U18s - Manchester United vs Blackburn

Inigo Montoya

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I think we should breed our own manager which we haven't had for a long time especially when we've been with SAF for nearly 3 decades, Barcelona did with Pep, Real Madrid did with Zidane and now City is breading their own to be next successors to Pep. Mckenna is the most exciting manager i"d want him to manage United. Do you know he's United fans?
Breeding? Man City? They will just buy success after success:lol:

Besides Barcelona had a pretty good foundation on which to build with Messi already intergrated
 

andersj

Nick Powell Expert
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Love watching this team play. We need to go out and poach another McKenna for our under-23s.
Agreed. McKenna apparantly picked up a lot from his spell at Spurs and is a new breed of coaches.

In my opinion we have seen two paradigm shifts in football the last two decades. The first was when we saw an increased focus on the pressing game. Benitez and Mourinho used different variations of high-pressing, while Klopp and Pep typically applied «gegenpressing».

The great advantage of putting pressure on the defender is that they often are limited on the ball, and more prone to make errors. Furthermore, they will make the error close to their own goal.

How do the opponent solve this?
A) Play brilliant player in defence who can cope with the pressure or,
B) Play the long ball or,
C) Establish a system and a structure that makes it easier to cope with the pressure,

The advantage with a system and a structure is that you can ensure that the player will not need superior skills. Furthermore, the system will ensure that the players know what to do in a given situation. It will be drilled into them. This is what makes limited players look more adept at being part of a team building from the back in teams like Spurs and even Liverpool. (Klopp has adapted and this is a bigger part of Klopp’s Liverpool than Klopp’s Dortmund. Mourinho has not, and he rely on players of high quality.)

In my opinion, this is the second paradigm shift and a natural evolution resulting from the high pressing.

Having McKenna at U18 is great, but it is a shame we dont have a coach that build play from the back at reservelevel. It feels like we make them regress when they «progress» a level. Hopefully, at some point, we will have a similar coach at both reserve and first team.
 

khoazany

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Would anyone argue this years U18's is better than last seasons?
Central midfield made a big difference. Our CM options this season are just superior and more balanced than last. Plus better forwards (Greenwood, an older Burkart, Mellor > Bohui and first year Burkart). Not to mention Tanner, Laird and Willams are such great options to choose from for fullbacks, although Kenyon and last year Tanner are good. Many times this season we're like having an extra winger on the left.
 

Jazz

Just in case anyone missed it. I don't like Mount.
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Can we hire this under 18 coach for the first team?:D Some great results under him.
 

DomesticTadpole

Doom-monger obsessed with Herrera & the M.E.N.
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United 19-13-3-3-59-28-42
Liverpool 17-10-5-2-45-23-35
Everton 17-10-3-4-46-28-33
Man City 16-8-3-5-41-30-27
Thanks.:) I was just saying it is Liverpool who could challenge us if they win their games in hand and Everton would only be three points behind.
 

Class of 63

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Thanks.:) I was just saying it is Liverpool who could challenge us if they win their games in hand and Everton would only be three points behind.
Just realised, it must have taken me at least 7 minutes to do the League table with one finger and one thumb :lol:

Yep, but hopefully they drop points in their next game against Man City(28/03), and we do play them away on Friday 20th April, think Everton are too far behind with our superior goal-difference worth another point, mind you if they keep on scoring 7 it might not be.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Just realised, it must have taken me at least 7 minutes to do the League table with one finger and one thumb :lol:

Yep, but hopefully they drop points in their next game against Man City(28/03), and we do play them away on Friday 20th April, think Everton are too far behind with our superior goal-difference worth another point, mind you if they keep on scoring 7 it might not be.
It was much appreciated.:)
 

Classical Mechanic

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What's the format to decide the Champions at the end of the season? Chelsea looking very very strong in their league. It would be good to see this team tested against them in a high pressure game.
 
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Class of 63

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Cutch

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McKenna played for Enniskillen Town and Ballinamallard United before moving to Spurs and also represented Northern Ireland at all underage levels, including captaining their U21s.

http://www.irishnews.com/sport/foot...kenna-takes-up-manchester-united-role-672327/
Yep. Played against him when he played for Ekn Town. His brother is club captain at Ballinamallard in the Northern Irish Premier Division. Real shame Kieran’s playing career ended before it got started
 

Class of 63

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Yep. Played against him when he played for Ekn Town. His brother is club captain at Ballinamallard in the Northern Irish Premier Division. Real shame Kieran’s playing career ended before it got started
He's the same age as Johnny Evans, do you know if Kieran ever traveled over for trials at United as a youngster, or attended one of Bob Bishop's training camps ??
 

jb8521

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Probably our best youth team this ever since the likes of Pogba, Morrison etc? @jb8521 @khoazany
I'd say it's definitely the best since then in terms of strength in depth anyway. We've had good teams in between but the step down in quality from first choice players was always pretty large so as soon as we had injuries or promoted players we struggled but looking even just looking at the players not starting today we could pick a very good team out of Kovar, Laird, Ercolani, Dunne, Barrett, McGhee, Barlow, Galbraith, Traore Gomes, Chong, Mellor & Ramazani