i woudl tend to agree.
but wioth a 9 point "buffer" and an obsession with the champions league i think SAF will be confident / arrogant enough to expect a united team consisting of jones, smalling, hernandez, giggs etc capable of getting a home win against everton.
carrick wont be playing. he's pulled out of the england sqaud for a rest, we can back up that he's injured by leaving him out on sunday. id be amazed if rio and vidic played, id have rvp on the bench. rooney will probs start to get games into him
Agreed, and I think Fergie would be right to make those sorts of changes. We definitely shouldn't be throwing this Everton match away just to be a little bit fresher to face a team who are such a massive challenge fresh or otherwise. But we have a very strong squad, so we can rest quite a few key players without actually looking that much weaker.
I reckon Carrick will be rested, both on account of the 'injury' story, true or not, and to get him really fresh. RVP will be rested for Hernandez - hardly a massive sacrifice, with the form Cheech is in, and he looked like he might need it against Fulham. Rooney will play - he's fit, and momentum has always been the most important thing with him.
Ferdinand will be rested, but Vidic might come in for a tune-up match, having been rested against Fulham. Evra will get a rest. I hope Rafael doesn't, he's showing no signs of fatigue and benefits from consistent game time. SAF will pick Valencia over Kagawa against Madrid, so Kagawa will get the full game on Saturday. Nani will probably be rested for Welbeck, but again with Nani still progressing towards full form and Welbeck playing brilliantly, that's hardly a step down.
Cleverley's not had to play too many 90 minutes. He's been taken off with quarter of an hour to go a few times, without ever actually looking tired in those matches - it's just SAF's usual 'take off a midfielder at 75 minutes' routine. So Tom'll probably be ok to play both matches. That's important, because in Carrick's absence he'll be relied upon to give us plenty of good possession. Hopefully De Gea won't be rested - keepers need gametime, not rests.
Other than that, I reckon everyone else will be a first choice. So we'll see something like this:
DDG
Rafael Smalling/Evans Vidic Buttner
Scholes/Anderson Cleverley
Welbeck Rooney Kagawa
Hernandez
Personally, I'd consider dropping Kagawa and putting both Scholes
and Anderson next to Cleverley in midfield. Carrick leaves a big hole at the moment, and against a strong side like Everton it might be better to pack the midfield a bit. Anderson's very versatile - if we need width, or Scholes and Cleverley are doing ok in midfield on their own, he'll move into the spaces.