Patrice Evra is--at the moment--irreplaceable at Manchester United. His replacements are not as assured as Jonny Evans is for Rio Ferdinand. Patrice will now sit out our next five to seven games while Rio will sit out the entire week's games. It's not something beyond Manchester United to find able replacements within their squad but it could account for the loss of our defensive record. United have been solid at he back in the past few games and I think the loss of both key defenders could hurt us. Hopefully I'm wrong. John O'Shea is a good defender but he offers little or nothing at all in attack. It's a testament to Evra's attacking instincts that he returned from suspension to claim an assist against Chelsea on Sunday. His departure could cost us as most of the teams we have to play might just sit back and invite us so we need all the attacking we can gather from the team.
Having said all that, the next 7 games for us are, on paper, winnable as far as Manchester United is concerned. I'd like to think that we can keep a clean sheet in all games against Wigan, Bolton, Derby, West Brom, Spurs, etc...
The assurance of a clean sheet gives any team a 60% chance of winning a game so hopefully, Vidic will see to that as he continues Nemanjizing opposition defences!
It was good to hear that his countryman and new signing Zoran Tosic is over the moon as far as joining United is concerned. Hopefully, he'll turn out to be as important to the team as Vida is!
Labels: MANCHESTER UNITED
