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| Picture Courtesy of www.bing.com |
Wishing all fans a very Happy and Merry Festive Season, may you and your families have a fantastic 2020. We are all hoping that Manchester United can recover from an extremely disappointing display against bottom of the league table Watford on Sunday and give us all a performance we can celebrate as we near the end of a disappointing 2019. The lacklustre performance against Watford is not even worth discussing, just one positive really was the long-awaited return of Paul Pogba from his 3 month recovery from injury. Boxing Day brings an old foe to Old Trafford and Newcastle United under Steve Bruce management have demonstrated that they will be formidable opposition and in no mood to be charitable when the teams meet on the 26th of December at Old Trafford. The Red Devils have an impressive home record in the Premier league against the Magpies at Old Trafford having won 43 matches, drawn 21 and lost 8 at the Theatre of Dreams. Solskjaer should not have to fire up his team to get the must win 3 points. The inconsistency in the Red Devils performance this season has been the most frustrating feature of the campaign thus far. Solskjaer will have to ensure the team is able to deliver a must win result if they have any slim chance of catching the current top 4 teams.
Team selection as always will be crucial and after the poor display on Sunday. Does Solskjaer keep faith in goalkeeper De Gea and will Pogba replace Lingard in midfield, will Greenwood start? I think only Solskjaer has the answers to these selection conundrums. However the players who make the starting 11 need to ensure they are ready to avenge the 1-0 reverse they received at Newcastle earlier on in the season. Anything less than 3 points would be an unsatisfactory result. Not to underestimate the defensive prowess of Newcastle as they have only conceded 24 goals all season and are on the same points as the Red Devils, separated by goal difference. I would expect that the players want to ensure they perform and deliver a win and against the old enemy. There have been a lot of rumours of new signings evidently lined up for the new January transfer period, but one has to wonder if Man United can actually focus on the current task at hand and not be distracted by external factors off the pitch. One of the most popular rumours currently is whether Paul Pogba will remain a Manchester United player come the end of this January transfer window period. Time will tell and in my opinion the only sure way to attract players is by playing to win and keeping 100 percent focused in every game that the Red Devils play. Having said that Solskjaer needs to pick the strongest squad available for Boxing day match to redeem themselves after the shocking Watford performance.
Predicted Man Utd Team : De Gea; Wan Bissaka; Maguire; Lindelof; Shaw; McTominay; Fred; Pogba; James; Rashford and Martial.
Predicted Score 3-1 to United
Predicted Man Utd Team : De Gea; Wan Bissaka; Maguire; Lindelof; Shaw; McTominay; Fred; Pogba; James; Rashford and Martial.
Predicted Score 3-1 to United
