EPL: Portsmouth 0-1 Manchester United [25-08-08]

[dukeofdavinci]

Squad swelling for Pompey

Sir Alex Ferguson is hopeful that his squad will be boosted by the return of a handful of key players in time for Monday evening's trip to Portsmouth.

Carlos Tevez, who missed last weekend's draw with Newcastle after a family bereavement, will play after featuring for Argentina on Wednesday, giving United a vital extra body in attack.

There is also a chance that Owen Hargreaves and Ryan Giggs could be in contention after training this week, while Anderson will return this weekend from Brazil's Olympic team.

Ji-sung Park has also taken great strides in recent days, and has played a full part in training all week, but will the trip to Fratton Park will come too soon for him.

"Tevez is back," Sir Alex told his pre-match press conference. "He’s available. Hargreaves and Ji sung Park both trained with the first team this week, I’m delighted with that. Ji won’t be considered, Hargreaves we’ll assess on Sunday to see if he can play a part.

"Anderson will be back on Sunday, so that’s an extra body. Giggs has trained the last couple of days, plus all the players have come back from internationals fit, which is a bonus, so we’re ok in that respect."

The United manager also confirmed that Michael Carrick and Cristiano Ronaldo are on schedule for their own returns from injury - three weeks and three months respectively.

good news ahead of a tough ride at pompey.lets hope this spurs more then "fitness/good news" and will get the players more motivated and get us that 3 pts.

[Mr Brightside]

And Berbatov wasn't even sub today........................

Ummmmmmmmmmm, I wonder who he's joining..............

It's a done deal boys !

[kyan]

It's still not clear though. Just yesterday Ferguson was saying he wasn't optimistic on signing his target. This'll certainly help move Berbs closer to United but with 8 days left in the transfer window and both teams determined not to lose ground in setting the fee it'll be tight.

I'm worried about the Pompey game, we'll have a few players back, most importantly probably Tevez & (hopefully) Anderson, assuming the latter is OK to play considering he only gets back tomorrow.

I'd expect the same back 5 that started v Newcastle (maybe Neville instead of Brown).

Midfield could be anything, I reckon probably Fletcher--Scholes--Anderson*--Giggs
*If Hargreaves is fit I'd expect him to start, although if neither Anderson nor Hargreaves are deemed fit to start it could be Possebon or Gibson in there, or maybe even Rafael wide right with Fletcher in the middle...

Up front should be Tevez & Rooney, which is a relief... Especially if we have another attacking option (Campbell) on the bench.

This really depends on which Pompey show up, if it's the one that played Chelsea we should be able to win by a decent margin (2 goals, maybe 3), if it's the one from the Charity Shield, depending on David James' form we could win by a slight margin.

I keep thinking draw but I'm going to predict 1-0 United.

[Mr Brightside]

4-4-2

VDS

Wes Rio Vidic Evra

Fletch Hargreaves Scholes Giggs

Rooney Tevez


What is wrong with that ?

And it's a possibility. Owen is the only doubt.

Or 3-5-2 :

VDS

Vidic Rio Evans

Wes Fletch Scholes Evra

Giggs Rooney Tevez

[jlae11]

Originally Posted by Mr Brightside

Or 3-5-2 :

VDS

Vidic Rio Evans

Wes Fletch Scholes Evra

Giggs Rooney Tevez

hahahaha... my friend, you will do just about anything to get evans in there, eh? including putting wes brown at right wing!!! hahahaha. i do agree with your point though... i am definitely a wes brown fan. i think hes absolutely class defensively, and he usually makes good decisions going forward... maybe hes not the best crosser, but you cannot win them all, eh...

it will hopefully be the 442 you have above though...

i dont think anderson will be considered for the game to be honest... give him a week to recover.

[dukeofdavinci]

i dont think anderson will be considered for the game to be honest... give him a week to recover.

yup, but who knows fergie might be on the extreme.

im going wth 442, but wh minor modification.instead of fletch on the flanks wch he is piss poor better pair him wth scholes in the mid.but the it raises the question who to play on the flanks???hoping for a miracle up to speed fitness for park.

then again we might see a 5 man mid-field.rooney again pushed down and tevez alone, or last resort fletch stays flank, wch is crap but can be compensated by gary probably.wes and fletch on the same side is horrendous.

[usamu]

There is no way that Hargreaves is match fit. I'd b shocked if we played anything other than Fletcher-Scholes-O'Shea-Giggs in midfield.

[Benfica7]

I heard that Niko Kranjcar might not play due to an ankle injury. This would be a blow for Pompy. Btw Go United

Also I heard that United were playing with...

------------------VDS-------------
Brown--------------Ferdinand--------------Vidic--------------Evra
Fletcher--------------O'Shea--------------Scholes--------------Giggs
---------Tevez----------------------------------------------Rooney

[Benfica7]

Well now it seems that Anderson has replaced Giggs in the lineup...

[Benfica7]

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Fletcher, Anderson, Scholes, Evra, Rooney, Tevez

Portsmouth: James, Kaboul, Campbell, Distin, Johnson, Bouba Diop, Davis, Diarra, Traore, Crouch and Defoe.

[Benfica7]

Both teams are coming out right now and are going to get set to kick off the match.

[Benfica7]

The game kicks off and Pompy are already on the attack. Diop takes a shot from out of the box that goes to the side for a Van der Sar goal kick.

[Benfica7]

Brown is on the attack. He runs down the side and drills one to Rooney who shoots straight to David James.

[Benfica7]

A Yellow Card is awarded to Bouba Diop for a late tackle on Tevez. The free kick taken by Paul Scholes is saved by David James.

[Benfica7]

Corner for Pompy, Sean Davis knocks one in to Kaboul who heads it just wide.