Manchester United were without several senior players including Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs as they flew out to Marseille for Wednesday night's Champions League match.
Ferdinand has not played since injuring a calf before United's Premier League defeat at Wolves on February 5, and his fellow central defender Jonny Evans also misses the trip, having been battling an ankle problem.
That meant Chris Smalling was in line to start alongside Nemanja Vidic in the heart of the United back four against the French giants.
Veteran midfielder Giggs was another absentee from the United party, which was also missing Michael Owen, who has a groin injury.
United midfielder Anderson was a non-traveller and could be facing a lengthy absence from the side after being substituted at half-time in Saturday's FA Cup fifth-round win over Crawley.
He reportedly suffered a knee injury which will need further examination before United can be sure how long he will be absent for.
However United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was able to include Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio, despite the pair both coming off with injuries during the Crawley match, while youngsters Joshua King and Ryan Tunnicliffe were also selected, along with Gabriel Obertan and Bebe.
Squad: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Lindegaard; Vidic, O'Shea, Brown, Rafael, Fabio, Evra, Smalling, Scholes, Gibson, Nani, Carrick, Fletcher, Bebe, Obertan, Tunnicliffe, Rooney, Berbatov, Hernandez, King.
So with no injury specified, is Giggs just getting a rest before the Premier League double header? Is Ferdinand missing out as a precaution or is his calf problem worse than first thought? Who's Fergie's first choice right-back, O'Shea of Rafael? Does Anderson's injury mean two starts for Scholes, Fletcher or Carrick? How the hell is Bebe considered a professional footballer?
All important question I'll be hoping to answer closer to deadline, but there is enough uncertainty for me to consider limiting my double gamers to go with more certain single gamers. Maybe something like...
Friedel, Kolarov, Smalling, Evra, Hitzlsperger, Pennant, Silva, Nani, RvP, Carew, Rooney
I'm fairly certain Smalling will play at Wigan so he's still good value even if Ferdinand comes back for Chelsea, while Evra, Nani & Rooney will play both. I suppose I could move Pennant to Scholes & switch Friedel to Van Der Sar, but whether that's smart or not is another issue entirely. More discussion on this in tomorrow's player picks & friday's team/injury update posts.
Which United players are you considering?
Cheers,
AM
(Just realised this is my 500th post - wow!)
Additional News:
Van Persie & Koscielny have been ruled out of the Stoke match tomorrow night.http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/37143/injury-news
1st!!!
ReplyDeletehehehe
AM who knows if Bebe get the chance to play in the match against Wigan.lol
ReplyDeletejust realised this is my 500th comment-wow!
ReplyDeleteyeah but AM's 500 posts have all contained interesting content. your comments are generally a waste of time. like the one you just wrote.
ReplyDeletecongrats on the milestone nik!
There is no response when I type in Hitzlberger into YFF site. Who does he play for?
ReplyDeletei bought vidic, so far having vidic nani giggs rooney. quite happy about it, but maybe i have to downgrade vidic to upgrade howard. what do u guys think?
ReplyDeleteCap, you're spelling it wrong, it's HitzlSPERGER not BERGER
ReplyDeleteHitzlsperger
Plays for West Ham
:)
Currently 5 Manu player (before this update), vds, smalling, giggs, anderson, berba, will try squeeze nani in so anderson n berba will have to go in place for nani and a filler
ReplyDeleteah united team selection, the original Mr Tinker!
ReplyDeletei think the three players mentioned will play in both but i'd bet my house that there's at least one change. as a casual united my money would be on:
Wigan
vds, rafael, smalling, vidic, evra, nani, carrick, fletcher, giggs, berba & rooney
chelski
vds, rafael, ferdi, vidic, evra, oshea, scholes, fletcher, rooney, giggs & nani.
a surprise inclusion for the wigan game could be valencia who's back in training but last i read was quite a way off fitness.
Congrats AM! Looking forward to your 1000th post!
ReplyDeleteMike-LP
AM,
ReplyDeleteany advice on;
Vidic + Silva/Adam (if he does't get booked against TOT)
or
Smalling + Rooney
currently on
Howard
Kolarov/Evra/Vidic (Smalling)
O'Hara/VDV(keeper)/Silva/Adam/Nani
VanPersie/Suarez
gr,
voorschoten1977
Van Persie & Koscielny have been ruled out of the Stoke match tomorrow night
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/37143/injury-news
@AM :
ReplyDeleteC. Adam at 8.64 (market price 13.74)
do you really advice to remove him?
Against Chelsea, United will play 3 forwards like this
ReplyDeleteNani Berbatov Rooney.
Berbatov will start both games.
If anything, the Man U injuries make the team selection easier to predict but let's hope for some more solid news closer to the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd at least most players have RVP so it shouldn't make a lot of difference but still it's annoying considering he's on a blank week next week. I hope Wenger is just being super cautious with him. Fair enough I suppose, I'm sure they can beat Stoke without him but maybe not Barcelona.
Talking of Champions League, I'll be watching the mighty Lyon spank Madrid tonight. Allez les gones!
"Antonio is training very well now," the United boss said ahead of Wednesday's Champions League tie in Marseille.
ReplyDelete"He is involved on the contact side and the signs are very encouraging. We expect him to be ready by the Arsenal cup tie."
Clearer update from Ferg at:http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1408838_sir_alex_ferguson_stays_positive_despite_fitness_concerns
I love the way Fergie has ignored the fact Arsenal still need to get past Orient in the replay!
ReplyDeletei've got koscielny@5.01, bentley+VDV@7.78, adam@8.64 and RVP for a bag of peanuts... poss 5 no score this week ? (bentley's got double next week so i'll keep him) i can get roon, evra, scholes + berb but is that enough...
ReplyDeletei need some words of wisdom from out there in YFF-land
CHARLIE ADAM WITH A YELLOW CARD IN THE 91st MINUTE WITH A 3-0 LEAD ON AN AWFUL CHALLENGE
ReplyDeleteNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I guess we are all dropping Adam after all :)
ReplyDeleteGod D@mmit Charlie. You couldn't just stand around for 2-3 minutes at the end...
ReplyDeleteAnd there's Adams yellow card. At least that's one less decision to make. Thaks for the points Charlie, you're dropped. Shame Pav had to ruin his MWG points though.
ReplyDelete@capiTeno - Adam didnt get booked tonight so he will play at weekend. Drop Koscielny and keep RVP, VDV and Bentley.
ReplyDeletejust as I posted the above Adam gets booked lol. If I was you now I would drop Bentley and keep the other 3.
ReplyDeletei'm keeping him. I have him at 5.43 and I see no reason to drop this massive discount. He'll make up for the double bagel in the following game he's going to play.
ReplyDelete6 of Blackpool's 9 remaining games are at home, which adds slighty to Adam's value.
ReplyDeleteHowever I have already dropped him because I don't fancy him against Chelsea and with cheap strikers available I can afford to buy him back.
I also expect Arsenal to give Charlie an accidental battering, ahead of Blackpool's best run of fixtures.
Motty.
would love to have berba tevez rooney as my striker trio, but i get to have a zero from RVP instead! YESSSSSSSSSSSSS.
ReplyDeleteSorry Adam ur done...
ReplyDeletewho's more value for week 28 in your guys opinion? Vidic or Evra?..
ReplyDelete~Max~
adam will miss Chelsea game because he will be suspended for 2 games
ReplyDeletehuh. prices went up sometime in the last 10 hours or so. I had some unsaved changes and now have negative money to spend. Was it O'Hara going up about one point? I can't tell. Bummer.
ReplyDeleteOuch Adam 93rd minute yellow..... 5.56 discount gone
ReplyDeleteNuno
And I was referring to players who were not recently in action - not Blackpool or Tottenham players. I don't see why there would be a price adjustment for anyone else at this time.
ReplyDeleteAM. Thanks for the correct spelling of Hitzlsperger. I had read it several times but could not see my mistake. DUH!
ReplyDelete@ Max--
ReplyDeleteTheir average points/price ratios are pretty similar, so technically they represent similar value.
But if you can afford him Vidic probably offers the higher upside potential. He has hauled in more than 10 points ten times, whereas Evra has only done it thrice.
@gary: although I don't fully know yahoo price rubric I do know % owned by mangers has an effect as well as the effect of the players that did indeed play. Example: Howard was 3mil after everyone loss then after the price update from the WBA v Wolves match he rose to 4.5mil because so many managers picked him his total % owned rose. Thus even without playing all players prices can change, the best thing to do is actually save your changes to avoid going negative.
ReplyDeleteHope that helps
AM..will andy reid gets his chance??
ReplyDeleteThanks, kellz. That absolutely helps.
ReplyDeleteRVP and Koes out and nothing we can do about it ^^ Hopefully it's only a light one
ReplyDelete@anon 4:09 AM: I really hope so man..he's good and i don't see any reason he's not being played if adam out. I dunno why IH is not giving him enough minutes.
ReplyDeletewho is the best replacement for adam ?? Holding him @8.31..but he's suspended for 2 games and he's out..
ReplyDeleteShan
how about adam @5?
ReplyDeleteNO Time FOR Big FAT ZERooooo...
ReplyDeletewell, i suppose you already dropped rvp then..
ReplyDeleteHarsh comments about Bebe.
ReplyDeleteNik I think you could have done with this sort of finishing last night!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfeZxDkbO58&feature=related
VanderSaar
ReplyDeleteKolarov Evra Rafael
VDV Nani Scholes Fletcher
Carew Rooney Berbatov
8 ManU :/ is it too much?
8 ManU players is far too many. Scholes and Fletcher never get any points.
ReplyDelete