Manchester United will attempt to come out of another slump on Tuesday night when they host Valencia in the UEFA Champions League.
The first game of the campaign saw the Reds run out a promising 3-0 away over Swiss side Young Boys, though when Group H was drawn Valencia were seen as an attacking side set to compete with the two giants in the group – Juventus and Manchester United – but after a difficult start to their domestic campaign and an opening defeat against the Serie A champions, those expectations have been lowered.
READ MORE: Man Utd vs Valencia: Odds, Preview, Live Stream, TV info, Prediction
That doesn’t say much for United, who haven’t won their three previous games across all competitions. Complacency or a lack of drive could see that sorry run continue tonight.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the Stretty News predicted Manchester United line-up for the match.
The defence doesn’t include many surprises apart from Diogo Dalot. He’s simply a player we want to see more of given his attacking displays since coming on the scene weeks ago. Unlike Antonio Valencia, who is on the wrong side of 30, Dalot’s crossing will provide Romelu Lukaku will more chances on goal. That can only be a good thing, right? Mourinho should stick with Victor Lindelof and Chris Smalling as his centre-back pairing, but he’s picking battles with everyone now and could potentially switch it up again as he’s done a number of times since taking charge in 2016.
In midfield, the two former Valencia lads get the nod. Andreas Pereira spent last season on loan at the Mestalla and Juan Mata spent four years there before joining Chelsea in 2011. I think Mourinho will take this into account knowing both players have the creativity to hurt a team with such much emphasis on attacking with numbers. The Spaniard will be positioned in a more forward role and expected to link up play in front of goal. Pereira will be joined by Nemanja Matic, who spoke to the media yesterday, and Paul Pogba.
According to The Sun, Mourinho has allegedly made it clear he doesn’t want to have his tactics continually questioned by Alexis Sanchez, so that sees the Chilean dropped again for this encounter. We’ve gone with Marcus Rashford to attack from the left flank and support Lukaku in causing havoc amongst the Valencia defence which United really ought to threaten.
The paper also reports that the Portuguese has even threatened Sanchez that he’ll never play for United again unless he improves.
Wow.
