They say that the three most stressful things you can do in life are move house, get married and have children. ‘They’ have obviously never been fervent United fans. Thedevilinme himself is moving house shortly and the stresses of that pale in comparison to waiting for this final.
It is important to note that United have not really played 4-4-2 all season, more 4-5-Rooney in fact, so when second guessing the team selection we should probably not have that formation in mind. Despite the return of Gary and Silvestre from injury I still think that we should go with the same back four as we’ve had all season. It is the front six where picking things becomes tricky.
For that part of the equation it becomes necessary to have a look at Chleski’s areas of strength. In my humble opinion, the way to beat Chelsea is to keep Drogba and Ballack quiet, harrass Terry and keep an eye on Joe Cole. So which players are going to do that then?
Jono has made the excellent point about Hargreaves’ familiarity with Ballack, and I agree that they should start opposite each other, we have no other player who understands the German’s bag o tricks better than him. Vidic is probably the only defender in the world tough enough to keep Drogba chained up and, provided he doesn’t get hospitalised by the bloke again, I think he can do it.
Rooney and Ronaldo should be up to the task of giving the Chelsea back four a hard time. That really is where we will either win or lose the match, whether they score is crucial, obviously. Wesley, keep an eye on Cole, you train opposite each other for England, you know what he’s up to.
So what else do we need in the team? Class, quite simply, and cool heads, I think Scholes (the already picked) fits in to that category and the only other dilemma is whether to go for Giggs or Anderson? The answer is (drum roll please…) Anderson, because Giggs and Nani are better impact players from the bench.
And so the team is…
VDS
WES RIO VIDIC EVRA
OWEN SCHOLES
RONALDO ANDERSON CARRICK
ROONEY
Bench: Giggs, Nani, Silvestre, Fletcher, Mark Payne
Anyway I must dash, getting married this afternoon, nearly forgot.
OK, easy bit first:
VDS – yes
Wes/Rio/Vidic/Evra – yes
Ronaldo – yes (last game before Real buy him for £100mn??????)
Rooney – yes
That’s 7 definites.
So do we go 4-4-2 and have Tevez up there alongside Rooney?
Or your 4-2-3-1 otherwise known as 4-5-1?
Either way there are 4 places up for grabs and we have Giggs, Scholes, Carrick, Anderson, Hargreaves, Tevez, Park, Nani, O’Shea and Fletcher to fill them.
I would go for a 4-5-1 with both wingers supporting Rooney so that means that Giggs should start (not Park) so he and Ronnie can swap wings if Ronnie fails to prosper against Cashley (which has happened before)
That leaves 3 more. Carrick merits a place, Hargreaves merits a place, Scholes has been promised a place. Er, that’s it.
So Anderson ends up on the bench and so does Tevez, with Nani and the others.
Who’s this Mark Payne bloke? Another Fledgling?
Well yes, Ronaldo picked a good week to open his big gob didn’t he. If he wins the final he will be forgiven. This sort of thing has happened before and the press are making more of a meal of than they should because there is not much copy to be had on the FA Cup Final.
Okay then we go with Giggs over Anderson, on this I think I agree, Park, Anderson and Nani is a good bench, I have also read today that Saha is in contention as well. Now if he does something…
I think I would start with Tevez over Carrick though, surely Scholes and Giggs and Rooney leaves us enough good passers on the pitch. Tevez is one of the few grizzlers we’ve got and I think we’ll need him and his habit of scoring important goals.
IMHO SAF will play 4-4-2. Chelsea are not an intrinsically attacking team, so why invite them to do so? I reckon you play 4-5-1 when you know the opposition will go for you – as inevitably happens in Euro away games and in some home games where the opposition needs a win – as in the Arsenal Cup Tie. But this is the European Cup Final and this is Manchester United, so we attack, OK? So we start with Tevez.
I reckon too that SAF will be looking to outwit Average, and that he will seek to spring a surprise. I wouldn’t be surprised if the surprise is that Ronaldo starts on the left. Two reasons. Firstly, Average won’t be expecting it and secondly the disgusting Cole plays him better than most full backs. So who covers the right flank then? A combination of Rooney and Hargreaves, is the answer, interchanging so as to confuse the opposition.
So here is the team: VDS, Wes, Rio, Vida, Evra (obviously). Midfield is Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholesey and Ronaldo. Tevez and the Roonster up front.
And the bench: Kuszcak of course. Saha in case we’re desperate for a late goal, and provided he hasn’t injured himself getting changed. Anderson in case Scholesey is fading. Giggsy because there are several jobs he can do competently if need be. Then it gets difficult, because we may need a full back or centre back or midfielder if someone gets crocked. One half-forgotten man can fill any of these positions. Step forward Mikael Silvestre.
Two to go, from Park, Nani, Fletcher O’Pie and, I suggest, Pique. I guess Park will be one of them, as SAF likes him, though personally I wouldn’t take him to Moscow and save on the plane ticket. The last one must be an attacker, because we are Manchester United. So it’s Nani.