Monday, October 22, 2007

Will Fergie tinker against Kiev?

I think it was Graham Souness who said recently that Fergie didn't actually know what his best team is currently. I agree. The thing is, Anderson, who in truth none of us were that sure about following his first couple of games for the Reds has really impressed in his last two outings. So much so that Fergie now has a fair degree of head scratching to sort out regarding exactly who will make the starting line-up when the Reds take on Dynamo Kiev in a game whereby United can virtually finish off the job of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday night in Kiev.

Hargreaves could be back in contention for a starting place and it would be completely in keeping with Fergie's record of tinkering if the former Bayern star was restored to shore-up the midfield, because if there is a weakness in the side that thrashed Villa on Saturday night, it is that we didn't have a defensive holding player on duty.

There is an argument which suggests that Anderson needs to retain his place in the side to help build his confidence, and this will be in the manager's thoughts when weighing up what is best for the team and the player.

Another consideration will be whether to select Nani or Giggs, both had a hand in Saturday's goals. The former Sporting winger, supplied the ball for Rooney to equalise and Giggs scored late on aided by two deflections before Stuart Taylor palmed the ball into the top corner for what was a very scrappy goal.

In truth, there's not a lot to choose between Nani or Giggs, the latter showed early promise in his first few games but of late he has been wasting possession. You can say pretty much the same of Giggs.

Over the weekend Opta revealed some startling stats about the passing accuracy of both Tevez and Rooney, the pair of them barely wasted a ball during that victory at Villa Park. In sharp contrast, especially Giggs was poor in this respect. His Opta stats would surely have made for grim reading.

Perhaps Fergie will start the game in Kiev with both Hargreaves and Anderson and then bench both Nani and Giggs. As we have seen in the past and especially in Europe, you need to retain possession of the ball and certainly if I were in charge this is an option that I would consider. Fergie might well ask Anderson to raid down United's left flank, with Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo up front in a 4-3-3 formation.

1 comment:

  1. yep, got to agree JR, both nani & giggs are off the boil. not that we have ever seen nani on it.

    it would be interesting to see if anderson could do a job on the wing. this would accomodate both scholes & hargreaves in the centre.

    fergie states on man utd.com that he is looking at a counter attacking game. purley because kiev have lost 2 & need to win tomorrow so it is a must that they go on the offensive.

    i must say that i wouldnt like to be on the back foot with tevez, wazzer & ronaldo on the break every two minutes.

    happy days

    Granny

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