Saturday, October 2, 2010

Gameday: Sunderland vs. United


The 411:
After our 1-0 win against Valencia in the Champions League midweek, it's back to the League as we take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Chasing the Title:
After screwing up our chance to close the gap on Chelsea after their loss to Tevez and Co., United are in second place and three points behind last year's champions. This week we're playing before Chelsea, and if we can win by 13 goals, then we will be top of the league at least for a few hours. I know it's unrealistic and probably not gonna happen, but a guy can dream can't he?

Where We Stand:

1|Chelsea|6P|19GD|15PTS
2|United|6P|7GD|12PTS
3|Arsenal|6P|9GD|11PTS
4|Man City|6P|5GD|11PTS
----------------------------------
5| A Villa|6P|-2GD|10PTS

Enemy Form:
Sunderland are currently 11th in the table and have had some good results this year. These include draws against Liverpool and Arsenal and a win against City. They played Liverpool last week and probably deserved more out of the game. Despite their mid-table position, Sunderland are quite a strong team who have the ability to beat any team. They are strong and can easily frustrate opponents into making mistakes. Our hot-heads better watch out. 

Players to Look Out For:
No question here... we should, nay - we must keep our eyes on Darren Bent. He finished third in the race for the golden boot last season with 24 goals falling behind Didier "F'ing Disgrace" Drogba and Wayne Rooney. This year, Bent has already struck 5 times in 6 games and is third behind Dimitar "G-G-Godlike" Berbatov and Florent "Crappy Haircut" Malouda. 

Anywho, Darren Bent will be a threat and although his usual strike partner, Kenwyne Jones, has left for Stoke, Asamoah Gyan and former United youngster Frazier Campbell will provide some decent firepower for the Black Cats.

As for us, Berbatov will again be the focal point of our attack and so we'll be banking on another genius performance from him. Aside from that, it's interesting to see who'll start alongside him. Macheda came off the bench and brought a physical dimension to our game against Valencia. Similarly, Chicharito was subbed on and showed his composure and class to put away a wonderful goal. Also, Michael Owen has been in form recently and Sir Alex could have been resting him against Valencia for this game. For all we know, Berbatov might start alone or not at all. Only time will tell...



On the Home Front:
The injury situation is slowly clearing up. This is the time where we all knock on as much wood as we can for five straight minutes. But yeah, Carrick, Anderson, and Ferdinand all started against Valencia and played quite well. I'm not too sure about Carrick and Anderson's chances to play tonight, but I think we'll see Ferdinand partnering Vidic at the back. 

Anywho, we're still missing Valencia, Rooney, Giggs, and Scholes. They're all clutch players and their creativity and flair could be missed. Other than that, Hargreaves is in training apparently and is "close" to a return... again.

TSR's Thoughts
1. How will our strikers line up tonight? This match might actually be a breakout game for one of our young strikers.
2. Will there be love for Obertan tonight?
3. Does Rafael keep his place as our right back?
4. Do we use our black kit from last year tonight? Cause those were kinda cool...

United. Kids. Wife. 
In that order.


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