Manchester United vs Pompey Preview

Last updated : 02 December 2005 By Jim Bonner
So we visit Old Trafford searching for some sort of result. A win will take us out of the bottom three if results go our way however we are playing Manchester United. A team who needs no introduction.

In our current state if you offered me a point from this fixture I'd bite your hand off. Let's face it; our defence (injuries permitting) of Taylor, Stefanovic, O'Brien and Griffin will have to go head to head with Ruud van Nistelrooy and.. whisper it quietly.. Wayne Rooney. Now for those of you that have forgotten Wayne Rooney has scored the winner against us in three out of the last four Premiership games he has played against us, making him the biggest bogeyman we have encountered in the Premiership.

So how do we go about stopping Man United? Well a "slightly mistimed" tackle by Griff on Rooney wouldn't go amiss. I'm not one to condone this sort of play but in our current state we really do need every scrap we can get! Being serious, United are not unbeatable, their defence hasn't been the most solid and we all know how much Rio Ferdinand loves playing against Lua Lua. Their midfield isn't the force it once was.. I mean do the names "Park Ji-Sung" and "Darren Fletcher" really scare you? (Now waits for them to score tommorow) It's just their strike force that worries me. Also let's not forget that Blackburn have already won at Old Trafford this season. A few other teams have also gone there and returned with something so even in our predicament taking something isn't impossible, if unlikely.

Joe Jordan is likely to go with the same team that played Chelsea last week so it looks if so Toddy won't be starting yet again and Laurent Robert might not even be in the squad which is slightly worrying because these two players, especially the latter can change the game in an instant. We will also be running out in our new third kit, which in my opinion looks very nice indeed. No doubt there will also be a lengthened tribute to George Best seeing as how both sets of supporters meant something to him. Say what you like about the guy (and most people did) there was no doubting his footballing talent and he will be missed by many.

Oh yeah.. and there's the fact we still don't have a manager yet... but for now we need to be 100% concentrated on the task at hand if we are to get anything from the game. Come on you err.. whites!