Well today, whatever else you might accuse them of, Wolves most certainly had a go.

The team selection was bold; sticking with two forwards and effectively going blow for blow with the reigning champions.

Not close enough

Looking back on it now of course, that approach seems foolish given that we were completely blown away inside the first half an hour.

The gaping holes that appeared between midfield and defence during that time were suicidal, giving Wayne Rooney freedom to roam throughout.

The England striker eventually made us pay too with a rasping drive to double the lead, after Nani’s carbon-copy opener.

I felt the central midfield duo were highly culpable for this first half struggle. Henry was caught in possession a number of times and looked off the pace. O’Hara just seemed to go missing in the defensive third.

In the coverage I was watching, Gary Breen and Matt Holland both offered some excellent insights. One of the points they repeated numerous times was that O’Hara isn’t mobile enough to play as part of a two man central midfield. You’re hard pressed to disagree, particularly away from home against one of the top sides.

Both Nani and Rooney were able to get their shots away far too easily, shown inside and allowed to pull the trigger. Great finishes but still very disappointing.

The second half was better and Wolves deserve credit for getting back into it, even if it only lasted for 10 minutes.

It was nice build up play too with a handful of neat passes leading up to a wonderful Jarvis cross and a trademark Fletcher header.

That good work was wiped out with Nani and Rooney grabbing another goal apiece to leave us wondering how many more it would be.

Thankfully, Wolves managed to get a foot on the ball for the last half an hour and enjoy more of the possession. United still should have had a couple more goals, but Wolves were unquestionably worth at least another one themselves; something Sir Alex himself pointed out in his post-match interview.

The biggest positive today was without doubt the performance of Matt Jarvis. He twisted, turned and terrorised Chris Smalling all afternoon, putting over a handful of excellent crosses to match his incisive running.

Mick McCarthy said prior to this match that he’d accepted Jarvis needs to play down the left and I think that’s crucial because he’s considerably more effective when he’s in that comfort zone, facing the play with the ball on his right foot.

Ward and Zubar were both pluses for me too. Yes, they struggled against the pace and trickery of Nani, Valencia and co, but they stuck to their tasks and got forward effectively when they could, particularly Ward whose interchange with Jarvis down the left is our most potent attacking weapon.

There wasn’t much to separate the performances of the two forwards, but the crucial difference is that Fletcher is the only one who looks a threat in front of goal. Doyle again didn’t get on the end of anything in the box, which is disappointing even against such lofty opposition.

Milijas was neat and tidy but again a lack of mobility in a 442 is a huge issue with the Serb. It seems increasingly likely that Mick will be in the market for an energetic midfielder come January. Edwards can of course occupy this role but quality in the ball remains a problem for him.

Overall, we can only accept that we were overwhelmed by a better side with better players. There were mistakes but 3 of the 4 goals were excellent finishes, however the chances came about.

Stoke will represent an altogether different obstacle next week, which should be one this Wolves side are more capable of overcoming.

If they have a go like they did today, they shouldn’t go too far wrong.

Good players and good teams respond and Sir Alex will demand nothing less than comprehensive victory.

Park's late winner denied us a point last season

With that in mind, I wouldn’t bank on him fielding a weakened team, as he did in this very fixture last season.

We should have got something out of that game, squandering a glorious chance to take the lead at 1-1, before conceding a soft injury time goal.

If we come anywhere near that close to getting something out of this match, we’ll have played very well.

United were of course thumped 6-1 on their ground by City not so long ago, but to put that defeat into context, it was their only loss in 14 Premiership fixtures.  They’ve won 10 of the other 13.

The Team

I feel a bit for Mick McCarthy this weekend. Whatever team he puts out, we’re highly likely to lose and his tactics torn to pieces as a consequence.

If we play 442 and get tonked, he’ll be accused of being too open. If we go 451 and lose narrowly, people will say he rolled over.

Tricky.

The two big decisions are the shape of the side and whether or not to put Karl Henry straight back in?

This is the eleven I think we’ll see:

Hennessey, Zubar, Berra, Johnson, Ward, Henry, O'Hara, Edwards, Jarvis, Doyle, Fletcher

So that’s Hunt dropping out, Edwards moving over to the right and Henry back in alongside O’Hara.

I’d be very surprised if Henry was left out, so I think it will most likely be 442 as above or 451, with Doyle dropping out.

Prediction League

Well done to the 24 pundits who correctly guessed we’d beat Sunderland.

10 of those 24 also got the 2-1 scoreline so it’s 3 points all round for those clever chaps.

So congratulations to Morph, Hamstall Ridware Wolf, Stourbridge Wolf, johnok, Michigan Wolf, Ade in China, Exeter Wolf, Vladimir, Clemens and of course, me.

Special mentions for Stourbridge who aside from getting the score right also said Fletch would get both our goals and for Exeter Wolf, who moves up to top spot in the overall league.

This weekend, I must predict defeat. 4-1 United.

I’m hoping we’ll put on a decent performance and offer some resistance. A capitulation like we saw at Stamford Bridge would not be welcome.

If you’re heading to Old Trafford, have a great time and get right behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

* Apologies for the lack of posts this week. Busy, busy. More to come next week to make up for it. Can I also repeat my encouragement for people to visit http://en.gravatar.com/ to get a personalised picture to sit alongside their comments. Thanks!

For the rest of us mere mortals though, living in a world of £50 million transfers, unbeaten records and defensive howlers, it was a win for the old gold that frankly seemed impossible.

But on the day the Premiership officially went bananas, it appeared fitting that Man United’s reign as ‘invincibles’ should hit the skids against the league’s bottom club.

Who scored? Who cares?!

Five minutes in, that scenario looked ominously out of reach. By this time, Nani had already skipped inside to lash home the opener and Fergie’s boys were asserting their authority with consummate ease. A sense of normality had taken hold. Order had been restored.

Or so it seemed.

Cue neat interplay, quick-thinking, a short-corner, a pin-point cross and the most accurate of headers from George Elokobi. Suddenly Molineux’s rocking.

Enter Ronald Zubar. The mercurial-villain of Wednesday night.

Not content with wrestling the ball back on the edge of the Wolves’ box, he sets off on an exhilarating 80 yard dash, leaving Wayne Rooney in his wake and culminating with some neat trickery to draw the foul from Nemanja Vidic.

Fellow Serb Nenad Milijas obliges with the most perfect of deliveries that a Doyle/Elokobi sandwich bundles passed a stranded Edwin Van Der Saar.

Dreamland.

Suddenly it’s the very best of Mick McCarthy’s Wolves.

Hennessy kicking and handling impeccably.

Christophe Berra throwing his body on the line to deflect Wayne Rooney’s goalbound effort over the bar.

What a night for the Scot. Much-maligned but a player I’ve grown to admire greatly for mammoth performances such as these. He was ably supported once more by the ever-improving Richard Stearman. Our two centre-backs were colossal and ensured United’s red-hot strikeforce were unable to fire.

Then there were the full-backs. Talk about Jekyll and Hyde. Night and day. Will you ever see two such contrasting performances inside the space of a week?

The crowd sang Zubar’s name from the start, cheered loudly when his name was announced and he rewarded that faith with a long-overdue return to form. The Frenchman was notably touched by the gesture and will no doubt look back on the night as one of the finest of his career.

Henry struggled to find his footing in the game but grew in stature and was a key-figure in the second half, tracking back and making more than one important interception. His distribution is often criticised (rightly in my opinion) but don’t ever underestimate his contribution to the cause.

Sorry Jonny. Too good for you I'm afraid.

With Milijas and O’Hara, the midfield suddenly looked exciting, mobile and capable. O’Hara on his home debut, showed glimpses of brilliance and fitted into the side superbly after a hit and miss opening twenty minutes. He rode his luck with a reckless challenge on Darren Fletcher having already been booked, but his energy and touch of quality have already established him as a fans favourite.

What about Adam Hammill too? This is a guy whose made the step up from the Championship and already looks at home amongst the elite. I think his pace and trickery add a dimension to the side that was lacking with Hunt on the opposite flank to Jarvis.

Speaking of Jarvis, he was another who improved immeasurably from Wednesday. He made up for that squandered chance at the Reebok with a perfect cross for Elokobi’s equaliser and certainly benefited from playing alongside another livewire in O’Hara.

Kevin Doyle was man of the match by some distance though. Alan Shearer was even purring over his performance on MOTD. The Irishman bounced into Vidic and Evans all night, holding the ball up superbly, twisting and turning into space and causing United headaches with his exquisite movement.

Whether or not he can rightly lay claim to the second goal is an irrelevance. Selfless performances like this, for the team, is the reason we hold him in such high regard. What a talented footballer he is.

How about a word or two for the manager? Criticised, battered and hung out to dry so often this season. Perhaps no more so than after the Bolton game seemed to suggest we’d fallen through the trapdoor.

But once again we’re back from the dead and that’s because Mick McCarthy got his tactics 100% spot on. Every single decision he made last night was correct and make no mistake about it, he outwitted perhaps the greatest manager of all time.

It was a stark reminder that we should all show a little bit more faith in our manager and our team.

They certainly deserve it.

Highlights

This will be the third time Wolves have faced Sir Alex Ferguson’s men this season following two narrow last-minute heartbreakers at Old Trafford.

At least Park won't be playing (hopefully)

The league defeat back in November was particularly galling when you consider Steven Fletcher squandered an unbelievable chance to put us ahead and then inexplicably gave the ball away in the 94th minute leading to Park’s dramatic late winner.

That game perfectly encapsulated exactly why we find ourselves propping up the table. Missed chances and silly mistakes. Inconsistency.

And you can be sure that if we don’t remain focused for the duration of tomorrow’s encounter, we’ll again end up with diddly squat (I’m looking at you Ronald Zubar).

It’s probably best to steer clear of assessing United’s form, given that they haven’t lost a single league game all season. And if anything, they’ve stepped up their performance levels in recent weeks, culminating in a convincing win over an improved Villa side on Wednesday.

However, they’ve won only 3 of their 11 away games and having seen the problems Blackpool caused them last week, they’re far from invincible on their travels. It will also be interesting to see how the likes of Nani, Rooney and Berbatov cope with our disintegrating pitch. Maybe that could count in our favour?

I wonder whether Mick will be thinking about going 4-4-2 and pressing United high up the pitch in much the same way we did against Chelsea? Probably not. I reckon we’ll go for strength in numbers again and pack out the midfield. My guess at the starting XI is:

Hennessy

Zubar
Berra
Stearman
Elokobi

Hammill
Henry
Milijas
O’Hara
Jarvis

Doyle

That’s the eleven I’d pick too.

I think 4-5-1 is the way forward, but we need to get the ball down and play a bit more, which means bringing in players who can pick out passes. Milijas should never have been dropped in the first place and O’Hara showed enough glimpses of promise against Bolton to warrant a longer run-out. I’d be disappointed if neither started tomorrow.

Prediction League

Well done to Kowloon Wolf for being the only armchair pundit who correctly predicted a 1-0 defeat. He picks up the maximum 3 points.

10 others said we’d lose but none said 1-0, so they all pick up a point each.

I’ve got to forecast defeat tomorrow. I think we’ll put in another good performance, but again I fancy we’ll come up short. 3-1 United.

However, all of United’s big names featured against Villa on Wednesday so I’d wager Sir Alex will rest some of them. The strength of the team he puts out will have a bearing on how the game pans out.

If we can play to our full potential (e.g. Chelsea at home) and get a bit of luck, we could turn the table on it’s head. Here’s hoping.

If you’re part of the sold-out crowd tomorrow evening, have a great time and roar the lads on.

Up The Wolves.

Like a disappointed parent to a clumsy child, or a dogwalker to their mut caught up in its own lead, Wolves had reduced me to lamely cursing into my copy of United Preview. It was beyond expletives in both instances: the first for hapless defending, and the second for, well, it just being so typical and predictable.

Park was once again Wolves tormentor

Not necessarily a game to write home about, we nonetheless played well against a weaker United team, who started the game with the busy Hernandez surprisingly pretty much alone up front, and with Owen Hargreaves making his first appearance in a United shirt since Slade were last top of the charts.

You couldn’t not to feel for the guy as he limped off within ten minutes of the game starting with what looked like a niggly hamstring injury – it served as a harsh reminder of the potentially tricky path that our own Michael Kightly still faces.

Starting with the same line-up for the City game, we were being gifted things on a plate by United to us to a certain extent in the first half. Misplaced crosses and an overall lack of involvement from the likes of O’Shea and Fletcher allowed us to continually find our man of the moment, Matt Jarvis who, along with an increasingly confident Stephen Hunt, enjoyed the best of the exchanges on the wings. Hunt’s lunge for a Matt Jarvis cross should have seen us take the lead, but it was a gaping hole left for Park to run in to that benefitted United instead at the end of the first half.

In spite of their lead, United were out of sorts: Bebe and Obertan were often chief culprits for the Old Trafford crowd, and we continued to pick up the ball as United attacks broke down. In the centre, I’d say we were ‘steady’ – Milijas found some great balls and made one or two great tackles as well, but Karl Henry was the busier – bar his role in the first United goal, he had a great game. At the back, I thought Berra and Stearman worked well together to nullify most of what United threw at us.

Credit to Mick – he sniffed an opportunity in the second half and took it, bringing our Number 9 on with Fletcher to go three up front with Doyle. It paid of quickly: a well built, patient attack eventually saw the ball fired at the feet of SEB, and took a true striker’s goal; strongly holding off Vidic and then swivelling to shoot between Van Der Saar’s legs: a proper SEB bit of business.

With it paying off so soon though, it meant another twenty minutes of the game to go. When Scholes came on we were still creating chances, but United were also finding some rhythm in spite of an impatient home crowd.

I’ll leave our friend in Houston to lament on Park’s goal, as unfortunately Ward was found wanting as the Korean made use of the space afforded to him, jinking in to the box and beating Hahnemann.

With two United supporters and an Aussie for company at the game, it made for a difficult post-match assessment. No matter how much I could have talked about a ‘good’ performance and slight sense of injustice, they more than anybody know that to be ‘great’ takes something different.

Wolves will need to be aware of Hernandez

The players know the ground well of course, this being our fourth visit to the Theatre of Dreams in the last year. Two narrow defeats in the League Cup sandwich that infamous game last December, where Mick McCarthy rested all ten outfield players from the win at Tottenham and ignited a media frenzy that annoyingly raged on for months.

The less said about that the better.

That was then, this is now.

I fully expect our manager to pick the same eleven that performed heroically last weekend, which would mean a team of:

Hahnemann

Foley
Berra
Stearman
Ward

Hunt
Henry
Milijas
Edwards
Jarvis

Doyle

By contrast, the United side will be missing a few familiar faces. Rooney, Giggs, Valencia and Nani are all sidelined, with Fletcher and Ferdinand also struggling to make it.

Still, we all know that whatever side Sir Alex picks will be more than capable of putting us to the sword, but with so many important players ruled out, you can’t help but wonder whether an upset could be on the cards.

United have won four and drawn one at home thus far, with Albion the only side to come away from Old Trafford with a point. Unfortunately, the likelihood of Van der Saar dropping a simple cross on his goal line against us is probably too much to hope for, so we’ll need another big team performance if we’re to emerge with anything.

Prediction League

Last weekend, three people correctly predicted that Wolves would beat Man City 2-1. So congratulations to Mark Davies, Jub and er, me, for picking up the maximum. These are the days and Rob also added a point to their totals by guessing the outcome but not the correct score.

I’ve opened up a pretty sizable lead at the top of the overall table,  but we’re still only a quarter of the way through the season, so everything to play for.

This weekend, because of the injury problems United are facing, our good form and just because I think we’re due a decent result at Old Trafford, I’m going for a draw. 1-1.

If you’re making the journey to Old Trafford, have a great time and get behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

* I was invited to call in and have a chat with the United fans at the RedCafe.net podcast last night and if you’d like to take a listen, here’s the link. My call is just after the 27 minute mark.

A highly irritating defeat, given the overall balance of play and the chances we created but you simply can’t afford to be profligate in front of goal at Old Trafford and expect to get a result.

Big George scored his first goal for Wolves

With that said, rather than go into detail, here are just one or two thoughts on each player’s individual performance:

Hennessy – Handled and kicked well throughout. Wasn’t at fault for any of the goals, but will be disappointed to have shipped three in the second half.

Foley – A brilliant performance both defensively and going forward, capped with a neat finish for the second goal.

Berra – You know what you get from the Scotsman. Good in the air and largely reliable but his lack of pace sometimes gets him in trouble.

Mouyokolo – Good in the air, a nice turn of pace and some clever distribution. The first time I’ve seen this guy properly and he was impressive. Could he challenge Stearman for a place on Saturday?

Elokobi – I think big George can be pretty pleased with his effort. Bebe stumbled his way passed a few times, but on the whole, our giant full-back came out on top. Timed his run perfectly to power home his first goal for Wolves and must surely be pushing Ward hard for a game at left-back.

Hunt – In his first competitive start, Hunt was pretty slow to get going and had an appalling first half hour. Looked sharper in the second half though and came close to giving us the lead, but could only hit the top of the bar from a glorious chance. Could and probably should start against City on Saturday.

Mancienne – On the huge Old Trafford pitch and with only Jones for company in the middle, the Chelsea youngster struggled to anchor the midfield as well as he has in previous games, but probably did as well as he could have under the circumstances.

Jones – Hit and miss from David Jones for me. Picked out some clever passes and was often the player giving Jarvis the ammunition to cause havoc, but he does have the tendency to dawdle on the ball and lose possession in his own half. Certainly looks more comfortable in a five man midfield than a four.

Jarvis – Man of the Match and not just for Wolves either. Easily the most dangerous looking player on the pitch and caused United all kinds of headaches with his pace and trickery. Sir Alex even sent Gary Neville on with obvious instructions to stop our winger getting in behind, but Jarvo just dropped his shoulder and sped passed the veteran without breaking sweat.

Fletcher – Sorry to say it, but Fletch really irritated me throughout this game. Aside from the intelligent flick inside for Foley’s goal, he was largely anonymous and nothing he tried seem to come off. At such an early stage, you’ve got to be willing to put it down to a bad day at the office, but for a £7 million striker, he must do better.

SEB – In stark contrast to Fletcher, SEB really impressed me. Had his work cut out against Chris Smalling but held the ball up when he could, picked out his passes and came within a whisker of finding the back of the net, first with a fierce drive that was blocked on route to goal and then with a sweetly struck effort that flew agonisingly wide with the keeper rooted to the spot.

Mick McCarthy - I applaud Mick for putting out a strong side and giving United a real game, but the substitutions towards the end defied logic. Surely Jarvis and SEB could have managed five minutes more to see if they could win us the game inside the 90 minutes. Fair enough, take them off if we’re into extra-time, but I think I speak for the overwhelming majority of Wolves supporters when I say I’d have liked to have seen those two players given the chance to finish the job.

I didn’t go to our extra-time wins against Southend and Notts County, nor did I even bother doing a match report for either.

Danny Wellbeck scored the only goal in last season's tie

But now Wolves are heading to Old Trafford competing for a place in the quarter-finals, things have got that little bit more interesting.

So yes, I’m crawling out of the woodwork.

In fact, we all should be, considering Wolves haven’t made it to the quarters since Coca-Cola sponsored the competition 15 years ago.

Come, join me.

Realistically though, what are our chances against the only side in England yet to have been defeated in any competition thus far?

Well, United will be fielding a second-string, so if Mick picks a decent eleven, there’s every chance we could, at the very least, give them a run for their money. He’s been quoted as saying:

“It’s a full strength team that’s going out. There are a few changes from Saturday but it’s a first-team that’s playing – nothing in any shape or manner of a reserve team by any stretch of the imagination.”

I won’t hold my breath, considering he said the same thing last season after he’d changed all 10 outfield players for the league game.

This is something like the team I’d expect to see:

Hennessy

Elokobi
Mouyokolo
Stearman
Foley

Mujangi-Bia
Mancienne
Edwards
Hunt

Fletcher
SEB

Mick is bound to give Hennessy, Elokobi, Mouyokolo and SEB a run-out. Mancienne will be fresh after his weekend off, so he’ll almost certainly play and the remainder are those who either need a game to regain fitness or simply have to play as there’s nobody else.

I wouldn’t expect to see the likes of young Danny Batth starting at Old Trafford, but he and other youngsters could be named amongst the substitutes.

Perhaps Mick will surprise me by picking a stronger eleven, but I imagine he’ll consider Saturday’s home game against City the priority and rest the likes of Doyle, Jarvis and Milijas.

As for a prediction, I feel we’ll probably come up short, as United always seem to find a way of winning these games. Last season, even with a man advantage for nearly the whole game, they still beat us comfortably, which was highly depressing.

I’ll go for 3-2 to United. (This doesn’t count towards the Prediction League by the way. That’s only for Premier League games.)

If you’re making the trip to Old Trafford, have a great time and get behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

Yet Mick McCarthy stubbornly persists with the notion that ‘if we play as well as that in every game, we’ll be fine’.

I’m inclined to disagree.

Scholes stayed cool to slot home the winner

We can definitely perform admirably for ninety minutes in every match, create the better chances, fail to take any of them, concede silly goals at the other end and still go down.

In fact, I’d say it’s an all too familiar tale of woe for many teams that have previously sampled the bitter taste of relegation.

Don’t get me wrong, I was impressed with almost everything about this gutsy display from Wolves. Every single player showed a firm commitment to literally turn the table on it’s head and send the visitors back up north with their tales planted firmly between their legs.

Yet at the crucial moments, our plucky team once again failed at the most crucial component of any football match. Scoring a goal.

On at least three occasions, I was just waiting to see the net bulge from what looked more like foregone conclusions than good chances.

Sam Vokes in particular should be having nightmares about that guilt-edged miss in the dying seconds, with Edwin van der Sar’s goal so completely at his mercy. Any shot on target would surely have resulted in a priceless equaliser, so it quite literally felt like a dagger to the heart seeing the ball disappear into the night sky.

It was a shame because our endeavours merited a point at the very least.

Kevin Doyle was one player who once again didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. In the first half particularly, he ran United ragged and looked as good as anything they had to offer, which is saying something given the multi-million pounds worth of talent in red shirts. It was just a shame he couldn’t cap a fine performance with a goal, dragging his best chance wide after cleverly working the space for himself.

Our midfield three were quite simply superb.

Henry harried and hassled throughout and was much more proactive with his approach in possession, using the ball far better.

David Jones was much the same and excellent in getting forward to support Doyle.

But the star of the show for me was Guedioura. I was disappointed with his offering at Bolton, but this was a timely return to form. He powered into tackles, emerging with the ball almost everytime, passed intelligently and surged forward when the opportunity presented himself. I just wonder how far he might have gone, had Vidic not chopped him down following one particularly impressive display of dribbling.

At the back, Berra was much improved, but Ward continued to struggle at times against the impressive Valencia. In saying that, he was always going to have his work cut out, so it wasn’t surpising that the tricky winger jinked his way passed our make-do left-back on a handful of occasions.

Craddock performed almost flawlessly but his one error in judgment cost us dearly; Paul Scholes showing ruthless composure to sidestep the desperate tackles and slide home the winner. How we long for someone to show such ice-cool predatory instincts.

Zubar was easily our best defender on the night. Cancelling out Nani completely, rising highest to head numerous balls away from danger and even getting forward when he could, most notably in the build-up to that horror miss from Vokes. He looked gutted at full-time and it’s hardly surprising after such a swashbuckling display went unrewarded.

Like so many others, he deserved better.

But it’s now onwards and upwards to Turf Moor for easily the biggest game of the season to date, where we quite simply have to take the chances we create.

Winning would be season-defining.

Losing is unthinkable.

Wes Brown’s slip. Kenny Miller’s goal.

Michael Oakes’s heroics.

Ronaldo’s crap haircut.

What a day.

How unfortunate that many aren’t using this match as an excuse to relive that glorious occasion, preferring instead to focus on the infamous night at Old Trafford back in December.

Wolves have already lost twice to United this season

Much like Michael Jackon’s death, you’ll always remember exactly where you were when you heard the news that Mick McCarthy had made ten changes to the Wolves side.

I doubt any of us will forget that match in a hurry and even if you wanted to, the media persist with ramming it down our throats.

Like me, you were probably a little vexed at the time but had no idea about the furor this would cause and the subsequent monotonous debate that would rage on, even to this very day. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of hearing about it and could throttle the Premier League for dragging it up again with that ridiculous non-fine.

This time around, I’ll settle for the strongest eleven Wolves can muster, giving their all to try and get a result, much like the class of 2003.

But realistically, what are our chances of a repeat performance?

Well, we’ve performed admirably at home recently, taking four deserved points off Spurs and Liverpool, as well as giving Chelsea a run for their money. We’ll need to play just as well, if not better to get anything from the Champions. That means keeping our shape defensively for the entire game and giving their best players no time on the ball.

Easier said than done.

It goes without saying we’ll need another superhuman display from Kevin Doyle, which is perhaps the only thing you’d bet your house on getting. I think there’s a vulnerability in the United defence that could be exposed, particularly with Ferdinand still out and Vidic struggling for form. Or maybe I’m just clutching at straws?

I think Mick will be tempted to make one or two changes to the side for this one, but I hope he thinks better of it and sticks with:

Hahnemann

Zubar
Berra
Craddock
Ward

Foley
Henry
Jones
Guedioura
Jarvis

Doyle

I have a strong suspicion that he might look to bring Mancienne back into the side. If this does happen, I hope it’s as a replacement for Berra in the center of defence, rather than a swap for someone like Jones or Guedioura in the midfield. I think both of those players bring something to the side, so I’d be disappointed to see either left out.

Looking at the possible United team, I’d expect Sir Alex to rest at least one or two ahead of their Champions League showdown against Milan next Wednesday (Rule E20 anyone?). There’s also a few murmurs that Rooney and Valencia, arguably United’s two best players recently, are both carrying niggles and might not be risked.

Whatever side we face, it’s going to be an uphill struggle, but surely our chances of getting a result are significantly increased if one of the world’s best footballers isn’t in the opposition’s side.

Either way, I’m predicting defeat.

2-0 United.

It would be lovely to head to Burnley next weekend, on the back of a great result against the Champions, but unfortunately I think we’re going to come up short in attack once more. I hope I’m wrong.

If you’re going to the match, have a great time, try to enjoy the occasion and get right behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

* Ben took part in a Podcast for Man Utd fansite RedCafe.net, chatting with them about this weekend’s match, the fine from the Premier League and the general goings-on at Wolves. If you want to hear what our beloved blogger had to say, you can listen to the Podcast by clicking here. It’s nearly an hour long, so if you want to fast forward to Ben’s part, it’s not long after the 40 minute mark.

* While Ben was taking part in the Podcast, I too was chatting with the opposition on the Republik of Mancunia Blog. Scott, the editor of the blog, had some interesting questions, so it’s definitely worth checking out. Read the full interview by clicking here.

* Oh, one more thing (and this is nothing more than a shameless plug for a mate’s site), but just in case you’re on the lookout for Mothers Day presents, DotComGiftShop.com really do have some great ideas. Trust me when I tell you women love the stuff they sell on this site!