Manchester United can view this game in two ways. They either go for the jugular like they did so boldly against Chelsea last weekend. This effectively meant Louis van Gaal picked his strongest available eleven and tried to dictate the game. A win would of course be a massive result for a United side playing catch up in the league.
It’s not really The United Way to play defensively. But, with arguably their hardest fixture of the season ahead of them, they may prioritise the extension of their unbeaten run.
They are, after all, putting a nice run together which currently stands at 4 unbeaten. Get through the Manchester City game and Manchester United would feel confident about putting a long sequence of unbeaten games together. Yes, they still have Arsenal away and Liverpool at home in the coming weeks – but neither game is as tough as this one. At their best Manchester City are still the top side in the league for us.
So Manchester United may look to sacrifice a creator for a more defence-minded player in the midfield. You would expect Daley Blind and Marouane Fellaini to play after their recent performances. But perhaps Sunday would be a good time to give Michael Carrick his first run out after injury.
We expect Di Maria, RvP and Rooney to start. But will Louis gamble on another forward? We would like to think so but he may go for an extra man in the middle.
So here is a defensive United formation to potentially preserve the unbeaten run.
Manchester United fans: thoughts please
elkin
Oct 28, 2014 at 9:44 pm
I would have Valencia for Carrick (speed, defence and counter
attack)
Redmarkoz
Oct 28, 2014 at 11:07 pm
I may be completely wrong but for an imagined defensive line up it would still seem to have plenty on offer in the attacking department.
realist
Oct 29, 2014 at 1:03 am
Carrick who hasn’t played for 5 months in this game?
hope not, he usually takes a while to get going at the best of times!
samuel mwaura
Oct 30, 2014 at 3:42 am
the centeral defence shud b played by blind.my line up could be in a 4-2-3-1:De Gea[gp]shaw,Rojo,Blind and Rafael[df],Fellaini,Carrick[df-mid],Di Maria,Rooney,young[a-mid],Van persie as sole center striker.