Preston North End vs Man. United- 16/2/2015

Yeah he started off as a midfielder and he's comfortable enough on the ball, seems like an obvious choice for me with Carrick out and Blind looking unlikely. We'll see though, it'll probably be Rooney or Fellaini.

It doesn't matter anyway so I'm going with this:



I'll explain my actions now: Rooney as a natural partner to Rojo, (two loonies each on their own) dropping more and more in the deeper areas so why not put him at CB now and cut the misery? Yeah. McNair and Young obvious choices, being good in those positions, (Shaw gets a hairdryer for the red card as a lesson, being introduced in the game later). The Ecuadorian lion as a destroyer and a protector, Herrera and di Maria as a moving carriers of the ball, Mata as a collector and creator if we decide to go "on the ground" tactics, it gives us an actual plan B and of course the two executors up front! Both being more effective lately than El Tigrito and the Flying Dutch Panther. Possibly, Wilson gets a chance instead one of them or coming in later if we somehow don't manage to hoof it well, but, having Rooney as a CB and knowing his fetish for Gerrardesque passes, our striking partnership in Small Fella could benefit a lot and thus the team as a whole.

As for midfield, whenever Herrera and di Maria give the ball away or cock something up in whatever way, there are the Lion and the Cap to save the day with their energy, strength and understanding, built over the years. Moreover, all of the middle 4 can communicate on Spanish between them which could be crucial part of their cooperation.

Louie likes to experiment so even if he would do all of this I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. The moment I saw Jones taking corners and some other things I realized I know nothing about tactics, game plans and philosophy of football.

Great call Miroslav but how about trying Fellaini in goal with De Gea up front. I'll explain.
Fellaini by himself covers about a third of the goal and his hair style covers the other 2 thirds. Impossible to score past. De Gea has the hairstyle of a forward in the mode of a RVN, Ronaldo, Bale, Batistuta etc etc so instead of looking at positions in the traditional sense maybe VG should concentrate more on hair styles. Makes a bit more sense than some of the formations we've been seeing.

To be fair, I haven't quite watched Ecuador's games. But I don't judge players in international tournaments because the football is so much different. How many players have shone on the internaitonal stage and failed to replicate that form at club level, and conversely?

What I know about Valencia is that he is not overly creative, and lost his crossing touch a couple of season ago, but that he is very tidy, doesn't lose the ball cheaply, has composure, good short passing, great strength, great pace, great energy and that his overal quality could fill the gap until we (hopefully) get the bodies we're missing in CM this summer. To be honest, I actually don't understand why no manager has ever trusted him to give a hand in that role. We did it against Everton, who are a fairly aggressive and resilient team and it looked like a walk in the park for him as he helped us control both the midfield and the right flank.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I am sure playing Valencia in CM is a lot smarter than it looks, and a lot smarter than playing Rooney in that n°6 position, or Di Maria upfront, or Falcao and RVP in a partnership upfront, etc. 

To be fair, I was thinking about that option too as a plan C if Small Fella fail to convert some of the hoofballs. De Gea goes up front and Preston lads starting to laugh their arses out, not realising our tactical brilliance and rolling on the floor while we scoring for fun!

There's also a gas factor. Our Spanish contingent would have a special lunch, preparing themselves for a farting fest. If they manage to fart in waves while singing Mexico forever, that would confuse the shit out of the opponent. They literally wouldn't know whats hit them!

I have a few more but this should be enough in order to see some entertaining football while being productive.