Manchester United FA Cup Preview - A Must Win Match, Tactical Breakdown, Jack Wilshere

He always has his tongue sticking out. Haha.

   
     So a tough trip to Old Trafford on Saturday, and a must win for me.

     Winning this match would be a great way to bounce back from Barcelona, and kick start our final stretch to win the league. However, it won't be easy. We have only scored 15 goals in our last 30 matches there, so goals may be hard to come by, especially with the absence of Walcott and Cesc. Either way, I feel this is a must win match for the squad, for three reasons:

1. If we lose to United, it will be very hard for the team to cope with mentally, with the cup final, Sunderland, Barcelona, and United incidents all in a row.
2. If we lose to United, when they come to the Emirates it will be a sort of mental block for the team; instead of having the confidence to go out and get a result against the Mancs, they may reminisce on the previous match and have a little doubt.
3. We've been knocked out of the Champions League (I'm sort of okay with that) and lost the Carling Cup to Birmingham (Definitely not okay with that). Being knocked out of yet another competition would be heart breaking, and the pressure on the club for silverware I think would pose too much for the players to handle, being so young.

     One thing that goes in our favour is that United has a Champions League match in the midweek against Marseille which is a must win for them also. That being said, I think "Sir" Alex will put out something near his full squad. That doesn't mean this will be an easy match for us. I don't think I have to say this, but only 110% will do.
     Now I'm no Manchester United expert, but this is my guess at their lineup:

           Chicharito Berbatov

Gibson                            Valencia

            Carrick   Scholes

Evra       Vidic     Smalling    Rafael

              Van der Saar

     I stress the fact that this is a guess, and I ask you not to hold this against me if Ferguson puts a lineup out that doesn't resemble this at all.
  
     Some of you may know that Valencia has missed most of the season for United, but he's back and I have heard that he may make an appearance.
     Despite my uncertainty of the lineup, I believe that Chicharito and Berbatov will be the front two for United.
     With these two contrasting styles of play, the defense will have to be on their toes. Koscielny will more or less deal with Berbatov most of the time, while Djourou with Chicharito. However, I see one problem that could occur. One of Koscielny's greatest attributes is his ability to read a play and cut it out, ex. to come across and make a key tackle. Because Chicharito is often the player to make forward runs behind a defense, Koscielny will act to snuff it out. However, when Kos does this, he leaves a gap between Clichy and Djourou. Because Clichy is not the most tactically aware player and his mind seems to switch off at times, and Berbatov is a fantastic tactical player, Berbatov may be able to slip into that pocket of space before Clichy could close it down, and be in on our goal. It may look something like this:

14- Chicharito 9- Berbatov (If you didn't already kmow).

     Now if Rooney were to play, Djourou will have to be aware of Rooney's movement and that when Shreck recieves the ball up top and goes back, Djourou musn't follow Rooney and leave a pocket of space behind him for Berbatov to run into. However, I don't think that will be as much of a problem as Koscielny's.

     Now that i've got Uniteds part out of the way, onto the real footballing side.

     So an injury update and Cesc is out for about two weeks after hurting his hamstring in the Barcelona match. Van Persie is fine though, so I expect he gets the start. I see our lineup like this:

                      van Persie

   Arshavin                        Bendtner

                         Nasri

              Wilshere      Diaby

Clichy    Koscielny    Djourou    Sagna

                       Almunia

     Once again I'm not 100% sure about this lineup, but this is definitely what I'd like to see. The only player I feel may not be included in the starting linuep would be Diaby, perhaps fatigue settling in and becuase it's the FA Cup, Wenger may go with Denilson, which I pray he doesn't.
     The other alternative to this lineup I could see would be:

                 Bendtner/Chamakh

    Arshavin                              Nasri

                        Rosicky

                Wilshere      Diaby

Clichy     Koscielny     Djourou     Sagna

                        Almunia

     I kind of want to put Chamakh or Bendtner in because we still have ten more premier league matches to play, and I'm afraid of having the tough tackling Vidic near van Persie's injury prone body. Not only that, I think it was clear van Persie wasn't fully fit for the Barcelona match and therefore shouldn't play on Saturday. But if Wenger thinks he's fit, play him. In Arsene We Trust.

     So with Arshavin playing on the left that should stop Rafael going forward too much so that's a positive. Nasri + Sagna meanwhile can deal with the cunt Evra, and I can't wait for all the fiery "pardon my french" shit that will go on throughout the match on that right hand side. Hopefully a fight starts and Nasri knocks Evra in his twat.

     I'd rather not have Nasri on the right though, and Rosicky in the middle. Rosicky isn't patient or creative enough in my opinion and it's such waste of Nasri's talent to put him on the flank. Rosicky could even move to the right hand side; just goes to show the versatility of our players.

     My predicted scoreline is a 1-1 draw and sadly if I'm right it will have to go back to the Emirates for a replay, which we dont want because we will have to pay for it, because the FA has already used up the credits for replays.

     Now on to the subject of Jack Wilshere. I'd list all the reasons why he's so great and all but the list would be too long.
     The reason why I bring him up is because we (and Wenger) have to remember he is only 19. The very last thing we need is to run him into the ground. He has already played too many matches this season in my opinion and we should put him on the bench for the rest of the season if we could. But we can't. Diaby and Denilson don't cut it and our youth players are still on the brink of breaking into the first team, so not just yet.
     Jack is young and he is still growing. While Arsene Wenger is a brilliant manager and has done so much for this club, one think I believe he is at fault for is overplaying youngsters. He did it with Cesc, and I think it's starting to show with his hamstring problems. The last thing we want is in three years when our team is based around Jack and he has some wild calf strain and will miss half the season. I think Benik Afobe is ready for the first team and I would like to see him be recalled from his loan, but it's too late to try and fit Afobe into our system. We are in the final stages of our campaign and Jack is vital to our midfield. Sadly, he is essential. But that doesn't mean I don't like him! I love the lad.

     Now that we're done with the subject of Jack, let's move onto Bendtner. Many are upset about his chance against Barcelona that he squandered, and rightly so. However, I think he is a brilliant player and is capable of great things, but with van Persie and Walcott at the club it's hard for him to get a run of gmes.
We all know the amount of confidence that Nik has, and he has stated that he wants to play football, but he isn't getting it here.
      I think we'll see him go this summer, and I'll be sad to see the back of him. I think we will all regret selling him in the summer though when he scores 20+ goals for his new club. The only thing I could see would be a loan move to a big club if he were to 'remain' at the club.

     On to goalkeeper news and Szczesny has hurt a tendon in his hand but will not require surgery. Either way, he'll be out  for six weeks. Almunia was brilliant in goal against Barcelona so now we can have some worry lifted off us when Aluminum is between the sticks. As a result of having two keepers out, James Shea has been recalled from his loan to Southampton but isn't ready to be thrown into first team football. In his press confrence, Wenger hinted of going for an emergency signing like City did last season. He said he had someone in mind, but refused to say who. Hopefully the signing won't be needed.

     So that's that. Do comment and tell me your thoughts, favorite lineup for the match, predicted scoreline, etc. Don't be shy.
     It was a more lengthy preview than usual, but hopefully I haven't bored you all. As they say, "quality, not quantity". I reply: "why not both?"
     Enjoy your weekend.