Over the years United have tended to finish top or near the top of the U23/U21/reserves league. When Warren Joyce left, the quality of the U23 squad appeared relatively modest compared to previous seasons and Nicky Butt struggled as a caretaker manager with the team finishing 6th. When Sbragia took over, the talent pipeline from the U18s seemed to have improved, the U18s were playing exciting football, scoring lots of goals and back to winning matches under McKenna, finishing 2nd in 2016/17.
Sbragia, adopting a cautious line-up favouring hard working midfielders over more technically gifted alternatives, saw his U23 squad get relegated, having struggled to score and conceding far too many goals. He chose to select a couple of players that returned to the club in the Jan transfer window after failed loan spells. Of the younger players who moved up from the U18s after Christmas, only Tahith Chong impressed during the spring.
This season, now in the lower U23 PL division, results have been better, top of the table having played one game more than the 2nd placed side, though the team still scores at a lower rate than you would expect (6th best on goals scored out of 12 teams), with much of the success down to a sold defence, featuring two central defenders that probably should be out on loan for their own benefit, given Regan Poole played last season on loan in League One, while Ro-Shaun Williams had already made about 40 starts for our U23s prior to the start of this season.
How much of the blame is really down to Sbragia, and how much is players struggling with the step up from the U18s, is an open question. Some contributors on here are concerned that Sbragia isn't helping the development of those players that might be future first team players.