Hahahahha. It's near impossible to get info, I always have to get lineups, match stats etc from other sources, often the opposition team.
Miscellaneous Reserve/Youth News
- Thread starter Cevno
- Start date
What an absolute piss take, are they actively trying to lose subscribers?
City/Chelsea are snapping up all these youngsters from across the country. Are United planning on doing that as well?
I have very comprehensive records of all games played by U/18's and U/21's going back decades. If anyone wants details of matches please just ask.
RESERVES MID-TERM REVIEW
The team has played a total of 20 games which equates to four a month or once a week which is fairly good in comparison to past seasons. This gives plenty of opportunities for players to get action and also get some continuity going.
In addition, we have seen the elevation of many of the team that won the FA Youth Cup last season including Jurado, Bennett, McNeill, Hansen-Aaroen, Forson, Fredricson and Gore all of whom have featured in 50% of those matches. This is great from a development perspective, but obviously these youngsters will make mistakes which we have seen with the number of goals we have conceded.
However, on the down side, we have struggled to score goals, there are still players who haven't played much at all and there seems to be a lot of injured players at the club right now.
We have seen a real lack of quality at Reserve level for some years now in terms of goalscoring, which reflects not only how many games we win and our position in the table, but also the confidence that success brings. Taking Mason Greenwood out of the equation as he is an outlier, it's been years since a striker at the club has got anywhere near 15-20 goals a season. This season we have only scored 27 goals in the 20 matches to date. Our top scorer is Shoretire with 5 and McNeill and Forson with 4 each. McNeill's total includes 3 penalties. The three highest playing midfielders are Savage, Hansen-Aaroen and Mainoo who have six goals between them. McNeill has yet to step up into the more physical world of second team football, but the talent is there having scored a bagful at U/18 level last season.
Having watched all the games, our possession is comparable to any other team and we create chances but tend slow it down, lose possession or run out of ideas when we reach the final third. Something the club will no doubt be aware of. This is particularly evident when we play better teams such as Manchester City and Bolton in the EFL Trophy. We failed to score in every one of the International Cup games and also in the final two EFL matches.
In terms of player development, taking injuries out of the equation, there are still players not getting enough playing time. Iqbal, who is training with the first team, has only played six competitive games all season, Collyer has only started four whilst we have so many keepers it's impossible to give them all match action. Vitek (8), Mastny (4), Bishop (6), and Mee (2) makes me wonder how so little game time gets them ready for senior football?
If you look at injuries, I can't remember the last time we had so many players injured. At some time or other Mengi, Bernard, Emeran, Pye, Hugill, Mather, Mejia, Pellestri, Kambwala have all had long spells on the sidelines. That's nearly a whole team. I don't know if that is bad luck, over-training, poor medical advice or some other factor but it the same at Academy level.
Finally, if we look at loans, this area of football is one of the toughest to manage. Whilst some loans seem to be going well for players...Laird, Fernandez, Diallo and Mejbri come to mind...for others it's been a mixed bag. Will Fish at Hibs, Charlie Wellens at Oldham Athletic, Ethan Galbraith at Salford City have fallen off the radar a little. I am reluctant to be too critical, as getting loans right is really difficult and you need to be careful. This is one area to continue to watch in the second half of the season. Personally, I would be looking for 'decent' loans for the likes of Elanga, Savage, Iqbal, Mengi, Bernard and Hardley in the January window. They need to be playing more regularly and against higher calibre teams/players.
Everyone will have different views of the management under Mark Dempsey, the quality of players at the club, the decisions taken by the people in charge...at the end of the day it's a competitive environment and the best players will no doubt succeed regardless. As always, watching the development to the first team is all part of the reason why we follow reserve team football.
Let's hope for a better second half of the campaign.
Top Appearances:
18 - Hardley, Savage, Jurado, McNeill
16 - Hansen-Aaroen
15 - Mainoo, Bennett, Forson
13 - Shoretire
11 - Fredricson, Huddlestone
10 - Gore
Top Goal Scorers:
5 - Shoretire
4 - McNeill, Forson
3 - Hansen-Aaroen
2 - Mainoo, Jurado
1 - Savage, Bennett, Hugill, Wellens, Garnacho
The team has played a total of 20 games which equates to four a month or once a week which is fairly good in comparison to past seasons. This gives plenty of opportunities for players to get action and also get some continuity going.
In addition, we have seen the elevation of many of the team that won the FA Youth Cup last season including Jurado, Bennett, McNeill, Hansen-Aaroen, Forson, Fredricson and Gore all of whom have featured in 50% of those matches. This is great from a development perspective, but obviously these youngsters will make mistakes which we have seen with the number of goals we have conceded.
However, on the down side, we have struggled to score goals, there are still players who haven't played much at all and there seems to be a lot of injured players at the club right now.
We have seen a real lack of quality at Reserve level for some years now in terms of goalscoring, which reflects not only how many games we win and our position in the table, but also the confidence that success brings. Taking Mason Greenwood out of the equation as he is an outlier, it's been years since a striker at the club has got anywhere near 15-20 goals a season. This season we have only scored 27 goals in the 20 matches to date. Our top scorer is Shoretire with 5 and McNeill and Forson with 4 each. McNeill's total includes 3 penalties. The three highest playing midfielders are Savage, Hansen-Aaroen and Mainoo who have six goals between them. McNeill has yet to step up into the more physical world of second team football, but the talent is there having scored a bagful at U/18 level last season.
Having watched all the games, our possession is comparable to any other team and we create chances but tend slow it down, lose possession or run out of ideas when we reach the final third. Something the club will no doubt be aware of. This is particularly evident when we play better teams such as Manchester City and Bolton in the EFL Trophy. We failed to score in every one of the International Cup games and also in the final two EFL matches.
In terms of player development, taking injuries out of the equation, there are still players not getting enough playing time. Iqbal, who is training with the first team, has only played six competitive games all season, Collyer has only started four whilst we have so many keepers it's impossible to give them all match action. Vitek (8), Mastny (4), Bishop (6), and Mee (2) makes me wonder how so little game time gets them ready for senior football?
If you look at injuries, I can't remember the last time we had so many players injured. At some time or other Mengi, Bernard, Emeran, Pye, Hugill, Mather, Mejia, Pellestri, Kambwala have all had long spells on the sidelines. That's nearly a whole team. I don't know if that is bad luck, over-training, poor medical advice or some other factor but it the same at Academy level.
Finally, if we look at loans, this area of football is one of the toughest to manage. Whilst some loans seem to be going well for players...Laird, Fernandez, Diallo and Mejbri come to mind...for others it's been a mixed bag. Will Fish at Hibs, Charlie Wellens at Oldham Athletic, Ethan Galbraith at Salford City have fallen off the radar a little. I am reluctant to be too critical, as getting loans right is really difficult and you need to be careful. This is one area to continue to watch in the second half of the season. Personally, I would be looking for 'decent' loans for the likes of Elanga, Savage, Iqbal, Mengi, Bernard and Hardley in the January window. They need to be playing more regularly and against higher calibre teams/players.
Everyone will have different views of the management under Mark Dempsey, the quality of players at the club, the decisions taken by the people in charge...at the end of the day it's a competitive environment and the best players will no doubt succeed regardless. As always, watching the development to the first team is all part of the reason why we follow reserve team football.
Let's hope for a better second half of the campaign.
Top Appearances:
18 - Hardley, Savage, Jurado, McNeill
16 - Hansen-Aaroen
15 - Mainoo, Bennett, Forson
13 - Shoretire
11 - Fredricson, Huddlestone
10 - Gore
Top Goal Scorers:
5 - Shoretire
4 - McNeill, Forson
3 - Hansen-Aaroen
2 - Mainoo, Jurado
1 - Savage, Bennett, Hugill, Wellens, Garnacho
Thanks for the summary Mr. Mujac. Are the injury levels comparable to other teams? Difficult to compare I imagine but what do you think?
And why do we always seem to have so many keepers? Wasn't Bishop playing 1st team football last season, he can't be happy with the current situation.
Heard there will be at least 6+ players going out on loan in Jan.
It seems Chelsea and City have for a long time been actively snapping up the best young talent domestically. And that imo is due to their transfer budget at youth level being bigger than ours. That doesn't mean we haven't had periods where we haven't signed some very good young players ourselves in the last 5 or 6 years. But we don't seem to have the means to challenge for the best youth talents on a consistent basis like Chelsea and City do. And there's also a suggestion that the likes of City and Chelsea provide a more appealing pathway for a young player by way of their facilities and infrastructure.
What it comes down to ultimately is the owners of the clubs in question. Chelsea have made proactive moves already in the market by signing highly rated teenagers from Molde in Norway (Fofana) and Andrey Santos from Vasco da Gama in Brazil.
I think for United to challenge the aforementioned clubs, we need new owners who will have the ambition to want to challenge those clubs at every level on a consistent basis. And that's not going to happen with the Glazers.
Not exactly United related but as someone who's had a lot to say about refereeing and the violence at youth level, have a fecking look at the state of this challenge on Will Alves, very intentionally tried to break his leg. Disgusting.
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Shocking tackle - and he apparently walked off proud of what he’d done. Sounds like the villain from mighty ducks 3!
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Disgrace! Something like this was bound to happen at some point due to the levels of thuggery that is allowed to pass. From the little I've seen of him, Alves looks a really fine player as well. Hopefully he comes back stronger from this.
Alves is meant to be the best player in their academy, shocking from the Wolves player, he’s an embarrassment.
Like the Everton thugs who destroyed Chong's ACL twice in 5 minutes.
See ressies are 2 up at Fulham. Shoretire and Hugill.
Not much discussion here about Ten Hag actually controlling u23s team news which was broken last week?
So what’s the consensus here.
So what’s the consensus here.
It makes sense in alot of ways I guess. No reason they shouldn't play in the image of what he wants.
How active a role will he have though?
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It is made to sound like a big deal - it probably isn't that much different than it was under OGS, Mourinho or LvG. Does anyone seriously think they weren't more or less in total control of the U23s when they were here ? I seriously doubt the academy coaches had much say if the first team manager instructed the U23s on which players to use because he wanted to see them in action.
The u21s are also battling relegation and haven't won a match in the cup competitions either so it clearly isn't doing much good anyway.
I thought it was spoken about as something that would happen going forward or have I got that wrong?The u21s are also battling relegation and haven't won a match in the cup competitions either so it clearly isn't doing much good anyway.
I think its more about harmonising both team's style of play so that individuals are more tactically familiar with how the first team wants to play its football rather than Ten Hag having the ultimate call on who plays or doesn't play.
The interview was spoken in the past tense, so he has been doing it. He also insisted on it from the start.
But like lysglimt said, there is nothing special about it anyway. Any half decent manager will be exerting control over the u21s, Ole regular attended u21s training and matches. u21s players regularly take part in first team training as well, so they'll be tailoring things in their development to what they want.
I guess we can at least see that he's really keen on Mainoo and somewhat Fredricson and Gore judging from how much U21s minutes they have been gotten already.
There is no way Ten Hag is picking the 21s teams, he’s not that stupid.
I think some of the news articles around this mentioned him being involved in how much time different players were getting on the pitch and also positions played rather than specific starting XI and subs, etc.
But I can imagine us implementing tactics to match the first team so players coming up have an easier transition
But I can imagine us implementing tactics to match the first team so players coming up have an easier transition
Mark Dempsey will have control over U/21 tactics, team selection, substitutions and day-to-day coaching.
Ten Hag will have an input on those things, ask for specific players to take specific roles and probably overall style.
It's just like any good organisation with a reasonable structure.
My guess is that ETH will be a bit more hands on with strategy and player input than others have been.
Ten Hag will have an input on those things, ask for specific players to take specific roles and probably overall style.
It's just like any good organisation with a reasonable structure.
My guess is that ETH will be a bit more hands on with strategy and player input than others have been.
The U21's made it a hat trick of wins - for the first team, U18's and U21's - with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool. Both goals for Joe Hugill.
Team: Vitek - Jurado, Kambwala, Hardley, B.Williams - Iqbal, Savage - Emeran, Hansen-Aarøen, Forson - Hugill.
Team: Vitek - Jurado, Kambwala, Hardley, B.Williams - Iqbal, Savage - Emeran, Hansen-Aarøen, Forson - Hugill.
Hugill with 4 in 3 at the moment, interesting to see how he gets on for the rest of the season, there's chances for a young striker in this United team.
Just for completeness...subs:
12. Pye
13. Mastny
14. Mejia (Emeran) '56
15.McNeill
16. Collyer (Hansen-Aaroen) '84
Joe Hugill's goals came on '19 and '78
Any news on youth recruitment? Feels like things have dried up.
Brexit?
The youth recruitment has dried up since Nicky Butt left the club. He had a big input in bringing in ganacho, Fernandez, and Jurado and I would think Brexit is also having an effect.
What I would have concerns about is we cant seem to attract the top British talent.
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I‘ve heard about two players we are close to signing for next seasons U18s
Is Chris Rigg one of them?
I don't think that's true at all.
Brexit definitely played a part as people didn't know the rules, but Butt wasn't the driving force behind youth recruitment. That wasn't his role.
Edit: Yeah, that's David Harrisons role: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-harrison-57148936/?originalSubdomain=uk
You've just completely made that up, stop spreading needless misinformation.
Lots of loans being arranged this week
Oydele loaned to Altrincham and on the bench for their first team tonight.
yes that one was sorted last week
Amy relation to Eric?
The u21s played a lot of games so far, and only 11 games left until may, so oppotunity for many to go on loan.