Stoke City vs. Manchester United

Solius

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They're in shit form. So are we. It's going to be a massive shit-fest.
 

KiD MoYeS

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The reality is that this is gonna be a shite game, we'll somehow scrap a 1-0 win and God willing City will lose.
 

Devil may care

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Not a must win exactly but I feel anything but 3 points will start to see some doubt really creep in.

De Gea

Rafael
Rio
Smalling
Evra

Nani
Carrick
Jones
Kagawa

Rooney
RVP
 

NM

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0-1. Classic united result after a tough loss.
 

ha_rooney

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Start Hernandez and Kagawa. Hopefully Vidic is back.
 

nemanja15

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de Gea

Rafael
Ferdinand
Vidic
Evra

Nani
Carrick
Cleverley
Kagawa

Rooney
van Persie

SUBS: Lindegaard, Jones, Valencia, Anderson, Scholes, Welbeck, Hernandez.

Fingers crossed Vidic will be back. If not and Smalling/Evans is, am sure they will play in place of Jones. Can maybe see Valencia or Hernandez in there too.
 

Castia

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If the derby was a big game tonight this just tuned into the biggest game of the season. Back to back loses could be the start of the biggest feck up in PL history while a win would 'steady the ship'. Need a win here, a loss would be a disaster.
 

bosnian_red

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De Gea
Rafael Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Nani Carrick Cleverley Kagawa
Rooney Van Persie

Will be shocked if Nani or Kagawa don't play. Nani is our most talented winger and Kagawa really should be starting games for us, even though this probably isn't the type of game for him. Hope to god that Vidic is back, our defence is a mess without him.

If I see Giggs anywhere near the midfield here I'll probably flip.
 

bosnian_red

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0-1. Classic united result after a tough loss.
We had a tough loss last week as well against Chelsea. Or are you not counting that because it was fa cup...

Whatever the case, we need a win here badly, and not one of them boring, shite 1-0 games where we barely grind it out. We need RVP to score as well, been too long.
 

MUFCgal

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I know it sounds silly to say this being 12 points clear, but it's a must win match IMO.

Last season, we had this mindset that we could afford to drop a few points, but we'd still be okay. Look how that bloody turned out. I don't want us to get into that mindset again this season that we can still afford to drop points.

If we drop points to Stoke, people will start to look back even more at last season's events.

3 points please United.
 

charlenefan

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1-1 draw following another shit limp performance
 

wr8_utd

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If Vidic is back I think we'll win this because Stoke won't really attack us much other than with long balls and we're well equipped to deal with that with Vidic and Evans. I do think we desperately need some creativity in the final third so hopefully we get Nani, Kagawa, Rooney and RvP linking up. But it'll probably just be the hopeless,uninspiring combo of Valencia and Young.

Win here and I think we'll be firmly back on track.
 

BD

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DDG
Rafael-Jones-Vidic/Rio-Evra
Carrick-Cleverley
Nani-Kagawa-Welbeck
Rooney​

I'd like to see this, but we'll most likely get RVP in there with Rooney at 10, and one of Kagawa/Welbeck/Nani on the bench.
 

Sixpence

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They need to fecking step up here and be men, otherwise they'll get found out very quickly.

Vidic and Rio at the back is a no brainer in this one. Jones in CM.
 

RDCR07

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I hope we dont lose this one. If we do, nerves will really start setting in. We need the three points to maintain the 12 point gap.
 

CentreForward

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I hope we dont lose this one. If we do, nerves will really start setting in. We need the three points to maintain the 12 point gap.
I'm nervous. Didn't expect to have to worry about the gap ...again
 

Feed Me

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Stoke away just isn't conducive to any sort of good display. We're going to struggle. Any dropped points, and this run-in will turn into an absolute nightmare.
 

Will Absolute

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The loss to City changes things. It's not quite a walk in the park any more; another loss and a few bums might begin to squeek. Barring complete meltdown, we should still win comfortably though.
 

LR7

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Pulis under pressure from Stoke fans... Stoke not yet safe from the drop... Everything points to this game being a battle regardless of Stokes form. My worry is that our lads don't seem to have much fight left. There was an air of invincibility about the team before Madrid, we'd go two goals down and play poorly but I'd still be confident we would win -and more often than not we would. That's gone probably in correlation with RvPs goals drying up. Back to back losses can make doubts creep in. I just hope we can refocus and regroup for this game.
 

Anduin

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Stoke have been really crap this year, they are down there for a reason. If Fergie finally decides to field our best team, we should have no worries... if he thinks Valencia, Young, Giggs or even Scholes 'can do a job' out there again, we will be in fecking deep shit again.

De Gea
Rafael - Ferdinand - Vidic - Evra
Carrick - Cleverley
Kagawa
Nani - RVP - Rooney
 

RDCR07

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I'm nervous. Didn't expect to have to worry about the gap ...again
Yeah the City result just changed everything. I thought we would secure a home win and the lead will be 18 points. Instead we lost and now its down to 12 points. I am still not nervous because I think Fergie will have learnt from his mistakes and will rally the players this season.
 

Varun

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Need vidic back for this. This will be a tough physical game and we'l need to be up for this. Need a win to set things rolling.
 

SATA

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DDG

Smalling--Rio--Vidic--Evra

Carrick--Jones

Welbeck--Rooney--Kagawa

RVP

Smalling in for Rafael to combat Stoke's inevitable high balls. Welbeck will be a safer option than Nani at this point of time
 

Jacob

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I'm not nervous one bit, even if we do lose, nine points is one hell of a gap (provided City win their fixture).
 

Castia

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I'm not nervous one bit, even if we do lose, nine points is one hell of a gap (provided City win their fixture).
You have some big balls then, if we lose this I think id probably shit my pants. 9 clear with West Ham away on a Wednesday night after losing the 2 previous games...feck that.
 

steeeb

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Hernandez up top with Nani, Kagawa and Welbeck in behind please.

Rooney and RVP should make way for both Hernandez and Kagawa - or there's literially no point them being in the team if they can't even play when Rooney/RVP are out of form.
 

RDCR07

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But Rooney isnt exactly out of form though. He has picked up the scoring the past couple of months with RVP not scoring. Granted he doesnt score every game but he still finds ways to be useful.
 

Nick 0208 Ldn

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Stoke are in crisis and we are sleepwalking our way to the end o the season, hardly ideal for the neutrals watching on or our ourselves.

Remedy: a slap to the face and start at least thee of the players who were on the bench against City.
 

PatrickP

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Play Hernandez. It is ridiculous how little playing time he is getting considering the goals he brings to the team and RVP looking a spent force at the moment. Hernandez's pace will give Shawcross, Huth, etc a lot of problems.

Also I hope Kagawa plays behind him.

Carrick, Cleverley
Nani, Kagawa, Welbeck
Hernandez

Save Rooney for West Ham in midweek and give RVP a bloody rest.

That midfield 3 are all great on the ball. Thats the best way to beat Stoke IMO. pass them off the field. make it difficult for them to get the ball. They don't deal very well with intricate passing in front of their defence
 

Revan

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I hope that RVP will be dropped in favor of Hernandez. In fact I would love if we go with Kagawa-Chicha duo in attack.

I expect a difficult game, with Stoke playing as shit as they can and hopefully we will manage to get a marginal win there.