Ducky’s Note: Starting with this post, and hopefully not dying a premature death, BigFourZa will feature interviews with other football fans from around the world under the ‘Fanboyism’ section. The topics will range from match previews, reviews, transfer discussions, referee rants and a lot more. As always, BigFourZa strives to keep your best interests at heart and prevent utter boredom from the same bunch of us writing over and over again. Breath of fresh air, they call it…
This edition of Fanboyism presents Manchester United fans Stephen Higgs and Chris Johnson, discussing their thoughts on the Arsenal-Man United game.
BFZ: Tell us a bit about yourself, and also your association with Man United
Stephen Higgs (SH from now): I’m 30 years old and live in the UK. I have been a United fan since the late 80′s. My favourite United moment has to be Ole scoring the winner against Bayern in the ’99 Champions League final.
Chris Johnson (CJ from now): Well obviously I love football and am a huge Man United fan and I also love the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).
There so many good moments that come with being a united fan but I think you all know what’s going to be the favorite moment – It has to be the treble when we beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final; with the best turn around ever to win a game! It also happens to be one of my favorite seasons too.
BFZ: Last time out we demolished Arsenal, it was probably one of the most unexpected scorelines ever. Have Arsenal reached a point of being United’s “bunny” team?
CJ: No, I don’t think we’ll see such a result happen again, i’m expecting future games to be much tighter. That day was just an off day for Arsenal, plus they had a terrible injury crisis at the time. I’m sure they’ll be out for revenge come Sunday, so we’d better stay on our feet as Rio says!
SH: The 8-2 game was a fantastic day for United – part of some great early season form which produced a lot of goals. Arsenal had a lot of injuries but United were awesome, Ashley Young in particular was on fire. Arsenal are a side in steady decline and have been for the last 10 years. During this time they’ve gone from Title winners, to Title contenders, to a team content with a top 4 finish, and even this they will not achieve this season. Inevitably, this means that United are more often that not the winners when the two sides meet. Having said that, we lost at the Emirates last season and were exceptionally poor that day.
BFZ: A year ago we were fretting about a replacement for Van der Sar. Now we have two equally capable GK’s, are they even comparable to Edwin? Plus the De Gea vs Lindegaard debate is never ending, who is your preferred choice and why?
CJ: I prefer Lindegaard because he has been good when picked in goal and doesn’t let in many goals apart from that 3-0 defeat to Newcastle. They are both excellent keepers, but are inexperienced and young. So we should be patient with them and give them time to settle in.
SH: The GK debate has raged on and on between United fans this season. I tend to think that we have two GK’s with very good potential, but both are way off being the finished article that VDS was. I said last season that we should have brought in an experienced GK with someone like DDG working as his #2 for at least one season, but ideally 2 or 3 seasons.
However, we are where we are, and I think Fergie is making the correct call in selecting Lindegaard ahead of DDG, who needs a lot of work before being a Premier League GK. I’m not a fan of rotating the two so I hope Fergie sticks with Lindegaard at least until the end of this season.
BFZ: The midfield has always been a sore point for fans (BFZ Note: Insert Gibson joke here). What’s your opinion on the matter and what is your preferred United central midfield pairing for the match
CJ: Yes, We do need a world class midfielder, a creative one at that because our play at times is a bit sloppy and we get caught in possesion quite easily at times. As for my preferred midfield pairing, it will have to be Scholes and Cleverley when fit. Then again, Carrick has improved a lot lately and if this keeps up we might not need to buy a new midfielder.
SH: The midfield is a sore point for fans for a very good reason. Its an area of the pitch we’ve neglected for a long time. Sadly, we continue to do so by a) Not buying at least one quality CM last summer and b) bringing back an ageing legend because the rest of our midfielders are so inept. We should have by now identified the next Scholes, the next Giggs – not easy I know but we’ve had plenty of time to plan. We also look set to lose Morrison and Pogba, depressing isn’t the word.
Having said all that, Scholes will do a fine job until the end of the season, he still has plenty of quality and an eye for a goal as he showed last week. I just think its an unambitious, uninspiring piece of business. Almost to the point of laziness. Keeps all the fans happy to see a Legend like Scholes back in a red shirt and for a short-term spell I’m sure it will help us but it worries me that we continue to try stop-gap solutions to an ongoing and crucial problem.
My midfield vs Arsenal would be Jones and Carrick. That’s been our best midfield combo this season. Not a fan of Carrick but at least he’s beginning to take responsibility and looking to have a decisive impact on games, instead of being a passenger like the past 3 seasons.
BFZ: Considering a huge chunk of Arsenal’s goals are scored RvP, he is sure to be their key man for the game. Who would your preferred CB pairing be for the game and why (assuming Jones and Smalling are fit)?
CJ: I would say we should start with Rio and Smalling at CB. They’re both capable of reading the game very well and we need that against a team like Arsenal.
SH: My Preferred partnership at the back is Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans at the moment with Smalling at right back. I like Evans – he’s made some high profile errors in the past but I think his general defensive play is excellent. Ferdinand’s experience is vital in the absence of Vidic.
BFZ: And finally, who do you think is the key man for United and your predicted scoreline.
CJ: Rooney will be our key man for the game, he loves playing against the gunners and he has a good record against them too. As for the scoreline, no prediction from me i always get them wrong! haha!
SH: Two key men for United. Rooney as always is vital. When he plays well, United play well so we need him at his mercurial best. Second key man is Valencia who is in fine form and with Arsenal’s full back problems, I’ll be hoping we get it out to the right as often as possible. 1-2 United win is my prediction.
You can follow Chris on Twitter @chris7johnson, and Stephen @StephenHiggs