Saturday, 8 February 2014

Red Rants

Red Rants

Another record at the mercy of Moyes’ United

Posted: 08 Feb 2014 12:52 AM PST

The last seven days have been strange. United have lost against one of the worst teams in the league, they have seen the manager they didn’t deem fit enough to take over from Fergie defeat City in their own backyard after an incredible unbeaten run and have witnessed their captain announcing that, well, he’ll no longer feature in the team picture next summer.

And so the merry Premier League ride brings us to Fulham at home, a game that hardly gets the juices flowing but one we absolutely have to win, given the nature of the other weekend’s fixtures, with Liverpool hosting Arsenal and Spurs welcoming Everton in what is, effectively, almost a Champions League playoff.

Luckily for United, Fulham are as obliging a team to visit Old Trafford as Moyes could ever hope for, and Betbright have accordingly boosted United’s price to beat Fulham, up from 1/5 to Evens at https://www.betbright.com/lg/5900/444 – it’s a bankable win even in this hellhole of a season.

With Jonny Evans missing after the injury he sustained at Stoke and Marouane Fellaini sidelined for a further week – will we ever get to see him playing again, I wonder – David Moyes’ options are again largely limited, which may not mean much, given Moyes’ affection for a good old 4-4-2.

Chris Smalling and one between Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand are expected to start at centre-back, with one having already declared that he’ll leave the club in the summer, while the other was too busy on Twitter to realise that he might be called into action this weekend.

In the middle of the park, the usual tragedy is about to unfold, with Tom Cleverley likely to partner Michael Carrick to little avail, just as he did last week against Stoke.

Quite what Cleverley has to do to be dropped remains beyond anyone’s understanding, but when the other options are a 40-year-old Ryan Giggs and a fit-again Darren Fletcher, Cleverley’s selection says more about him than he does about his teammates.

With Fulham rooted at the bottom of the table one gets the feeling that if Moyes doesn’t unleash Juan Mata, Adnan Januzaj, Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie tomorrow, he never will and yet it wouldn’t be so surprising to see Antonio Valencia and/or Ashley Young starting.

Fulham, and let’s get this straight, have been absolutely awful this season, losing five of their last six games in the Premier League and while the arrival of Kostas Mitroglou promises goals, the Greek striker might not be enough to keep the Cottagers in the top flight.

Fulham arrive at Old Trafford having lost seven of their last eight games away from home during which they have conceded at least two goals per game, while they have tasted defeat in six of their last games on the road, hardly a statistic to cling on to ahead of their trip up north.

United, meanwhile, have won all their last 11 games against Fulham, but if ever there was a season during which records were interrupted, this is it, therefore stick a fiver on Fulham winning 2-0 on Sunday, as we drop even further from fourth place.

Or maybe not, because United might even put on a decent performance and win on Sunday, just to get us all giddy yet again, ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Arsenal.

Dan
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