Henry Kibirige is back with another preview of his beloved Manchester United. Henry is editor of Manchester United fan site www.manunitedview.co.uk
Champions take on Everton
Manchester United v Everton
A statistic referred to in Andy Cole’s article in the Manchester Evening News made me realise how much less of a goal threat United are this season. We have scored just 23 goals this season; behind Arsenal (36), Chelsea (29) and Liverpool (27). It was a completely different story last season and even the season before, when goals were very rarely a problem for United as home games would often produce 2 or more goals. An over used cliche it may be, but Ronaldo’s departure really has left a big hole in the squad. Hopefully it’s a hole that isn’t big enough to cost United dearly.
Seeing as Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world, and a player who’s being compared to George Best, the said hole was always going to be big. To say that goals have been taken out of the team is a commonly made mistake. What United have is a squad that has the potential to score goals, but for some reason haven’t stepped up to the plate. Losing a player like Ronaldo, who you can rely on to produce the goals almost every week seems to have affected the team, who are now looking around at each other wondering who they can depend on now. It’s only been in the last few games that the midfielders have really started to contribute as an attacking threat instead of just leaving it to Rooney and Berbatov.
Manchester United are looking for a win
Despite the defeat at Stamford Bridge, a lot of positives can be taken from the game because it was rather nice to see the United players actually turn up for a big game. We were very lucky against Arsenal and Anfield was a disaster. However there was a determination and drive about the team last Sunday which wasn’t seen during this season’s previous top 4 games. Carrick, Fletcher and Anderson hardly gave Lampard and the rest of Chelsea’s midfield a tough afternoon. Vidic and Ferdinand didn’t feature, so Evans and Brown had to fill in at the back. They put in brilliant defensive displays, keeping Drogba and Anelka quiet throughout the match. This all meant that United were by far the better side on the day and quite frankly were robbed.
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To prevent themselves from falling further back in the title race, Fergie’s side will aim to beat a stuttering Everton team to Old Trafford on Saturday. David Moyes’ side have won four out of their last nine games and find themselves 12th in league. It’s early days, but Everton really need to get their act together to keep the chances of City finishing in the top 4 as small as possible. Arteta’s absence is a good explanation to their relatively disappointing start, as he was often at the centre of Everton’s attacks last season. Another reason is that Moyes has had to work with a small squad this season, yet again.
The Toffeess will do well to put a decent team out at Old Trafford. Jagielka, Arteta, Howard, Phil Neville, and Saha are all amongst the absentees. Meanwhile United will be without Ferdinand, Neville and Fabio.
The injuries are likely to mean that Everton will put a below average side out on Saturday, so I predict a United victory. Probable team;
Van Der Sar
O’Shea Brown Vidic Evra
Valencia Fletcher Anderson Nani
Rooney Berbatov
PREDICTION: United 2-0 Everton, Rooney first scorer.
Take Rooney to bag the first goal
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