Old Trafford
Nedelja, 12. april 2015 ob 17:00
Prenos: SK1
We have played a very good side, playing at the sort of level we are aspiring to...
so bile famozne besede škotskega strokovnjaka po lanskem porazu s 0:3. Se stvari končno postavljajo na svoje mesto?
Za začetek nekaj statistike:
United je trenutno po formi druga najbolj uspešna ekipa, takoj za Arsenalom (v zadnjih šestih tekmah LWWWWW), medtem kot je City šele deveta (WLWLWL). Cityjeva forma od novega leta je celo slabša od lanske Moyesove po novemu letu. Če to ni zgovoren podatek, potem ne vem, kaj je.
Po drugi strani pa je mesto modro že kar nekaj derbijev - že 4 zapovrstjo jih je dobil City, tudi letošnjega po neumnosti Smallinga ter golu Aguera. Sploh pa je City šele druga ekipa za Liverpoolom, ki je United premagala 4krat zapovrstjo. City je tudi zmagal 6x ter samo 1x izgubil na zadnjih 7 derbijih. Modri so zadeli kar 19-krat, United pa samo 6-krat. Statistika je močno na strani Cityja.
Nekaj Van Gaalovih besedih iz petkove konference
Speaking in his press conference ahead of the derby, van Gaal tells reporters: "I'm always confident because I believe in my team".
Van Gaal adds that he recognises the importance of the clash, saying a game between two local rivals "is always very special".
Boss on giving the fans a derby victory: "Of course I dream of it - every player shall dream of it." #mufc
Reds to wait on Smalling and Shaw
The United boss also said that he will wait to see how both Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw are. Smalling has trained this week after illness forced him to miss last Saturday's Aston Villa game, while Shaw has also been back in training having not featured since the FA Cup defeat to Arsenal last month.
Van Gaal was asked by MUTV whether it's difficult for players to dislodge others from the current settled line-up. "Never change a winning team’ is an English expression but I always have my eyes open," insisted the manager. "It’s also an obligation to the substitutes that you have to compare players. You have to see also the quality of your opponent and you make a decision with the staff I have."
On a possible return for Angel Di Maria, van Gaal added: "Not only Angel [is pushing for a place], but every player who is training in the first squad are pushing because they want to do their utmost. I played 11 vs 11 today and the team in white was very good - the white team was not the basic line-up, so they are pushing always and I like that. I said that to all of them, that I like the fighting spirit of every one of them."
The manager confirms to reporters that Andreas Pereira is unavailable as he is away on international duty with Brazil U20s.
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The hairdresser of my wife is a Manchester City fan, so there is a lot of discussion between these two women and I like that because in football you play for the fans and I hope we can give our fans the victory.”
Novice iz sinje modrega tabora:
"Vincent will be assessed for a problem he got last week," manager Manuel Pellegrini told a news conference on Friday.
"We will see tomorrow if he will play or not. It is always better to play with Kompany, but if he can't play, we have a squad."
Pellegrini confirmed that striker Wilfried Bony will miss the derby at Old Trafford with ankle and knee injuries.
Sam ne verjamem niti približno, da lahko osvojimo naslov, pa vendar si vse kar si želim le to, da zmešamo štrene še prav vsem, tako Cityju, Arsenalu kot Chelsea. Naj jim bo v opozorilo, kaj jih čaka prihodnje leto. City skoraj pregovorno dvigne formo proti nam, sam tudi mi smo jim dolžni eno lekcijo. Glede na to, da City zna napasti, nam to odgovarja.
Se nam obeta zopet ista postava? Najverjetneje, zna pa se zgoditi, da od prve zaigra Di Maria.
Zabijmo še zadnji žebelj v Cityjeve želje po ubranitvi naslova!
United!