Manchester United will play host to Arsenal on Thursday evening, but who will be in charge for the fixture remains unknown.
The Gunners have been in top form in recent months, lifting off the foot of the table to sit level on points with West Ham in fourth spot.
While there was reports to claim that Mikel Arteta could have been replaced after a torrid start to the new campaign, the Kroenke’s stuck by their man, and that decision has paid dividends.
The Red Devils appeared to be keen to stick by their man Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also, but as their season looked to be drastically stirring out of control, having looked like title challengers in the opening weeks of the season before dropping down to ninth in the table, and their loss to Watford last weekend sealed his fate out the exit door.
Michael Carrick has since taken over the helm on a temporary basis, leading the team to a win in the Champions League to seal their qualification to the knockout rounds, before denying Premier League leaders Chelsea a win at Stamford Bridge this weekend (somewhat luckily), but Ralf Rangnick has already been confirmed as coming in to end the campaign in charge.
The German was expected to take charge of his first Premier League match against our side this week when announced last week, but the Mirror reports that they are sweating over his visa, and he could well be forced to miss our encounter.
I’m not sure how much of a difference the German could make in only a short time in charge, while Carrick has kept his side unbeaten in two important matches thus far, but the uncertainty cannot be helping his side’s preparation for the big game.
Would you rather see Rangnick or Carrick in charge come Thursday?
Patrick
He was in charge for yesterday’s game against Chelsea, very obvious the way Man U changed their style to his style. Also Rangnick was apparently “in the ear” of one of the coaches on the bench, according to reports. Sancho and Tominey were on fire, bit of a worry really.
Not too bothered either way, I don’t think it matters who is in charge for them on Thursday, it may be a very slight help timing wise for us that they are in between from a training, coaching and game preparation point of view
I’m thinking more about our gaffer to be honest, what he will do, United are a difficult team to prepare for at the moment because they are so unpredictable
Goalies are about the same, I think we have a better defence, they certainly have better attacking options, midfield could be important and we could do with Partey having a game that we haven’t quite seen so far, if indeed he plays
They have big name players, we are more of a team, does Arteta stick to what has been working or mix it up especially for United
Asking Auba to sit on the bench is probably not a big risk but other changes could be
It’s an intriguing one that I am looking forward to, if it ends up a high scoring game it probably means we have lost it
Great analysis Fingers, it’s about us as a team being brave on the ball because United have many attacking options and are punching way below their level ( on paper anyway).
I would flood the midfield, drop Auba, put in lacazett, don’t drop the team to deep and hold the midfield position. I think we would be better off that way, and take a draw.
What I have seen so far, is that we can get that fourth spot, but you must stop United from gaining points against us, I think we can beat Everton, and our lack of European football might work in our favour going into next year…