he won't be facing Burnley or Spurs, but getting subbed off at half time two home games in a row (albeit a bit harshly against Derby) doesn't bode well. Smalling did well on his return and Shaw is playing decently, so I think they should carry on. Jones to replace Blind at CB, and RB will most likely be Lindelof again until Young/Valencia are back.

de Gea
Lindelof Smalling Jones Shaw
Matic Pogba
Mata Lingard Martial
Lukaku
---
Romero; Rojo, Blind; Herrera, Fellaini, Mkhitaryan; Rashford

Giggs86 · Jan 6, 2018

We must contribute our fair share to help relegate those sh*tcnuts.

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