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 14th 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 2nd 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.
