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Manchester United may have been in the news for the right reasons recently with brilliant first half displays against Top 4 rivals Spurs and Liverpool. But is it too early to get carried away with still 8 games to play?
Tough Fixtures ahead
In Chelsea, City and Arsenal, Manchester United face the 3 best sides in the Premier League, a travel to Goodison is always daunting – a place United have tend to drop points in the recent past, in Villa and Hull they face teams fighting for survival, Palace are a new team playing with vigor since Pardew took over and West Brom managed to create an upset the last time they visited Old Trafford. While a run of 4 wins on the trot in the league might look good United must not get complacent and let their hard work go undone with 24 points still to play for.
International Break at the worst possible time
With Manchester United clicking into decent form the International break couldn’t have come at a worse time for them. It not only disrupts the momentum that they have built but also brings in the possibility of the occurrence of an injury. Rojo, Di Maria, Fellaini, Falcao, Valencia, Rooney, Carrick, Smalling, Jones, Blind, McNair and De Gea will be representing their country which leaves Van Gaal and Millions of United fans holding their breath each time they go in for a tackle. With Blind rupturing his ligaments the last time he represented Netherlands, United fans will have to sweat it out for two weeks before their next Premier League Game.
The Selection Dilemma
With Rojo and Shaw regaining fitness, Falcao netting a brace on international duty and Van Persie to be available on paper for the Manchester Derby, Van Gaal faces a selection dilemma. While he might go with the same backline as the previous two games barring any injury, will he play the same formation or tinker with his forward line. Van Gaal’s team selection for the next two games will certainly send out a message as to whether RVP and Falcao have any future at the club. So will he continue with his latest 4-3-3 or will he consider bringing in RvP, Falcao or Di Maria back into the team?
The ongoing contract talks
Rumours continue to surround the core of Manchester United’s defense with De Gea, Smalling and Jones having only a year left on their contracts. The Independent states that United have offered De Gea a contract worth anywhere between £140-200k a week, while Madrid based La Razon states that Jorge Mendes wants De Gea on a 6 month rolling contract with the club in order to strengthen his client’s bargaining power as others continue to link the Spaniard with Real Madrid. Smalling is subjected to interest from Arsenal and the Daily Mail states that both him and Jones would be off this summer. Although it is routine to have rumours surrounding the Manchester United players this could be one distraction that they could do without.
