Manc build up

[SB]

Sahin is awkward, I want to see him play more as you could see his class yesterday but he also looks a liability defensively and when someone like Kagawa is on the other team it's asking for trouble. Seemed like he almost got in Allen's way v Arsenal and no one ended up picking up Cazorla, wouldn't risk that on Sunday. I'd put Gerrard there, he's played some of these games with immense discipline over the years and we usually beat these by physically dominating them in CM.

TBF to Sahin it was his 1st match & SG is often anonymous v the scum.

[Shaggy]

Hillsborough: Robbie Fowler wants Evra & Suarez tributes

Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler says Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez should lay floral tributes before Sunday's Liverpool versus Manchester United game.

Suarez was banned for eight matches for racially abusing Evra last season, while the match is the first at Anfield since the publication of the Hillsborough report.

"It would be nice for Luis Suarez to put some flowers at the United end regarding Munich, and for Patrice Evra to do so at the Kop," Fowler said.

"The two clubs do have a rivalry, but some things are far more important than football."

Fowler feels that Suarez should commemorate the Munich air disaster of 1958, in which eight Manchester United players and three club staff died, while Evra should pay tribute to the 96 Liverpool fans killed at the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough in 1989.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19671995

[Tee]

Gerrard. Or at least move him into the front three

Looks like that could be his most effective position in this new team.

[RichC]

Nice idea from Robbie

[SB]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19671995

Will never happen

[Pablo]

Valencia is a beast and will be a real test for our LB. Maybe Enrique needs to be in for his physical strength? If not, Glen Johnson.

Valenica mullered Enrique last season. Valencia is damn strong as well and had Enrique's number time and time again. Enrique desperately needs to learn to defend the ball instead of shoulder barging the man out of the way.

Id start Johnson at LB instead.

No one want to see Sahin in?

His experience and calmness on the ball in the heat of the battle would be key IMO, but I think Shelvey will (probably deservedly) get the nod. It's difficult - Sahin is only going to get up to speed by playing but he still looks off the pace, despite being very tidy in possession. He was the fulcrum at Dortmund and he's not that (yet) for us. We need to get him up to speed ASAP as he'll be a massive asset for us when he's in full flow.

I thought he showed his class but also looked a bit lightweight. I definitely start Shelvey ahead of him for this one. I have a feeling Shelvey is going to score against them

[Shaggy]

Andy Mitten is class, if all United fans were like him we'd have a great relationship with them

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/sport-news/man-utd-fc/2012/09/20/hillsborough-warped-few-don-t-represent-real-man-united-fans-55578-31876946/

Hillsborough: Warped few don't represent real Man United fans

By Andy Mitten
Sep 20 2012

THE vast majority of the 2,814 Manchester United fans at Anfield on Sunday will be far more concerned about whether their team is going to turn up in L4 this season, rather than to sing any songs relating to Hillsborough or Heysel.

United have a terrible recent record at Anfield and it’s time for that to change. Most travelling fans have no time for such songs and never have, just as the vast majority of Liverpool fans have no care for invective about Munich.

Of course, revisionist extremists will tell you different. They’ll tell you that Anfield used to be a sea of 40,000 aeroplane impressions, that Bob Paisley had a ‘Munich ’58’ tattoo’ or that every fan inside Old Trafford last Saturday was singing songs about disasters. Even though they weren’t there, they’ll ring up radio stations to complain or post nonsense on the internet, most of them use dubious sources to peddle their ‘facts’. Exaggeration comes easy to the keen to be offended.

I was at Old Trafford last Saturday and, for a brief moment in the first half, heard a section of the upper tier of the Stretford End sing ‘Always the victims, it’s never your fault’ followed by ‘Murderers’. It wasn’t right, I wasn’t proud to hear it, but it was a tiny minority of a 75,000 crowd.

They were no more reflective of most United fans than that pathetic individual who jumped up from his seat in the Lower Centenary Stand last season to mimic a monkey in front of Patrice Evra. He wasn’t typical of every Liverpool fan.

You’ll never be able to control the actions of every person going into a football stadium and the faceless thrive in the near anonymity of the crowd.

Unfortunately for the badly dressed monkey impressionist, he was caught on camera, charged and banned from attending games.

Back to last Saturday, where the actions of a minority who should know better sparked another round of insults, most delivered anonymously in a manner befitting a playground argument.

“You’re scum” they bleat, “you started it.” Then there’s the classic: ‘The media have got an agenda against us” if events aren’t reported in the one-eyed, biased manner which tallies exactly with their view of the world. Every football fan thinks the media has got an agenda against their club. It’s all a bit cringeworthy.

The actions of a minority driven by hate give the innocent majority a bad name – and that’s why a lot of United fans are angry this week. They also feel that negatives are highlighted, positives ignored.

There are many unedifying sides to the rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool, but there are also positive ones which go under-reported. It’s a little known fact that along with Nottingham Forest and Bishop Auckland, Liverpool were one of three clubs who contacted United immediately after Munich offering whatever help they could, including access to any of their playing staff. Liverpool didn’t merely offer condolences, they offered the use of any of their players.

This summer, Eric Cantona appeared on stage in Lyon with the Justice For Hillsborough band led by Mick Jones of The Clash. Cantona, still a huge hero to United fans, knew exactly what he was doing, but while Liverpool FC showed their appreciation in a manner which they didn’t after he smashed the ball into their goal late in the 1996 FA Cup final, Cantona’s appearance barely warranted a mention in a British national newspaper. Positive actions, it seems, are nowhere near as newsworthy as negative ones.

The vast majority of people inside Anfield on Sunday, whether United or Liverpool, will have far more in common than not. They’ll be decent football fans who love their team and stick with them through thick and thin. They’ll be from cities which have much shared history, supporting globally recognised clubs whose histories are entwined with sustained success and disaster.

There’ll be United fans in the away end who experienced crushes in the Leppings Lane terrace years before April 1989, victims of the unsafe football grounds which contributed to Hillsborough. Not that the key issues such as of the safety of football fans will be high on the agenda of a warped few on both sides on Sunday afternoon, that’s a warped, not a chosen few.

Don’t play into their hands by letting their actions be seen as being reflective of the majority, because they’re not.

[RichC]

very good piece there

[Maxiedge]

Not a big fan of Kelly but he has to start while Enrique goes back to basics for a while.

Borini's performance for us will tip the scales in terms of a win/loss imo.

If Sahin genuinely believes he is ready and match fit then I would start him ahead of everyone

[Lee]

Left back is a bit of an issue here. I hate seeing Johnson on the left, but I'm not sure I'd trust Enrique at the moment. It'd be a risk to throw Downing in there too.

Sahin's an interesting one, I'd like to see him play and then move Gerrard up top alongside Suarez and Sterling. I think.

[Phoenix07]

Or we could go experimental and try Sahin at left back, like Karanka at Real Madrid was talking about. Maybe not in this game, but perhaps in the future.

[Nick77]

Sahin has played left back a few times for Real & done well imo. I would rather Sahin played left back than Johnson for 2 reasons. 1.) Johnson's attacking threat is a bit negated at left back & 2.) Kelly has not been consistent enough to start for me to start such a big game...

[Chris]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19671995

Christ, thats appalling from Robbie.

[Chazza]

Why is it appalling?

[Chris]

Because the occasion isn't about Suarez and Evra.

Because I dont want that horrible lying cunt who's tried to ruin our players career having anything to do with Hillsborough.

And because there is no need for anything to do with Munich regardless of how awful it was.