Squeaky bum time!!

If you ask me, and I know that you didn't, such is the benefit of starting the thread, Carlo will be nuts if he does anything other than stick to the formation that served us so well in the last two fixtures.

Personally the only change I would make from the starting eleven against Villa (barring injuries in the week) is to swap Anelka for Drogba.

Squeaky bum time!!

If you ask me, and I know that you didn't, such is the benefit of starting the thread, Carlo will be nuts if he does anything other than stick to the formation that served us so well in the last two fixtures.

Personally the only change I would make from the starting eleven against Villa (barring injuries in the week) is to swap Anelka for Drogba.

the biggest worry i would have is other than rooney, utd`s best player of late has been valencia and im not convinced Zhirkov can handle him defensively.

I would make from the starting eleven against Villa (barring injuries in the week) is to swap Anelka for Drogba.

I like that, Loz. Even though Anelka improved after his benching, I'd give Joe a shot at the start, and have Nico ready to sub.

Really happy to finally see some impact from the manager's decisions.

I think it's no coincidence that we have played all our best football this season when either Drogba or Anelka has played - NOT when they both play together.

The worry is, that Carlo will be tempted to start both in a big match like Utd.

the biggest worry i would have is other than rooney, utd`s best player of late has been valencia and im not convinced Zhirkov can handle him defensively.

I wonder if Carlo will drop Zhirkov and pull Malouda back to LB, and put Nico on the left up front, thus keeping Joe on the right, sounds good to me.

I wonder if Carlo will drop Zhirkov and pull Malouda back to LB, and put Nico on the left up front, thus keeping Joe on the right, sounds good to me.

Hope not.

As I've said elsewhere, when Drogba and Anelka play together it rarely works and Malouda has been on fire of late and would be totally wasted at left back,

Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no.

The biggest match we've had in a LONG time is next week. Oh no oh oh no oh no oh no.

-----------------------Taylor------------------------

--------Bruma----Alex----JT-----------Van Aanholt

-----------------------Mikel--------------------------

-------------------Deco----Matic----------------------

-------Joey----------Sturridge----------Kakuta-----

We have to rest a few of our players for the villa fa cup match .......

Our right side is important. Anelka will not track Evra's runs, Joey will.

Same side from today but Anelka Out - Drogba In

Both Bayern and ManU have big, big matches next Saturday. Bayern have to travel to the AufSchalke arena to play Schalke, who are now top of the table, and of course ManU have to play against us at Old sh*tford. I hope both Bayern and ManU get plenty of injuries in their midweek match.

I personally hope that half the United team gets injured in the ECL clash

I can't wait to watch this match. And at the same time, I'm so nervous about it because this could really make or break the season.

Bring on next weekend!

I like the idea of just replacing anelka with drogba for this match. I think that carlo will play anelka on the right instead of joey however for such a big occasion. The mancs having to go to germany midweek is a bit of a bonus and they are going to have to play their best team. Going to be interesting to see how strong a team we field i the fa cup.

Another lampard quadruple would be greatly appreciated for this fixture

Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no.

The biggest match we've had in a LONG time is next week. Oh no oh oh no oh no oh no.

That's pretty much how I'm feeling, RBJ

I wonder if Carlo will drop Zhirkov and pull Malouda back to LB, and put Nico on the left up front, thus keeping Joe on the right, sounds good to me.

Malouda is far more effective than Anelka in that forward role so i wouldnt play him left back, madness, he'll cause UTD problems .

I thought Anelka worked hard today but im concerned which Anelka will turn up at Mouldy trafford. Drogba HAS to start and Deco must get in ahead of Ballack. Very difficult to even try and predict a score , but if we had Essien, Ashley and Ivan then id have no hesitation in predicting a win.

i thing most problem for us will be a manutd wing's nani and valencia

hope they tired agains bayern

i belive in malouda

The same line-up, with Drogba without Anelka. I hope that Essien will be fit to play in this game.

Thats not going to happen Mikstaw.

Anyway, biggest f**king game of the season, time to show who really is the best team in England. Can't afford any slip up, id say its a must win game if we want the title, and im sure the boys will deliver!

-----------Cech-------------

Ferreira--Alex--JT--Zhirkov

-----------Mikel-------------

----Deco---------Lampard--

J.Cole-----------------Malouda

-----------Drogba---------------

Bench: Turnbull, Anelka, Sturridge, Kalou, Ballack, Van Aanholt, Bruma

This is the team and lineup to beat utd at old trafford, a bit worried about ferreira to handle Nani, Zhirkov should be fine, but ferreira v nani..

Manchester Utd 1-2 Chelsea.

Eeeeeeeeeeeek, when we had the point gap I would have settled for a draw- now only a win is good enough.... eeeeeeeeek.

This is the team and lineup to beat utd at old trafford, a bit worried about ferreira to handle Nani, Zhirkov should be fine, but ferreira v nani..

Its the other way round for me. Im very dubious about Zhirkov defensively at the moment and i can see Valencia giving him all sorts of trouble. On the other hand i think Paulo will do fine against Nani - Paulo rarely lets us down in situations like this. His record against Man Utd wingers is actually pretty good!

Cant help but feel that we are going to end up with the Mikel/Lamps/Ballack midfield sludgefest and Anelka and Drogba up front with Malouda.

Its as big as they come this really. We need big performances from our big players and players who havent been in form need to suddenly find it , as there will be no room for passengers.

Lets hope Utd have a real tough physical match in Munich and we just get into them. No doubt they will push up on our full backs and so its up to our boys to take hold of midfield early doors. Which i have to say im a little concerned about.

Eeeeeeeeeeeek, when we had the point gap I would have settled for a draw- now only a win is good enough.... eeeeeeeeek.

Not sure about that.

Losing this isnt really an option though - but if offered right now, id take a draw. I have a feeling Utd will drop points at Eastlands. Which would leave us quite possibly needing to win one of the games at Anfield or WHL, which i think is a more realistic prospect than us winning at Old Trafford.

But who knows....

Edited March 28, 201016 yr by bjd

I would not take a draw, Bjd.

If the game was level after, say 75 minutes, I would hope Carlo would roll the dice and either play with 3 at the back and go all out for the win, or make some offensive substitution to get the win. It may result in us losing, but I think that is the best strategy, given that we have 2 very difficult road matches coming up after the ManU match.

I would not take a draw, Bjd.

If the game was level after, say 75 minutes, I would hope Carlo would roll the dice and either play with 3 at the back and go all out for the win, or make some offensive substitution to get the win. It may result in us losing, but I think that is the best strategy, given that we have 2 very difficult road matches coming up after the ManU match.

Which means we would be 4 points behind Utd. A draw and we are where we are now with the toughest game of the season gone.

If it comes to 75 mins and we are level, Carlo should not do anything to risk us losing. And i dont think he will.

Now don't get me wrong, a win would be fantastic, but we have to be realistic - a defeat would be catastrophic for our title hopes and i just couldnt see us making up those 4 points on Utd with trips to Anfield and WHL to come. A draw and we are still right in there.

Edited March 28, 201016 yr by bjd

I think if Malouda can dominate down the left we have a good chance. United's RB position isn't their strong point. Drogba will hopefully fire too.

And Lampard...well....he's Lampard. Those 3, and some good defense from Terry and Cech, and we have a very good shot.

Big big big big big game for CFC as a club, this is not just a match but a defining moment in the history of CFC. Sorry to put such a load on it but I feel it really is that big of a game. After all the sh*t the tabloids have done to Chels, to give United a hiding in their own back yard and possibly as a result win the title...they will be livid ! and then West Ham go down hahahahahahaha

I think most questions about formation and players are simple, we need to play 4 3 3 and I think Drogba will replace Anelka.

The really really testing decision is, does Carlo swap Deco for Ballack ? Will Deco be able to handle Fletcher and his nastiness ?

Edited March 28, 201016 yr by Bridgeboy