EFL Trophy - Rochdale - Manchester United u23

lysglimt

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Match against Rochdale tonight - and "the Dale" have started the season poorly with just 1 Point in 3 League matches in League 1. They somehow managed to beat Morecambe by 2-1 in the first EFL Match - a match where they scored twice in the last 5 minutes despite being outplayed for most of the match.

Rochdale used the following 11 in that game : Lynch - Dunne, McNulty, Amankwah, McLaughlin - Rathbone, Brierley, Morley, Bradley - Baah and Tavares
Those who are really interested in Man United youth should recongnize a few of the names here.

Jay Lynch was part of the United set-up until 2010 when he left for Bolton, and has played regularly for Salford and Fylde afterwards
Oliver Rathbone was at United until 2016 and joined Rochdale afterwards

It should also be noted that Rochdale played a really young side against Morecambe - where 7 players were born after january 1st 2000.

Ethan Brierley and Kwadwo Baah are 2 interesting players - they were born in 2004 and 2003 respectively - and Brierley was so young when he made his debut he wasn't allowed to change with the rest of the team apparently.

So if this is the team Rochdale will field tonight, I consider us clear favourites.
 

Mickson

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Hopefully Devine and Laird will be back, then I think we will win. I would like to see Hugill play as a striker, I know it's much to ask from him.. but we need his presence. I don't think Mengi will be involved due to him being on the bench tomorrow.

I would like to see this:

Mastny
Laird, Fish, Bernard, Devine
Mejbri, McCann, Galbraith
Helm, Hugill, Elanga

And the game is NOT on MUTV. You can see the game via Rochdale's website for £8 or something like that. Apparently, United and Rochdale will share the income.
 

lysglimt

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Mickson said:
Hopefully Devine and Laird will be back, then I think we will win. I would like to see Hugill play as a striker, I know it's much to ask from him.. but we need his presence. I don't think Mengi will be involved due to him being on the bench tomorrow.

I would like to see this:

Mastny
Laird, Fish, Bernard, Devine
Mejbri, McCann, Galbraith
Helm, Hugill, Elanga

And the game is NOT on MUTV. You can see the game via Rochdale's website for £8 or something like that. Apparently, United and Rochdale will share the income.
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Devine and Laird wont play - pretty certain of that.
 

lysglimt

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Mickson said:
Why do you think that?
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Both have been injured for a while - and even if they are fit to play - I just can't see this as the first game they play after their injury. You look at some of the results from our opponents U-23 side (Liverpool hammered 1-6 by Wigan, Newcastle 0-3 to Shrewsbury, Wolves losing 0-4 to Oldham. It just doesn't seem like a match where you want to use players who lack match fitness.
 

Mickson

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lysglimt said:
Both have been injured for a while - and even if they are fit to play - I just can't see this as the first game they play after their injury. You look at some of the results from our opponents U-23 side (Liverpool hammered 1-6 by Wigan, Newcastle 0-3 to Shrewsbury, Wolves losing 0-4 to Oldham. It just doesn't seem like a match where you want to use players who lack match fitness.
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I'm not sure, as you said; can't see Rochdale playing their best team and they have started awfully. I wouldn't be surprised if they both played, but then again I don't have any knowledge about their fitness level. We'll see I guess.
 

Archer

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I think Amankwah was with United youth team for a while as well.
 

SteveW

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You can purchase through ifollow on the rochdale site if you want to watch this.
 

SteveW

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Well on top. They can't handle Elanga's pace at all. Hugill has had a couple of decent chances. A flick against the post and another just over.
 

SteveW

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Hard to see Elanga not getting a loan this season. He's walking through them right now.
 

AltiUn

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Ace of Spades said:
Give him a run out in the first team, we don't have a lot of true wingers anyway.
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Now Chong's gone out on loan he's probably the attacker closest to getting a first team appearance. If he keeps up his form I reckon he'll make a few matchday squads before Christmas and maybe an appearance in the FA cup.
 

TwoSheds

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Be nice to see him on the bench tomorrow, although it seems highly unlikely given the way these fixtures have fallen.
 

mazhar13

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Elanga mainly plays on the left wing. I don't think I've seen him play on the right side that much. Sure, we can put him there and see if he works out, but I've yet to see him play there for the underage sides.
 

EC689908

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5-4 Penalty win for the bonus point. Mejbri, McCann, Hansen-Aaroen, Elanga, Hugill all scoring.
 

TwoSheds

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Any thoughts on the lads who stepped up to U23s for the first time from anyone who watched it? (Pye, Hugill, Hansen-Aaroen?)
 

Mickson

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TwoSheds said:
Any thoughts on the lads who stepped up to U23s for the first time from anyone who watched it? (Pye, Hugill, Hansen-Aaroen?)
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Pye was good. Good link-up play with Elanga and looked very confident in both directions. Hugill worked tirelessly but had a difficult night as a 16-year-old lone striker, you can imagine. Hansen made a good sub appearance, looked lively and a good dribbler. Set up a good chance too. I have Fish as my MOTM, he was flawless. Mastny was shaky in the first half, but hard to argue about three penalty saves and a good game overall. He was certainly top 3.
 

JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo

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Had to buy this one via ifollow. Great concept for the EFL teams tbh through covid and I kind of hope this could be the way forward in future years for us where we can buy a season pass for all United games.

We really dominated the opening 20 mins or so and hit the post, worked the keeper and were perhaps a little wasteful as a previous poster said. Elanga was absolutely tearing them a new one.

Rochdale came out much stronger and more aggressive in second half. They silenced Elanga for a long period and started to hack at Hannibal. Hannibal was dropping deeper and deeper, literally coming between Bernard and Fish and started dictating the play, seems like he went from a 10 to a 6. He did this a few times last year also, so it shows he is always asking to get on the ball.

Bernard looks really calm under pressure.

Ercolani had a free header that he completely faffed, and Hugill almost was in a couple of times in the second half. Hugill is definitely a talent and the 16 year old will learn from today's poor performance.

Rochdale won the penalty from almost nothing, but they had really put us on the defensive. Thankfully Mastny made up for his horror show against Liverpool. Still makes odd decisions but he was there for so many big saves including 1 pen in the game and 2 in the shootout. He has big shoes to fill as Kovar was such a solid keeper last year. He has excellent throwing range though, and is always trying to get attacks going so he might have a good IQ for the game.

The draw was probably a fair result
 

JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo

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Mickson said:
Pye was good. Good link-up play with Elanga and looked very confident in both directions. Hugill worked tirelessly but had a difficult night as a 16-year-old lone striker, you can imagine. Hansen made a good sub appearance, looked lively and a good dribbler. Set up a good chance too. I have Fish as my MOTM, he was flawless. Mastny was shaky in the first half, but hard to argue about three penalty saves and a good game overall. He was certainly top 3.
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Fish passing range looks very good
 

lysglimt

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Fish and Bernard were both excellent. As I have said before, Bernard never impressed me much in the beginning when he joined from Chelsea, he almost always had one big mistake in every game. But now - I actually believe he could have a really good career. That incident when he first lost the ball and then simply bundled the attacker off the ball half a second later was impressive. I still rate Mengi above both him and Fish, but they really aren't that far behind.

Wellens was the one who impressed me the least - he got the ball so many times in good positions on the right, and almost every time he either passed it backwards or moved infield with it. No attempts to cross or challenge the fullback.

Elanga was our best player in the first half, and then almost completely disappeared from the game after the break. Hansen-Aarøen was really good after coming on, and Mastny was MOTM. He was really brave in his goalkeeping and stopped 3 penalties.
 

Mickson

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lysglimt said:
Fish and Bernard were both excellent. As I have said before, Bernard never impressed me much in the beginning when he joined from Chelsea, he almost always had one big mistake in every game. But now - I actually believe he could have a really good career. That incident when he first lost the ball and then simply bundled the attacker off the ball half a second later was impressive. I still rate Mengi above both him and Fish, but they really aren't that far behind.

Wellens was the one who impressed me the least - he got the ball so many times in good positions on the right, and almost every time he either passed it backwards or moved infield with it. No attempts to cross or challenge the fullback.

Elanga was our best player in the first half, and then almost completely disappeared from the game after the break. Hansen-Aarøen was really good after coming on, and Mastny was MOTM. He was really brave in his goalkeeping and stopped 3 penalties.
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A typical United youth player in the last couple of seasons. Looks neat and tidy, can pass and move, but not much is happening. Don't know what's his best position is. Svidersky is one I don't rate and thought he was poor both as a midfielder and a left-back. IMO he has no stand out qualities except working hard. Other than that, not hard to be impressed by Neil Wood and the players! This is an extremely young and inexperienced team! Wood is working wonders.
 
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