Manchester United 2:0 Benfica

Devil81 · Oct 29, 2017

I'd usually say rest Lukaku but I personally think he needs to break this goal drought quickly.

Romero
Blind
Smalling
Lindelof
Bailly
Darmian
Mctominey
Herrera
Mata
Martial
Lukaku

AXVnee7 · Oct 29, 2017

Wouldn't mind seeing Martial deployed as a striker in this one.

Paul_Scholes18 · Oct 29, 2017

Some rotation is needed, but we should play a strong team. I think we will need fresh Valencia and Young for the Chelsea game so I would rest them. Darmian don't feel great, but he can hopefully do a decent job. Jones need protection back from injury so would certainly rest him. Bailly as well probably.

De Gea
Darmian Smalling Lindelöf Blind
Matic Herrera
Mata Mkhitaryan Martial
Lukaku

I would start Lingard and Rashford against Chelsea so for that reason have them on the bench here as well. We need Mkhitaryan to find some form and this game could be good for him.

AndyJ1985 · Oct 29, 2017

More than anything I'm hoping Pogba makes a return.

Android1974 · Oct 29, 2017

roonster09 said:
He lost the header, it was Dier who lost Martial for the goal.

Well, even better, two players who made errors late in the game, allowing us to win it, in part due to having played midweek.

It also partially answers the doubts some fans have about why Mourinho doesn't usually start both Rashford and Martial. Who would, later in games, surprise the opponents with their speed and movement, when they are tiring?

MyOnlySolskjaer · Oct 29, 2017

Romero
Lindelöf Smalling Tuanzebe
Darmian Herrera McTominay Blind
Mata
Rashford Martial

Hernandez - BFA · Oct 29, 2017

Rest some of the players ahead of Chelsea. A draw here is enough.

The result on the weekend is far more important than this.

Sandikan · Oct 29, 2017

Going to this one, so hoping there's not too much mucking about with the lineup.
Save that for when we've qualified, which if we win this one, can be the next 2!

PoTMS · Oct 29, 2017

sunama said:
As long as Benfica play their 18 year old in goal, we'll win this.
That GK was dreadful...perhaps even worse that Jordan Pickford, who for me, is the worst EPL GK I've seen in a long long time.

What? He’s not even the worst keeper on Merseyside. The Chuckle Brothers at LFC have something to say about that.

Loublaze · Oct 29, 2017

sunama said:
As long as Benfica play their 18 year old in goal, we'll win this.
That GK was dreadful...perhaps even worse that Jordan Pickford, who for me, is the worst EPL GK I've seen in a long long time.

Either this is a poor attempt at humor or you're drunk. Not a good look either way!

12OunceEpilogue · Oct 29, 2017

A win would be very nice but I think we should be looking to rotate. We should completely change the backline as we have players who deserve/are in need of minutes plus I wouldn't mind seeing Carrick if he's fit. I would also start Martial and Mata.

We should win this one at home but a draw wouldn't be awful.

podurban2 · Oct 29, 2017

MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Romero
Lindelöf Smalling Tuanzebe
Darmian Herrera McTominay Blind
Mata
Rashford Martial

I like this. Bring on Pogba, Carrick, and Lukaku in the second half to win the game.

whatwha · Oct 29, 2017

There's five days between this and the Chelsea game, so we should be able to play everyone but the most fatigued ones i.e. Matic and maybe Valencia. Would like to see us win this one to turn the last two CL group games into formalities.

Also hope to see Pogba get 20 minutes!

CM · Oct 29, 2017

I know he's getting his fair share of minutes at Valencia but this is the kind of game that would've been perfect for Pereira. It's annoying all the injuries in midfield had to coincide.

RedDevil@84 · Oct 30, 2017

Do we have a press conference thread?

el3mel · Oct 30, 2017

Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date

Zlatattack · Oct 30, 2017

Fully expect Jose to run Matic, Rashford and Lukaku into the ground, idk why he does that. I would like to see a few players rested tomorrow.

DDG
Axel Bailly Lindelof
Darmain Herrara McTominay Blind
Lingard Martial Rashford

RedDevil@84 · Oct 30, 2017

"Our aim tomorrow is to qualify," declared Jose. "Ten points would be okay to qualify, but our main aim is to qualify first in the group. The statistics are what they are but Basel have had good results against CSKA and Benfica, a draw is not bad, but Benfica will give us a difficult match. They have their own ambition and pride and they will try to win, we just want to get to the last 16 by finishing first in the group."

el3mel · Oct 30, 2017

Just noticed our game with Chelsea is on next Sunday, so we ( and Chelsea ) will have 4 days to rest before the game. I don't find it a problem for both clubs to play a full team in CL games this week imo.

RedDevil@84 · Oct 30, 2017

The boss was asked whether he would consider playing Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial together in any upcoming games and he said: "We played Marcus and Anthony together in Swansea, one week ago, so yes, they can play together, that's no problem. What we cannot do is play with 12 players, and we cannot play with everybody at the same time."

12OunceEpilogue · Oct 30, 2017

RedDevil@84 said:
The boss was asked whether he would consider playing Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial together in any upcoming games and he said: "We played Marcus and Anthony together in Swansea, one week ago, so yes, they can play together, that's no problem. What we cannot do is play with 12 players, and we cannot play with everybody at the same time."

I'm cool with that. If Jose wants to give Lukaku a break why not go with Rashford and Martial? Otherwise rotate them on the left again and give the Benfica rightback a 90+ min footballing colonic.

charlenefan · Oct 30, 2017

Lukaku needs a goal so I certainly hope he isn't rested for this one

RedDevil@84 · Oct 30, 2017

12OunceEpilogue said:
I'm cool with that. If Jose wants to give Lukaku a break why not go with Rashford and Martial? Otherwise rotate them on the left again and give the Benfica rightback a 90+ min footballing colonic.

Don't think Lukaku would want rest. He would be eager to be back on the scoring sheet. Though his assist on weekend was superb effort.

Meanwhile Jose:
"I think Romelu is one of the players who should be untouchable in terms of respect from everyone. What he does for the team is fantastic and to play football for a striker is not just about scoring goals. For me, he is untouchable in my team and I think he should be untouchable in the support and the respect he deserves from the fans."

So in short "My Lukaku always plays"

RDCR07 · Oct 30, 2017

We should play Mkhi in these sort of games and keep him out of the important ones like the one coming up at the weekend.

RDCR07 · Oct 30, 2017

Romero

Axel - Smalling - Lindelof - Darmian

Herrera - McTominay

Mkhi - Mata - Lingard

Martial

Red_Beans · Oct 30, 2017

We have enough depth around the park to rotate freely while still having a strong enough team to put Benfica to bed. The only concern for me is midfield. I think we will rest Herrera and play Matic

James Peril · Oct 30, 2017

Benfica are so poor, we should field the reserves given the good start + Chelsea on Sunday.
Romero, Lingard, Tuanzebe, Lindelöf, Martial (sadly, given the lack of minutes this season), Blind, Darmian, Smalling, Mata and McTominay etc.

Zoo · Oct 30, 2017

This would be a good game to give Shaw a run out. It won't happen though.

PieCrust · Oct 30, 2017

I fully expect Jose to play a strong side and attempt to put this group to bed. Some of you have some shocking line ups quite frankly and we shouldn't be assuming qualification from the group just yet. We don't play Chelsea until Sunday, which provides an extra day to rest; no reason not to do everything we can to kill this group off now.

I don't expect Pogba back until after the international break, at soonest.

Member 90887 · Oct 30, 2017

PieCrust said:
I fully expect Jose to play a strong side and attempt to put this group to bed. Some of you have some shocking line ups quite frankly and we shouldn't be assuming qualification from the group just yet. We don't play Chelsea until Sunday, which provides an extra day to rest; no reason not to do everything we can to kill this group off now.

I don't expect Pogba back until after the international break, at soonest.

I second that. The fact that there's an international break just after that makes it that we don't need to rotate, we need to put this group to bed right now, with the games in november and december we can't allow ourselves to be dragged in a fight for the top spot in the CL in the last two games.

Before anyone jumps on the "we have a lot of internationals in our squad" well, almost all the national teams of our players are qualified. so it's not like their going to play high intensity games.

The only players i would understand resting are the injury prone ones: Jones.
the ones that played all our games: Matic, Valencia and maybe young (Lukaku doesn't put as much effort as Matic so he's okay).
And the ones that came recently from injuries: Bailly and maybe Marcus.

I would go with:

De Gea
Darmian
Smalling
Lindelof
Shaw/Blind
Herrera
Scott/Matic
Jesse
Mata/Mkhi
Martial
Lukaku

Lennon7 · Oct 30, 2017

RDCR07 said:
Romero

Axel - Smalling - Lindelof - Darmian

Herrera - McTominay

Mkhi - Mata - Lingard

Martial

No chance he’ll play a second rate team like that in the CL. I’d expect Tony, Matic and De Gea all to start.

I know we’re running away with our group but Jose knows we can’t be too careful and I doubt he’d use it as an opportunity to give some a run out.

VeevaVee · Oct 30, 2017

I'd like to see Tuanzebe given another run out, with little changed in the rest of the team. Option to bring on someone (Martial?) for Lukaku if he gets his goal.

el3mel · Oct 30, 2017

Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date

AgentP · Oct 30, 2017

Jose insisting we won't field a weak team. No idea what the line up is going to be.

RedDevil@84 · Oct 30, 2017

abhayselvan said:
Jose insisting we won't field a weak team. No idea what the line up is going to be.

GK - Both keepers are excellent
Defense - Except Lindelof, most are having a par season. So whatever combination we put, we have more or less the same quality. Unless we play youngsters in all positions, which wont happen.
Forwards - Lukaku, Martial will definitely play. So nothing much here
Maybe we will experiment a bit with midfield. But I dont see Jose resting Herrera and Matic given how thin we are in midfield options.

So overall we are still strong team (on paper at least)

Alabaster Codify7 · Oct 30, 2017

Tough to predict the line-up, Jose certainly won't go second string though.

Man United 2 - 0 Benfica
Rashford, Martial

Treble · Oct 30, 2017

4:0 United.

Cee90 · Oct 30, 2017

Yes, I don't work in the medical / fitness department at United, but surely we need to give some players a rest here?

The likes of Matic, Valencia, Rashford and Lukaku in particular.

Need them to be ready to go for Chelsea on the weekend.

AN17 · Oct 30, 2017

Rest Matic and Herrera for a half each. Give Mctominay a chance.

K2K · Oct 30, 2017

Zoo said:
This would be a good game to give Shaw a run out. It won't happen though.

Why ?

Darmian and Blind could argue the same thing

Champions League Group A

Manchester United 2:0 Benfica

Old Trafford

Closed

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

New Member

Incredibly anal about player positions in lineups

Creator of Player Performance threads

The Way to Fly

aka sex on the beach

Full Member

ATLien

In perfect harmony

Full Member

Sniffs Erricksson’s diarrhea

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

New Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

In perfect harmony

Far less insightful than the other Charley

Full Member

Not a bad guy (Whale Killer)

Not a bad guy (Whale Killer)

Full Member

New Member

Full Member

Full Member

Member 90887

Guest

nipple flasher and door destroyer

The worst "V"

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

New Member

Full Member

Redcafe Fantasy Football Champion 2012/13

Full Member

Full Member

Man of the Match

Runners-up

Player Ratings

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Score Predictions

Detailed Results

Match Stats

Referee

Man Utd Lineup

Substitutes