Rovers Vs Man Utd. 1st Leg

[SAS]

his cup record was in paper t`other day

played 13, lost 2

[rover6]

Hughes' selection decisions will make interesting reading.

I would agree with those more cautious folk who would go for the defensive strength of Reid over Tugay's maverick passing talents. Reid is in confident form at the moment and I think would keep Scholes and Co in check - although obviously he won't be making many incisive passes.

Up front, I'd go for Kuqi and Bellamy, the orthodox little and large. Kuqi's technique might not be up to much but he has the physical attributes to worry the Man U backline - as long as the supply is good.

I would be very interested to see if Sergio Peter makes it onto the bench. Bringing Bellamy off the bench in the last few matches has been such an effective tool because his pace exposes the opposition's tiredness. I wonder if Peter could perform a similar role in future.

[Presty On Tour]

cant wait for this one now, the atmo is is going to be banging and im well up for it!!!!

gray will be back at lb

tugs and sav in the middle

bentley on the right

bellamy and dickov with kuqi comming on after 64mins

feel for riedy being left out (if he is of course) as his last few games for us he has been immense!!!!

peter hopefully will make the bench which he well deserves after saturdays performance!!!!

[cloggyjimmybrfc]

i honestly think we will beat the mancs 2 0r 3-1,and i do hope peter even gets to come on for the last twenty as he was brill on sat.the return leg is the tricky one..but i would still go out and attack them..play them at their own game..

COME ON YOU BLUES!!!!!!

[stuwilky]

Dont know how ticket sales are going but its strange to see Man Yoo still not sold out the Darwen end.

372512[/snapback]

They sold it out more than a week ago.

[1864roverite]

concur

mank scum sold out

[Dr Gonzo]

I'm coming up from London for a few days for this match. I'm really excited although I think we'll play really well and go down to a 96th min handball in from Horse-face.

1-2

[stuwilky]

concur

mank scum sold out

372769[/snapback]

Lee has posted a total ticket sale of circa 20k as at friday (including away fans!) on the official message board.

[Eddie]

I'm sure more people will have bought there ticket on matchday and also will in the few days building up. Perhaps the result on Saturday will help sales as well.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

''Lee has posted a total ticket sale of circa 20k as at friday (including away fans!) on the official message board. ''

FFS THATS AWFUL!!!

I've just had an e-mail from the club advertising the cheap £20 seats in the cis stand..........doesn't point to good ticket sales does it?.

Edited January 9, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Lathund]

''Lee has posted a total ticket sale of circa 20k as at friday (including away fans!) on the official message board. ''

FFS THATS AWFUL!!!

I've just had an e-mail from the club advertising the cheap £20 seats in the cis stand..........doesn't point to good ticket sales does it?.

372780[/snapback]

Well it was on friday. That was three days ago, and there's still two days left until the game. I think it'll be a decent crowd.

[Presty On Tour]

if the game wasn't on tv, we would of sold this one out!!!!

1st leg semi against manky at home, its guna be immense!!!!

anyone have the lastest fugures of ticket sales?

[USABlue]

Good post but going front to back:

Start with Dickov and Bellamy- the Mancs will have one if not two debutants so the pace of our two could well spring an unpractised offside trap. Their newbies are unlikely to have had to cope with anyone quite like Dickov before and didn't Rio Ferdinand nominate Dickov as the player he most hates playing against? Kuqi to do what he does best- come on after Dickov has run himself into the ground for an hour and give the Mancs defence an altogether different sort of physical challenge they won't fancy.

372668[/snapback]

Agree with that one 100% phillip. Rio hates playing Dickov, so he will breathe a sigh of relief when we take him off then turn the Shefki on him.

My biggest worry is that we will face a severe backlash cos of the Burton result. If we can keep 'em out for the first half hour 45 mins their heads may drop a bit.

[RevidgeBlue]

Hughes' selection decisions will make interesting reading.

I would agree with those more cautious folk who would go for the defensive strength of Reid over Tugay's maverick passing talents. Reid is in confident form at the moment and I think would keep Scholes and Co in check - although obviously he won't be making many incisive passes.

Up front, I'd go for Kuqi and Bellamy, the orthodox little and large. Kuqi's technique might not be up to much but he has the physical attributes to worry the Man U backline - as long as the supply is good.

I would be very interested to see if Sergio Peter makes it onto the bench. Bringing Bellamy off the bench in the last few matches has been such an effective tool because his pace exposes the opposition's tiredness. I wonder if Peter could perform a similar role in future.

372764[/snapback]

I think it would make sense to go for the same starting X1 that beat them so convincingly at their place, which would mean from memory Zurab and Nelsen at the back, Gray at LB,Tugay and Bentley in midfield and Dickov and Bellamy up front.

In midfield, if Scholes breaks into our box, hopefully Savage will do a decent job of tracking him unlike when Flitcroft has observed him fom the halfway line in the past. Reid will be a great asset to have on the bench and hopefully will figure at some point.

Great point about Peter. I was thinking the same myself. He has earned a spot on the bench IMO after Saturday and he could be extremely useful as a "secret weapon" being a player they'll be completely unaware of.

Anyway not overly worried about ManUre who are fairly ordinary in comparison with years gone by. I'm far more worried about the performnce of the referee as Blue Blood rightly pointed out.

[Hughesy]

Any update Lee?

[S15]

I'm with those after a Tugay/Savage CM. I am not Reids biggest fan, but his last two performences have been good. However, I am not convinced he's the man (yet) to do it for us on the BIG stage.

Gray MUST. That's MUST start for us at LB.

This game, wierd as it seems could be won by the full backs, those who combine their DEFENSIVE attributes with their ATTACKING attributes most effectively.

Matteo has neither attribute in his locker.

It could be successful argued that he is completely useless.

The thought of Ronaldo and Neville attacking Matteo sh*ts me up. Evre and Giggs/Park facing Neill and Bentley/Emerton is another vital battle, but much more evenly matched.

Up top I vote Bellamy/Dickov. No doubt. Dickov is much more effective taking advantage of the space Bellamy creates for him, and Kuqi should be used as nothing but a battering ram late on.

Also, I think Zurab/Nelsen should be the centre backs, but I have no doubt what so ever Hughes will go for Todd/Nelsen.

Why? I have no idea. In a game we need all the quality we have, Zurabs' footballing brain and distibution would be very useful. Todd isn't bad in these departments, but Zurab is better.

The most important player on the pitch for is Savage. If he has a stormer there is 95% chance we will still be in the the come Old Trafford.

This is the first truely HUGE game Savage has played in for us (Burnley should be childs play for him) so let's what he is made of.

I'm strangely optimistic until I think about it too much. In which case I've changed my mind from my earlier 2-2 prediction and change it to 1-3 United. Hope I'm wrong, but 6 wins in a row? I don't think so.

[cletus]

Well it was on friday. That was three days ago, and there's still two days left until the game. I think it'll be a decent crowd.

372782[/snapback]

I`m going to the ticket office tomorrow (tues 10th) to 'hopefully' get my tickets for the man ure & notlob games. I hear the ticket office is open until 7pm the day before home games. Is this correct?

[Blue blood]

Could you stop at home? 

372713[/snapback]

Soz but got ticket today. I've got the whole luck thing sorted now, new lucky outfit complete with my new xmas lucky away shirt - 3 wins out of 3 so far - how can we possibly loose?

Chuffed to get a good seat in the blackburn end 2 days prior to kickoff, although the implications from a rovers ticket sales perspective its a tad worrying.

[stuwilky]

Soz but got ticket today. I've got the whole luck thing sorted now, new lucky outfit complete with my new xmas lucky away shirt - 3 wins out of 3 so far - how can we possibly loose?

Chuffed to get a good seat in the blackburn end 2 days prior to kickoff, although the implications from a rovers ticket sales perspective its a tad worrying.

372950[/snapback]

Out of interest, roughly where was seat?

[Blue blood]

Row twenty five seat one hundredish.

[stuwilky]

Row twenty five seat one hundredish.

372955[/snapback]

Ouch.

More than two together?

[Blue blood]

Nope just the one as my family have either gone back to uni or are working. Going with a couple of mates but they've got STs and had booked their's earlier (again Blackburn end 2 together but done last saturday).

Was willing to sit anywhere and was expecting a pretty poor seat. Glad its in the blackburn end as next to no chance of infiltrators.

[cn_barlow]

do any of you Aussies know whether the match is on live over here??

[West Aussie]

do any of you Aussies know whether the match is on live over here??

373000[/snapback]

Looking at the programming for Fox and it's not on. ESPN usually shows cup games but alas nothing.

[philipl]

I was feeling very low about the likely attendance until seeing that Wigan have not yet sold 10,000 for tonight's game. Expected to be 11,000.