Man Utd v Blackburn Preview

December 2, 2008

Although not the most prestigious competition, the Carling Cup offers clubs to give their young players, the future of football, the ideal chance to shine and show their worth. Clubs do not field their best players, and can assess whether their back-up players have actually got what it takes to cover for the first-team in case of an injury crisis. This is what Manchester United will be doing on Wednesday, when they take on Blackburn for the quarter-final of the league cup. The match will be played at Old Trafford at 20:00 GMT, and one of the highlights will be the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, recently voted World Player of the Year, who is suspended due to the infamous handball against Manchester City on Sunday, and who will sit on the stands acting as a supporter.

The current Blackburn manager Paul Ince will be returning to Old Trafford for the first time as manager of Blackburn. Paul Ince played for the Red Devils between 1989 and 1995, in which he made 206 appearances and scored 25 goals. This is his third year in management and Rovers are his third club, after managing Macclesfield and MK Dons. He will be pitting his wits against the experience of the great Sir Alex Ferguson, who was his mentor during his time at United, for the second time this season. The league game was played at Ewood Park on the 4th October, and United triumphed 2-0 with goals from Wesley Brown and Wayne Rooney. Bookmakers are tipping Man Utd to win again, especially when considering that the majority of supporters will be wearing red.

Sir Alex has recently stated that he wants his team to challenge on four fronts, and thus, the League Cup is no opportunity that Fergie will give away easily. The chance to add another trophy to his long list acquired in these two decades will surely excite the Scottish manager, whose career is slowly coming to a close. He has repeatedly stated that retirement is not in his plans, but age is an aspect of life which one cannot escape or ignore. With age also catching up on goalkeeping star Edwin van der Sar, Fergie will be trying out Kuszczak and Foster to see which one will eventually replace the Dutch sensational keeper when he hangs up his boots. Foster is hoping to be the one to wear the blue shirt on Wednesday. His comments were:

“I’ve got to take any chances I’m given and hopefully one will come along soon. It can be harder to prepare [when you play on the odd occasion rather than week in, week out] because when you’re the established No.1 keeper, you know you’ll be playing every week and you can tailor your week towards preparing yourself for the next game.”

“When you don’t know whether or not you’re going to play or even be involved, it’s difficult. But you’ve just got to be professional, keep doing well in training and be ready for when you’re called upon.” – Ben Foster

Other youngsters who may also appear in the match are Rafael, Evans, Cleverley, Chester, Possebon, Gibson and Welbeck. They are joined by more experienced members like Kuszczak, Neville, Vidic, O’Shea, Nani, Park, Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Tevez and Angolan star Manucho (who is yet to impress the Old Trafford crowd). The Blackburn squad on the other hand consists of Robinson (Gk), Brown (Gk), Simpson, Ooijer, Samba, Nelsen, Emerton, Khizanishvili, Warnock, Mokoena, Olsson, Tugay, Treacy, Pedersen, Roberts, Derbyshire, Villanueva, Santa Cruz, Fowler and McCarthy.

Braden

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