Manchester United will face Tranmere Rovers in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup at Prenton Park this afternoon. The League One side beat Premier League club Watford in their third round replay on Thursday evening, winning 2-1 in extra time after their 3-3 draw at the start of the month, setting up the home clash with United, at what could be considered as a bad time for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
United’s best chance of silverware this season is by winning the FA Cup although they are still in the Carabao Cup despite losing 3-1 at Old Trafford to holders Manchester City just over a fortnight ago. The second leg of the semi-final will be played at the Etihad on Wednesday with it seeming like United will be out of the cup with City defending their trophy at Wembley early in March.
United need to solve some problems within the club at this present time, the first would be the lack of quality in the squad which can be seen each time United plays a game of football. The same excuses are ever present; January is a tough month to sign players, we only want to sign players who fit in with the direction the club wants to travel, the lis really is endless. The other main problem is the hierarchy of the club not really showing that they want the club to achieve on the pitch, just financially.
Manchester United:
Romero;
Lindelof, Jones, Maguire;
Dalot, Pereira, Matic, Shaw;
Lingard;
Greenwood, Martial
Substitutes:
Grant; Bailly, Williams; Mata, Fred, James, Chong
Tranmere Rovers:
Davies;
Caprice, Clarke, Monthe, Ridehalgh;
Danns, Perkins;
Morris, Jennings, Taylor;
Ferrier
Substitutes:
Pilling, Mullin, Gilmour, Payne, Hepburn-Murphy, Wilson, Woods
United and Tranmere have played one matches in this history of both clubs with that match being played in 1976. United won that match 5-0 which was played in the second round of the League Cup at Old Trafford. Gerry Daly scored a brace with other goals coming from Stuart Pearson, Gordon Hill, and Lou Macari. United’s first team has not faced Tranmere since this match.
However, this season United’s U21s took part in the Leasing.com EFL Trophy and they faced Tranmere at the start of December, losing 3-2 with Tahith Chong scoring both of the goals for United. There are no other matches against Tranmere in the history of both clubs. Solskjaer will need to have done his research on the team as the club has little time to sort out tactics, not that they alone can win the match.
