Well, after watching that snowstorm foolishness against Boro last weekend, I realized that if we were going to slip up this late in the season, it would be better to have a blip there (they are a bogey team for us, no doubt) than to mess up the games against Roma, Chavski, and Arse. I have a feeling that Fergie would have been pretty hard on the players in training so far this week and I think the players will be looking to impress.
It goes without saying that the real question mark is over central defense. We definitely won’t have Vidic, and Ferdinand’s status is up in the air at the time of posting. Keep in mind though, that if Man U score first, it’s basically over. Roma will have to hit three this game in order to have any shot at it and frankly, I can’t see them putting three past even a second choice defense including Neville, Brown, Pique and O’Shea.
The problem for Roma is that they know if they commit men forward, they will concede. It’s exactly what happened in the last game- they dominated most of the game, yet shipped two goals that pretty much came against the run of play. Roma aren’t great at the back and they know it. I think it will require both a heroic performance from Roma’s keeper and a man of the match performance from a striker in order to ensure victory for the Italians.
It’s also important to remember that the ghosts of last year’s 2nd leg at Old Trafford will probably still be haunting a few of Roma’s players. They certainly won’t want to be embarrassed like that again and I have a feeling that they might make a mistake very early on.
My predictions:
Pique to start and put in a top drawer performance.
Ronaldo to score again.
Michael Carrick will score.
3-0 Man U.
That is all. See you back here after the match.
