Liverpool

One guy, one sentence – Liverpool at home, Europa League

isimitomi Manchester United , ,

The Result

Good bye Europe, we can concentrate on the Premier League and the FA Cup. Disappointing, though.

The Starting XI

DDG – Great saves in the first half but should have done better when Coutinho scored…

Varela – He was shaky and looked tired or rather exhausted.

Smalling – No mistakes, solid at what he was supposed to do.

Blind – Some really great moments but had a couple of bad choices.

Rojo – Should have scored to make it 2-0, that would have changed the game.

Carrick – A captain’s performance after his mistakes in the first game.

Fellaini – He was found by balls but could not really head them to the teammates.

Mata – Lost a bit but a couple of good moments.

Martial – Great penalty but mostly ineffective.

Lingaard – Lively as always but his shots…

Rashford – Good runs into the box and around – his teammates should have done better.

& the subs

Valencia – Decent after a long absence.

Darmian – Great clearance from Origi but nothing more.

Schweinsteiger – Too late to have a real impact & I am worried by his beer belly.

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Team news for the Liverpool game

isimitomi Manchester United , , ,

So it is that night tonight, away at Liverpool, after meeting four times in the Premier League, winning four times in the Premier League, now it’s for European glory. Only, it’s only the round of 16s and only the second European cup. No worries, a tie against Liverpool is always one of the best moments of my life – there was only one exception when we were led by Mr. Moyes. I can forget those results.

Anyway, I wouldn’t have expected the four wins out of four under LVG either, still we could do that. Hope we can repeat that but I will be satisfied with a draw away.

Players are coming back but not as many as we could do with, and there’s the question again – should he (LVG) stick to those young guys who had brought wins or should he put back the experienced first team players? Will it be a WBA where we were ineffective and dull again?

I would send out this team.

Varela seems like someone having been playing there for years while Darmian started well at the beginning but somehow lost composure a couple of months ago. Smalling and Blind obvious choices in the middle of defence, Rojo needs (match-)time and we are without Fosuh-Mensah, so no choices, really. And the Argentinian can support Memphis if the latter has a good day.

Schneiderlin & Carrick is not the best of the possible partnerships there, but we need two of the likes to hold back Liverpool’s midfield.

And with the next four we could win it if we have a bit of a luck and the midfield and the defence won’t make big mistakes.

Martial in the middle and if it doesn’t work, change with Rashford.

There it is, glory-glory!

team vs liverpool
The team vs Liverpool

Liverpool derby, Gameweek 30

isimitomi Football , ,

After the disappointing result and performance against Tottenham… – oh, wait, this time it was a beautiful performance and a very good result, so no complaints at all! Kind of strange, I couldn’t write anything like that for ages.

Anyway, what do you think, should LVG stick with the winning team or should he change? How about di Maria? Or Mata? Here’s my team, you can pick yours if you click here.

My team for the game against Liverpool
My team for the game against Liverpool

And my predictions for the game with my daughter’s – last week it was a draw between the two of us, (OK, this time she wanted all the games to be a draw, so I could hardly persuade her to take it more lightly…)

Matches My prds Luca’s prds Results My pts L’s pts
Aston Villa v Swansea City 1-0 4-4 0-1 0 0
Hull City v Chelsea 0-2 2-2 2-3 1 0
Liverpool v Manchester Utd 2-0 3-3 1-2 0 0
Manchester City v West Brom 2-0 1-1 3-0 1 0
Newcastle Utd v Arsenal 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 0
QPR v Everton 1-2 0-5 0-3 1 1
Southampton v Burnley 2-0 0-2 2-0 3 0
Stoke City v Crystal Palace 1-1 3-1 1-2 0 0
Tottenham v Leicester City 2-0 3-2 4-3 1 2
West Ham Utd v Sunderland 3-1 3-1 1-0 1 1
Total points this week 11 4
Best points 12 11
Most correct result/week 2 1
Head-to-head  1 1