Managerless Newcastle come to Old Trafford in the late kickoff on Saturday. It’s probably the best time to play them as they haven’t appointed a new manager just yet; Harry Redknapp seems to be the bookie’s favourite, but unless Newcastle are going to pay silly money once again, why should he leave Ports …. oh. I guess they will have to fork out stupidly large amounts of cash to get an middle of the road manager. Redknapp does a good job and is actually probably a good manager for Newcastle.
For the game on Saturday, Nigel Pearson, the current assistent manager will be in charge. Pearson represents the old regime and therefore doesn’t carry the “new boss” factor that means teams often raise their performances for the first few games for a new manager. United shouldn’t really worry about the opposition at home anyway.
Wes Brown is suspended, but Gary Neville will not yet feature. I’m not sure Danny Simpson will be trusted after the last time he started a game ended with him being substituted at half time. His replacement, John O’Shea is more likely to play. Owen Hargreaves is again an injury doubt, which is a long term worry considering how many games he has missed. Carrick and Anderson will be good enough cover to match a midfield likely to contain Alan Smith.
In rivals news, Chelsea have signed Nicolas Anelka for £15 million quid, which is a lot of money for temporary cover for Cup of Nations bound Didier Drogba. Unless Drogba is certain to be leaving which can only be good news for all teams except Chelsea. Meanwhile, Arsenal have failed to offload comedy German Jens Lehmann and Liverpool have signed Slovakian international defender Martin Skrtel, a man with too few vowels in his name.
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