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Preview - Manchester United v Derby County
Preview - Manchester United v Derby County
Tuesday, 20th Jan 2009 08:50

Who thought we’d beat Man United in the first Leg at Pride Park – and who expects us to overcome the Red Devils in their own lair? 

Manchester United v Derby County

Carling Cup Semi-Final

Tuesday 19th January 2009 (7:45pm kick off)

Old Trafford, Greater Manchester

 

Yet stranger things have happened. Although the theatre of dreams has often been a nightmare for the travelling faithful, more often than not the Rams have come away from the famous stadium with all of the points.

 

Remember 1989? 1990? 2-1 victories on both occasions. The famous Paolo Wanchope goal – still touted as one of the best opposition goals scored at Old Trafford. The 1-0 Victory that kept Jim Smith’s team up? There’s no reason to go to Old Trafford without thinking a win is at least possible.

 

Alex Fergusson is likely to keep faith with the young team he put out at Pride Park:

 

“All the young players will play. I won't risk the league campaign for the League Cup and I think the young players will do well (on Tuesday), in an exciting atmosphere like that you find out a lot about your young players, Danny Welbeck, Darron Gibson, Rafael, the young boy Zoran Tosic, are going to be involved.”

 

Zoran Tosic is the new winger signed from Partizan Belgrade. Fergusson is not a fool and will allow contingencies if his young team freeze, he continued:

 

"His (Tosic's) work permit should be through and he might even start but I will make my bench very strong. The ones who have been involved will be involved in the final hopefully if we get there. They deserve their chance."

 

This suggests that Giggs, Ronaldo, Berbatov etc. should be on the bench if things don’t go Fergie’s way.

 

Man U Facts

 

No.  Position Player 
1  Keeper Edwin van der Sar 
2  Defence Gary Neville (captain) 
3  Defence Patrice Evra 
4  Midfield Owen Hargreaves 
5  Defence Rio Ferdinand 
6  Defence Wes Brown 
7  Midfield Cristiano Ronaldo 
8  Midfield Anderson 
9  Striker Dimitar Berbatov 
10  Striker Wayne Rooney 
11  Midfield Ryan Giggs (vice-captain) 
12  Keeper Ben Foster 
13  Midfield Park Ji-Sung 
14  Midfield Zoran Tošic 
15  Defence Nemanja Vidic 
16  Midfield Michael Carrick 
17  Midfield Nani 
18  Midfield Paul Scholes 
19  Striker Danny Welbeck 
20  Defence Fábio 
21  Defence Rafael 
22  Defence John O'Shea 
23  Defence Jonny Evans 
24  Midfield Darren Fletcher 
26  Striker Manucho 
28  Midfield Darron Gibson 
29  Keeper Tomasz Kuszczak 
30  Midfield Lee Martin 
32  Striker Carlos Tévez (rights owned by MSI) 
33  Midfield Sam Hewson 
34  Midfield Rodrigo Possebon 
35  Midfield Tom Cleverley 
39  Defence James Chester 
40  Keeper Ben Amos 
41  Striker Federico Macheda 
42  Defence Richard Eckersley 

 

Last 5 … 
Man Utd 1-0 Middlesbrough
Southampton 0-3 Man Utd 
Derby County 1-0 Man Utd
Man Utd 1-0 Wigan
Bolton 0-1 Man Utd

 

Games Since 
Clean sheet 1 
Goal 0 
Loss 3
No score draw 13
Score draw 17
Win 0 

 

Leading scorers 
Ronaldo 8 lg 2 cup
Rooney 5 lg 6 cup
Tevez 2 lg 6 cup
Berbatov 4 lg 4 cup

 

The Rams

 

"It is a long, long time since Derby have been to Wembley. That is the incentive," said Nigel Clough yesterday.

 

Chairman of Football Adam Pearson aired a similar message on The Chris Evans Show on radio 2 when he stated it was

 

“Over 40 years since Derby had been at Wembley”.

 

So – The play off final in 2007 was all a dream then? What about the Play-offs in 94? The Anglo-Italian Cup Final? The FA Charity Shield?

 

Being charitable, I suspect Clough & Pearson mean a meaningful cup final but that was a bit more than “over 40 years ago” – it was 63! Maybe the PR department at DCFC should do a little more work for the Chairman instead of recycling the various player quotes for the Derby Evening Telegraph.

 

The latest name attached to these comments is that of Luke Varney. As usual, it’s disappointing for the lads, and we should be doing better with the quality we have and time to knuckle down and work harder in training etc…

 

From the Derby Evening Telegraph:

 

“I wouldn’t say we are in a relegation fight just yet, there are a lot of games left and we know, with the quality we have got here, we shouldn’t be in this position. It’s disappointing. We really wanted to do well in the gaffer’s first game but we didn’t perform on the day. The lads are devastated, I can tell you that, but the only way is up. We’ve got a lot of work to do on the training field and get back to basics to get this one out of our system quickly.”

 

What’s slightly worrying is that the players don’t ‘think’ they are in a relegation fight yet. The fans have news for them – we are. We could be in the bottom three after this weekend and on Saturday it didn’t look like we could have bought a goal.

 

Varney and Hulse did not seem to understand each other at all and the only thing slower on the pitch than Varney were the two stretcher bearers. Very worrying when the player claims they had a good week in training – what were they doing?

 

League form aside, this is a cup run and some of our best football has been played in this competition. The games at Stoke and Pride Park showed the team at their best. What team will Clough pick tonight?

 

Jordan Stewart and Paul Connolly are available and should start at the back. Lewin Nyatanga should start given his form and Andy Todd, despite problems on Saturday, is likely to get the nod ahead of Martin Albrechtsen.

 

It might be worth considering playing Todd in midfield and playing Albrechtsen at the back. You could then put in Addison, Green & Davies, and play Commons and Hulse up front.

 

Another option is Robbie Savage who is trying to rehabilitate himself under Clough and is telling anyone who will listen that he wants his place back in the team. You need to let your football do the talking Robbie.

 

Mick’s team:

 

Bywater, Connolly, Nyatanga, Albrechtsen, Stewart, Green, Addison, Todd, Davies, Commons, Hulse.

 

What the Bookies think

 

William Hill has Manchester United at 1/7 to win the game. The Rams are at 11/1 while the normal time draw is at 5/1.

 

The odds on various united players scoring are all low with Ronaldo being an example at   8/13. Our best bet is Rob Hulse at 5/1. To get that into perspective, that’s the same odds as Michael Carrick – not known for his goal scoring prowess.  

 

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 6pm. 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

 

As with the previous game, I’d expect us to get tonked. Anything is possible however and if anything can bring the best out in a team it’s an occasion like this. I’d be happy with a performance like our last visit to Old Trafford. We lost 4-1 but the team at least battled for 90 minutes.

 

With the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune usually against us, I can’t really see it but who knows?  

Photo: Action Images



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