Basel vs. Manchester United

Didn't see this up so I put it up here...

Alright, our toughest matchup in the entire group stage (Benfica away) has gone past and we were able to get a point out of it. Now we need to make up for more points to get to the next round, starting with this home match against FC Basel.

We're very lucky that the highly hyped Xherdan Shaqiri is out for this match. Other than that, I took a look at Basel's players and I really don't know any of them, except for Kovac who used to play for West Ham, and Frei.

Rooney and Chicharito are out, still, as are the Twins and Nemanja Vidic. Antonio Valencia didn't do a bad job at RB last time against Stoke, so he could very well suit up in the position once more.

Goal.com's Predicted Lineup

We shouldn't take Basel lightly, but we're playing at Old Trafford, so yeah, I can see us pulling this one off quite easily. Just please do not play those two together up front.

I say 2-0, Nani to star.

Utd need to beware Granit Xhaka, he is the other dynamiter with Shaqiri.

Evra to be given a rest I suppose

owen won't start, i think we might see young slip in behind berbatov, or see Welbeck, and have valencia and nani on the wings

At home, the Berba-Owen partnership shoull be ok against Basel. I hope we give Young his first game in the CL tonight too. This is the team I think will play tonight.

Lindegaard

Valencia
Rio
Jones
Fabio

Young
Fletcher
Anderson
Nani

Berbatov
Owen

Cmon United!!

no movement upfront with those 2, they were statues vs stoke, i don't think fergie will roll them out again

Was watching EA Sports and it's lineup of CL Previews... they just said Berbatov, Owen will start up front, as will Carrick in the middle. Let's see how that turns out.

Welbeck is healthy as well, hope he gets a run out.

time to call up Morrison to play Rooney role

De Gea; Fabio, Ferdinand, Jones, Evra; Anderson, Carrick, Giggs; Valencia, Welbeck, Young- The official line up for tonight's game.


I think we are playing Young as a ss for this just behind Welbeck. I don't know why Lindegaard is not starting, but I think SAF is rewarding DDG for his outstanding display v Stoke and hope by playing him, he can improve his confidence even more and gain momentum. Giggs on the left, Val on the right.

Berbs not starting, the fact we have both Cheech and Rooney out, is a slap on the face tbh. Further prrof that SAF has lost interest in him. The fact he rather tries Young as a SS instead of playing Berbs to partner Welbeck lets you know everything you need to know.

Danny Welbeck

Our defending has been really bad so far. The amount of chances Basel has had...smh.

Basel have been superb tbh. Our backfour are letting us down right now. Welbeck and Giggs and Val have been brilliant.

lol Basel still don't have a shot on target....there chances are meaningless when your finishing is dog shit, De Gea only touches the ball on back passes

2-1 now. Basel absolutely deserved that!

Wow we are being outplayed. 2-2.

Fabio is offcially made out of glass. always injured ffs.

Our defence has been disgraceful tonight. We deserve to be losing. Awful.

cmoooooooooooooonnn!! young!!! 3-3.

That was complete rubbish. The whole team were shocking...and thanks to an incredible Nani assist to Young, we salvaged a draw.

Basel deserved to win that.

fabio was *bleep* wandering at the back on the 2nd goal...got caught way to far up field left ferdinand and jones out to dry

and that ref was the most clueless tosser i've ever seen, just stands in the middle of play and blocks passes...watta frustrating game, Rafael>Fabio much more responsible....and carrick was his invisible self....i miss wazza

B-Mac MUFC wrote:fabio was *bleep* wandering at the back on the 2nd goal...got caught way to far up field left ferdinand and jones out to dry

and that ref was the most clueless tosser i've ever seen, just stands in the middle of play and blocks passes...watta frustrating game, Rafael>Fabio much more responsible....and carrick was his invisible self....i miss wazza

Fabio was complete shit the whole game and then he gets injured as usual. TBF, the whole back four were awful.

That is what happens when a team doesn't pay another team any respect. I feel we were too complacent and certain we will win. Basel played without fear and dominated us with their attacking play.

We rescued a point tonight, and we badly need Smalling, Cleverley and Rooney back!

Im also starting really dislike Berbatov's attitude. His 'meh I don't give a fck' attitude. He could have squared the ball to a player at the end but decided to be selfish and try to score from that difficult angle. That could have been our winner.

I can't stand him sometimes.

Defense
Welbeck
Nani

Pretty much the entire game.

i think playing Carrick was the big mistake, we are obviously going to press up and commit players forward at home vs a inferior opponent, but when u play Anderson who loves to run forward and Carrick, a player incapable of moving anywhere with urgency most notably tracking back your gonna hang the back 4 out to dry....and credit to Basels forwards they're link up was great but if say fletcher was there and player who defensively is responsible and can tackle i think we would of seen a lot more of those moves broken up.

carrick is the most frustrating player to me....he goes missing for huge periods and really doesn't offer a whole lote more then some ball retention. terrible tackler, can't dribble, no pace to go up the field or track back

Mac, see that's what frustrates me about Carrick. He is capable of protecting the back four, just like how he did so effortlessly at Stamford Bridge in the quarter finals of the CL. He is capable of reading the game really well and tackling, but when he is bad...he is really fcking awful. today was one of those days where he went missing.

Another thing, basel pressed us really well. They had bounds of energy and when Carrick doesn't hjave time on the ball, he goes missing.

This game will be shown for years as an example against complacency.

Ridiculous is not even strong enough to describe the character of the team today, Anderson is really bad when not paired with Cleverley, Young has been trying all game to get on his right foot to curl a ball in the net, Berbatov looks like he does not care anymore, and Ferdinand, won't even say anything about him as he has been a great servant, but now is the time for him to let his place go.

Expect Basel to get hammered at the return, they will never have a second half as good as this one, ever.


And shit happens, Barca lost to that Russian team a few years ago, didn't stop them to win the CL.