Sunday afternoon will see the champions start their defence of the Premier League title. Man United will be looking to get off to a good start with a comfortable victory while newcastle will take what they can get.

Due to the fact that newcastle have 3 strikers not available, they will more than likely play a 4-4-1-1 formation. My starting 11 would be the following...

Given
Beye
Taylor
Coloccini
Enrique
Milner
Butt
Guthrie
Gutierrez
Duff
Martins

It will be up to keegan who he plays behind/beside Martins. All three of the wingers in that 11 are able to play in that position.

Although i have no doubts that man united will beat us i am still very excited about the match. I can't wait to see 3 of our new signings play in the EPL. From what i have seen so far, Gutierrez is one to watch. He can play in a variety of positions across the midfield and hopefully he will get off to a good start. This is our best chance to beat man united. They have a weakish (so they say) team and we could catch them out but i can't see this being the case. They might have a weaker team than normal but they are still far too strong for us. If Rooney wasn't playing i would be more optimistic but he always scores against us.

As long as we put in a decent performance i will be happy. The fans don't expect us to go to man united and get anything. Of course "i would LOVE it if we beat them" but lets be realistic, the chances are slim.

My prediction for this match is 3-0 to man united.

What are your thoughts?

God i hope you beat them!

Come on King Kev and the Toon!

----------------------------VDS

Neville (C)-------Rio--------------Vidic---------Evra

Fletcher-------Carrick------------Scholes------Giggs

-----------------Rooney-----------Tevez
_________________________________________________

The subs bench will be populated by defenders and youngsters because we have injuries and suspensions to cope with.

With that team starting I wouldn't be out of order in expecting a win but you never know, some of those players are lacking match sharpness, particularly Carrick and Rooney.

I'll predict a 2-0 win. I'd be happy with 1 though.

I Would Put Nani On The Left And Giggs Up Front,
I Doubt Rooney Will Start Because Of The Virus He Had Recently And Possibly Still Has.
We'll Have To Wait And See The Pre Match Conference

Nani is suspended for the first two matches.
Rooney has trained every day for a week and will start.

But yes, if Rooney doesn't feel up to it however unlikely that is then Giggs should go up front and Evra should play left wing.

i'll go with a 2-0 prediction as well, but i'd be happy with 1-0 too, under the circumstances (players missing, season opener etc)

I wonder if KK will really love it today if he could come away with a shock 3 points!

Sadly I can't see that happening!

I expect Man Utd to win this encounter even though they have a few players missing.....

Man utd 2 -0 Newcastle

come ooooon newcastle!!!!

2-0 mancs

No Tevez



This game won't be too exciting by my reckoning. I'd take 1-0 now.

what a save from given ,**** sakes!

Yeah that's right Martins is overrated isn't he .You don't know what you're talking about this Man u champions league winners and he's been unstoppable so far ,his touch is great and vision is quality and it's early. Pity he doesn't have a mid field to help him.

there you go ,

you know nothing.

Edited - Tez Arne - foul and abusive language

Look what happens when there's no Ronaldo.......

I know its early on in the season, but we need to take any advantage what so ever over United and Chelsea so this is fantastic!!! Impressed with what i saw from Keegan's Newcastle today.

Well a point is better than nothing I suppose I was impressed with Frazier Campbell. We did miss the slave , Fergie needs to get a striker in that can score goals and fast.

Well to be fair there was no Park, Nani, Andersen either ...

The team that finished the game must have been the most interesting Man Utd line up I've ever seen. I think the Possebon fella is quite good though. Looks very assured and composed.

Yeah Poseidon looked adventurous.

Was impressed with Newcastle today, the two new boys with the incredibly dodgy barnets looked fairly good, Gutierrez in particular looked strong and composed, working hard to get the ball for the Toon and attacked at strength with a bit of pace. United never really kicked into a higher gear, Newcastle were saved by that shot that struck Given on the head and the Newcastle keeper made a couple of decent, brave saves early on. Slack defending indeed from United on the goal, Martins never should have been allowed to rise for such a free header, he was completely unchallenged. Van Der Sar looked shakey today in the United goal. A bit more composure after they had scored and it could have been even better for Newcastle today, but I'm sure they will be happy with a point.

That was a great point. I know that Man united were the better team but we didn't just sit back for 90mins. We worked hard as a team and created the odd chance. Both Gutierrez and Guthrie were outstanding! I thought Coloccini had a bad start but he hasn't played any pre season matches so he will only get better. I personally don't know how Butt got man of the match, he was average. Taylor was solid at the back as well.

He's here, he's there, he's every f*cking where, SPIDERMAN!!, SPIDERMAN!!

Gutierrez would have been my man of the match.

If we don't take this into the game against Bolton, it will have been a waste of time...