Wonder if Saha will start next week against Brum?

Hope so, makes us a far better team. With Tevez, Ronnie and Rooney in behind we will be very difficult to beat and should score plenty. I'd actually have won the daft vbet JC offered me about him not starting this last week. So, will he start? I'm not so sure.

there is plenty of time for him to get injured yet. watch this space.

saying that. we could have bought owen

I suspect that Brum aren't going to be doing much in the way of attacking, preferring the 'containment' route they succesfully employed against the Bindippers. Consequently, we may as well throw everything at them.

(We won't though - Saha will be benched again and Rooney will play wide left until he gets sent off)

We are being REALLY careful with him. Only 10 minutes Satde?

Originally Posted by Torquemada

I suspect that Brum aren't going to be doing much in the way of attacking, preferring the 'containment' route they succesfully employed against the Bindippers. Consequently, we may as well throw everything at them.

(We won't though - Saha will be benched again and Rooney will play wide left until he gets sent off)

I like that Benitez also decided on a containment policy by dropping his only decent striker AGAIN.

Was it me or does tevez not seem to get in the positions you expect of a striker? Other than the goal when the man crossing was almost on the byline he seems to sit too deep in the penalty area to be effective. The shot over the bar from a narrow angle from Giggs in the first half was the Welsh wingers only alternative as Tevez was sitting almost on the edge of the area, there was another attempt from the left hand side that if it had been spilled across the box could have been snaffled by a striker yet Tevez was again sitting too deep. I'm not getting on his case (yet) but he really does look like a player who needs a target man in front of him.

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

I like that Benitez also decided on a containment policy by dropping his only decent striker AGAIN.

Maybe Quieroz will insist on a containment policy as well and we will have containment versus containment i.e. 2 teams trying to out-negativise each other. The result will probably be an own-goalfest.

Originally Posted by Torquemada

I suspect that Brum aren't going to be doing much in the way of attacking, preferring the 'containment' route they succesfully employed against the Bindippers. Consequently, we may as well throw everything at them.

And that's why Saha must start IMO. Physical presence to occupy the defenders and pace to burn. He'll be needed to stretch the play otherwise it could turn into a very long evening.

Originally Posted by BryanRobson'sLiver

Was it me or does tevez not seem to get in the positions you expect of a striker? Other than the goal when the man crossing was almost on the byline he seems to sit too deep in the penalty area to be effective. The shot over the bar from a narrow angle from Giggs in the first half was the Welsh wingers only alternative as Tevez was sitting almost on the edge of the area, there was another attempt from the left hand side that if it had been spilled across the box could have been snaffled by a striker yet Tevez was again sitting too deep. I'm not getting on his case (yet) but he really does look like a player who needs a target man in front of him.

This can be explainedby the fact, as I've said all along, he is naturally an off, or deep lying striker who drifts deep and wide to find space. He is not a "striker" as such which is why Rooney played that role yesterday. This is also why we need Saha fit as he is our only true striker.

Saha needs to start. I don't know why there's all this fannying about with Tevez. How many times has Saha come on now and scored? Tevez is good but he's no dare I say it Adebayor or Drogba ie big £#%&! off striker who defenders dont like playing against.

We were terrific yesterday before Mikel's jump tackle. We weren't too shabby after it, either. And that was the 1st time Tevez and Rooney have ever started a game together.

All this talk of how Saha must play and Tevez and Rooney are the same and all the rest of it is all very well. But none of you have any basis for saying it, your only actual reference point is yesterday's game. And yesterday was at the very least a promising sign of things to come.

Saha could be very useful at Birmingham true enough, but I reckon he'd be better used the following Tuesday night against Roma. Tevez and Rooney might have something to say about that though. And I also think that Saha's proness to being out injured means Ferguson would be wrong to deny Tevez and Rooney the chance to get to know each other's game as quickly as possible in the 1st team.

Saha needs to keep his head down, and if he stays fit he will get a good run of games the closer we get to Xmas; Tevez in particular will be getting a break around then anyway, no doubt.

saha is a key player for us and i suspect the thinking is to take it very carefully with him - ease him back in a little at a time to assess the injury, check out any twinges etc. very sensible too, if it means he'll be fit long term.

tevez still looks a bit short of fitness to me. he was playing in bursts on sunday and there were spells in both halves where he fell behind the play because he moved up at walking pace, taking a breather. there was a good example in the first half where united won the ball near halfway and someone - carrick, i think - floated a long diagonal ball towards the side of the area. it looked overhit but rooney chased it, won the header and got it back across the area... but tevez was a good 20 yards short and rooney's effort was wasted. he did look better in bursts, though, and i think he'll be very effective once he reaches peak fitness. when he actually made runs they were intelligent and opened up avenues for the pass or for others to collect.

Originally Posted by borsuk

saha is a key player for us and i suspect the thinking is to take it very carefully with him - ease him back in a little at a time to assess the injury, check out any twinges etc. very sensible too, if it means he'll be fit long term.

tevez still looks a bit short of fitness to me. he was playing in bursts on sunday and there were spells in both halves where he fell behind the play because he moved up at walking pace, taking a breather. there was a good example in the first half where united won the ball near halfway and someone - carrick, i think - floated a long diagonal ball towards the side of the area. it looked overhit but rooney chased it, won the header and got it back across the area... but tevez was a good 20 yards short and rooney's effort was wasted. he did look better in bursts, though, and i think he'll be very effective once he reaches peak fitness. when he actually made runs they were intelligent and opened up avenues for the pass or for others to collect.

and............

again you're saying that Saha is a key player for us as if you already know that Tevez and Rooney won't prove to be the better bet. Maybe I'm mis-hearing you, but Saha does not have to be in the United team for it to function with style, pace, power and devastating effectiveness. This is obviously best demonstrated by the destruction of Roma. We had the players to play that way despite a few injuries. This season we have added quality. Saha is a key player, but he is far from the key player.

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

and............

again you're saying that Saha is a key player for us as if you already know that Tevez and Rooney won't prove to be the better bet. Maybe I'm mis-hearing you, but Saha does not have to be in the United team for it to function with style, pace, power and devastating effectiveness. This is obviously best demonstrated by the destruction of Roma. We had the players to play that way despite a few injuries. This season we have added quality. Saha is a key player, but he is far from the key player.

you are mishearing me. hold your keyboard up to your ear and try again. if it's still not clear pour some washing-up liquid in and give it a good shake.

we're perfectly capable of playing very well without saha. but we're harder to cope with when he's in the team and on form. fit and on form i don't think there's a better out and out striker in the league. he's simply a magnificent player.

Originally Posted by borsuk

you are mishearing me. hold your keyboard up to your ear and try again. if it's still not clear pour some washing-up liquid in and give it a good shake.

we're perfectly capable of playing very well without saha. but we're harder to cope with when he's in the team and on form. fit and on form i don't think there's a better out and out striker in the league. he's simply a magnificent player.

ah, so there's no hyphen in mishearing, then

Saha is a superb striker, yes.

But how do you know that Rooney and Tevez won't be the most brilliant striking combination we've had since Cole and Yorke?

There is a very strong possibility that the pair of them will blossom into a fantastic strike partnership. This may not be the worst thing that could happen to Saha at all. In fact it could significantly lengthen his usefulness to United if he is able to adapt his training and his psyche to spreading his 30 games a season out over the full 10 months.

And let's not discount the small possibility that he will find himself in a spectacular strike partnership with Tevez.

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

ah, so there's no hyphen in mishearing, then

Saha is a superb striker, yes.

But how do you know that Rooney and Tevez won't be the most brilliant striking combination we've had since Cole and Yorke?

There is a very strong possibility that the pair of them will blossom into a fantastic strike partnership. This may not be the worst thing that could happen to Saha at all. In fact it could significantly lengthen his usefulness to United if he is able to adapt his training and his psyche to spreading his 30 games a season out over the full 10 months.

And let's not discount the small possibility that he will find himself in a spectacular strike partnership with Tevez.

i don't understand your point here. we had a fantastic partnership with rooney and saha last season and played our best football with that pairing up front. tevez might well come good - i'd love nothing more - and be giggs' natural replacement on the left side, as might nani, as might anderson... but at the moment there's nothing to suggest that saha is not our best option for the big games. i don't see the argument here - i don't understand what you're arguing against, tbh.

we play a lot better, generally speaking, with saha up top. i haven't seen anything to suggest that has changed.

Tevez has not done enough to be a first choice player yet. Very little goal threat and very little creativity, he always seems to be a bit off the pace. People say he is unfit, but his workrate has been the stand out facet of his game.

Massive goal against Chelsea, but Saha and Rooney is proven as an effective partnership for the team. Tevez will have to do a lot more to prove, to me at least, that he should be an automatic choice.

Originally Posted by borsuk

i don't understand your point here. we had a fantastic partnership with rooney and saha last season and played our best football with that pairing up front. tevez might well come good - i'd love nothing more - and be giggs' natural replacement on the left side, as might nani, as might anderson... but at the moment there's nothing to suggest that saha is not our best option for the big games. i don't see the argument here - i don't understand what you're arguing against, tbh.

we play a lot better, generally speaking, with saha up top. i haven't seen anything to suggest that has changed.

You're not the only one.

The best way of trying to understand his ramblings on this topic is to bear in mind that he's rather giddy, still, with the signing of Tevez.

Let's face it, he's far more interesting than boring french traditional centre forwards like saha who do so much more for a team than simply score goals.

I mean, he has a big scar on his neck!

the top 6 at utd should be

ronaldo hargo scholes

tevez rooney saha

£#%&! that would tear out some new arseholes