U23s : United vs Leicester

The Man Himself

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Regardless of how old are the Leicester line-up, the 3 on midfield should have done better considering the hopes we have on them.

Bernard shows that he's ready for that loan move.
Let's say Bernard, Garner, Laird, Galbraith all go on loan and Mengi spends most of the time with senior team, do you (as someone who is well clued up on reserves & academy) think we have enough ability in U18s to make the step up and avoid relegation this season? Playing in division 2 seemed bit too easy last season and it is important we stay up so that our youngsters get to face strong tests like yesterday.
 

Inigo Montoya

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Where's the loan move thread. It'd be good to know how Levitt fared for Charlton. A friend of mine supports them but I haven't had a chance to chat to him yet
 

Mickson

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Regardless of how old are the Leicester line-up, the 3 on midfield should have done better considering the hopes we have on them.

Bernard shows that he's ready for that loan move.
I agree, people are talking about Garner, Mejbri, and Galbraith being good enough for United's first team, then making excuses that they can't stand up against a Leicester City U23 side. IMO those three were the most disappointing players yesterday. Garner should be dominating these kinds of games.
 

Inigo Montoya

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I agree, people are talking about Garner, Mejbri, and Galbraith being good enough for United's first team, then making excuses that they can't stand up against a Leicester City U23 side. IMO those three were the most disappointing players yesterday. Garner should be dominating these kinds of games.
Learning curve for all of them. They'll have good games and less influential ones. I think they'll come on for the experience
 

Yagami

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Not too concerned by the result or performance yesterday considering because of injuries we were relying on lads like Stanley and Svidersky who haven't even proved themselves at u18 level yet(mainly because of injuries), and Ercolani who is a box defender and not much else, against a Leicester City side who were much older/bigger, and pushed Chelsea all the way at this level for the title last year.

The fact neither goalscorer should have been on the pitch to score makes it easier to accept the result as well.

Oh yeah, an Impressive debut from our 8th choice keeper.
Yeah, he deserves a shout out. At times it was like having Kovar back in net! Some nice saves to keep us in it and pretty good distribution, too.
 

Class of 63

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Yeah, he deserves a shout out. At times it was like having Kovar back in net! Some nice saves to keep us in it and pretty good distribution, too.
Yep, very impressive with the ball at his feet, very Kovar like at times.

I thought Nathan Bishop would have started the season in nets for the 23s before maybe going out on loan in January but it looks as though it's Mastny is the first choice and if he avoids injury and keeps his form he'll play most of the season, as Carney needs another loan and Woolston will never be more than a back-up to the back-up, and the rest are all untried 16/17 year olds, with Dermot Mee the next in line.
 

mazhar13

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Regardless of how old are the Leicester line-up, the 3 on midfield should have done better considering the hopes we have on them.
Personally, I was only disappointed with Garner given that he should have asserted himself more. With Mejbri and Galbraith, I didn't expect them to necessarily take over that match as both haven't gone through the physical tests that Garner did.

Our other problem was that we didn't have a midfielder who took charge of protecting the defence. I'd have expected Garner to do this, but he was willing to play a more box-to-box role, which meant that Galbraith had to deal with more defensive responsibility. I'm starting to wonder if Garner's being freed up to offer more attacking productivity now instead of being a deeper-lying controlling midfielder.
 

jb8521

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Watching the first half, I had this exact thought in the tweet, whether the Leicester lineup is 'old' for U23 level. On top of that most of their players looked like fecking tanks. In comparison ours looked very young. Stanley looked like a little kid :D.
The ages of Leicester's side was 19, 19, 22, 23, 21, 18, 19, 21, 22, 20, 20 while United's was 18, 20, 17, 19, 17, 19, 19, 17, 18, 18, 18 & Shoretire 16 so there was a decent gap age wise
 

The Man Himself

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The ages of Leicester's side was 19, 19, 22, 23, 21, 18, 19, 21, 22, 20, 20 while United's was 18, 20, 17, 19, 17, 19, 19, 17, 18, 18, 18 & Shoretire 16 so there was a decent gap age wise
Thanks. On an average 2 years difference for each player then which at that level can be significant.
 

MPTutd

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The ages of Leicester's side was 19, 19, 22, 23, 21, 18, 19, 21, 22, 20, 20 while United's was 18, 20, 17, 19, 17, 19, 19, 17, 18, 18, 18 & Shoretire 16 so there was a decent gap age wise
Reminds me of Nicky Butt saying that is your aren't in and around the first team at 20, its doubtful you will make it at a top club.

Not sure what Leicester achieving with that squad.
 

Number32

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The ages of Leicester's side was 19, 19, 22, 23, 21, 18, 19, 21, 22, 20, 20 while United's was 18, 20, 17, 19, 17, 19, 19, 17, 18, 18, 18 & Shoretire 16 so there was a decent gap age wise
We are a newly promoted team in too. They already have experience playing with tougher opponent last year, while most of our U-23 squad was playing with kids.

We should've asked Rojo and Andreas playing with them.
 

Number32

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Reminds me of Nicky Butt saying that is your aren't in and around the first team at 20, its doubtful you will make it at a top club.

Not sure what Leicester achieving with that squad.
Jamie Vardy says "Hi!"

I love Nicky Butt, but he is there for the United's academy 'culture' not coaching them. Pretty sure he said Tom Lawrence was deadly from the wing in a tactical video with Giggsy and would be our regular.
I mean, Leicester finished 2nd in the PL2 top tier and could be a champion if not for Covid. That's a very good achievement for them.
 

SteveW

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I agree, people are talking about Garner, Mejbri, and Galbraith being good enough for United's first team, then making excuses that they can't stand up against a Leicester City U23 side. IMO those three were the most disappointing players yesterday. Garner should be dominating these kinds of games.
Garner has been poor in his last few games. Don't know if he's trying too hard to earn his loan or something but on current form he'd be of little use to a championship side. Hopefully he can snap out of it.

Mejbri is just starting to settle in at that level. Needs time and patience.

Galbraith is talented but he showed again that he needs time and isn't really first team football ready yet.

It was lovely to see Shoretire get a game at that level. He's always playing above his age groups so in certain areas he finds it slightly tough but to me he looks really special. He may well be the best of all these lads by the time he gets to 18.
 

mav_9me

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Regardless of how old are the Leicester line-up, the 3 on midfield should have done better considering the hopes we have on them.

Bernard shows that he's ready for that loan move.
Agreed. If Garner is knocking on first team door he should at least look comfortable. They were ran over IMO. I am a huge fan of Mejbri and maybe he just needs time with U23s and we just started but he needs to show more if he wants to get to first team. Then again he might be fine and our hype is misplaced and he just needs to develop in peace.
 

KevinJoh

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Not a game where you could see the real position of this team. If half of the team not playing in their position at this level, you can't expect much. We did not have full backs, we did not have a striker, and our RW was a kid who honestly is not on this level. And to make it worse, all our players are light weight comparing to them and much younger. As someone said, some of them did not establish themselves at U18 level yet in their own positions.

Overall, without Garner and Bernard who will both probably leave on loan, I am not sure how far this team can go (not sure if Laird, Puigmal and Mengi will be available as well).

Galbraith and Mejbri can learn from this for sure. Galbraith from some errors against Villa as well. He just need to pass it sooner especially in dangerous positions in our third. He was cought (as Mejbri) quite a few times and against better sides it can go bad. Garner looks in limbo. Not sure what is going on, probably out of form and maybe with his head on loan already. He did not play against Villa which is weird and than playing today. From what I understand two loans already failed for him, so could be nervous from all of that. It is much different to play in the club where you have gone through preseason, and playing for club where you signed after few weeks when team already established. Not a good sign, but lets hope it will work for him.

Bernard and Fish very good for sure, that is good sign. Looking forward to see what Bernard can do on loan.

Not sure why Bishop for example did not play for U23. He is 5th choice at the moment, so I guess it would be OK to play him at this level to help kids.