Starting eleven. Not starting twelve.
FA Premier League
Manchester United 4:0 West Ham United
Old Trafford
- Kick-off
- Sun, 13 August 2017 @ 4:00pm BST
- Status
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Closed
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Discussion Your Lineup Prediction
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I know Mkhi looks small, but I'm not sure we'll get away with him as our 12th man.
I'll go with this line-up. Also zero chance of Martial starting ahead of Rashford.We'll batter them. 1–1!I know Mkhi looks small, but I'm not sure we'll get away with him as our 12th man.
Starting eleven. Not starting twelve.
I bolded it and everything like no one would notice.
Edit: Fixed but not sure it looks as strong now.Martial should NOT be starting over Rashford.Don't like this whole 3-at-the-back too much. It's nice being flexible and adapting to it for certain matches or match scenarios on the fly.
However, I perceive it as more about the fact that Chelsea had success with it last season, and now all of the sudden everyone else should do it too. Like a trend somehow. Too much focus on formations.
The type of successes we may or may not achieve isn't dependent on the formation…
I was thinking more that we would benefit from two up front and still control the midfield whilst having width. We have no natural wingers but three talented Strikers and and plenty of central midfielders.
I would be happy with either starting up front alongside Lukaku and they probably would too.
At striker no, on the wing yes.
I wasn't talking about your prediction, specifically. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Some form of 3-at-the-back delusional mass-hysteria going on amongst the supporters around the football world right now, in general. The magic isn't in the formation, so to speak.
Chelsea had a one-off season with that formation and everything aligned correctly for them over the course of those 38 matches, including lack of injuries and a smaller fixture schedule, making it easier to maintain form.
Anyway, regarding 3-at-the-back: We shouldn't be utilising that setup with a 5-3-2 (which at times looked more like a 8-1-1 against Real, hehe) – I'd prefer we'd rather go with a 5-2-3 or a 3-4-3, where the two outside forwards in the front three can tuck inside.
For the West Ham match I hope and think that we'll go with the more traditional 4-3-3 and Matic or Carrick as the defensive mid. In the end though, it's all dynamic and it can change during play, it's just the nature of the sport, that's really the gist of my point.Last edited:
Yup, I'm hoping for this. Except Jones instead of Smalling. It's a game at Old Trafford, so I hope we dominate the game and get off to a good start.
I'm going with 2-0. Lukaku and Mikhi to score.de Gea
Valencia Bailly Smalling Darmian
Matic
Herrera Pogba
Mkhitaryan Lukaku Rashford
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Romero; Lindelof, Blind; Carrick, Mata, Lingard; Martial
4-1.
In EITHER position, Rashford should be starting ahead of Martial. Rashford instead of Martial coming on for Lingard in the super cup is a very good sign.I want Martial to start.It'll finish 1-1 with us scoring early and then Hernandez levelling it up during the last 10 minutes. You heard it here first.
And us holding on
Martin Tyler will absolutely jizz himself when Hernandez scores.
Sometimes I wonder if people post opinions like this just to be controversial. Either that, or its the classic old English opinion that's out of step with the modern game. Of course the formation and the system is a crucial factor in success. What formation you use affects your ability to maximise particular player attributes, the relationships between particular players, and most importantly the use of space, which is the single most crucial concept in football. Tactics are crucial in modern football, and can turn a match, or a season, on a knife-edge. Chelsea if anything have proved this. So did Leicester. So did Atletico. So did Mourinho during his first spell at Chelsea when his industrious midfield 3 completely overran all other premier league midfields. Formation and shape is crucial, and to suggest otherwise is terribly naive.
Personally, I'd really like us to play 4-3-3, but there are a lot of advantages to 3-5-2. See this video on the virtues of that system for our key players.It would be so wonderful and weird to start with a convincing win with three or more goals. Will not happen though. Expect a slow 1:0 or 0:0 with "It's just the first match of the season, we aren't in full match modus" comments.
So do I, But I think Lingard will again unfortunately.
I think that would be our most exciting line-up. As much as I like Herrera he and Pogba just do not seem to have such a great understanding so I would prefer to see us playing with a 10 instead.
Lingard was invisible against RM, so there is some hope for Martial starting.|Let's get of to a good start and brush them aside 4-0. Fellaini hattrick.Anything but a win would be a massive failure. We need a strong start this season.
No different to 90% of games he plays in, But then he starts the next match. I honestly can't see Martial starting much at all this season, Jose clearly has an issue with him and I can see it being his last season here if Jose stays in charge next season (which should be the case).Regardless of poor transfer window/expectations etc, I am so excited for the start of the season. We should be solid at the back with Matic shielding our defense. Our preseason has been good and hopefully some of our erratic forwards hit form. Should maintain or improve our already excellent defensive record but need more goals.
For the game, I'd go with the Pogba-Herrera-Matic midfield. But if we are confident about our defense, I'd be tempted to start Mata ahead of Herrera in a 4-2-3-1 for added goal threat.
That's a bit unfair considering he was put in a LWB role having to watch Isco and Bale all night. He wasn't given the chance to attack other than the counter-attack that Pogba fecked up on.deGea
Valencia Bailly Jones Blind
Carrick
Mata Herrera Pogba Martial
Lukaku
Subs: Matic | Romero | Rashford | Darmian | Smalling | Mkhitaryan
In EITHER position, Martial is a way better player and should be starting over RashfordDe GeaMata to replace a midfielder if we're struggling to create which will allow he or Mkhitaryan to play behind the striker.
Valencia Bailly Lindellof Darmian
Matic
Herrera Pogba
Mkhitaryan Lukaku Martial
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Romero; Smalling, Blind; Carrick, Mata, Felli, Rashford
There is no need for Herrera in a match like this where we'll dominate for large periods. We need as many goal threats as possible so Pogba and Matic are enough. The front four should be Mata, Miki, Martial and Lukaku.Expecting
De Gea
Valencia Jones Bailly Darmian
Matic
Herrera Pogba
Mata Lukaku Rashford
Is their white text missing?
Let us remind ourselves of the "plenty" of goals which were scored by:
Mata - 6
Rashford - 5
Martial - 4
Miki - 4
Those are the sort of goal counts, which I'd expect of attackers in a team near the bottom of the league.
As a comparison, Lallana was Liverpools lowest goal scoring attacker. He finished on 8.Just please Martial instead of Lingard.
Controversial?
Formations' successes or failures have more to do with the players involved in the system rather than the formations themselves. Each and every formation have strengths and weaknesses, there is no one true way.
Adapt formations to fit the players, not the other way around. Of course formations and tactics are a crucial factor, but they are also different things. For example, you can play a high press with a 4-3-3 or a 3-5-2, or sit deep and go on the counter with the exact same formations. Or tiki-taka your way out of it, or play aerial/long balls… or whatever style of play prefer to play.
And yes, I'm aware that the use of space is what makes football truly tick. Alongside Carl Sagan, there is another God (ironic statement, I know) I admire, and that's his genius football counterpart, Johan Cruyff: "If you have the ball you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don’t have the ball you must make it as small as possible." – the man was much more defensive-minded than perceived.
Thanks for the links, interesting stuff! I'll go ahead and share this then too:
I simply can't ignore the fact that I feel West Ham are a really shite side.
This really should be a comfortable 3-0 type win. Anything else and I'm going to be a bit worried going forward.
If that makes me sound entitled so be it.Awwww shiiiiit, only two days to go before our season starts!
This summer has just flown by. Feels like only a few weeks ago since last season ended.
On the positive sides of Tyler is that I get to upgrade my TV frequently
I feel the opposite , for some reason this seems like the longest transfer window ever. Bored shitless of it.Awwww shiiiiit, only two days to go before our season starts!
This summer has just flown by. Feels like only a few weeks ago since last season ended.- Status
Man of the Match
Runners-up
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21%
Romelu Lukaku
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7%
Paul Pogba
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2%
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
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2%
Marcus Rashford
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 1051 ratings.
Score Predictions
729,12,50
- Man Utd win
- West Ham win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 31% Man Utd 2:0 West Ham
- 19% Man Utd 3:0 West Ham
- 16% Man Utd 3:1 West Ham
- 14% Man Utd 2:1 West Ham
- 5% Man Utd 1:0 West Ham
- 4% Man Utd 1:1 West Ham
- 2% Man Utd 4:0 West Ham
- 2% Man Utd 4:1 West Ham
- 2% Man Utd 5:0 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 0:0 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 2:2 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 1:2 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 5:1 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 3:2 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 0:2 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 1:3 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 0:1 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 0:5 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 4:2 West Ham
- 0% Man Utd 4:3 West Ham
Match Stats
- Man Utd
- West Ham
- Possession
- 55% 45%
- Shots
- 21 9
- Shots on Target
- 5 1
- Corners
- 11 1
- Fouls
- 19 7
Referee
Martin Atkinson
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Marouane Fellaini
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replaced by Jesse Lingard
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replaced by Anthony Martial
