Fergie was in particularly non-cooperative mood with the press, basically telling the English media to fuck off. He cites the misquote (that Chelsea were too old for the title) in South Africa as a reason why they won’t hear from him again. Of course he had to attend the pre-match conference according to UEFA rules, so we do have quotes from him.
He stresses the need to get a win today because going to Parkhead and El Madrigal for wins is always going to be challenging. He also recalls the last time we faced a Danish club (FC Kobenhavn) when we had to scrap our way to qualify:
“I don’t have any fears about complacency with this side. But we made a mistake with the team against Copenhagen and ended up scrapping to qualify. This time I will play my strongest team. Having dropped two points in our first game it is important we get it right against Aalborg. Going to Villarreal for a win will be very difficult and the last thing we need is to be going to Parkhead needing three points to go through. We need to get to February because that is when the tournament really takes off.”
The fact that he’ll play a very strong team is encouraging.
On the injury front Owen Hargreaves continues to be dogged by his tendinitis problem. Mr. Saha Mk II concedes that the problem is such that it will go away in time. So like some bloke (don’t recall who) I saw on TV would say, it’s like dealing with a bad sex life in a relationship, if you don’t talk about it it will somehow go away. We hope it’s true.
In other team news, Gary Neville will be giving Hargreaves and Carrick company at Carrington, and this will come as a relief to Wes Brown. The boss is backing Berbatov to shine, again.
Anyway, on to what I think to be the starting XI: Rooney and Berbatov will start. Ronaldo and Nani on the wings. Anderson and Fletcher will be in central midfield (I am still undecided on our best central midfield pairing) and Brown, Vidic, Rio and Evra will be our back four with EVDS between the sticks.
On predictions for today’s game, I think I don’t see much reason for us to worry because Aalborg is currently scrapping at the bottom rungs of the Danish premier division. So I’d say 2-0 to the reds.
Over and out. See you after the game.

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