U18 FA Youth Cup Semi Final - Old Trafford 7pm GMT.

Obi looking a much better player when he has his head up and passing/ moving rather than trying to sort his feet for a shot every time he has it...
 
I know a lot of posters are seeing Byrne-Hughes for the first time tonight but he has been top class all season. Think people should be a little nicer to the lad.

Not our best performance but let's paste City.
 
Lost 4-2 to City after going 2-0 up at home in the league and won 3-1 away this season, should be a even contested game. We have the X factor to win it.
 
Lost 4-2 to City after going 2-0 up at home in the league and won 3-1 away this season, should be a even contested game. We have the X factor to win it.
We can't be as poor at both ends of the pitch against them or we will get pasted. City take their chances, which is why they have scored so many more goals than us.
 
We can't be as poor at both ends of the pitch against them or we will get pasted. City take their chances, which is why they have scored so many more goals than us.
The team is a lot more settled now, we went through a poor spell in the middle where we struggled a bit, that's what allowed city to pull ahead in both goals and points. City only really dominated us in 1 half this season, other times it was really tight with us slightly edging it. But they do have a lot of quick tricky players that always cause our defense problems.
 
Just over 3,000 in attendance. Lower the prices ffs!

Anyway, bring on the divs away in the final. Could be a big away following...
 
Late to the party. Just saw some clips. That pass to Chido was something.

Is the Palace left back decent? And their #7 showed some tasty footwork inside our box.
 
Just got back from Old Trafford and really pleased to see United reach another final.

When I saw the teams walk out I couldn't believe how big the Palace players were in comparison to our lads. However, after about 20 mins it was clear we were the better team technically and should win the game if we could manage their physicality. We controlled the game for the most part and although our keeper was below par, Palace were limited to mostly break-away chances and Byrne-Hughes didn't have to make many saves.

Player ratings:

1. Byrne-Hughes - kicking and decision making really poor and he was lucky he didn't cost us the game.
2. Helafu - good going forward but unfortunately he kept giving the ball away or lost possession in defence. A poor game
3. Mills - solid if not spectacular
4. Armer - Did really well in matching the physicality of the Palace forwards and defensively sound
5. Kukonki - Another good performance, This lad is quite raw but is strong, aggressive and a good tackler.
6. McCormack - A really good game with exceptional positioning and good link up play
7. Brown - quiet and failed to make any impact
8. Thwaites - probably our best player on the night. Was at the heart of our moves, controlled the midfield and hardly ever gave the ball away
9. Chido Obi - his runs, hold up play and positioning are first class. He is really intuitive as a centre-forward. His first touch, power and finishing were terrible at times tonight. Well done on the goal and assist but could have scored five himself.
10. Another ok game. Good in parts but quiet in others. Took his goal well but found it tough going. His last two FAYC Cup games have been average.
11. Ajayi - Didn't really do anything wrong but failed to impose himself on the game.

In terms of subs, Lusale made a big difference using his pace to constantly beat the fullback. The other players were ok but hard to judge based on minimal time on the pitch.

If Chido-Obi took half of his chances then we could have easily won this game 5-1, 6-2 or something like that.

We will need to be at our best to beat City and given this performance quite a few players need to step up and none of the players are ready for the first team yet. But that's youth football and it's a developmental process.

Looking forward to the final at the Etihad...probably on Friday May 1st.

The crowd was 3,189...the lowest in our history for a Youth Cup semi-final. The people in charge should be ashamed.
 
Late to the party. Just saw some clips. That pass to Chido was something.

Is the Palace left back decent? And their #7 showed some tasty footwork inside our box.

Both are England youth internationals for their respective age groups. Joel Drakes-Thomas (#7) already has a handful of first-team appearances at 16.
 
Both are England youth internationals for their respective age groups. Joel Drakes-Thomas (#7) already has a handful of first-team appearances at 16.

Yeah cheers for the info, I just googled the other: Dean Benamar. He looks really good actually. Seems a really well rounded left back.
 
The crowd was 3,189...the lowest in our history for a Youth Cup semi-final. The people in charge should be ashamed.
Cracking turn out last time we won it at Old Trafford but I agree, there's no way that's been advertised well because there would have been at least double that on a Friday night if people knew of it. Shame because I think money goes the MU Foundation from gates like this. Hoping for a good turn out for the final. The club should really promote it / put coaches on or whatever.
 
Not anymore. It used to be £1 with proceeds to the foundation. It is now £10 with no mention of the foundation and all about covering costs.
They should have charged £3-£5. Got a couple thousand more in. Made extra money on food and drink.

Oh and maybe open another turnstile so people can actually get in with a reasonably time before kick off.
 
A lot of people are on the back of Obi. If he still manage to set up one of our goals and score the winner on. a bad day, he might have an okay career in front of him.
 
A lot of people are on the back of Obi. If he still manage to set up one of our goals and score the winner on. a bad day, he might have an okay career in front of him.
He might have

But you need to remember that this is the U18 level and there’s a world of difference between these levels and PL football. Theres a lot of people who wanted him to be on the first team squad this season but we need a proper experienced backup to compete with Sesko. Obi is a bit off that level in my opinion
 
Think Obi regressed, he didnt look that far off when he got the chance. He wasn't scoring but was creating problems for PL defenders with his movement and positioning.

This season has been quite disappointing for him, still a big talent in my view.
 
A lot of people are on the back of Obi. If he still manage to set up one of our goals and score the winner on. a bad day, he might have an okay career in front of him.
I guess by watching him it’s obvious he’ll end on loan at league 1 or league 2 next season as opposed to been in the 1st team.
 
I guess by watching him it’s obvious he’ll end on loan at league 1 or league 2 next season as opposed to been in the 1st team.

I think it should be possible to get a championship loan but even if it's league 1 that's not an issue at this stage of his career.

Really he should have gone on loan this season, feels like a wasted season for him.
 
You can only play where you are selected to play. Everything is possible with him at this point. He might never make it or he might end up winning the Balon´Dor. I think he is developing fine and that his chances are good to become a great striker. I don´t get the rather critical opinions in here after the game. Obi was the deciding player, but he won´t score every chance he gets. So be it. He scored enough to get us into the final.
 
I think it should be possible to get a championship loan but even if it's league 1 that's not an issue at this stage of his career.

Really he should have gone on loan this season, feels like a wasted season for him.
i'd argue the struggles he is having are exactly why he didn't go on loan. I think good league 1 defenders would chew him up at this point.

I think even though he is massive he's actually got a great deal of physical development to go through, in addition to learning the game. By the time he is 21/22 we will know where he stands.
 
As frustrating as it is in game when a player misses multiple times I’m pleased with the majority of Obi’s development this season. I think he has shown a willingness to press from the front, grown aspects of his hold up play and as seen with the pass for the first goal, worked on his link up play.

His already shown he can finish and I’d rather he gets into those positions at this age than not. I think his over promotion maybe skewed expectations but he made a difference in the end.
 
They should have charged £3-£5. Got a couple thousand more in. Made extra money on food and drink.

Oh and maybe open another turnstile so people can actually get in with a reasonably time before kick off.

It's not the price for me, it's that I didn't know about the date. If they had sent an email or text I would have been there.

I heard final may be played as soon as next Friday. Hope so, if its the week after, I'll miss it .
 
Is there a delay on announcing the date for the final as they know our away numbers will completely embarrass the home crowd attendance?
 
Is there a delay on announcing the date for the final as they know our away numbers will completely embarrass the home crowd attendance?
They’re trying to decide which stand will they give to city and then they can give United the other 3
 
Is there a reason why the date isn't announced yet? Laurie Whitwell was saying it could be 1st May, which is not far off, seems a bit odd it's not confirmed yet.
I reckon they've got wind of a potentially big away following and are probably looking at security arrangements etc