 Friday, 7th Dec 2007 09:54 The next Rams game is against Middlesbrough at Pride Park on the 15th of December. Manchester United V Derby County There's a visit to Old Trafford this weekend but nobody would see it as a 'game'. A game requires two sides competing. This fixture is in no way a competition as absolutely nobody thinks we have a chance of getting anything from the tie. William Hill has us at 16/1 to win and Manchester United at 1/10 on for the victory. Those odds would be an insult to a Conference side on an FA Cup trip to the Theatre of Dreams. Well when you look at the statistics, it's hard to raise even a smidgen of optimism.
And yet ... We've done well at Old Trafford over the years. True we've been thrashed on many occasions but there was a time when we seemed to have a hoodoo on them. We won two years running at the end of the eighties (including a Nick Pickering winner). Who can forget that goal by Paulo Wanchope in the 3-2 victory back in 1997? And we won 1-0 back in 2001 with a goal by Christie. We've won eleven times all told there. Not many teams can claim that. What most fans will tell you is that the teams that went to Old Trafford on those occasions put their heart and soul into the game. They respected United yes, but they weren't overawed. Manchester United fans respect teams that come out and do that. It must be hard to be a football loving Manchester United fan - as opposed to a glory grubber - watching teams come week in week out and just surrender. If you think about it, a season ticket at Old Trafford may only get you three competitive games a season! Roy Keane summed it up before the Sunderland game the other week when he said; "If we lose, you hold your hands up and say at least we went to put on a good show, to show we can compete. That doesn't guarantee winning but at least you can come in and say we gave it our all. When you go to these big grounds you have to make sure you're not beaten before a ball is kicked." If Paul Jewell were to say the same and more importantly the team play the same way, I for one would be happy. Current Manchester United Squad No. Position Player Last 5 games Man Utd 2-0 Fulham Danger Men I think it would probably be easier to say who isn’t a danger man in the Manchester United squad …er? Leading goalscorer so far for the Reds is Cristiano Ronaldo. Love him or hate him you have to stand in awe of his ability on the ball. Fourteen league goals this season tell the story. And he’s still only 22. He looks the most complete footballer since Maradonna and I suspect that if he’d been playing in Spain or Italy he would have walked the player of the year contest. As with Maradonna however, he has a few flaws in his character that lead to discipline problems. He’s been sent off three times (including once this season) and there’s no getting away from the fact that he dives when challenged. The fact that he doesn’t need to is what is so infuriating. Wayne Rooney is the second highest scorer with seven goals. Despite only playing 13 games and suffering an early season injury, he’s profiting from the attacking form of the Reds. As with Ronaldo, he has had discipline problems but he does seem to be maturing as a player. There seems to be a rumour going around that Alex Fergusson is to leave him out so he can go and support Rickie Hatton in Vegas. I hope so. Ominously for superstitious Rams fans, Ryan Giggs is one goal short of a century of league goals. The Rams Paul Jewell has lost ever encounter with Manchester United. He’s usually played a 4-5-1 formulation in an attempt to stifle the Reds and as almost always happens, it fails. So why not play 4-4-2 or 5-3-2? Manchester United are a potent attacking force and trying to contain them with spoiler tactics makes for (a) a dull game and (b) a defeat. Sitting back and allowing Giggs, Ronaldo, Saha or Rooney carte blanche to run at us means we’ll ship goals. If we play with two up front – Howard & Miller or Howard and Earnshaw, it will at least give the Reds defence something to think about. It’s no coincidence that when we’ve won at Old Trafford, we’ve always had more than one striker on the pitch (Saunders & Goddard, Wanchope & Sturridge for example). A four man midfield would be a good idea if we had any creative players on form. One tactic we could use is to play Jones (ex red –something to prove), Oakley & Pearson in the middle of the park and play five at the back. The back five would be Leacock, Davis and Moore in the centre while Mears and McEveley would be fullbacks. The idea would be for Mears and McEveley to push on when we have the ball and to try and hit Howard with the ball. Of course – this could be the chance to play Giles Barnes in an attacking role and see if he’s as good as he thinks he is. He’s not shown anything to deserve a £5m price tag so far this season. Whatever happens, as long as the team put in the same effort as last week, the travelling faithful will not be disappointed. Mick's team: Bywater, Mears, Davis, Leacock, Moore, McEveley, Pearson, Jones, Oakley, Howard, Miller What the bookies think As I’ve already said, the Bookies have Manchester United at 1/10 on while the draw is at 11/2 and a Rams victory is 16/1. 1-0 to the Rams as a correct score will get you 22/1 and that as to be worth a speculative flutter. If you want to cover your bets you can get 10/1 on a 5-0 Reds win. Information for travelling fans Driving: It’s about 80 miles to Manchester and should take roughly two hours. Leave Derby on the A50 towards Stoke. After you pass the Britannia Stadium on your left, either turn left to join the M6 at Junction 15, or right to join it at Junction 16. You can leave the M6 at Junction 19 and follow the signs to the M56 for Manchester Airport however I would stay on until Junction 20 and go straight onto the M56. Either way, leave the M56 at junction J3a and join M60 at Junction 5. Stay on until Junction 7 and take the A56 Chester Road into Manchester until you reach Sir Matt Busby Way on the left. Old Trafford is half a mile down this road. Parking: If you want to get away early, the best parking is at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground but you need to be there before 1pm. Another suggestion on FootballGroundGuides is to park at the Lowry centre on Salford Quays – this is only £3 and is ten minutes walk from the stadium The added bonus is that it’s relatively easy to get out of and you can be on the M601 and onto the M62/M6 South missing all of the congestion going the other way. Drinking: The Quadrant Pub near the cricket ground is the best bet for away supporters. Failing that you could get the Metrolink to the city centre. The pubs near old Trafford tend to have a downer on fans wearing away colours but there’s not usually a problem if you aren’t. They sell beer in the ground as well. Mick’s Prediction 3-0 to Manchester United with a good performance from the Rams. I don’t expect any more than that but it’d be great to go into work on Monday morning with a dramatic 1-0 win to the Rams with a late Steve Howard header. A man can dream can’t he?
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