FA Cup Final: United v City

[Sylar]

Wembley pitch might help us. But we basically need to have all players on form and fit. City are at peak, and have everybody they need to be in fit and prime condition.
Will be interesting if we mimic the OT game and put Varane and Shaw cbs to shut down Haaland. But again we need things to go our way:

Rashford to be fit and back to that form where he was scoring almost all the time post world cup
martial to actually hold the ball up and be an outlet
Casemiro to be on form
Good fred and Bruno to not be knackered going into the game (And even eriksen for the 50 minutes he can last)
Our midfield needs to be able to put a challenge or two in to disrupt City (and if need be we need to do sly fouls to kill their momentum)

Also the one thing i dread is us trying to play out the back too much and being caught out by it. We need to mix it up, but when we go long we need DDG to hit the sides rather than his floating kick that doesnt escape our own half.

 

[Flanders Devil]

Week before CL final.

I was wondering if before or after CL was better for us. Before, they might be a bit timid and not wanting to get injured and miss the CL final. After, could they be a bit more complacent/have a post final CL.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Going to make sure I'm well oiled by kick off.

 

[BorisManUtd]

Grealish-Haaland-Bernando Silva (Foden-Alvarez-Mahrez)

Rashford-Martial-Antony (Garnacho-Weghorst-Pellistri/Elanga)

their backup attacking trio is better than our 1st choice attackers

 

[NLunited]

Varane+Shaw as cb pairing. Up front we should avoid Martial, he doesn’t have the legs. What the hell is going on with him.

I‘d go with Bruno/Rashford/Antony with Fred in attacking midfield to press and disrupt.

 

[Ayoba]

I was wondering if before or after CL was better for us. Before, they might be a bit timid and not wanting to get injured and miss the CL final. After, could they be a bit more complacent/have a post final CL.

They could play their reserves and still beat us.

 

[Licha M]

Required reading for the squad:

Pretty sure if we lose 1-0 we don't win the cup

 

[Flanders Devil]

They could play their reserves and still beat us.

Nah.... maybe their second XI

 

[poleglass red]

Our biggest issue is we can't do 90 mins. We often have a good first half then fall apart in the 2nd half. The first leg v Sevilla a classic example of that, even the Liverpool thrashing, their 1st goal came 2 mins before half time, their next 6 came in 2nd half. We cannot afford to that to City. I'm not sure if we have the players to stop City at this time, certainly a midfield 2 of Casemiro and Erikson won't work, Fred did a good man marking job earlier in the season on KDB, maybe that's an option.

 

[Real Name]

As long as we keep it at 0-4 at most it's good.

 

[Licha-Vidic]

The first half performance against City at Old Trafford was about as good as it's going to get for us, so we have to try recreate that as much as possible I think. That means bringing Fred in for the extra running in midfield, pray Martial has a good day with his back to goal to hold the ball up and try to feed Rashford on the counter. In the 1st half we were dangerous in transition, got Rashford in behind their defence multiple times but just didn't score, and we kept City from creating any clear chances.

2nd half it was falling apart because Martial went off injured and we played with no striker for most of the half so we couldn't hold onto the ball, the game only swayed back in our favour when we finally put Rashford up front and Garnacho came on.

At least you know your way around here. There is no other way to play against City. You overload the midfield, do 2 man markings in midfield, have pacy strikers, play over the top ball.

 

[pocco]

Wembley pitch might help us. But we basically need to have all players on form and fit. City are at peak, and have everybody they need to be in fit and prime condition.
Will be interesting if we mimic the OT game and put Varane and Shaw cbs to shut down Haaland. But again we need things to go our way:

Rashford to be fit and back to that form where he was scoring almost all the time post world cup
martial to actually hold the ball up and be an outlet
Casemiro to be on form
Good fred and Bruno to not be knackered going into the game (And even eriksen for the 50 minutes he can last)
Our midfield needs to be able to put a challenge or two in to disrupt City (and if need be we need to do sly fouls to kill their momentum)

Also the one thing i dread is us trying to play out the back too much and being caught out by it. We need to mix it up, but when we go long we need DDG to hit the sides rather than his floating kick that doesnt escape our own half.

I think Wembley pitch will play to their favour. They'll maximise the space and barely let us have a sniff of the ball. They'll create the overloads out wide far easier too. Personally I think it'll be a mauling if they play like they did vs Madrid, which is the key point for me. No matter what we do, it will rely on a poor City turning up for us to get anything. If they play anything like they can then it's going to be a long game.

 

[Red in STL]

I was wondering if before or after CL was better for us. Before, they might be a bit timid and not wanting to get injured and miss the CL final. After, could they be a bit more complacent/have a post final CL.

City have 2 squads, any player not putting in a proper effort in the FAC won't play in the CL final, there's no way Pep would stand for that and rightly so

 

[Mike Smalling]

With a fully fit Rashford I would be hopeful that we could hit them on the break and maybe fluke a win. Without him, I have a really hard time seeing how we hurt them.

 

[Red00012]

Yes? And he'll be paired with Either Maguire or Shaw (if Shaw, it means Malacia at left back)

Basically we're without one of our better players this year.

It’ll be
AWB….Varane…..Lindelof…..Shaw

 

[yumtum]

It’ll be
AWB….Varane…..Lindelof…..Shaw

Just gotta hope Varane doesn't get injured in the meantime.

 

[van Nistelrooy]

I know it's been queried for years why de Gea doesn't save penalties, but I would be making him train on them every day now, just in case we took the game to a shootout.

 

[Giggsy13]

I would’ve been slightly more confident if we had clinched top 4 already and could rest players for the lead up, but we completely botched that and will likely be shattered by the final.

 

[Giggsy13]

I know it's been queried for years why de Gea doesn't save penalties, but I would be making him train on them every day now, just in case we took the game to a shootout.

If he didn’t care to do that his first 10 years at the club, he won’t do it now. Like Maguire, he should be gone this summer.

 

[Red in STL]

I know it's been queried for years why de Gea doesn't save penalties, but I would be making him train on them every day now, just in case we took the game to a shootout.

He's saved more than a certain Dane who played for us, the reality is most keepers don't save many

 

[Infra-red]

They are very hard to stop, but not unstoppable. They've lost five times this season, including once against us, and we can probably learn something from each of those games. I'd say the main lesson is don't try to take them on at their own game - playing a high line, going man-for-man, pressing them aggressively and trying to dominate the ball, spells absolute doom unless you are Bayern Munich and have players of similar quality (we don't).

In the five games they've lost (including against us), the opposition sides generally had very little of the ball, sat deep, defended well and sliced City open on the break. The possession stats for the winning opposition teams in those five games were: Liverpool (36%), Brentford (25%), Southampton (28%), United (29%), Spurs (35%). We actually had much more possession at the Etihad (46%) than OT, but they hammered us 6-3. So, let them have the ball, sit deep and narrow and then break quickly before Stones can drop back into the defensive four.

We went with a midfield of McTominay, Eriksen and Fernandes in the 6-3 hammering, which was far too open. I'd much prefer us to go with something like the Casemiro, Fred, Eriksen, Fernandes midfield we went with at home, with two of Martial/Rashford/Garnacho breaking at speed.

 

[van Nistelrooy]

He's saved more than a certain Dane who played for us, the reality is most keepers don't save many

I'd say there are keepers out there who find saving penalties as a strong point to their game. De Gea went through 11 penalties without saving one in the Europa League Final against Villarreal.

I recall Tim Krul coming on at the end of extra-time in the World Cup to save two crucial penalties in the shootout. Notts County did the same last week in their play-off shootout and the sub keeper made two saves, proving his specialist skill.

If Jack Butland was a more confident keeper against penalties, then I think he would be worth substituting on ahead of a penalty shootout.

 

[Red Dreams]

Garnacho and Varane coming back is huge.
Rashford has not been himself since he returned from the injury.
He was brought back because we do not have anyone reliable.
We will see over the next three games if he is nearing his best.

Good to see McT back too. He is better than Fred who should be moved on in the summer.

 

[Red in STL]

I'd say there are keepers out there who find saving penalties as a strong point to their game. De Gea went through 11 penalties without saving one in the Europa League Final against Villarreal.

The Villareal keeper did pretty much the same TBF, DDG was the one who didn't score and we already know kicking the ball isn't his forte!

I don't really expect any keeper to save a penalty, it's mostly try and guess the right way

These days they all of iPads or what not telling them which way to go for a certain taker, and in DDG's case they all seem to be wrong because the ball usually goes the other way!

 

[tenpoless]

Losing Licha is a big deal.... I hate it.

Also it's funny how if this game was not long after we won against City, we would be way way more confident. It's the exact same City team as well. We're pessimistic because they twatted Real Madrid. But we've experienced it this season ourselves, the moment you get complacent is when you start losing games. I just hope our players will give their all and wanting to win it at all cost.

 

[Red00012]

I would’ve been slightly more confident if we had clinched top 4 already and could rest players for the lead up, but we completely botched that and will likely be shattered by the final.

If we beat Bournemouth and scousers lose it’s done

 

[Sylar]

I think Wembley pitch will play to their favour. They'll maximise the space and barely let us have a sniff of the ball. They'll create the overloads out wide far easier too. Personally I think it'll be a mauling if they play like they did vs Madrid, which is the key point for me. No matter what we do, it will rely on a poor City turning up for us to get anything. If they play anything like they can then it's going to be a long game.

Fair points.
I think City dont play like they did against Madrid first half often (but obviously they have it in them to do so). The important thing is we need to score first.
Unlike OT where lets face it, we got a bit of fortune on our side with the offside goal, if we go down, I see our players heads dropping.

The worst thing we can do is create 4-5 chances and not score. We need to be clinical. And make good use of the ball to frustrate them back. The annoying thing is the technical difference in the teams around the pitch.

 

[Irwin99]

Looking at it another way, Arsenal's bottle job/capitulation might actually work against City in the longer run; if they've already won the league they can take their foot off the gas for the remaining few games and sometimes it can be hard to get back to that former level.

 

[Maticmaker]

The worst thing we can do is create 4-5 chances and not score.

We cannot miss any chances.... we wont get that many!

if they've already won the league they can take their foot off the gas for the remaining few games and sometimes it can be hard to get back to that former level.

Do you think Pep will allow that, any player who 'lets up' before the FA Cup or CL final will be replaced by his understudy... simples? Nice thought though but perhaps at City no one gets to be an automatic choice, if they slipped up the game before, even the Striking Norseman!

 

[Irwin99]

We cannot miss any chances.... we wont get that many!

Do you think Pep will allow that, any player who 'lets up' before the FA Cup or CL final will be replaced by his understudy... simples? Nice thought though but perhaps at City no one gets to be an automatic choice, if they slipped up the game before, even the Striking Norseman!

Not saying it will happen but sometimes it creeps into the team rhythm and it's hard to get back to the level you were at previously if things have eased up. We rested quite a few players and managed their workloads in preparation for the FA cup final in 2006-07 after the title was won after a long hard season and it really didn't work in the final.

 

[USREDEVIL]

Time for us to be game raising cnuts.

 

[Red in STL]

Not saying it will happen but sometimes it creeps into the team rhythm and it's hard to get back to the level you were at previously if things have eased up. We rested quite a few players and managed their workloads in preparation for the FA cup final in 2006-07 after the title was won after a long hard season and it really didn't work in the final.

Not the same, they have a CL final a week after they play us, there is zero chance any City player will be doing anything but their best in the FAC

 

[DJ_21]

There gonna be rubbing there hands together. The prospect of playing us and then inter. They’ll be smelling the treble. Im hoping they have 1 eye on the CL.

 

[el3mel]

I was wondering if before or after CL was better for us. Before, they might be a bit timid and not wanting to get injured and miss the CL final. After, could they be a bit more complacent/have a post final CL.

That doesn't matter for them. They go 200% for literally every game no matter what.

 

[Irwin99]

Not the same, they have a CL final a week after they play us, there is zero chance any City player will be doing anything but their best in the FAC

I didn't mean that though- what i meant was, the league might effectively be over on Saturday if Arsenal fail to beat Nottingham . That leaves City with three relatively unimportant matches left against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford where players will naturally think about the much more important games to come. My argument- and it's a somewhat tenuous one admittedly- is that a team going into every game needing a win builds momentum. A side with games to spare can find it hard to regain that former swagger. Our cup final performance in 06-07 was shite, even with two weeks rest/unimportant games for key players after winning the league with games to spare.

 

[Red in STL]

I didn't mean that though- what i meant was, the league might effectively be over on Saturday if Arsenal fail to beat Nottingham . That leaves City with three relatively unimportant matches left against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford where players will naturally think about the much more important games to come. My argument- and it's a somewhat tenuous one admittedly- is that a team going into every game needing a win builds momentum. A side with games to spare can find it hard to regain that former swagger. Our cup final performance in 06-07 was shite, even with two weeks rest/unimportant games for key players after winning the league with games to spare.

It's always possible of course but I don't think it'll happen, the main difference between now and then is that in 2006/7 most of the players knew they'd be playing no matter what, not the case for these City players

 

[The Firestarter]

Going to make sure I'm well oiled by kick off.

Easy there Adama

 

[adexkola]

It's always possible of course but I don't think it'll happen, the main difference between now and then is that in 2006/7 most of the players knew they'd be playing no matter what, not the case for these City players

Everyone except Saha in the first XI knew they'd be starting that final

 

[Red in STL]

Everyone except Saha in the first XI knew they'd be starting that final

Provided they didn't piss off SAF of course!

 

[Tyrion]

The Fa Cup final is a week before the CL final

City may as well be partying now so they could still be right.