Tuesday, 27th October 2009 – KO: 19:45

A quick chance here to get back to winning ways after Sunday’s disappointing result.

As this is a Carling Cup tie, Fergie was never going to choose the same kind of team that lined up against Liverpool, that this game come just two days after that game will no doubt mean that few, if any, of the players who played 90 minutes on Sunday will appear here.

Which is all good news for a few of the Reserves who will no doubt be given a chance to shine here.

I was hoping Obertan would make an appearance in this one and it looks like that could be the case as Fergie has apparently said that he will be playing.

A few others who have been very impressive for the reserves and must surely be knocking on the door include Ritchie De Laet, Magnus Eikrem and Joshua King.

What all this means is that, as usual, the performance of the United team is made all the more difficult to predict, simply because there can be little way of knowing who exactly will play.

The midfield is likely to be the problem area. I doubt Fletcher will be used in this game even if he has recovered from the injury that kept him out on Sunday. Anderson should start however. If Obertan and Nani play on the right and left respectively then that can only really leave Eikrem to take the other midfield slot. Unless Welbeck is used on the right again with Obertan given a more central role.

Up front, this looks like a game for Owen and possibly Macheda.

In defence, Gary Neville might be used to bring some experience with perhaps Evans, Brown and Fabio taking the other three positions.

In goal, Foster or Kuszczak.

That’s my guess anyway and I think I should get an extra brownie point for every one I get right.

As for Barnsley, well, they are not having a great season in the Championship so far, having picked up just 14 points from 14 games and have been beaten at home four times already.

I have absolutely no idea what will happen here tonight, if the team Fergie puts out clicks then we could score a couple, if they don’t then we could struggle.

Barnsley are hardly prolific scorers themselves though and so might struggle to score even one goal.

What this means is that I think there might be some value to be had in going for the UNDER market here but I won’t be going overboard with the stakes.

The bet is 3 points UNDER 2.5 Goals @ 2.1 with Boylesports.

Well, I was very close with my team selection but I am sure Fergie does it on purpose – Rafael in centre midfield from made very little sense to me and there has been nothing to suggest he would ever be used in centre midfield as he is being groomed as a long term successor to Neville and he is ideally suited to that role.

I would have thought if Fergie wanted to give a Reserve player a chance on a bigger stage then Eikrem was the obvious choice but he didn’t even make the bench.

Instead Fergie opted for Obertan on the left, Rafael and Anderson in the centre with Welbeck on the right.

Of course, Fergie will just point to the scoreboard so all is well and justified in the end.

2-0 is actually the score I had in mind before the game but I must admit to feeling a bit wobbly about it when we scored from a very good header from Welbeck after just six minutes (the Barnsley defence will be kicking themselves over that one though).

Having been given a pretty painful kick up the backside, Barnsley got their act together a bit and had a very good spell towards the end of the second half as time and time again they delivered some great balls into the area which their front players couldn’t finish.

They seemed to have an awful lot of attempts on goal without really troubling Foster too much.

The game became a lot more of an even contest for a while until Michael Owen was played in by Anderson and worked a little bit of Owen magic to slot home as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

There were some more moments and at any point, the bet could have been scuppered but it ended up winning and United are through to the next round.

A couple of points worth picking up on with this one are:-

Obertan – he didn’t really get the chance to show what he can do in this one although we did see examples of the pace he possesses. He is rapid. One of the things that was mentioned when we signed him was that he lacks a bit of self-belief and perhaps this showed through at times. It is one thing to play in the reserve team where results aren’t necessarily the be all and end all of the competition but it is another thing to do your thing when a mistake really could mean something.

I think he’s still a bit of a raw diamond though and one for the future.

The other thing was the sending off of Gary Neville. I think the ref got it spot on. His studs were high but dropping and he seemed to raise them at the last second quite maliciously. It was a straight red and a player such as Gary Neville who needs all the favours he can get in order to have a run in the first team will know that the ban incurred from this red card is the last thing he needs.

Brought in for his experience and a cool head when the youngsters might be losing theirs, it was hardly a great example.

Not much else to say about this one. Barnsley were as toothless as their record this season suggested and United just had that extra bit of class all around the pitch.

A deserved win and we march on into the next round.