Premier League – Fulham Vs Manchester United: Let’s keep the momentum

The 4-0 win over Norwich City at the Capital One Cup will soon become a distant memory. After all it is at a minor domestic cup and the opponent was basically a ‘no-show’. It is still an important win especially given David Moyes’ difficult start as Sir Alex Ferguson’s replacement. The talk will be back on one issue – team selection!Capital One Cup is one competition where fringe players get their opportunities so it is interesting to see if David Moyes will employed similar tactics to those he used after Manchester United’s third round win over Liverpool – where most players were retained for consecutive matches, and the results backfired.

Players like Javier Hernandez, Ashley Young, Wilfred Zaha, Alexander Buttner as well as Fabio da Silva (despite playing out of position) all did well in the game against Norwich. But given David Moyes prefer selection, the open position would likely to the two slots at the flanks as well as a midfielder partnering Michael Carrick. For these three positions Moyes has Shinji Kagawa, Hernandez, Danny Welbeck, Nani, Young, Antonio Valencia, Ryan Giggs, Tom Cleverly, Anderson, Adnan Januzaj, Marouane Fellaini and Zaha to choose from. If team selection was status quo pre the Norwich game then Kagawa, Cleverly as well as Nani will be given the nod but given the next two fixtures – Real Sociedad (away) and Arsenal (home), Moyes may also prefer to rotate slightly.

 

November will not be such a hectic month in terms of schedule and with the international breaks after the Arsenal game - it is in December where Manchester United faces a grueling ten games in 31 days. As such David Moyes must ensure all players in the squad are fully utilize and fit when their time comes. Against Fulham (next opponent) Moyes will has to ensure that the selection is spot on, besides making sure that his tactical changes will not be as negative as earlier in the season. Most United fans would want to see a repeat of Stoke City game where Moyes took a considerable risk in substitution with great effect. Anything other than a win will be expected here – for two reasons. Firstly, United is already eight points away from Arsenal and ahead of their showdown at Old Trafford in a week’s time the gap cannot be widen. And secondly, after such a disastrous start, United is now playing good football, hence the momentum must continue – after all we are the champion!