Interesting. What do you think about United? Will they come out and play Gungho or will they drop their pride, camp and counter us?
There aren't too many sides in the world that would stand toe to toe with us in an open game, most teams will not engage in a match like that after last season. I think they will do what they've done in all of their games against bigger sides and that is to be compact, use the pace they have and look to score on the break or via set piece.
Solksjaer would be incredibly naive to go all guns blazing in this match knowing the fragility they have defensively and knowing what our strengths are. They will play with more confidence and belief when they do attack because of their form since Solksjaer has taken charge, but I think their plan won't be too different from when Mourinho was in charge in terms of being compact.
The key for them will be utilizing if fit, Martial,Lingaard and Rashford. All with plenty of pace and ability to score goals and stretch sides, all interchangeable. Lingaard is a limited player but he has a tendency to score goals in important matches
The other part is Pogba. Utilizing him and having him link up their midfield and attack. If Martial and Lingaard don't play, they still have Rashford that they can utilize on the break, however having Mata/Sanchez and Lukaku doesn't pose the same type of threat for them.
We will need to contain Rashford and the other two if they play, along with making sure that Pogba has a very limited match in midfield.
They will do the same thing they did against Chelsea, I am certain we will have majority of the possession but Chelsea really created very little against them. We'll need to be better and we can't gift them a goal like we did in the first match as they had no business being in the match at all prior to them scoring.
We need to start better than the last time we were at OT, we need better performances from Trent and Robertson, and the midfield will be key. I'd go with Henderson Fabinho and Wijnaldum, even though Keita has done better, those 3 fill me with lots of confidence and Fabinho does have the ability to make a crucial defense splitting pass. Wijnaldum would take the responsibility of bringing the ball forward and breaking into their end. The only issue I see is his knee, he may be rested/rotated in place of Kieta or even Milner who I'd rather have on the bench.
Firmino has to play well, and Mane needs to have his shooting boots, because even if they can keep Salah quiet, Mane will get space. He's a big game player