Man U – Villa; The good old FA cup

So it’s yet another cup draw against Man U then and it seems all too familiar doesn’t it?
I was going to say when are we going to get a nice easy draw, but we’ve also shown that we can lose those too lately.
I’d love an FA cup win and there are not many Villa fans around now who have actually seen us win it.

Man U on paper seems about the worst possible draw you could get, but the reality is it’s probably the best time to play them in very many years. They’re in pretty much total disarray and I saw just yesterday that they have a rumoured seventeen players that are not happy and want to leave. Yes, seventeen. That’s not a mistake on my part.

Ralf Rangnick doesn’t seem to care about this either and it just seems to me that he’s stoking the flames even more and nearly every comment he makes is just calling his players out. I know he’s a short term replacement, but it seems to me he’s not about trying to keep the peace and I’m guessing his role is more trying to drive players out.
The point is Man U really do not seem to be in a happy place.
And you’d expect to see it in their play.

Don’t forget (as if you could!) we beat them at Old Trafford just a few weeks ago. Wolves did too, so it shows they are very beatable. You still have to get past the fact that they get every shout going and they invariably get a penalty against us, but even so, they’re still definitely very beatable.
And I would so love it if we could beat them again.

Squad news and there isn’t much.
Mings and Watkins will both be back, while Nakamba and Bailley are long term injuries. Trézéguet and Bertrand Traoré are at Afcon.

As for Man U, Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof should be fit. Pogba is a long termer and Eric Bailly and Hannibal are also at Afcon.

I’ve said for a long time that I think Man U are a poor side, certainly not as good as their league position seems to show. It’s just those decisions that very often go their way that have massively helped them.
I watched that game against Wolves and the old gold were much the better side, creating far more chances too.
So I’ll emphasise again that they are beatable. Hence we have nothing to fear.

Which I’m sure is what Gerrard will be drumming into our lads.
In fact the biggest thing we need to worry about is ourselves.
There will be no replays for this tie. It has to be decided tomorrow, hence we need to be on the ball and fired up from the off.
Unfortunately, that’s our biggest problem. We have a knack of not showing enough urgency and pace to our game.
A wounded Man U still have enough to see us off with ease if we’re not on our game, but I’m sure Gerrard will have emphasisied that.
Another Brentford type performance and we’ve lost before we start.

We must get stuck in, else I suspect some of our players may be in the last chance saloon.
It seems we are in for Digne at Everton, which means Matt Targett’s position is now seriously in doubt, if that rumour is true.
This is a massive plus about Gerrard, in my opinion. He won’t have favourites like Dean Smith did and will be ruthless. If you ain’t performing you WILL be out. And if he hasn’t got the necessary competition, it won’t be long before he does.

I think we’ve been poorer as a team than the components ought to be. We’ve played well within ourselves for a lot of this season and we need to step it up.
Do that and I think we can definitely win this game.
The question is, will we?

There hasn’t been a better time in ages, so I’m going to go for a 2-1 win.
And if we can’t beat them now, it’ll probably be a good while before we get another chance.
Next week apart of course.

UTV!