29 Oct 2019 17:01:31
Should be a good opportunity for some of the young players tomorrow night.
Tuanzebe if fit
Williams
Dalot if fit
Garner
Gomes
Greenwood
Along with the snr players like young rojo lingard matic mata romero and jones.
I think this is always a good opportunity to win a trophy early but i would think it high risk to play rash james mctom and martial and awb in particular.
With the fixtures we have coming up we have an opportunity to get 3 or 4 wins on the bounce in the league so i'd rather not see risks taken with players that are key to that potential run.
Im sure lampard will also field some younger and squad players too.
Im looking forward to the game.

1.) 29 Oct 2019
29 Oct 2019 18:01:41
Would be good. I think Martial should play to get a few more minutes as well.

I think we need to rest Maguire, AWB, McTominay and Rashford. All have played when fit and all will be first choice when fit.

2.) 29 Oct 2019
29 Oct 2019 18:28:03
I believe he's only took an 18 man squad! Greenwood, Chong and Gomez all expected to start for the U21's at Doncaster tonight.

Maybe we should start a full strength team and try to get some momentum. Maybe next Thursday would be a better opportunity to rotate with qualification almost achieved.

I would imagine Williams will be in contention to start at LB and I would imagine the likes of Garner, Mata and Lingard will get some minutes at some stage.

I'd be tempted to start the same team as Norwich with Williams coming in at LB.

3.) 29 Oct 2019
29 Oct 2019 21:18:09
I think we will go fairly strong tbh.

4.) 29 Oct 2019
29 Oct 2019 23:38:23
Greenwood bagged a 94th minute winner for the kids tonight in the checkatrade trophy. The lad is class and has not quite been able to show it in the league games he has played so far.

5.) 30 Oct 2019
30 Oct 2019 06:42:41
If he plays a full strength team or near enough, it won’t be for momentum. It would more likely be because it is the best chance of any trophy this season and also he would be worried about a thrashing. Mindset!

6.) 30 Oct 2019
30 Oct 2019 09:02:12
Or alternatively he has the mindset of a Manchester United manager and intends to try and win every trophy regardless of the state of the squad because we are Manchester United.

7.) 30 Oct 2019
30 Oct 2019 09:49:52
I would want Ole to use all the important players with care, primary focus should be PL and Europa. We already have a very thin squad and would not want players like Martial, Rashford, McT or James to get injured.

8.) 30 Oct 2019
30 Oct 2019 10:33:26
Completely agree Becks. The issue is just how thin our squad is currently. We have only taken 18 players with us, with possibly 1 or 2 more joining today after last night's game against Doncaster.

Our injuries mean players like Shaw, Dalot, Tuanzebe, Pogba, Matic and Bailly are unavailable.

That's a whole potential back four and our first choice midfield under the previous manager.

That leaves only AWB (who is working his way back from injury), Young (who is 34) and Brandon Williams (who has three first team starts to his name) as the only full back options.

While we could rest Maguire and Lindelof but that means starting with Jones and Rojo.

Midfield is another area we are short. With only Fred, McTominay and Garner available. Maybe we could drop Andreas Pereira deeper but he has often struggled in such a role. So resting McTominay probably means having Fred and Garner be our starting midfield.

Up front we have Rashford, Martial, James. As our first choice. Back up of Lingard and Mata. Beyond that we are looking at young players like Chong, Gomes and Greenwood. Of which both Chong and Greenwood played 90 minutes last night.

If Rashford and James get a rest, then two of Mata, Lingard or Gomes must start. Maybe all three is Andreas Pereira is rested.

It's a fine balancing act, in an ideal situation we would rest several players. Yet injuries make it difficult to do so with such a thin squad and a serious drop off in quality beyond the starting 11.

9.) 30 Oct 2019
30 Oct 2019 12:27:20
Yeah Shappy.
We struggle when players in our first 11 are injured.
Exposes are thin squad.

10.) 30 Oct 2019
30 Oct 2019 13:37:15
TrueRedDevil, its actually shocking when you look at the players available to us beyond our first 11.

If we say DDG, AWB, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Pogba, Rashford, Lingard, James and Martial are our first 11 give or take.

There are 3 or 4 players in the 11 most would agree need to be upgraded to have a first 11 that can compete with the best.

Yet looking beyond that first 11 and what do we have? Romero, Dalot, Tuanzebe, Jones, Rojo, Bailly, Young, Matic, Fred, Andreas Pereira, Mata. Sanchez and Smalling still technically are owned by the club.

Not including players like Williams, Garner, Chong, Gomes and Greenwood as most only have 3-12 first team appearances. All look to have bright futures but probably aren't yet at a level to contribute every week. Or at least be expected to. Each should be looking to make 8-15 appearances across the season at most.

How many of those squad players are good enough? Romero yes, maybe Dalot and Tuanzebe depending how they develop. Jones and Bailly could be good squad players if they could stay fit. Young, Matic and Mata are good professionals but their legs are going/ gone.
Sanchez has flopped and Fred looks like he will join him unfortunately. Andreas Pereira might develop into a squad player, maybe. Pereira for me though is the new Cleverley, decent player, but not sure which is his best position and sadly doesn't quite look good enough in any of them to be a starter for us.

We need 4-5 starter quality players, as well as 1-3 solid squad options and for half of our young players to make it at our club.

So with that in mind having six players who are all first team or solid squad option players out injured just limits who we can send out.