Manchester United v VfL Wolfsburg – Match Preview

By: Taylor Rockwell | September 30th, 2009

Who: Manchester United v VfL Wolfsburg
What: UEFA Champions League Group Stage Game
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
When: 19:45 BST (2:45 EST)
Why: Because it’s about time for the world to be introduced to the words “Edin Džeko” and “Man Crush”

The Results Thus Far: Manchester
United started off the Group Stage in style, defeating Beşiktaş 1-0 at the BJK İnönü Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. The Red Devils are currently second in the group behind Wolfsburg, but will look to take care of that situation this evening.

The Results Thus Far: Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg started off their Champions League campaign with comfortable 3-1 home win over Russian club CSKA Moscow. The German champions are currently first in Group B with 3 points and a goal differential of +2.

The Results Elsewhere: Manchester
United are entering this match on a high note, as they are currently alive in all three cup competitions (Champions, FA, and Carling). Further Sunday’s away victory at Stoke coupled with Chelsea’s defeat to Wigan leaves United at the top of the Premeirship table (by goal differential… but atop nonetheless). However, United certainly haven’t quite hit their stride and Sir Alex Ferguson continues to face questions regarding overall squad strength and reliability.

The Results Elsewhere: Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg shocked many a pundit when they finished the season on top of the Bundesliga table, and stunned the footballing community the world over by holding onto their best players (star forward Edin Džeko was linked with nearly every club on earth). However, this season hasn’t exactly seen the positive results flow in. Through seven games, Wolfsburg are sixth in the Bundesliga standings, with only 12 points in their account. Perhaps more worrying is the fact that they have a record of four wins and three losses with a goal differential of +1 (indicating a lack of consistency).

Points to Ponder
1) Manchester Untied fans, meet your new Karim Benzema! During the successful 2007-2008 Champions League run, United met Lyon in the knockout round. The French club were inevitably eliminated by United, but not before their star striker Karim Benzema impressed many a United fan… and manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Much like a woman at a bar drinking her 14th vodka cranberry, that match could be seen as the incident that started Fergie’s love affair. Unfortunately, that affair cam crashing back to reality this summer, when Benzema opted for Madrid over Manchester. In came Michael Owen, and the rest (all three months of it) has been history. Until today, when the Scottish manager gets his first view of Džeko and begins to feel the hot flushes usually only associated with three bottles of Merlot. I don’t know why and I have no backing for this, but I can’t shake the idea that after this season, we get increasingly linked with a move for the Bosnian striker.

2) We currently live in the Twilight Zone. Patton Oswalt is one of my favorite comedians, and he has a bit where he discusses the situation in the United States near the end of the Bush Administration. His essential point is that he feels we now live in a Bizarro World where, “On our planet, Arnold Schwarzenegger runs California, torture is legal, and spinach is poison.” Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009-2010 Manchester United team (thanks to Bill Simmons for that one). Would you ever have guessed that this team would 1) jettison Slave and Tevez, 2) sign Michael Owen, 3) have Darren Fletcher be its MVP, 4) survive many matches because Giggs apparently time traveled, 5) have Jonny Evans become equally/more consistent than Rio Ferdinand, and 6) see Michael Carrick turn into a corpse in just 6 short months? And yet, they’re top of the table and looking strong. Obviously, this means that in some other dimension, Benzema is our best striker, Berbatov already has 10 goals, and Michael Carrick is capable of completing 10-15 yard passes without tripping over himself, right?

3) Wayne Rooney will score. Not only has Ferguson personally challenged him to become a footballing icon like Messi or Kaka, but this match marks his 50th Champions League appearance for the club. Couple that with the fact that he’s been far and away our best attacker and you get the notion that all roads go through Rooney today.

4) Speaking of goalscoring, Wolfsburg are really good at it. Last season Džeko and his strike partner Grafite managed a decent goal tally. As Fergie put it, “Their two strikers scored 71 goals between them last season. That is an incredible total. They are both big, powerful lads and we did look at Dzeko. He is a very clever player who takes up good positions. Wolfsburg haven’t started the season that well but they have got to grips with their game and they are getting winning results.” HA! You can practically hear Ferguson scribbling “Mrs. Edin Dzeko Ferguson” onto his Trapper Keeper. Regardless, the United defense (which has looked shaky at times) will have its hands full tonight. A poor performance or further idiotic mistakes from Ferdinand could mean a rough night at home for United (doubtful I know… but still a concern…)

Predicted Manchester Lineup: Foster, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, O’Shea, Giggs, Fletcher, Carrick, Valencia, Rooney, Berbatov.
Taylor’s Preferred Lineup: Kuszczak, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, O’Shea, Giggs, Anderson, Fletcher, Rooney, Owen, Berbatov
Taylor’s Explanation of His Absurd Lineup: I want to see how Kuszczak handles the spotlight and the stress of dealing with a powerful attack. I don’t want to see Nani in this one, so I would usually go with Park. However, the Korean is out with a virus, so I’m throwing out the random idea of utilizing Rooney as a winger, and allowing Owen and Berba to work off each other up top. An attack based around Rooney, Giggs, Owen, and Berba would be a thing to watch.