Previews are back!
And we begin with a derby as United take on City in the Community Shield to kick-start the 24/25 campaign.
The two sides from Manchester returned this week after their respective American tours with eyes set on Wembley for the first derby of the season.
Ngl, when looking at our squad and potential lineup, I feel as though City,
ain't got no chance.
Who am I kidding?
But in all honesty, it's really hard to gauge where the teams are at as neither have played a competitive game in a while. In fact, the last competitive game the two played was between each other in the FA Cup final. Quite a memorable one for United.
That game was at the back end of May. Much time has passed since.
However, we all know that regardless of where the two teams are at, City are way better than United.
Let's see how this first game of a crucial season goes.
Predicted Lineup
After Erik ten Hag's injury news in his presser yesterday, the United side will be even weaker than it originally was.
A big season ahead for 'risk-taker' Andre Onana as he begins his second campaign at the club. He obviously starts in goal.
Our only available full-back Diogo Dalot will start at right-back and with the injury doubt to Luke Shaw (what's new?) we will probably see a debut for young Harry Amass. A youngster with a lot of potential gets his time to shine in the derby.
What a game to make your debut.
A little bit of good news as the manager did say that the butcher Lisandro Martinez will be involved 🙌. We so need this guy to be fit and available all season. He makes such a difference to the team.
However, his partner will be Jonny Evans?!
Apparently so because there are more injuries at centre-back as both Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof are doubts.
Maguire didn't feature at all in the final game of pre-season - the 3-0 loss to Liverpool - last Saturday as a precaution according to ten Hag with Lindelof having to be taken off at halftime because of a problem.
Jonny Evans as well, was ill despite playing in that defeat but also had to be withdrawn at the halfway mark. Unlike his centre-back counterparts though, Evans was pictured in training so should be ready for tomorrow.
A midfield three of Casemiro (who will have to find some form), Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes. This is our strongest midfield, at least on paper.
Up front is where some might be surprised.
Marcus Rashford to start on his preferred left-wing with Amad on the right which means no place for Alejandro Garnacho.
I've kept him on the bench because of a lack of match fitness. While he was part of the Argentina Copa America winning squad, the star boy hardly featured. I don't think he's sharp enough to start yet.
Both Rashford and Amad went on pre-season and will be more ready for this game. Amad was the best player on tour and has been performing well for a while. He deserves to start.
Rashford is a favorite of the manager's and having looked sharp in America, I believe he will start. This is also a chance for him to stake a claim in the first team after a pretty forgetful 23/24.
Despite the rumors, I've gone for Joshua Zirkzee to start as striker over Jadon Sancho. He too to make his debut.
I know that Zirkzee is new and only had his first full training sessions in recent days, but with the absence of Rasmus Hojlund for the foreseeable future, we might as well integrate him into the team and try to get used to him asap.
The whole reason why we bought him was to rotate with Hojlund or be an option whenever Rasmus was out.
This is also an opportunity for Zirkzee to display why he should be the main man up top ahead of Hojlund. I'm sure he'll be ready to go.
I do believe that we will see as much rotation as possible as several of those who could start took part in their first training sessions just this week. Most if not all of the players will not be able to play the whole game.
*I mistakenly put Luke Shaw in the side instead of Harry Amass 🤦♂️.
United Approach
As I said, it is difficult to understand where both teams are at. No team comes back after time off and pre-season in a similar vein of form as they were before this time.
Nevertheless, knowing how both teams play, one would expect City to dominate possession and be camped inside United's half for most of the game.
Erik ten Hag will look to deploy a defend and counter approach and execute a game plan that saw his side win the FA Cup final.
However, Pep Guardiola will be all the wiser after that derby defeat so you can bet your bottom dollar that he will be weary of United doing the same thing again.
Key to United doing well in that game was that they managed to keep the heavy hitters of City quiet.
The likes of KDB, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and perhaps most importantly, Rodri were all kept under wraps. If MUFC are going to get the W over MCFC, something along those lines will need to happen again.
The problem is that the man who kept Rodri quiet was Sofyan Amrabat. He is not a Man Utd player at this moment. Someone else will have to do that job instead as everything goes through the Spaniard.
While United's pre-season results may have been on the average side, some of the performances didn't warrant a defeat. The 3-0 loss to Liverpool sounded worse than it was as Erik ten Hag's side arguably put in one of their better performances of their tour.
The reason for the defeat was simply not making the most of the chances created, of which there were several. The other issue was the open midfield that allowed LFC to get in behind before some poor defending from United which led to the 3 goals.
I suppose those are the same issues we had last season but at least in pre-season, we were missing quite a few first-teamers. With Lisandro Martinez back, we will have a better chance of building out from the back as he makes such a difference to the side. Pep Guardiola famously said that United had one of the top 5 centre-backs in the world with the butcher after we beat them in that final.
Some pretty high praise from Pep.
I doubt that we would've played a high line anyway but that definitely won't be the case if Jonny Evans starts. That defensive line will most likely be on the edge of the box more often than not with United looking to exploit the space left by City's high line.
In the FA Cup final, we saw both United goals coming from long balls played behind City's back line.
That will be our main route to goal again.
Prediction
It is difficult at the start of a season to know exactly what to expect from two teams. While we have our general ideas of how the two sides might approach the game, anything is possible with new signings and in United's case, new coaches.
But I would be surprised if we see United dominate this game although that would be lovely.
It will be interesting to see the side ten Hag goes with and if we will see some debuts. It will be exciting if we do.
My prediction for this game is that I think City will win 2-1. I don't think it will be that exciting as both sets of players won't be completely at the races. Or, maybe because of that lack of sharpness, it could make for an entertaining encounter.
Let's hope for that instead.
In the end though, the result doesn't really matter. Of course, we would like to win which will definitely give us a massive boost heading into the season but a defeat isn't the end of the world.
More than anything, a good performance is required by United because we know that the football can be quite flat.
And also, let's try not to get fucked up. That is always a possibility.