Sunday afternoon pits West Ham against Manchester United at Upton Park, with the Red Devils looks to continue their surge towards a return to the Champions League, while West Ham are trying to stay within touching distance with Liverpool and Tottenham in the Europa League chase. I spoke with @OleOleUnited of Read Man Utd about Sunday’s fixture.
This season for Manchester United has been one which has had it’s highs and lows, what was the minimum expectation before the season, and are you on track to meet/exceed/fall short of those expectations?
Before the season, our expectation was set at getting into the top 4. We spent £150-odd million to make sure of that, and having finished 7th last season; not making it back into the Champions League would have bad consequences for us, in particular is losing a percentage of the massive Adidas deal we signed.
I would say as it stands, we’re on course to meet that expectation. It started off badly, and we’ve been up and down this season but we’re sitting in a nice 3rd place; Arsenal and Liverpool aren’t far behing but hopefully they can drop some points this weekend. And added bonus would that we’re in the last 16 of the FA cup, alongside yourselves, so an FA Cup win and a top 4 would be a good season for us.
How has the transition to Louis Van Gaal’s system been; how have the players coped with the switch in style?
I’d say they’ve struggled quite a bit. In particular is that van Gaal does’t have the players to play the system he actually wants. He usually goes on about the word ‘philosophy’ and being unable to actually tell what that is to the players has been hard. We’ve switched between 3 at the back, 4-3-3, 4-4-2 diamond etc. Some have coped more to the system, players like Ashley Young have benefited a lot. But overall, there is still a lot of work to be done.
West Ham are a team that have exceeded what was expected of them this season, what do you make of their season so far, the squad and can they break into the top six come May?
They’ve done very well. Similar to Southampton, I thought that they would drop off by January but to seem them still up there says something about their team and how well the manager has them playing. Players like Alex Song and Diafra Sakho have been top notch and a joy to watch and they’ve got a good, strong squad. Andy Carroll has been scoring, they’ve got a solid defence with Reid, Collins, Jenkinson and Cresswell. I think they may just full short of the top 6 but should be proud of their season nonetheless.
In the reverse fixture at Old Trafford, Manchester United squeezed out a narrow 2-1 win, what is the key to Manchester United repeating the feat at Upton Park?
Remaining focused. That game on the back of the embarrassing 5-3 lost to Leicester, and it seemed everyone was de-moralised at that time. Although now sitting in 3rd place, West Ham are an organised team. We have to make sure to keep the ball, turn defence into attack. Also, quite importantly is the lack of Andy Carroll and James Collins through injury, which is a massive blow to West Ham but a boost to United.
Conversely, how do you think West Ham can exploit some of United’s frailties?
It’s always going to have to be the defence, isn’t it? We’ve got the second or third best defensive record this season, but that’d be down to the flying Spaniard we’ve got in goal and the 3-5-2 defensive advantages. It would also depend who we’ve got in defence. Jonny Evans for example would be a place for you to exploit; he’s looked lost recently and I’m not sure he up to it. You’d have to work hard though, as I’d expect a Smalling-Rojo partnership which was solid when we went on a nine-game win streak.
United’s transfer window wasn’t the busiest around, with a number of departures, are you happy with this, or were you hoping to strengthen in key areas, and if so, which?
Didn’t do much at all! Sold Zaha permanently, along with Fletcher. Anderson finally left having placed minimal football in the last 4 years, so I guess that was a success. But overall, it was a bit disappointing given our injury record in defence and being linked so much to a CB, that we didn’t sign one.
LVG’s men are sitting in a Champions League place currently. Give me a prediction for what the remaining four months of the season have in store for Manchester United.
We finish in a CL place. Most likely 4th, though 3rd isn’t impossible.
And finally, a score prediction to Sunday’s game, and perhaps the key to the game.
2-0 United, Falcao to net. Di Maria being key if van Gaal decides to let him go back into midfield finally.
