Man Utd (H): Pre-match thoughts, team news & predicted line-ups

Olly Hawkins

There’s a funny feeling coming into this one. It was the exact fixture that really kick-started our campaign in the second half of last season, however our home form has been horrific so far – with 7 defeats, 1 draw and 2 wins in 10 at St James’ Park.

We did pretty well at Watford, putting in a solid display after a bit of a battering at Anfield, but we all know we can pick up points on the road – it’s our performances at home that need to seriously improve in 2019 if we’re going to beat the drop this time around.

I’d like to bet that we get right up for this one and are MUCH better than we were at home to Fulham in our pre-Christmas stalemate on Tyneside, however it looks like Man Utd have turned the corner just when we didn’t want them to.

Although Mourinho had to go, I’m a firm believer that the players weren’t pulling their weight under Jose and essentially played to get him sacked. Solksjaer has clearly had a positive effect on them, with them suddenly playing with more freedom, flair and energy, but I’d like to bet that is more to do with Mourinho leaving than the influence Solksjaer’s arrival itself. To me they’ve shown a lack of respect for the club paying them and the fans watching them this season, so I for one would like to spoil Solksjaer’s honeymoon period with a big win of our own.

There’s talk that the ‘shackles are off’ their star men all of a sudden – and that shows given they’ve scored 12 goals in their last three games – but I still believe they have a soft centre and have not been tested defensively in their last three. We need to get into them from the off, fight for every ball with an intensity the likes of Pogba and Martial will struggle to handle and make sure we get balls into Rondon at every given opportunity.

We won’t beat them if it comes down to individual quality, but collectively we can get the better of them.

Preferred XI

As ever, here’s the team I’d like to see, followed by the side I expect Rafa to go with:

Not a great deal to say on the team this week really.

If Fernandez does miss this one (after limping off at half time on Saturday) then it’ll be Schar who comes in.

In midfield I’d like to see Shelvey to partner Diame to give us that bit more quality and creativity from the middle, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Rafa stuck with Hayden given Shelvey’s lack of match fitness.

Kenedy was left out at Watford and will be pushing for a recall but Atsu was outstanding at the weekend and fully deserves another chance. The big test will be seeing if he can keep his performances at that level – with him being the sort of player who has struggles to put together strong back-to-back displays.

As said earlier, we’ll need to get balls into Rondon – our sole threat in attack these days. Given how well he’s got crosses in from the left in our last two, Ritchie’s deliveries will be key – so I’m really hoping Rafa keeps him on the left.

Predicted NUFC team – (5-2-2-1) – Dubravka – Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Dummett, Ritchie –  Diame, Shelvey – Atsu, Perez – Rondon. 

The Opposition

Here’s some of my ‘ones to watch’ in Man Utd’s side:

Paul Pogba – He’s come alive since Mourinho left, delivering 4 goals and 3 assists in Solksjaer’s opening three games in charge. He’s now playing in a more advanced role ahead of their two central midfielders and has looked a different player in the last few weeks.

Marcus Rashford – He’s played in a central striker role since Solksjaer took over and is another who’s immediately responded well to their more attacking and fluid style of play. His skill for their opener against Bournemouth on Sunday was outrageous. Martial is another, who could torment Yedlin if the American isn’t at it defensively.

Victor Lindelof – He’s another who’s done well following the change of manager, however he’s not the biggest of centre-backs and may struggle if we get good balls into Rondon. That battle could be one to watch.

Predicted Man Utd  – (4-2-3-1) – De Gea – Young, Jones, Lindelof, Shaw – Matic, Herrera – Rashford, Pogba, Martial – Lukaku.

Team news

Fernandez could miss out with a hip injury sustained on Saturday and Clark looks set to miss out once again – as will Ki who’s away at the Asian Cup.

For them, Bailly is suspended at centre-back after his straight red during their 4-1 win over Bournemouth. Rashford came off with a groin complaint but he looks like he’ll be fine. Lukaku and Sanchez will be pushing for a chance in the side after returning to training.

Match Prediction

It may have been a point, but it doesn’t feel like we can get any worse than we were vs Fulham last time out at St James’.

I expect us to be ‘at it’ under the lights and play with much more intensity than we have in recent home games, but Man Utd look like a totally different animal so could run away with it if we don’t out-run and out-battle them in every department.

I think we’ll have our moments but I see them having a bit too much for us unfortunately. This is a game that could start out second-half of the season push towards safety, but they’re full of confidence all of a sudden and we really are struggling at home, so I’m not feeling too confident unfortunately.

Prediction: Newcastle 1-2 Man Utd

Howay the lads!

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

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96 thoughts on “Man Utd (H): Pre-match thoughts, team news & predicted line-ups”

  1. Weekday game under the lights with the whole Nation watching, especially with a resurgent Man U who still have the most fans in the country. Sounds like a MNF game and our record in those a has been?

    … Shyte.

    Bad omens all ’round.

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  2. But… we gave them a game at Old Trafford. Their new attacking form has not just coincided with Mourinho leaving but also playing **** teams. I think Bournemouth have lost 7 of their last 9.

    Looking forward to seeing Olly’s “opposition view” to see if their supporters have regained their arrogance after 3 games and think they are now the bestest team in the world and a shoo in for the title next year. I have already read a couple of letters saying they would be up there with Liverpool and City if they had Solskaer from the start. You know, the OLG who was sacked by Cardiff and then won nothing in Norway.

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  3. Manager of the season so far. Tied – Klopp and Hughton.

    Keegan said that Ashley knows nothing about football.

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  4. Eric Sykes:
    Manager of the season so far. Tied – Klopp and Hughton.

    Keegan said that Ashley knows nothing about football.

    Eric – tough one that like coz I think Nuno has done great at Wolves, Warnock is working greater miracles at Cardiff than Rafa did with us last season. But I also think Poch would be on the shortlist too. He had no money in the summer and a lot of unrest expecting to move into the new stadium only for it to be put back. He and his players are always linked with other clubs, yet they just get their heads down and get on with it.

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  5. I don’t think I’ve posted this yet, but I thought Atsu had a decent game against Watford. I’ve been calling for Kenedy to be dropped coz I think he’s been poor so far this season.
    I think it would be Murphy who came in but it appears to be Atsu – he wasn’t great in his first few games, but maybe he just needed time to get up to speed. He certainly played well against Watford, so hopefully he’s turned a corner and can make a difference in the first team.

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  6. Sharpy17:
    I don’t think I’ve posted this yet, but I thought Atsu had a decent game against Watford.I’ve been calling for Kenedy to be dropped coz I think he’s been poor so far this season.
    I think it would be Murphy who came in but it appears to be Atsu – he wasn’t great in his first few games, but maybe he just needed time to get up to speed.He certainly played well against Watford, so hopefully he’s turned a corner and can make a difference in the first team.

    Atsu was carrying an injury at the end of last year and then had an operation. He said it was taking him time to get back up to speed and that Rafa was helping. It sounded like an excuse but maybe the lad had a point.

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  7. I have seen a bit of criticism now about Pogba’s latest celebration. I have thought about it and hope he doesn’t score against us because it is pretty lame. You know he practiced it in front of a mirror and even practiced it in the warm up on Sunday. And the preening ponce comes up with the moves of a dressage pony, but each to their own I suppose.

    Then I thought of other useless celebrations. Robbie Keane’s was ridiculed and he did it for almost 20 years anyway. Ronaldo. That’s accepted, but is quite funny when his teammates sometimes catch up to him to give congratulations and he pulls away to do his strut. Then there are the backflips and tumblers. I always thought eventually someone would turn an ankle but it doesn’t seem to have happened. Or they wouldn’t see a teammate coming over to celebrate and would crash into them.

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  8. Eric, regards refs and their decisions. Yesterday Bournemouth had a absolute stone wall pen turned down and then within 2 mins Man Utd went up the other end and Lakaku scores when he was a hard off side. That’s the difference between 3-2 and 4-1. It happens too many times for their not to be some sort of bias. Liverpool had more penalties in their game against Arsenal than we’ve had on 5 PL seasons!!! It’s
    Been 5 years since we had a opposition player sent off against us! Is that normal??!

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  9. If I’m not on again tonight then a very Happy New Year to all my fellow blog users and writers. Hope it’s kind to you all. 🙂

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  10. Stuart: there is definitely a big team bias when awarding penalties and sending players off. I don’t think there is any way to explain how NUFC never get these big decisions other than a probably unconscious bias by the Refs.

    We used to get penalties when we were a big team. Remember Shearer would score 5+ a season.

    There are some anomalies as well. Palace seem to get quite a few but that is probably Zaha knowing how to induce the defenders into lunges in the box (or maybe knowing how to dive which is an allegation levelled at him).

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  11. As I said on the last thread, there was exactly the same foul in the Liverpool and City games – a player clumsily clipping a player’s trailing leg in the box. They were both hard to judge and both players went down. In my experience that foul is given maybe 10% of the time. Salah got a penalty the Southampton player got nowt.

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  12. I will repeat what I said on the last thread. Neil Warnock said today “I warn my players not to breathe on the top players.” he said “I said before the Man U game not to breathe on any of their players in the box otherwise they will go down”. He went on to specifically mention Harry Kane.

    I wonder if he will get fined. He is not specifically saying Refs are biased or ****. He could coach his players to do the same thing, but what is the point when the Ref will give the benefit of the doubt 9 times out of 10 to the big teams.

    There is an element of these players getting in better positions but that can’t explain everything. Nor does the fact that they are good at diving. It is the Refs giving all marginal decisions in favour of the top teams/players. We all know it.

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  13. The most obvious example was Spurs last year that I am sure everybody remembers. Saint Harold of Kane, MBE tried to maim Lejuene and put him out for 2 months. I think he got a yellow. Shelvey got a red for stepping on someone’s hand. Both premeditated, one reckless endangerment the other petulant and unnessary, but hardly dangerous.

    Shelvey gets a 3 match ban and Kane gets nothing because the Ref saw it. The fact that the Ref made the wrong decision means nothing.

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  14. It is not just coincidence.

    It is not just bad decisions.

    It is not just good players getting in better positions more often.

    It is not just certain players being good at simulation.

    IT IS BIAS. Either conscious or unconscious.

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  18. Eric when Shearer was scoring all those pens we were used to spending half the game in their penalty area. We rarely go there now. There probably is a bias though it is a bit intangible.

    Wonder if Charnley actually is pursuing new players? Almiron would be nice and he’s only £25m.

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  19. I see Huddersfield chairman has said he will be backing his manager in jan. Most will, apart from ours.

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  20. have we signed anyone yet ?
    Are we sold yet ?
    2019 same as every other year under this parasite .

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  27. There aren’t even any transfer rumours. Only really Almiron and will we really spend 23 million on an MLS player? Obviously it is too late for tomorrow but the next game we have a real chance is Cardiff on the 19th. That probably means we will be left hanging for another 2 weeks.

    The problem with that is that we all know Rafa likes to get his new players tactically drilled and tends to introduce them slowly, so we will probably be stuck with the reduced squad, missing Muto and Ki.

    This is one big fcking mess. As I have said before Spurs were able do a deal with Korea to have Son arrive late at this stupid Asian Cup. Why not us?

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  28. We’ll probably see Joselu against Blackburn and I doubt that Rafa (and especially Ashley) will care if we get knocked out. Then we have Chelsea and I wouldn’t be surprised if Rafa is tempted to take the same approach he did against Liverpool and basically forfeits the game saving the legs for Cardiff.

    At least give Longstaff and Sorensen a go because we know what Joselu and Hayden can do. Use the games to get Shelvey and Lejeune match fit, because by the looks of it there will be few reinforcements.

    The players at this stupid Asian Cup thing will probably be knackered by the time they get back. Or injured, with our luck.

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  31. Here’s a breakdown of the FA Cup prize money. It really is a pittance unless you go deep into the competition and have televised games. That is unlikely for us unless we draw one of the top 6 in the 4th round.

    Winners of the 3rd round get 135k. There are gate receipts as well but you can see why we would play a reserve team when we are in a relegation scrap.

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fa-cup-201819-prize-money-13222534

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  32. BLUE MONDAY: the most depressing day of the year. The 3rd Monday of January which falls on the 21st this year, 2 days after the Cardiff game. The reasoning is that the holidays are over, bill are due, New Years’ resolutions broken and cold weather and short days.

    For NUFC fans you can add probable losses to Man U and Chelsea, maybe an FA Cup exit, a draw against Cardiff and no new permanent signings 🙂

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  33. I don’t think I am being unduly pessimistic about the Man U and Chelsea games. I checked the odds.

    Man U win 6/10. NUFC win 9/2

    Chelsea win 1/5

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  35. I could live with the -2m spend if the club had confirmed that the profits had paid off the Ashley loan. But we haven’t even had that confirmed – we suspect that’s the case, but nowt official.

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  36. He took back £15m of what he put in went we went down this year so I read, don’t know if any more Sharpy.

    Fulham stuffed, hopefully Cardiff next.
    Every little helps.

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  37. Eric, the only way we will see the FA cup taken seriously again is if you get a CL spot for winning it . The top clubs don’t treat it seriously until late on when they snatch the cup for their ever bursting cabinets 🙄

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  38. Kimtoon: I am trying not to be too pessimistic but everything points to that Blue Monday, Jan 21, being very blue for us. A loss to the Bluebirds would make it even worse 🙂

    I hate to predict NUFC to lose but I just can’t see any other result tomorrow.

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  41. I am going to say this again – Son playing for Spurs. WTF!!!! Ki in the Middle East in that meaningless Asian tournament.

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  43. Well Spurs and the gunners helping us out today, lets hope our lads can take advantage and at least scrape a draw tomorrow.

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  47. Leeds are top of the Championship, why would they sell us their star striker? They also got Bielsa as Manager so are serious about promotion this year. Who makes this stuff up, and it is only worth repeating to ridicule it and make sure everybody knows it is tripe.

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  48. A tell-all book by Rafa when he leaves would be an interesting read. He has been here 5 times as long as Keegan. Rafa’s new employers might not be happy with him dishing the dirt but why not tell them he is writing it BEFORE he is hired.

    I didn’t buy Keegan’s book because I had heard it all before and it was about 8 years old news. I would buy Rafa’s though.

    With a ghost writer you can knock a book out in about a month. There are a couple of journalists at The Guardian and Football365 who are NUFC fans and could help.

    A real sting in the tail would be to get Mackem Loiuse Taylor of The Guardian to ghost write it 🙂

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  49. I have said many times that matchday protests outside and inside SJP are counter-productive. If the Fat Man leaves us hanging in this transfer window I may have to reconsider.

    I fully expect us to be 4th or 3rd bottom after the Spurs game.

    The only saving grace without additions are the return of Muto, Ki and Lejeune and hopefully a fit again Shelvey.

    That may be what the Fat Lad is thinking as well but he probably doesn’t pay enough attention to even know these sorts of details. He is just banking on Rafa saving his bacon (mmm bacon… I can hear Ashley say as per Homer Simpson) and has set up the payroll for the Championship anyway.

    I am in a dark mood about our prospects today and it has nothing to do with a hangover because I didn’t even go out (still recovering from a 6 day Xmas binge in Seattle). God knows what I will be like tomorrow night 🙂

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  50. Well, I still think we may just give Manure a game tonight. This could be my heart talking over my head but I think we may grab a point. 2-2

    Howey is running out of time now isn’t he…? ???? Knacker

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  53. “The harsh reality is that today, more than at any time since 1969, we are probably further away than ever from winning something.”

    “And there is no chance of doing so until there is change at the club.”

    “Mike came with the best intentions. I firmly believe that.”

    “He wanted to globalize Newcastle and to use the club to market his brand of goods in the Far East.”

    “But he fell out with supporters pretty quickly and for too many years now, it’s been a holding operation.”

    “The club is in limbo. Mike’s had enough and for everyone’s sake, the sooner he moves on the better. That’s my fervent wish for 2019.”

    “But it’s imperative whoever he sells to has to have the finances to take this magnificent club forward.”

    “It’s not just about coughing up £300M – and from what I hear, there’s nothing yet on the table.”

    “But (it’s also) having the resources to change the whole club and buy players who can take us to we’re we should be.”

    Sir John Hall 02.01.2019 via the Chronicle

    So, nowt happening as I said. Still it got the protest stopped if nowt else 🙄

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  54. KIM imo jabba has used his last bullet,his gun is empty now and backed against the wall and wall will crash down on him this time,of coarse he will take the PL money with him

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  55. Ice, he’s out of lies and out of time mate.
    I really do think the ***** gonna hit the fan after January window and Rafa gone.
    Cannot believe fans will still forgive and forget if he’s seen to be dicking with fans emotions again.

    #reluctant seller
    #won’t give up his cash cow

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  58. Mark my words – if Ashley Young plays tonight he will take one of our players out with a lunge on the sideline when the player is going nowhere. He is one of the dirtiest players in the league and commits this foul in every game and hardly ever gets punished for it. If he played for us he would be suspended most of the time. I know I have said this before but it bears repeating before tonight’s game.

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  59. At least there is transfer speculation now – ALL LOANS – and as usual we haven’t heard of most. But then again, none of us had heard of Dubravka this time last year.

    Good to see Lejeune in contention. I think Rafa might be thinking of the away formation at home. Can’t hurt, since our home form is so bad. SOMETHING needs to change.

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  61. Highly likely that Pogba or Lukaku will have cost more than our total starting 11 tonight.

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  62. Eric Sykes: I see you didn’t ask for a combination 11. Smart. Because we all know the answer ? Andwe would not have been able to argue if he named 11 Man U.

    Yeh haha! I tend to draw the line at the top six!

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  63. How about we sign Kenedy for 10 million? Stay with me. We know he is a decent player, but has just gone off the boil a bit and that has probably reduced his value. We can then put in a loan bid for Loftus Cheek who would be a short term alternative to Almiron. Now we have solved the number 10 problem and can play Kenedy as a wing back with instructions not to dribble in his own half. And go 3 centre backs for the rest of the season because that is our strength and we have 2 ball playing centre backs in Lejeune and Schar which might make up for our lack of midfielders.

    Obviously, we need more than this and I am sure Rafa has a couple of European loans lined up. Let’s hope they arrive sooner rather than later and we don’t have any pratting around on deadline day like last year – you know, Mitro on a plane to Anderlect, Slimani loaned even though he was injured.

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  65. Read the full article and we DO NOT charge to be a mascot. At least that is one thing we are doing right.

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  70. There you go, yellow for Lascelles knew it, if I was Rafa I’d hook him at half time, liability last few games, don’t know what’s gotten into him .

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  71. Well not too bad that first half. Atsu looking very keen, but needs to take his chances. Not too much threat from Manure so far, but I’m sure that will change in the second half.. so far, so good, but as Kim says, Lascelles looking a tad dodgy.

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