Weekend Outlook (29 Jan 2006)

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Manchester United

"...manager is none other than the idiotic Glenn Hoddle... lost all respect for him..." - Jaywalk, 29 Jan 2006

Call it the workaholic in me but I couldn't stay away from writing my Weekend Outlook as we look to ManUtd's Fourth Round encounter against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Ahh... Wolves and Andy Gray springs to mind during the latter's heydays in the old First Division and squaring up shoulder to shoulder against the likes of Liverpool and ManUtd.

The Wolves of today ply their trade in the lower Nationwide Championship league under the captaincy of ManUtd old boy Paul Ince. It would be good to see him again. Their manager is none other than the idiotic Glenn Hoddle. Don't get me wrong but I have the utmost respect to Hoddle as a midfielder during his Spurs glory days but as a ex-manager of the England national team who brought in faith healers (and spoon benders), I lost all respect for him. Then again, Sven Eriksson isn't exactly doing very well for himself of late anyway.

ManUtd recently returned from their triumphant victory over Blackburn Rovers to book a place in Cardiff in the League Cup final. With Wigan scalping Arsenal in the other semi-final, it looks like the League Cup is in the bag and heading for Old Trafford already. So with one cup in the bag (almost), is FA Cup going to be the next? Granted that ManUtd has traditionally done well in the FA Cup, I can't really say with much confidence that they will be strolling past Wolves today.

JayWalk The Talk: The main problem here is two-folds. The first is the depleting squad with particular emphasis in the midfield department. Park, Scholes, Fortune and Giggs are out on top of O'Shea, Heinze and Evra.

The second is that ManUtd need to look a step ahead this coming midweek for their EPL game against Blackburn again. Not that we would have trouble against lowly Wolves without these players but Blackburn has always been a difficult team for ManUtd to beat and this time round it would be even more difficult as ManUtd will be traveling to Ewood Park.

Ronaldo will be making a comeback today and Fergie would be expecting him to hit the ground running. Hopefully, Ronaldo's contribution would be enough to get us through.

JayWalk The Walk: Bookies give Wolves a 1-ball handicap and the decimal odds strongly favours the visitors. My main worry is that with the Blackburn game hovering over them like a dark cloud, will Fergie play his best team out? Or would he rather conserve all the energy, aim for a draw, beat Blackburn in midweek then lure Wolves back to Old Trafford for the slaughter? I'm afraid so and some pundits are predicting a draw here. ManUtd has always been able to score more than the odd goal when traveling but without a solid midfield, I'm am worried that the carpet may be proverbially pulled from under Messrs. Van Nistelrooy, Saha and Rooney due to a lack of midfielder ammunition.

Stay away.

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.