Academy v City (Home) 11am

6-1 FT. Great start to the day and a superb team performance from a weakened side. The back 5 were excellent, Fornasier very prominent. Cole and Charni were fantastic in the middle of the park, Cole with his best performance of the season, taking the responsibility with the absence of Tunnicliffe and Pogba. Charni's workrate was excellent, made a lot of challanges and used the ball well.

Van Velzen played well out of position up front too, held the ball up well and was a threat.
 
U18s: United 6 City 1

19/02/2011 12:40, Report by Ben Hibbs

Premier Academy League
19 February 2011, Carrington

MANCHESTER UNITED 6
McGinty 17, Lingard 36, Cole 44, 53, 89, Lawrence 77

MANCHESTER CITY 1
Robinson 86

United’s Under-18s brought to an end a three-match losing streak in the league with an emphatic 6-1 mini-derby win over Manchester City at Carrington. Midfielder Larnell Cole shone and grabbed a hat-trick, adding to strikes from defender Sean McGinty, Jesse Lingard and Tom Lawrence.

There were changes to the team from the 1-0 FA Youth Cup win over Newcastle on Wednesday. Seven players remained, but three of those were deployed in different positions. Cole shifted infield alongside Charni Ekangamene to replace Paul Pogba and Ryan Tunnicliffe, who were called into the first-team FA Cup squad for the Crawley Town game later in the day. Left-back Tyler Blackett moved to left wing, while with United still shorn of injured strike duo Will Keane and John Cofie, Lingard switched from the wing to a support striker role behind acting front man Gyliano van Velzen.

And the former Ajax youngster was involved in United’s opener on 17 minutes. After a cagey start the Reds began to pressure City and left-back McGinty fired in a speculative cross towards van Velzen; he missed the ball but turned to see the ball nestling inside the far post anyway. McGinty – albeit in somewhat bizarre fashion – had taken his tally for the season to five.

City had spells of pressure but United were well marshalled by Tom Thorpe and clinical in front of goal. So it was no great surprise on 36 minutes that the Reds doubled the lead. Cole did well in midfield to feed a pass out to Alberto Massacci, and his cross was headed against the bar by van Velzen. Lingard was denied by the keeper from a headed rebound, but City had spells of pressure but United were well marshalled by Tom Thorpe and clinical in front of goal. It was no surprise on 36 minutes that the Reds doubled the lead. Cole did well in midfield to feed a pass out to Alberto Massacci, and his cross was headed against the bar by van Velzen. Lingard was denied by keeper from a headed rebound, but at the third attempt steered the ball home.

From a half-cleared corner a minute before the break, Cole made it 3-0 with a deflected volley in keeping with the rest of the game – an evenly-matched balance of play, with United taking full advantage of any openings.

Paul McGuinness’s team looked even more dangerous after half-time. Lingard had a shot cleared off the line after the restart, before brilliant work from van Velzen on the left teed up Tom Lawrence, whose sliding shot was well saved. But on 53 minutes the fourth goal United worked so hard to achieve finally arrived. And it was the best of the lot. Cole received a pass 25 yards from goal and brilliantly turned his man before surging into the box, where he opened his body and curled a shot into the far corner. He was millimetres away from a hat-trick on 62 minutes when he lashed a left-footed shot just past the top corner from distance.

United were high on confidence while City just looked deflated. Lawrence, denied earlier, got a rampant Reds’ fifth of the day with 13 minutes left. The team worked the ball across the edge of the area and Lawrence, at first denied by the keeper with a side-footed shot, made sure at the second attempt. Profligacy in front of goal, this was the perfect antidote.

United: Johnstone; Massacci, Thorpe, Fornasier, McGinty; Lawrence, Ekangamene, Cole, Blackett (Barmby 60); Lingard, van Velzen (M Keane 78).
Subs not used: Jacob.

Manchester United Official Web Site - U18s: United 6 City 1
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Match report.
 
datura said:
Yeah, I remember Les Kershaw mentioning those 2 specifically and how surprised they were at how well they were doing as physically they were behind their peers and they expected them to mature a bit later.
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Won't lie Cole crept up on me but he has really impressed me, I remember at the YC game against West Ham he made a tiny error and my pal (who is quite knee jerk) said he was a poor player. More or less every time he touched the ball after that he made my pal eat crow!
 
CLK_FPC said:
Won't lie Cole crept up on me but he has really impressed me, I remember at the YC game against West Ham he made a tiny error and my pal (who is quite knee jerk) said he was a poor player. More or less every time he touched the ball after that he made my pal eat crow!
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I watched Larnell against West Ham and he was outstanding.
 
It was quite noticeable today how better technically a lot of our players were then the City lads. It's been a bit of an inconsistent season so far and the defending at times has let us down, but the performances of late have been excellent and the size and quality of the squad has shone through.

It's great when you have a game missing the likes of Tunnicliffe, Pogba, Morrison, Keane and Cofie and the less heralded and fringe players come in and play so well against your local rivals.
 
lysglimt said:
There is something about Barmby that makes me think of Waddle. Good left foot, excellent skills and very little speed :)
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From the very little I've seen of him thus far he doesn't strike me as particularly slow...?

Cole's second was amazing. Ambidextrous little fecker.

Edit; thanks for the goals, CLK.
 
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