Gameday: United vs. Wolves

Just LOOK at that tongue.

The 411:
Hoping to kick on from their first away win of the season, United host Wolves at home in the fourth round of the Carling Cup.

Chasing the Cup:
After dumping Scunthorpe out of the running in the last round, United look to progress to the fifth round with a win here over Wolves. Liverpool, City, and Chelsea have already been knocked out by Northampton Town, West Brom, and Newcastle United respectively. This means that we're doing better than them and can have the relatively low-key bragging rights. Other big matches this round include Newcastle vs. Arsenal and Stoke vs. West Ham.

Enemy Form:
Wolves are L-L-L-D-L in their last five league games and their slump in form doesn't look like it's not going to get any better anytime soon. Then again, cup games can bring out the best in some players and Wolves can certainly capitalize on that.

Here are some fun facts about Wolves. First off, they haven't beaten United at Old Trafford in 30 years and were blanked by us twice in the league last year. Secondly, they haven't made it past the fourth round of the League Cup for fifteen years... Their last appearance in the fifth round coming in 1995.

Players to Look Out For:
Wolves talisman Stephen Hunt should be back in the line-up tonight after eight months out injured. Hunt's an aggressive Irishman who can provide an intimidating presence in the midfield for Wolves. For us to stop him, it's gonna take some muscle and a little bit of rage. Unfortunately we don't have anyone quite like that so I foresee Anderson in the starting lineup intimidating people with his hair.

Other than that, former United academy prospect Sylvan Ebanks-Blake plays for Wolves and we can expect to see him start the game tonight. Also in the Wolves squad is Jelle van Damme who, judging by my time with Real Madrid in Football Manager 2007, will be very difficult to get by.

As per usual with Carling Cup games, the admirers of Manchester United's youth (myself included) will get to see many young guns in action. I'm expecting starts from Smalling, Rafael, Gibson, Obertan, and Macheda. These guys will want to prove to the coaches and the fans that they're worthy of being Manchester United players and will be giving it their all.

On the Home Front:
Michael Owen is back from a groin injury and ESPN and the BBC are expecting him to start tonight. Other than that, our usual band of injured players are presumably still out: Giggs, Valencia, Hargreaves, Bébé, Rooney, and Jevans.

In terms of form, it's hard to say that anyone on our team is "on form" right now. The team performances  have been dismal so far and if anyone is on form, it'd be Nani. He probably won't start tonight though, so the players who are out there are gonna have to make their own form.

TSR's Thoughts
1. Gibson Thunderbolt© anyone?
2. THIS is the match that Obertan starts. Mark my words.
3. Anderson will give us more reasons to dislike him.
4. Michael Owen will be invisible, and then score and we'll all smile and talk about how "classic" that was.
5. Vidic has played in almost all of United's games this season, I hope that throbbing vein on his temple doesn't explode.
6. From Ikmal, verbatim: HOW WIDE DOES CHICHARITO OPEN HIS MOUTH WHEN HE CELEBRATES? 'Pretty damn wide' is how wide.

Bulls on Parade.