Manchester United v Burnley Match Preview

[outwoodclaret]

Well surely at the fourth time of asking a Burnley game will finally go ahead. With a playing squad large enough to fill the Halls of Montezuma, Manchester United will be hard put to cobble together a long enough list of Covid cases and injuries to support another postponement application to the Premier League. True their December fixtures away to Brentford and then home to Brighton were both called off due to a Covid outbreak in their camp but they were able to field an almost full strength side against Newcastle on Monday night. They welcomed back Raphael Varane into their starting line-up to replace Victor Lindelof, who was taken ill with breathing difficulties during the game at Norwich, and Edinson Cavani who came on as a half time substitute for Mason Greenwood. It was a largely disjointed display from Manchester United at St James’ Park and they will probably have considered themselves fortunate to have taken a point from the game as a goal from Cavani cancelled out a brilliant individual goal from Alan Saint-Maximin for the Magpies.

Since disposing of the services of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer following a humbling 4-1 defeat at Watford, Manchester United had, up to the Newcastle game, enjoyed a much improved run of performances and results under first caretaker manager Michael Carrick and now interim head coach Ralf Rangnick. Rangnick joins fellow German coaches Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel in the Premier League managerial ranks. It is profoundly to be hoped that he will not join in the dismissive and sometimes petulant remarks that have characterised the press utterances of his Liverpool and Chelsea counterparts when discussing Burnley FC.

The Burnley game could be crucial for United as they seek a win that will put pressure on the sides above them in the table as they chase Champions League qualification. They currently sit in 7th place and though they have games in hand over most of the sides above them they are 7 points behind 4th placed Arsenal. United have already conceded 25 goals in the league this season and there have been calls (and serious ones at that!) from some of their fans for the Red Devils to take steps to strengthen their defence by dropping error prone “Mykonos Man” Harry Maguire and replacing him with the forgotten man of English football and ex Blackburn Rovers defender Phil Jones.

Burnley, who have games in hand over every other top flight team, have played United 14 times in the Premier League with the last 12 meetings all coming in the Sean Dyche era. Only once has he tasted victory and that came in January 2020 with a 2-0 away win at Old Trafford. Another win at Old Trafford would be most timely and the Clarets could be boosted by the long awaited return to action of Ivory Coast international Maxwel Cornet. Cornet’s departure to play for his country in the Africa Cup of Nations has been put back making him available for our matches with Manchester United and Leeds United.

The official match referee is Jon Moss with Darren England on VAR. The unofficial match referee will be Bruno Fernandes assisted by VARious moaning team mates. The weather forecast for Manchester on Thursday is wet and blustery with a belt of heavy rain moving in from the west late in the afternoon. Let’s hope we are singing and winning in the rain. COYC!

[kritichris]

I see Harry Maguire more as "Easter Island man" given his facial resemblance to the edifices thereon. Cheers for the preview outwood.

[outwoodclaret]

I see Harry Maguire more as "Easter Island man" given his facial resemblance to the edifices thereon. Cheers for the preview outwood.

Spot on Kriti. Old Slabhead could hide in plain sight on Easter Island!

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Great stuff outwood!

Christmas Quiz: Name as many players as you can who have played for both the Clarets and the Reds.

Off the top of my head and without much thought I can name 10!

[kritichris]

I was gutted when Willie Morgan left us for them but at least he came back.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

I'm still confused as to why we allowed Tom Heaton to leave.

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[Supersub6]

"........The official match referee is Jon Moss with Darren England on VAR. The unofficial match referee will be Bruno Fernandes assisted by VARious moaning team mates........"

How very true, outwood, wouldn't it just be great if Jon Moss gave Bruno a message like he did to Saha the other day? Get him in the book for his first outburst and see whether he gets the message! He gets away with murder, along with his compatriot, Ronaldo ---it must be a Portuguese thing ----think Mourinho!
I suppose my last remark will upset someone somewhere because we are not allowed to speak the truth these days ---just ask Bumble!

[The Bedlington Terrier]

"........The official match referee is Jon Moss with Darren England on VAR. The unofficial match referee will be Bruno Fernandes assisted by VARious moaning team mates........"

How very true, outwood, wouldn't it just be great if Jon Moss gave Bruno a message like he did to Saha the other day? Get him in the book for his first outburst and see whether he gets the message! He gets away with murder, along with his compatriot, Ronaldo ---it must be a Portuguese thing ----think Mourinho!
I suppose my last remark will upset someone somewhere because we are not allowed to speak the truth these days ---just ask Bumble!

Fernandes is suspended, but I'm sure he will be "influencing" from behind the bench.

[army88]

"........The official match referee is Jon Moss with Darren England on VAR. The unofficial match referee will be Bruno Fernandes assisted by VARious moaning team mates........"

How very true, outwood, wouldn't it just be great if Jon Moss gave Bruno a message like he did to Saha the other day? Get him in the book for his first outburst and see whether he gets the message! He gets away with murder, along with his compatriot, Ronaldo ---it must be a Portuguese thing ----think Mourinho!
I suppose my last remark will upset someone somewhere because we are not allowed to speak the truth these days ---just ask Bumble!

Rovers fan Sub - I suspect as usual we’ll get nothing from him
Obviously on the proviso we play it looks like we have COVID testing and cases in our camp.

[Norder]

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not unfriendly scores...and if they play anything like they did at Newcastle, we could be in for a late Christmas present.