the goalie Harrison looks impressive, really confident with the ball at his feet, good distribution and quite commanding in his area - perhaps a bit overconfident - not such a bad thing. Kamason , too, looks a decent prospect. its always hard to see how far these kids will progress, but fingers crossed
Miscellaneous Reserve/Youth News
- Thread starter Cevno
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Harrison has been awful today.
U18's currently losing 4-0 to Forest. Harrison has gifted two of the goals with the ball at his feet - once being caught in possession, the other casually passing it to a Forest player on the edge of the box.
Also got booked - and could just as easily have been sent off - for flying out of his box and taking out a striker 40 yards from goal.
It's been a poor all round team performance - from another very young side - and especially bad from Harrison.
Really poor performance but the age gap between the two sides was about as big as you'll ever see in U18 football.
United started with 6 first-years, 4 u16s & 1 u15.
Forest started with 4 first years, 5 second-years, 1 u16 & then they even had one u19 player who was given special permission to feature.
United started with 6 first-years, 4 u16s & 1 u15.
Forest started with 4 first years, 5 second-years, 1 u16 & then they even had one u19 player who was given special permission to feature.
These days were always going to come for Harrison. He should carry on playing the way he does and have the courage of his own convictions. It's the right approach and his decision making will improve in time.
Is that Will Fish scored for Hibs today?
Second in the past month. He has been great since being given a chance.
Seems a poor shot stopper in games ive seen. Over hyped as plays high. Certainly no Vitek.
I think he's a reasonable shot stopper. Both have different strengths and weaknesses. He doesn't have Vitek's presence and command. Vitek doesn't have Harrison's ability on the ball.
Don't burst the bubble.
Harrison hasn't even turned 17 yet - Vitek is 19.5 - there is a difference there. And he has generally been very good this season
Just realized he turns 17 tomorrow
what is going on with Vitek? I know Mastny is on loan, but did not hear anything about Vitek.
Gonna have to be at some level now when the Qataris take over to get near our first team thats for sure.
Not sure what you mean by what is going on with him, but he's our starting gk in the U21s. 25 goals conceded in 12 matches, although that's not all down to him. We've conceded by far the most out of all teams in PL2. 42 in 17 games. Not one clean sheet thus far this season
Vitek can be quite commanding in the area and on his day is an excellent shot stopper. In my opinion his game with ball at his feet is not consistently good enough for his generation of keepers. He also has a blunder in him that we see every now and then. I don't think he will have a career in a top league, but he's still young so there's time for improvement.
Out of the academy keepers Matty Kovář to me still has the highest chance to become a United keeper, but I'm not convinced that will ever happen either. Although with goalkeepers the maturity and the peak usually tends to come a bit later than with outfield players, so who knows. Happy to see him playing regularly this season but I'd like to see him in a stronger league than the Czech top tier next season.
Harrison's poor, over rated due to being a 'modern keeper' with the ball at his feet, not even very good at that either
U23s winning run halted by Palace, referee was pantomime villain levels of poor 
I disagree actually.
Bloody hell, was it an early kick off then!?U23s winning run halted by Palace, referee was pantomime villain levels of poor
My internet reception has been playing up today so I've not really been able to check it much but was hoping it would be better for tonight as I was looking forward to a rare chance to watch the U21's. Hadn't realised it was an early kick off!
How did they play?
It was a drab game. Palace had the best chances.
Only highlights were from Mainoo who slalomed through the defence before hitting the outside of the post and later when he superbly slipped in Mejia whose cross eventually fell to Mainoo on the spot and he blazed over. United had 2 penalty shouts in the final minute, one on Emeran (looked a foul) one on IHA (booked for a dive, hard to tell).
Only highlights were from Mainoo who slalomed through the defence before hitting the outside of the post and later when he superbly slipped in Mejia whose cross eventually fell to Mainoo on the spot and he blazed over. United had 2 penalty shouts in the final minute, one on Emeran (looked a foul) one on IHA (booked for a dive, hard to tell).
Thanks for that.
Doesn't sound a great game but, still, annoyed I missed it. They're playing again on Friday but that's a night game so won't be on MUTV because there's a televised PL game that night.
Sod's law that there was no PL match tonight so it could have been shown had it been a night game. Why there's no common sense about the scheduling to avoid clashes - so playing Friday's game in the early afternoon instead so it could be televised - I've no idea.
Apparently a PGMOL official was there to watch the game too. I imagine wasn't impressed, although you never know given their track record..U23s winning run halted by Palace, referee was pantomime villain levels of poor
Palace’s pulled shirts per 90 must be through the roof.
Thanks again for that accurate assessment.
I've just watched the full match on MUTV from 7pm and you described the game perfectly.
And I fully agree with all the other comments about Palace's shirt pulling - don't think I've ever seen a team do so much of it in open play.
status thing under the username checks out i see
Man Utd Twitter saying tonight's U21 game is live on MUTV. It certainly isn't for me.
Yeah I'd imagine that they have messed up there. Fulham are playing Wolves tonight, so wouldn't that break the Premier League's ridiculous rule?
Is that only for the 21? I mean, U18 games can be televised, and it's almost every week at the same time as the early Saturday KO in PL.
I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe it is only for the 21's yeah. You're right about the 18's. I don't understand what the rule is trying to achieve.
1-0 up after 18 mins. Forson scored
Finished 2-2. Hugill as well.
Wolves scored twice late on.
Wolves scored twice late on.
U18s 2-1 up to Derby live on MUTV. Goals from Scanlon and Musa. Very young side again.
Kemason lob is cleared off the line.
Derby go down and hit the crossbar.
United get the ball and a lovely pass to Musa who slots home for the 3rd. Fun half here
Derby go down and hit the crossbar.
United get the ball and a lovely pass to Musa who slots home for the 3rd. Fun half here
Nolan's strike from. 20 yards goes right in the top corner. 4-1
Hilarious refereeing, as per usual at U18 level.
Derby get given a penalty because Jackson won a header, while Nolan getting rugby tackled in the first-half was deemed OK.
Derby get given a penalty because Jackson won a header, while Nolan getting rugby tackled in the first-half was deemed OK.
Really enjoyed that 5-2 victory.
Great game to watch - 7 goals, could have been more for either team with 2 disallowed goals, a missed penalty and one not given, woodwork struck, etc...
Good performances from the likes of Williams, Berry, Nolan, Scanlon. Musa giving another good impression of Charlie McNeill - not really involved much in the build up but clinical finishes for his two goals. He's really taken to the #9 role so far.
Great game to watch - 7 goals, could have been more for either team with 2 disallowed goals, a missed penalty and one not given, woodwork struck, etc...
Good performances from the likes of Williams, Berry, Nolan, Scanlon. Musa giving another good impression of Charlie McNeill - not really involved much in the build up but clinical finishes for his two goals. He's really taken to the #9 role so far.
Musa is a #9, that's where he's played in the younger age groups. He just initially played on the wing with the 18s to accommodate Norkett/Wheatley.
Ah, thanks. That makes sense as I never really 'got' him as a winger or wide striker, where his main / only threat seemed to be drifting into space in the box for crosses from the other side. But he seems much more suited to the #9 role, even if he's similarly quiet in the bulk of play and just comes alive in and around the box.
Like McNeill, he needs to add more to his game - especially build up / hold up play - but he's certainly got that goal poachers ability to find space in and around the box and is showing good composure when finishing.
He's going to need to develop his game at some point if he's to make it at a top club. Perhaps out wide could be a good place to do that sometimes.
and yet , that's how Marcus started in the Youth team. Musa seems to have the same build at the same stage of his development. Im not saying that Musa will be as good as Marcus, but I can see obvious similarities. Musa seems pretty cool in front of goal. When Marcus was breaking through he was arguably third in the pecking order of strikers (behind Wilson and Will Keane) , so you can never predict how these kids will develop.
I think it's also somewhat show that the goalscoring records at this level is pretty much meaningless as you should score regularly as a number 9 with a good team behind you at this level. (not to take anything away from Musa, don't get me wrong)
I'm not sure you remember Rashford's youth career correctly. He was a winger/no.10 until he got to the U18s where McGuinness thought he needed to work on his finishing so played him up front and he massively improved his goalscoring. If anything it's the inverse to what you're saying about Musa I think.