Q&A: Paul McGuinness
On the eve of the Reds' tantalising FA Youth Cup third round clash with Chelsea at Old Trafford, ManUtd.com caught up with Under-18s manager Paul McGuinness for his thoughts on the game...
What was the reaction within the Academy when the draw was made?
We were all really pleased, because these are the type of games you want. The Youth Cup is like a simulation for first team games, so to get Chelsea and to play at Old Trafford is as close to that as you can get at our age group. It's a game where both teams are going to be attacking. You're not trying to break down a defence which is just sat there holding out, they're two good teams. It's a really good draw in that sense. Last year we had smaller teams, which can make the lads more nervous. We were at a smaller ground in Northwich last year, and the condition of the pitch was not as good as Old Trafford, you're massive favourites and you're on a hiding to nothing really.Anything can happen in a cup tie, as it did last year. This year's tie is a game which is just one we're anticipating, there are no nerves and we're getting ourselves prepared.
In such a big game, how important is it that the lads keep calm?
The ones who've been there before, we'll look to their experience. But we've got the captain of Italy's youth team in our squad, the captain of England's youth team in our squad, Irish youth internationals, and virtually everyone in the squad has had a good international experience and been on tour with us. All this is the preparation you do over years and years, bringing them up since they're eight or nine, taking them abroad so they're ready for these games. So this is a test to see how all these experiences come together. Hopefully it'll come out in the game.
Have you been making the players aware of the club's Youth Cup history?
We don't ram it down their throat, but it's constantly there. They're surrounded by the photos at Carrington, and we do little things to promote the history of the competition. At times we train at the Cliff, and we've had a special training camp there this week to be away from things on our own. The place is steeped in the history of the Youth Cup, we used to play youth Cup games there, the Busby Babes and a lot of prominent former youth players all played there, so the lads know about it all. We've won the trophy more times than anyone else, and it's important that they know they're following in the footsteps of a lot of youth teams and we've got that tradition for it.
More often than not in the youth teams, it's the case that the performance outweighs the result. Is that a different matter with the Youth Cup?
We use a lot of the other games as a big learning experience in terms of trying different bits of the game. You know that you won't always have your best team out, it's not always the same freshness about the group because you're working hard through the week. In the build-up to a game like this it's more like the first team. You want them fresh and do just the right amounts of work and you look to get out the strongest team that you think will be good enough to win the game, and that the subs will be able to make an impact. We focus more on the opposition as well, we've been going to their games and doing more match analysis, whereas normally you just get on with it and don't worry about the opposition.
Do you have a full squad to choose from?
We're hoping to have a virtually full squad. We've got one or two players out with little niggles, but in general we've got a good strong squad. We'll announce that on the day, and the thing about it is that I've got a few problems. There are some players who are in form that I'm going to have to leave out, and the good thing about that is that you've then got players who can come off the bench and make an impact.
Chelsea made it to last year's final, but are you confident of overcoming them?
Chelsea have got a good team and still have a few players who were in their run to last year's final, but also we've got three or four that played in the final two years ago, and that gives us experience. We're coming off the back of winning a big tournament, the Milk Cup, in the summer - so that gives us a lot of confidence. Our play this year has been good, we've had a good run recently and I think a lot of things are coming together at the right time in our team work. We've got a hardcore of players who've come through the system who are Manchester-born players, and we feel that's really important. They know the club and the history of the Youth Cup, and they've grown together so there's a real family feel about it. They spend more time with each other than they do with their own brothers, so that's how close they are and we feel it's something in our favour as we approach the game - the boys can't wait for kick-off.
Tickets for tonight's match, priced at £5 for adults and £2 for concessions, can be purchased at the Old Trafford turnstiles before the 7pm kick-off.