United vs Everton

We’re inviting our Twitter friends, and now resident thought sharer Iwan Lehnert, to share some of their ‘Pre and Post Match’ thoughts with us from now on. If you want to share, get in touch! You can still enjoy my nonsensical, confusing, punctuation buffets below their proper good ones…

Iwan (@IwanLehnert):

I think one thing that last season’s League collapse has done for most United fans  is make them more guarded. We’re currently nine points clear, the squad’s in good shape and we’re still challenging on three fronts. But I get the feeling that we take less for granted now. I look at every weekend, plan out scenarios and imagine how our lead will look at the end of it. Nine points is a healthy lead, but it’s not nearly enough to guarantee anything with three months of the season still to come.

We all know how rubbish that 4-4 felt last season, and the fact that it’s Everton visiting Old Trafford this weekend adds that extra layer of intensity to matters because of what that result meant for our season. But so far (touch wood), the manager and the team have seemed thoroughly determined to make sure such a collapse doesn’t happen again. Last weekend was perfect, sort of; Fulham played well, chances at both end, one piece of magic and we ground out a 1-0 win. That’s the biggest difference so far from last season; we’re battling. Just as well, because the match on Sunday will be a battle. Everton hadn’t won so much as a consolatory handshake at Old Trafford in ages before last year, and that result will make them think something along the lines of “hang on…..we can do something here.”

That’s why it’s hardly worth mentioning Real Madrid just yet. Not until 6pm on Sunday.

RVP’s been a little quiet on the goalscoring lately, so here’s hoping he can contribute to the scoresheet. Thank flip he returned from international duty without a scratch, too. Not that it’s the end of the world if he doesn’t score, considering that Rooney’s scored 5 goals in 4 games for club and country. He looks sharp, dangerous, focused and most importantly, fit. Great stuff.

If anyone has any clue as to who our best defensive pairing is at this stage, answers on a postcard, please.

Also, in defence of our little llama-faced goalkeeper, De Gea was superb against Fulham. The criticism after the Spurs match was crazy because he’s been much less culpable than our back four for the goals we’ve conceded this season. He’s got a massive week coming up, and I truly hope everyone gets behind him.

Sorry for the seriousness. That 4-4 still rankles like a perpetual cold, and even if we win this weekend, it’ll still be there. That’s why I cannot wait for this match to be done.

Prediction: Grind. That’s all I can foresee. 2-1, Gibson for Everton, late Rooney goal. That’d be quite lovely, given his record against them.

Brett:

After my abomination of a pre-match performance last week, I’m going straight…

We don’t need reminding of just how good Everton are do we? Good, cus I can’t remember. This game will be a good test and potentially one that nine point leads were established for. Yes, yes, I know I’m supposed to be the omni-grinning-always-positive-and-daft-gargoyle-you’re-all-mildly-irritated-by, BUT I’m also aware of how good Everton are. I just wish I could remember just HOW good (can you see a theme developing?).

They have quite a few players I’d like at United, which is always an indication of how much I respect a team. Fellaini will be a threat (if fit), having potentially rediscovered his goalscoring form, Baines has been super. Anichebe is playing so well, he’s keeping the Croatian Jellyfish out the team and other stuff I’ve forgotten (a recurring theme throughout this post – a great blogging device, especially in conjunction with a related killer conclusion).

For us, Rooney has the knack of scoring important goals back, and we’re now beyond reminding ourselves of what RVP bringeth. I would have expected a similar team, if not exactly the same, to the one that beat Fulham last week – possibly with Giggsy coming in for Nani -, had it not been for City’s result yesterday. Now, it’s all up in the air again.

I don’t remember what my memory based conclusion was going to be. *BOOM!* (Blogging gold)

Prediction: 3-2

Goals: All O.Gs