United v Sunderland

Virtuoso

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Looking forward to watching this one, hoping Neville manages to play longer than a half/60 mins. He's been training for a long time now so may be able to step it up a bit. I also hope that Welbeck gets some real supply and support because he's not been able to showcase his talents for the reserves so far as he did for the academy...would be nice to see us on the offensive from the start because in the last few matches we've been slow to get going.
 

PS18

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real interest for me will be who starts in goal, as i suspect whoever it is will be the one in line to be included in the 16 for saturday, and indeed to start at Derby if VDS hasn't recovered. Foster obviously needs games, and Heaton hasn't played for a couple of weeks so will need some football if he's going to be thrust into Premiership action.
 

Red17

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PS18 said:
real interest for me will be who starts in goal, as i suspect whoever it is will be the one in line to be included in the 16 for saturday, and indeed to start at Derby if VDS hasn't recovered. Foster obviously needs games, and Heaton hasn't played for a couple of weeks so will need some football if he's going to be thrust into Premiership action.
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Fergie has rarely risked players he need for upcoming first team games in reserve outings. If Foster plays - then it means he is currently not in first 11 frame for upcoming games.
 

pert

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Watch out for the Sunderland keeper

Trevor Carson

I went to school with him, I tell thee he will play a blinder.
 

PS18

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Red17 said:
Fergie has rarely risked players he need for upcoming first team games in reserve outings. If Foster plays - then it means he is currently not in first 11 frame for upcoming games.
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fully aware what the usual way of doing things is, but goalkeepers are a bit different. throwing one in for their debut when they haven't played much recent football, even at reserve level, is far from ideal and it wouldn't have surprised me if the starter Fergie had in mind for saturday got a run-out of sorts tonight.
 

charleysurf

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Looking at the re-run on MUTV, Rodrigo looked a lot better. He seemed to have a lot more time on the ball and was the best passer on the pitch. Neville looked pretty well, got forward as the game went on and nearly scored.
 

Virtuoso

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Scholesy said:
How did Gary do? Pique? Simpson? Welbeck and Possebon?
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Neville was decent, didn't do much wrong and got a shocking decision when he was booked though. Piqué was his usual self, brilliant on the ball and some nice touches but the odd nervy moment. Simspon wasn't as poor as he's been but was quite ineffectual, playing him at left back with a fellow right sided left winger in Sean Evans is not a good move and is a serious detriment to the side, no width on the left at all.

Same problem persists for Welbeck, no strike forward and so he finds it a struggle to stamp his authority/talent on the game - so secluded. Hewson wasn't ever near enough to him to be classed as a support striker though Eagles and Welbeck combined well at times. Rodrigo was calm and composed, barely lost the ball and mostly played safe with his passing because as has been the case for many weeks now, there are very few options going forward.

Really frustrating watching the reserves lately, nowhere near enough attacking quality or threat. No enough pace on the wings, especially the left side suffers with S.Evans. Cleverley hasn't offered a whole lot of late and it's seriously about time that Welbeck got some real support in attack because all these games without scoring and underperforming can't be good for his confidence.
 

PS18

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trouble is that reserve football is so poor now that the best kids really need to go out loan, but that then means that those who are left behind in the reserves for whatever reason (Welbeck too young to go out on loan for example) are left playing alongside, with the greatest respect, mostly deadwood.

surprised Fagan's not been played upfront with Welbeck mind, i know he's not getting his contract renewed but i'd have thought at the very least it would be worth giving him a few games to try and help Welbeck. other than that though, especially with Dong out, we really are short on attacking players, with all the best kids out on loan (Martin, Brandy, Campbell etc).
 

Pogue Mahone

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Virtuoso said:
Neville was decent, didn't do much wrong and got a shocking decision when he was booked though. Piqué was his usual self, brilliant on the ball and some nice touches but the odd nervy moment. Simspon wasn't as poor as he's been but was quite ineffectual, playing him at left back with a fellow right sided left winger in Sean Evans is not a good move and is a serious detriment to the side, no width on the left at all.

Same problem persists for Welbeck, no strike forward and so he finds it a struggle to stamp his authority/talent on the game - so secluded. Hewson wasn't ever near enough to him to be classed as a support striker though Eagles and Welbeck combined well at times. Rodrigo was calm and composed, barely lost the ball and mostly played safe with his passing because as has been the case for many weeks now, there are very few options going forward.

Really frustrating watching the reserves lately, nowhere near enough attacking quality or threat. No enough pace on the wings, especially the left side suffers with S.Evans. Cleverley hasn't offered a whole lot of late and it's seriously about time that Welbeck got some real support in attack because all these games without scoring and underperforming can't be good for his confidence.
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Very good summary. Worth mentioning that, while Neville is still a long way short of his old self, last night's effort was a significant improvement on his last outing with the reserves. Really encouraging to see him improving like that.

Agree totally about watching the reserves. When you're relying on a 16 year-old as your most potent attacking threat outside the first-team squad it's a bit of a worry. Eagles aside, our lack of resources on the wings and up front is a huge problem. The lack of strikers is the most worrying, God knows we're not overrun with them in the first team!
 

Virtuoso

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Pogue Mahone said:
Very good summary. Worth mentioning that, while Neville is still a long way short of his old self, last night's effort was a significant improvement on his last outing with the reserves. Really encouraging to see him improving like that.

Agree totally about watching the reserves. When you're relying on a 16 year-old as your most potent attacking threat outside the first-team squad it's a bit of a worry. Eagles aside, our lack of resources on the wings and up front is a huge problem. The lack of strikers is the most worrying, God knows we're not overrun with them in the first team!
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True, the lack of strikers is a worry. However, I'm not too concerned because it seems we have real quality instead of quantity. Welbeck and Macheda (in the academy at the moment but will probably in the reserves next year) are two of the most promising forwards who have been in our youth ranks in ages. Both have so many attributes and especially Macheda recently and Welbeck earlier in the season when he was playing alongside him seemed to be improving with every game. I'm really excited to see how both progress, and at the ages of 16/17 they have time to keep progressing. Though it is a worry how Welbeck in particular seems to be in a real slump playing as a lone striker.

The wingers on the other hand, apart from Antonio Bryan...I can't think of one who has genuine pace and puts fullbacks on the back foot. The likes of S.Evans, Galbraith, Eikrem and even Eagles are good on the ball and talented passers of it but can't penetrate or run at defenders which is particularly detrimental to the both the academy and reserves. However, the first team has a few of these types of wingers so it may not be of concern in the long run.
 

RedPhil1957

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Scholesy said:
How did Gary do? Pique? Simpson? Welbeck and Possebon?
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Possebon, neat tidy, good on the ball ....... thought he had his best game last night but still playing quite safe.

Gary did quite well considering how much he has played.

Pique class on ball but has been careless in last few matches nearly gave them a couple of goals last night.

Simpson ... I have been very critical of him recently but last night played well ........ perhaps having Edwards playing for them concentrated the mind.

Welbeck had one clear chance he put over the bar, not much support and careless in possession.

Although I am glad we give our players every chance to find new clubs when they are being released it is very hard for team performance when there are perhaps 5 players in squad on the way out.
 
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