Manchester United vs Marseille - Somchat.com's Champions League Predictions

As big Manchester United fan myself, please forgive me since what I am about to say might be biased a little. With that said, I honestly feel that Sir Alex's side have everything they need to beat Marseille on 23rd February 2011 in their Champions' League match. Here is why I think so.

For Man United to win, I believe there are certain qualities they must show during the match to cause havoc. Also, their best players must show up for the match, or rather, they must perform well to dictate the game. Further, Man U as a team must stop Marseille's play makers.

First and for most, 1. Lasso Lucho Gonzalez must be stopped. The Argentine play maker is finally playing well despite Marseille’s bad start to their domestic season. He scored recently against St Etienne and has been big in Marseille's mid field attacks and build up plays. In short, players like Darren Fletcher, or Anderson (if he suits up for Manchester United) should keep a watchful eye on this play maker if Man-U is to win this one.

Special teams or better known as "dead ball" situations is Marseille's primary weapon during the game and will likely cause problems for the Reds if they are not careful. This not so much due to the French side's strength in dead balls such as free kicks, but rather the lack of defensive focus by Manchester United when defending against dead ball situation. This season, set-pieces were the cause for many head aches for the Red Devils. Recently against Blackpool, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side showed an alarming inability to deal with high balls flicked on in the box and both goals Ian Holloway’s men scored at Bloomfield Road were scored from corner kicks. Awful thought as it was for a fan like me, the lowly Wolveshampton used a corner, to end United’s 29-league-game unbeaten run earlier this month.

I do suspect that Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand will provide reassurance for United fans -by the way Chris Smalling could play for Ferdinand since in the recent Manchester derby, he owned Carlos Tevez so we hope he can pocket Souleymane Diawara also.

But just defending from corners or stoping Marseille mid field isn't going to win any game in a Champions League game. You need your players to show up for the game. In particular Manchester United' Nani needs to play well as he has being doing recently. Nani has been in good form of late and either scored goals or made them for United which makes him a deadly weapon. On a side note, I just love watching this guy play. Although he might sometimes sleep walk during some games, he is deadly when he shows interest in winning. Most often though, he seems to feed off the team's spirit. If Man United can get him involved as much as possible, he will likely be a big threat down the wing and in turn feed the likes of Berbatov and Rooney.

Speaking of, Wayne Rooney and Berbatov are most like to get a goal in this fixture. However, we, the United fans, must keep the faith in Rooney and trust His partnership with berbatov at front will pay off in this game. While Rooney can roam freely and Berbatov keeping the defenders at bay, Marseille's mid field will have a lot of work to do to keep blocking passes to the two deadly strikers. This will be an advantage Manchester United can use to win this Champions League game against the French giants Marseille.