First teamers playing for the reserves/U23s

Pogue Mahone

Clarkson the Helicopter Dad.
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Van Gaal did a lot of crazy/stupid things but was his insistence on giving squad players minutes for the stiffs the right idea?

I just don’t think it’s reasonable to expect players like Mata, Tuanzebe, Williams and (to a lesser extent) Matic/VdB to be sharp enough to compete in a PL game when they haven’t played a competitive game of football in weeks. I also think “match fitness” is thing which showed in the difference between our first and second half displays.

It didn’t matter last night but it might in the future. If our first XI is settled and fit enough to play as consistent a line-up as we have done this season should the fringe players be starting for the U23s?

Discuss.
 
Go back 20-30 years and the standard of reserve football was decent enough where you could get match practice.

I’m really not sure what value playing for the U23s (reserves) is these days - hence why so many players go out of loan, in turn continuing to weaken the U23’s.

In theory yes, players could play.
 
Looking at the standard of refereeing and some of the tackling at that level, not sure I would want somebody coming back from injury being thrown in there. Actually I do agree that they should get some time there to build their sharpness. Sitting on the bench for an eternity is not helpful.
 
U23s is pretty much conference level. I'm not sure it gives much benefit.
 
I think its a good idea for the likes of Axel for sure - he needed more minutes this season. Plus players returning from injury

Not sure if there is much value in the old timers like Mata and Matic playing there though

This season there was extra complication of moving between teams with COVID bubbles etc
 
I think this year they can't due to covid bubbles, could be wrong though.

I believe they have to move up the U23s who might be involved into the first team bubble well ahead of matches.

Otherwise I agree, I remember getting MUTV to mainly follow the Hargreaves appearances every few months on his journey back to fitness.
 
Ah. Good point re covid bubbles. Makes you wonder if Ole’s hand has been forced a bit this season when he’s seemed reluctant to give fringe players more minutes. Also helps explain how rubbish we’ve looked every time we played a weakened team.
 
This year has definitely been a weird one. I'm shocked we've been this 'lucky' with absolutely key players (Shaw/Fernandes/Fred/Maguire) and think in other seasons Ole would have been punished for not having the second string up to speed. All considered, I think we were pretty amazing yesterday against in theory the 3rd best team in the league. A midfield 3 that have never played together behind a front 3 that have never played together with a back 4 that surely hasn't played together often.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Van Gaal did a lot of crazy/stupid things but was his insistence on giving squad players minutes for the stiffs the right idea?

I just don’t think it’s reasonable to expect players like Mata, Tuanzebe, Williams and (to a lesser extent) Matic/VdB to be sharp enough to compete in a PL game when they haven’t played a competitive game of football in weeks. I also think “match fitness” is thing which showed in the difference between our first and second half displays.

It didn’t matter last night but it might in the future. If our first XI is settled and fit enough to play as consistent a line-up as we have done this season should the fringe players be starting for the U23s?

Discuss.
Click to expand...

The whole Academy/Reserve League is a massive issue in my opinion.

The reason that Williams and Tuanzebe and others are struggling is that they are hardly playing any football. They are still developing as players and need game time. Playing alongside older players in matches will only help them.

The older players need match fitness for different reasons.

That means we are relying on loans to develop the likes of Chong, Garner, Laird, Levitt, Bernard, Pellestri, Pereira and others. Some are working and others aren't.

We have a second X1 which basically only get 1/3 of a season actually playing.

The U/23 and Academy is vanilla football. Most teams all play the same way and the players keep coming up against opponents they played against in other Academies for the last 10 years.

Nicky Butt was very critical of this.

I'd like to see us put a second team in a league somewhere...but not sure that will ever happen.
 
I’d like to see them introduce another league between the first team and the u23. It should in theory be the likes of mata, etc who don’t play every week and will allow them a better level to keep their fitness up
 
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