VS 
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Time: 12:30 am - (Live) (Sun Morning)
Mio Channel 110 / 102 in HD
EPL Game 06
Manchester United :
De Gea, Ferdinand, Evans, Jones, Fabio, Evra, Nani, Fletcher, Park, Carrick, Berbatov, Young, Anderson, Giggs, Valencia, Gibson, Rooney, Owen, Macheda, Diouf, Welbeck, Lindegaard.
Vidic, Cleverley, Hernandez, Smalling, Rafael - Out
This could be United's most difficult opponent to date, possibly even more difficult than Chelsea...
Cos Stoke away is going to be tough... They also rested Ryan Shawcross and Woodgate in their central defensive position against Spurs in their Carling cup match yesterday. This can tell you they are really going for this considering Spurs was already a tough opponent in the Carling Cup for them and yet they rested them...
They also rested long-throw specialist Rory Delap and club record signing Peter Crouch and Jones also played bit parts only... Anyway Stoke won Spurs last night.
Oh man, this is really going to be very difficult... De Gea will come up against the biggest (tallest) side in the premier league this weekend...
Shawcross, Woodgate, Crouch, Kenwyne Jones, Begovic, Robert Huth...
lindegaard haha..he didn't come to pick his nose.
the tallest guy is really nth compared to zigic
Rio Ferdinand is reportedly set to return for Manchester United against Stoke this weekend.
The Daily Telegraph claim that Sir Alex Ferguson had told staff he is "hopeful" that Ferdinand will make only his third first-team appearance of the season.
United have lost Chris Smalling for two weeks to a groin strain so will relish the chance to bring Ferdinand into central defence alongside Jonny Evans and move Phil Jones out to right-back.
Nemanja Vidic is still a week away from recovery from a calf strain and Rafael is ruled out until November with his shoulder injury.
Stoke City captain Ryan Schawcross believes he can get one over on former employers Manchester United when they visit the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Shawcross, 23, left Old Trafford in 2008 after six years at United, though in that time he only made two League Cup appearances for the club.
Since then he has gone on to establish himself as one of the Premier League's most consistent centre-backs with the Potters and is certain to start when United visit this weekend.
Stoke have lost all six of their previous Premier league clashes against United but Shawcross believes his side are capable of causing an upset and ending United's 100% record so far this season.
"Last weekend's 4-0 defeat at Sunderland was probably a bit of a reality check for us to be honest," Shawcross said. "But we move on now and must set our sights on another unbeaten run.
"It will be hard to start that off against United as they are a top team - but everyone is beatable. If we have the fans right behind us and perform in a way we know we can, we know we have a chance."
Stoke City may not be the most fashionable team in the Barclays Premier League, but Sir Alex has hailed their recent progress as “phenomenal”.
The Potters, famed for their direct and physical approach to the game, only won promotion to the top flight in 2008 and yet have never looked like relegation candidates. They’ve enjoyed 11th, 12th and 13th place finishes, reached last season’s FA Cup final and are now mixing it with some of Europe’s big boys in the Europa League.
“You can see the progress the team is making,” the boss said. “They’ve signed two or three players, they’re playing European football and they’re having a right go. They got through the League Cup tie the other night [against Tottenham] and every game they play they try to win. They have a great attitude in their team and their support is brilliant.
“I’ve never criticised it [Stoke’s style of play]. I think everyone plays to their strengths and that’s what they do. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
Despite the manager’s praise, Stoke City are yet to beat United in the Premier League in six attempts. They have, however, had plenty of success against the other big sides.
“The change in the league now is that middle division teams are taking points off the top teams,” the boss said. “Stoke have beaten Liverpool and drawn with Chelsea [already this season]. They're making a big impact.
“They also travelled to Kiev and got a result [in the Europa League]. I see Stoke becoming quite an important side. The progress Stoke have made over the last few years is phenomenal.”
No Rooney no Smalling today... Very bad.
Looks like if can get a draw may not be a bad thing cos Stoke is very difficult to beat at home...
Could even lose i think if not careful...
Wtf, where's Rooney?
Rooney seems to have hamstring problem. And valencia's playing as RB. Notice that utd's counter attack today is poor, lack of speed because owen and berba cannot catch up lol. Overall quality of play poor except for nani.
I think United need another goal cos the second half the pressure will build and Stoke could score... Hope United will get one more early in the 2nd half...
berbatov, owen, the referee and his assistants were bullsh1t
there goes my sunday
Damn pek chek, United keep losing possession, everything want to fast fast fast, first half fast also cannot Berbatov strolling, Owen making the occassional run, but at least they slow down, get forward and pass around. Stoke goal was bound to happen with all that set pieces. 2nd half was fucking terrible. Welbeck came on too late.
Penalty for Chica? Definitely, fucker struck him in the back of the thigh displacing him before touching the ball. Look at the replay again, and look at Chica's right thigh. I'm amazed no one noticed that, not even the commentators or pundits.
And it seems like they never did learn their lesson from last week. Now the 'amazing run' has come to a stop, let's see what happens. Sad we have to suddenly have 3 (potentially 4 with Evra) injuries but it's no excuse with the depth of our squad.
And don't get me started on referees, idiot was half-fucking asleep half the time.
Seems to me the woodgate tackle on chicha was a fair one. He nudged the ball a little bit before making contact. Well, it'd help if there were a replay of that here. And I guess a draw today is not such a bad result. Utd could have lost the game. After all, it happens every season, can't win all the time right lol.
Mixed feelings about de gea too. When you don't come out to challenge for crosses, something's got to give. And crouch got that goal. Build up play by stoke was very good too despite their ordinary players. So a draw is not too bad.
Nani should have made it 2-0 with that shocking miss when the stoke goalie came out in the first half. in the 91st min, giggs should have scored after Nani cross. that said crouch should have also scored if not for De Gea save off his shoulder after ferdinand's terrible defending.
all in all, a fair result considering united missed rooney. when rooney wasnt playing, I have a feeling it would be a draw, considering stoke fanatical crowd support and the way they are playing, with corners, long balls, crosses, set pieces etc.
Crouch was giving Jones problems all night with his height and Jones was often nutmegged by Crouch and was often fouled. Jones will learn from this on how to mark an opponent bigger sized than him.
on a side note, Jones was pacy and can also dribble at defenders too, an asset to have for a defender.
True when jones goes forward, something always happens. The defenders could only backtrack and wonder what's next. There was once when he surged forward, could have released owen through on goal but he didn't. Still a lot to learn.
