MANCHESTER UNITED TODAY : MATCH DAY

            

   As summer quickly heads our way it seems the only topics surrounding Manchester United is how busy the club will be in bringing in players this summer. Paulo Dybala, Nico Giatan, Mbuolo, so many names are rumoured to be on the way to Manchester United and as much as the fans will be busy paying close attention to their television and social medias waiting for the moment when Manchester United announces the purchase of a new player. Limited possibilities and limited expectation for Manchester United in terms of the number of quality players Manchester United will be buying this summer and this is simply down to Mourinho’s admission earlier this month that the club will be spending money on bringing in players but at the same time Manchester United might not bring in more than two players at the most. While the news about Manchester United not willing to spend a lot on players this summer has seemed to not sit too comfortably with some Manchester United Fans, Mourinho looks to be taking a solid stand on his decision on retaining his current players with little changes this summer. While discussions on Manchester United’s transfer activity will continue every Wednesday here at the ManchesterUnitedPost.BlogSpot.com, today’s article will be focused on Manchester United’s match this weekend and what strategies Mourinho will use against Manchester United’s weekends opponents Brighton.

                                                                                        IMAGE COURTESY OF SKY SPORTS

   Brighton fc has been an absolute breeze of fresh, warm air that blows right in the middle of spring. You know the one. That warm air that accompanies the warm spring weather and let you know that the cold season is officially over and something new, something exciting and something unpredictable is heading your way. Brighton is the spring season for these seasons premier league competition. Fun, exciting and unpredictable. Currently sitting at 14^th in the premier League table, four spots above the relegation spot in the table, The Seagulls, under the control of former Newcastle Manager Chris Huston, have definitely shown everyone that watches the Premier League that Brighton did not earn their promotion from the EFL Championship on the premise of luck or fluke. Brighton earned their promotion to the Premier League because Chris Hutton’s side play good, hard nose, balanced attacking and defensive football. The fascinating phenomena which I have keenly observed that seems to be reoccurring in most of the dominant teams in the Premier League is the Presence of at least three vital players pulling the strings for the team and waving their magic wands to push the team to victory. For Manchester United, it is a little complex to pin point if the Red Devils have just three consistent players performing at a very high level all season. David De Gea, Marcus Rashford, Nemanjà Matic and Juan Mata (when given the opportunity to feature) has been playing good football day in day out and can be considered Manchester United most consistent performance. But consistency has not been limited to just Manchester United alone. While Tottenham have Dele Ali, Erickson, Son and Harry Kane, Manchester City have De Bryune, Sane, Fernandinho and Aguero, all consistently putting in good performances for their respective clubs this season, Brighton themselves have certainly not been left out of the loop in establishing dominant players entrusted with leadership roles and creative roles for the seagulls. Anthony Knock-Heart, Bruno, Glen Murray and Pascal Grob have been the instigators to Brighton & Hope Albion’s survival in the Premier League thus far. Meaning under estimating this Brighton team will be a dangerous decision that might prove to be a costly mistake for Manchester United come late kick off from the Falmer Stadium this Friday night. News from Old Trafford seems to be a positive one as Mourinho has not reported any new injury as the Club prepares to head into Friday with most of the Manchester United squad reported to be healthy and ready to play on Friday should Mourinho call upon any of the players. That is of cause except for the club’s power house Center Forward Romalu Lukaku. Lukaku suffered, what looked like, a minor, ankle injury during Manchester United’s last weekends Premier League victory over Arsenal and was off the pitch while clearly limping and struggling.  Mourinho delivered the news via post match press conference on the Lukaku situation that he was not too sure where things stood in regards to Lukaku. 

   

As for the starting line up and formation set up for Manchester United, Mourinho has been deploying the 4- 1-2-3 with four defenders. One holding defensive midfielder, two central midfielders, two wide attacking players and one solitary centre forward.  

David DE Gea is favoured to start in goal today due to the Spanish stoppers continuous, excellent, run of form.  Manchester United have been living the luxury of having multiple records of clean sheets and victories these season and fans will be the first to admit that the majority of gratitude and appreciation has to be given to DE Gea who has been exceptional this season and the club will hope DE Geas excellent performance continues for rest of the season and beyond.

Chris Smalling will once again have a spot in tomorrow’s starting back line. Smalling is certainly a player who has not received any favouritism from the Manchester United crowd. The fans have not been shy in dishing out constructive criticism in the direction of the English man in recent times.

Eric Bailey has recovered from the injury that kept him out for a long period this season and will be expected to partner up with Chris Smalling as the two starting Center Backs. Mourinho has shown great faith and belief in the Partnership of Bailey and Smalling all through the course of the season. Expectations are that the two favourite men to be handed a starting role on Friday night once again.

Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia are going to take up positions on the left back and Right Back roll respectively. The duo has been playing so well for the club ever since they were converted to defensive duty and it’s expected that Mourinho will hand the pair of players the start tomorrow. 

Manchester United’s midfield have been unchanged for a large portion of the season thanks, in large amount, to the good performs of three men who go by the names of Pogba, Matic and Herrera. Trio have been so balanced and efficient for Manchester United but as much as the trio are highly expected to start today, there could still be a place set for McTominar in today’s game. McTominar has made a huge leap from the reserve team to the first team and tomorrow is just another opportunity for McTominar to keep living out his dream season as a Manchester United first team player. 

The Attack is definitely expected to change for Manchester United considering the recent injury to Romelu Lukaku. So Mourinho will come out with a front three of Alexis Sanchez on the left wing, Marcus Rashford as the Striker and Jesse Lingard on the right wing. Curiosity still looms around Manchester United over the future of Anthony Martial. Martial has only started a hand full of games for Manchester United this season and his future in Manchester United still remains in doubt with numerous suggestions of Martial moving away from Old Trafford this summer but Mourinho could still pull an unexpected move by starting Martial for today’s game. 

   The season is heading to a close and the goal for Manchester United for the remaining few games is to win and finish the season strong in preparation for the pre-season summer tour. Brighton will not be willing to welcome Manchester United to the Falmer Stadium today and give up the victory so easily. The Seagulls are heading into the game tomorrow not to play the part of a passive, defensive team for a full 90 Minutes tomorrow evening. Brighton have been strong in their home turf all season and Manchester United have not completely secured 2^nd position with three games to go. Manchester United are currently 5 points ahead of third place team Liverpool and a victory tomorrow will be a big boost towards aiding the Reds Devils to completely securing second spot this season and allow Manchester United to completely focus on the Emirates Cup final against Chelsea coming up shortly but the Red Devils must come out of tomorrow’s game with all three points to have a clear mind for the final on May 19.