Man United Will Struggle

Goalkeepers: While Szczesny and many other goalkeepers jumped to defend the young Spaniard, De Gea has not put it in good performances this season, even though he has made the most saves in the Premiership this season. The keeper has shown lack of anticipation and terrible handling. The young keeper couldn’t handle the pressure of the Premiership and has been recently replaced by Lindegaard.

Defence: Man Utd's biggest problem this season has been their defence. Definitely not the defence that was once the best in Europe.  The first problem is the right back position; Sir Alex has managed to rotate Smalling, Rafael , Fabio, and Jones in that position, failing to find a consistent and a comfortable right back. 

While right back has been a problem, centre back position has been a nightmare for Manchester manager with Vidic the only consistent performer and who has been ruled out until the end of the season. Ferdinand has had his worst season so far, losing a lot of his pace and concentration, Jonny Evans is just not good enough for the Red Devils,  and Smalling is now out for a couple of weeks. 

Evra and Jones have been doing a good job so far, but can they keep this up for the rest of the season?

Midfield: Injuries have haunted Man Utd's season so far especially in midfield. Cleverley, Carrick, and Anderson are all out for a long period of time and Fletcher recently declared that he is taking a break from football for health reasons. Nani has been carrying Man Utd (in my opinion) this season and he is the only consistent player they have in midfield. Other players include Park, Giggs and Young.

Attack: Berbatov has resided to being a fringe player for obvious reasons, Chicarito is now injured, and Wayne Rooney's lack of recent form has been alarming to say the least. He's still showing magic touches, but has lost the appetite for scoring.

Man Utd seem to struggling in every department and if they don’t reinforce their squad in January, they are bound to hit a tough spell. While their rival, Man City, look set to bolster their squad and go from strength to strength, and are the favourites to win the league.

Written by Marwan Mahdi

Follow him on Twitter @Prince_Weezy

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Nottingham Forest set for Leicester clash

An-all Championship and all-East Midlands derby throws up an intriguing FA Cup third-round clash at the City Ground.


Both of these clubs will have had pre-season ambitions of making an overdue return to the Premier League but things have not gone to plan so far for either side in the league.


In an uncanny coincidence, both of these midlands rivals had an ex-England manager in charge at the start of the campaign and hopes would have been high in both camps that they would enjoy decent seasons. However, the coincidences do not end there as both managers were sacked in October following disappointing starts. Those looking at the FA Cup odds online should remember this.


Bankrolled by a big summer spending spree, the Foxes were among the favourites to win the Championship as Sven Goran Eriksson set about reshaping a squad capable of competing for the title.


However, it all went badly wrong for the Swede and poor results soon dictated he would be sacked as early into the season as October, to eventually be replaced by former boss Nigel Pearson.


Since Pearson has returned results have been mixed and the expensively-assembled squad continues to struggle for consistency.


However, Leicester's problems pale into insignificance when you look at Forest's plight as they face the real prospect of slipping back down to League One unless a significant improvement is forthcoming in the second half of the season. Fans of the Betfair FA Cup odds need to bear this in mind.


Forest are embroiled in a relegation scrap at the minute and sit third bottom and just five points clear of basement boys Coventry.


Steve Cotterill has been given the task of keeping them up after Steve McClaren lasted just a few months in the hotseat at the City Ground but there will need to be new arrivals in the transfer window to bulk up the squad.


This clash, then, provides welcome relief from both club's domestic struggles and expect an entertaining affair with a replay needed to decide who progresses.