These are very trying times at Manchester United, as they are badly in need of a result when they host Valencia tomorrow night in UEFA Champions League group stage play. Midfielder Nemanja Matic articulated the situation when he met the media earlier today.
“Of course when you play for Man United everyone expects that you win games,” he said. “When you don’t win a few games in a row there is attention on you. We will try to do everything to make this better and make our fans happy.”
“On Saturday we didn’t play well but we give our best, for sure the manager is going to tell us why we didn’t play well. The game was really bad but everyone has responsibilities. I don’t believe any player goes onto the pitch to not give his best.”
There are many different directions in which fingers can be pointed right now, but left back Luke Shaw says that accountability ultimately rests with the players.
Let’s take a look at who United boss Jose Mourinho may start in this one.
The Sports Bank MUFC Starting XI Prediction
Forwards: Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford
Midfielders: Fred, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba
Defenders: Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia
Goalkeeper: David de Gea
Jose Mourinho and Nemanja Matic Press Conference Video: go to this link
Injury Report: go to this link
TV/Kick-off: 8pm (BST), Tuesday Oct 2, BT Sport 2
Odds via Odds Shark: United 3/5 Draw 31/10 Valencia 22/5
Prediction: United 1, Valencia 1
As always, feel free to post your own United and/or Valencia starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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