United Must Remain Focused During Fixture Onslaught

Manchester United take on manager-less Derby County in the first leg of the Carling Cup Semifinal today. It's the second fixture of eight coming in the month of January for United.

With fixtures coming at the Reds at an unbelievable pace, the Gaffer has been successfully rotating his giant team to accommodate the "B+ squad" with playing time while resting first team regulars.

Now, I have been reading articles discussing similarities between the fixture lists of the 06/07 campaign with that of the current season's and I can't see where the similarities lie.

In the 06/07 campaign, United was dumped in the Carling Cup early in the season, they didn't have to worry about contending for a World Championship in a distant locale, and they didn't have to worry about making up Premier League fixtures that had to be put on hold as consequence.

Sir Alex navigated his team through the holiday fixtures in the Premier League getting the full six points, albeit with two poor showings that resulted in 1-0 victories.

Then he sent a young squad to the south coast to face a reeling Southampton squad. After an offside decision went their way early, coupled with a questionable sending off and penalty decision United cruised to a comfortable 3-0 FA Cup victory.

United's daunting fixture list in the month of January has compelled many British journalists to quib about the importance of the League Cup to United. Nemanja Vidic assured fans and pundits alike that United want every possible trophy.

I don't know what brings the speculation on really. As soon as any team makes it to the semifinals of the Carling Cup, they are locked in for two guaranteed fixtures, if you lose it on aggregate you are only losing one fixture, but also something of consequence, a trophy.

When the season kicked off in August, United had seven chances at silverware (Community Shield, the European Supercup, the Carling Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, the FA Cup, the Premiership, and the Champions League, respectively). So far United have taken a possible 2/3. Why not try to make it 3/4?

I expect to see Darren Gibson start, possibly Possebon, but definitely Rafael, with some top team talent strategically placed within. I, and every other United fan should expect a win. With a goal or two taken at Pride Park, the return fixture can be used to rest some of the top players.

Too much is at stake this weekend against Chelsea to play a ton of first team talent, but the task at hand on Sunday should not be looked at until the first leg of this semifinal is complete.

Today would be a great time for Carlos Tevez to prove to David Gill that he is worth every pound. The transfer speculation surrounding the Argentinian striker has been drawn out for too long. He wants to stay at United, and until Berbatov is firing in a lion's share of goals, it's necessary that United keep the little fella.

United 2 Derby 0