Chelsea vs. Manchester United

[Damien]

vs

​

Barclays Premier League​

Sunday 19th January 2014​

Stamford Bridge​

Kick Off: 16:00 GMT​

 

[That'sHernandez]

Good effort Damo, back to winning ways.

 

[The Man Himself]

Woooohooooo! Damo made match-day thread!

 

[Adzzz]

Let's do this!

 

[ItsEssexRob]

1-1. Heard it here first! I hope you give Januzaj a rest but I dont think you will.

 

[Barney]

Chelsea to win in a tight game.

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

Will be a close game. Chelsea probably win.

 

[kouroux]

1-1. Heard it here first! I hope you give Januzaj a rest but I dont think you will.

This would be a waste of a hope indeed, he's our current best player. It would be madness to rest him now.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

I'd be delighted with a draw.

 

[The Man Himself]

We will win 2-1. Rooney and Januzaj to score.

 

[bosnian_red]

De gea
Rafael Evans Vidic evra
Carrick fletcher
Januzaj Rooney kagawa
Welbeck

Probably what I want to see if Rooney is back. Either that or welbeck on left, Rooney up top and kagawa in the hole. Actually all 4 can interchange so they'll be moving around all game. Smalling and Vidic together lack composure on the ball against Chelsea. It'll definitely bea. Tough game whatever the case though, hope for a draw.

 

[Buchan]

I can't see us winning if I am to be wholly honest, not with our travails at Stamford Bridge since Abramovich took over. Chelsea are playing much better since before Christmas and they have a good record at home this season. I think we'll give a right good account of ourselves but not enough for the three points.

1-1 draw, for me.

 

[Anduin]

Can't see us getting anything there. Team selection will be difficult, Kagawa needs to play through the middle, but if Rooney is fit, I can't see it.

De Gea​

Rafael - Smalling - Evans - Evra​

Carrick - Fletcher​

Januzaj - Kagawa - Welbeck​

Rooney​

Fluid front four... I don't really like Welbeck coming from the left, but I think he has the confidence now to contribute from wide right and Kagawa is useless out there. In reality it will be Valencia on the right, Rooney behind Welbeck and Januzaj on the left, but I really think Kagawa deserves to start.

 

[antihenry]

Are Rooney and RVP supposed to be back for this?

 

[Damien]

Are Rooney and RVP supposed to be back for this?

Slim chance of Rooney, no chance of RvP being back.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

De Gea

Rafael
Smalling
Vidic
Evra

Januzaj
Fletcher
Jones
Carrick
Welbeck

Hernandez

 

[rcoobc]

Whats your match thread record like?

 

[JaffyJoe]

I see Chelsea sneaking this 1-0. I would be happy with a draw.

 

[thegregster]

De Gea

Rafael
Smalling
Vidic
Evra

Januzaj
Fletcher
Jones
Carrick
Welbeck

Hernandez

This. Maybe with Rooney in for Hernandez.

Jones to pick up Oscar

 

[Livewire1974]

A must win, or at the very least a good performance.

De Gea

Rafael
Smalling
Vidic
Evra

Januzaj
Fletcher
Jones
Carrick
Welbeck

Rooney

 

[Damien]

Whats your match thread record like?

Spoiler

Otelul Galati 0 - 2 Manchester United
Aldershot Town 0 - 3 Manchester United
Manchester United 2 - 0 Otelul Galati
Manchester United 3 - 2 Braga
Chelsea 2 - 3 Manchester United
Chelsea 5 - 4 Manchester United
Manchester United 2 - 0 Wigan Athletic
Manchester United 0 - 0 Chelsea
Manchester United 2 - 0 Crystal Palace
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - 1 Manchester United
Manchester United 1 - 0 Arsenal
Cardiff City 2 - 2 Manchester United

Made the thread for the only game against a top team that we've won in the league this season.

 

[charlenefan]

If only we had RVP available, he loves scoring at their ground

 

[December_16]

If only we had RVP available, he loves scoring at their ground

Fear not, Hernandez also loves scoring at their ground.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Score draw? Wouldn't mind one.

Moyes needs that away win at a big club though. Hopefully we can build from today with a good result down there but it's not something I'm overly optimistic about. We'll have to play well to ensure Hazard and Oscar don't cut us open.

 

[Crackers]

2-1 to us.

 

[Mystry]

0-0 or 1-0 to Chelsea. No matter what it's probably going to be really dull.

De gea

Rafael
Smalling
Vidic
Evra

Valencia
Carrick
Kagawa
Fletcher
Januzaj

Welbeck

If Rooney is fit then kagawa will probably be dropped. If jones is fit he'll probably start in midfield too.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

I think Welbeck on the wing if Rooney is fit is the right choice. We need his work rate in order to help defend against Hazard.

Jones should start too if fit, if not, I guess my wish would be Carrick & Fletcher.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

The chances are that Jones won't be up the full 90 not with the job that he'll be asked to do, so we replace him with Kagawa at 65-70 minutes with an eye to exploiting the space that will hopefully open up as players begin to tire.

Sounds near enough anyway.

Also it might be unwise to have both Rooney and Jones starting straight back from injury, you're risking two rusty players and likely using up two of your substitutions regardless of circumstance.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

If you play like you did it the first half then 3-1 to us. If you play like you did in the second half could be anything.

 

[Carl]

Draw's the best we can hope for realistically. At least setting up to counter will suit us.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Chelsea vs United is traditionally a crazy game with some sort of talking point or an absolutely nothing game with two teams cancelling each other out. Rarely get a straightforward narrow win for one side or the other, it has to be talked about because someone has missed an open net from 3 yards, or a keeper has made a save, or a player has been sent off, or the referee has called someone a monkey.

 

[Mr Chutney]

Can't see us getting anything there. Team selection will be difficult, Kagawa needs to play through the middle, but if Rooney is fit, I can't see it.

De Gea​

Rafael - Smalling - Evans - Evra​

Carrick - Fletcher​

Januzaj - Kagawa - Welbeck​

Rooney​

Fluid front four... I don't really like Welbeck coming from the left, but I think he has the confidence now to contribute from wide right and Kagawa is useless out there. In reality it will be Valencia on the right, Rooney behind Welbeck and Januzaj on the left, but I really think Kagawa deserves to start.

Swap Welbeck for Valencia I reckon

 

[Cee90]

REALLY hope Rooney is back for this.

Would be delighted if we can snatch a win at the Bridge, as unlikely as it may seem at the moment.

 

[Orton]

Mourinho is still unbeaten at the bridge in the league isn't he? Would be brilliant to finally end that. A draw would be a great result though, and we need Rooney back for this.

 

[Revan]

Hopefully we'll do ok but I think that Chelsea after many years are big favorites in this game. 3-1 for them IMO.

I would like the team to be somoething like this:

De Gea

Rafael Evans Vidic Evra

Januzaj Carrick Fletcher Kagawa Welbeck

Rooney​

 

[Ash_G]

If we get the centre right then we've got a shot, small as it is. I personally don't think that Lampard and Ramires/Mikel is any better than Carrick/Fletch, in fact I'd give the edge to the latter but the difference is the three ahead of them. The way they utilise Oscar and Hazard is better than how we utilise our players and I think they provide additional options to their midfielders.

That's why for me we have to get our front four right. I worry if Rooney is fit because you know he'll likely come straight in and you can't drop Welbeck now and so he's coming back alongside him if he's fit. The problem there is that if he plays too high then we'll get outnumbered again as they have Oscar and Hazard giving short options to lampard/ramires. If we were playing better then we could accept that risk and back ourselves but we're not. I really hope we don't rush Rooney for this game.

 

[Stack]

Expecting to lose, probably missing our 2 biggest players for the game but wouldnt it be a boost if we snuck a win.

 

[Glanville95]

I'd be happy with a draw, but I'll go 2-1 to them with Hazard and Rooney to score and Januzaj for us.

No, I didn't make an error.

 

[Red Dreams]

probably a draw....but with Fletcher, Carrick, Rooney we may just sneak a win.

 

[Pexbo]

Have a feeling Hazard will be the difference here.

Hope it's Januzaj though.