The pass from Majbri was very good but Elanga was brilliant there. The touch, run and finish. Top class.
EFL Trophy - Salford City vs Manchester United
- Thread starter RedMachine03
- Start date
Peter Lim must be thinking that he got roped in/suckered into spend millions on a club/team that just got beaten by a bunch of 16-18y.os. Feckin' Class of 92.
What did you expect? They turned professional 3 years ago and got promoted to the Football League only last year.
And it should be a great assist by James Wilson too. What an unlucky lad, used to be the deadliest striker in the academy before Greenwood.Outside of that Choupo Moting one where he actively prevented a goal, it's a decent shout for worst miss of all time.
Impressive performance. Can't really think of a single player who didn't have a very good game. Garner was a bit more sloppy than usual with some of his passing in the first half, much better afterwards. I think Mark Helm could have a really good season, he is a bit unspectacular but effective.
But I must admit that the person who has improved the most over the last 12 or so months - is Di'Shon Bernard. I thought he was awful when he first joined here - an accident waiting to happen. He has taken huge steps and really isnt far behind Mengi now.
Oh and thanks to Darren Farley I can't hear the word "Toure" without thinking of his Carragher-impersonation. Geez - thanks Darren
But I must admit that the person who has improved the most over the last 12 or so months - is Di'Shon Bernard. I thought he was awful when he first joined here - an accident waiting to happen. He has taken huge steps and really isnt far behind Mengi now.
Oh and thanks to Darren Farley I can't hear the word "Toure" without thinking of his Carragher-impersonation. Geez - thanks Darren
Supposed to be highly rayed. Reminds me of Martial.
Elanga biggest problem is he's on the same age group as the freak of the nature that is Mason Greenwood.
I was not aware that Salford City reached final of EFL trophy last season. What changed? Did they rest some first team players yesterday?
Have to say, I'm excited by Elanga. Can't wait for Janne to call him up to the Swedish NT and bench him for Seb Larsson.
The played 50-50. Half were rookies or youth players.
have to agree with you on Bernard, too. He always impresses me when I see him.Impressive performance. Can't really think of a single player who didn't have a very good game. Garner was a bit more sloppy than usual with some of his passing in the first half, much better afterwards. I think Mark Helm could have a really good season, he is a bit unspectacular but effective.
But I must admit that the person who has improved the most over the last 12 or so months - is Di'Shon Bernard. I thought he was awful when he first joined here - an accident waiting to happen. He has taken huge steps and really isnt far behind Mengi now.
Oh and thanks to Darren Farley I can't hear the word "Toure" without thinking of his Carragher-impersonation. Geez - thanks Darren
I would be surprised if Bernard makes it here. I mean, we have to remember that even Smalling was deemed as not good enough (despite playing many seasons for us). The standards for our CBs is pretty high. Not even Tuanzebe is a surefire bet and he looked a lot better than Bernard as a youth player. Now I realize that Tuanzebe will play here if injury free and I'm pretty high on him. I'm just pointing out the standard is quite high.
But in general I do agree that he has improved a lot. Looks more comfortable bringing the ball out these days, but playing at first team level is another thing entirely.
His problem is staying injury free.
Where Bernard is concerned, who knows. It's the position that some take playing time to improve on. If we'd signed Rio straight from West Ham he'd have been crucified on here.
Am glad we thrashed them. Good performance all round.
honestly, out of all our promising talents, Mejbri is the only one I'm confident of making it here. There are others who I like and have hopes for in regards to establishing themselves here, but there's no one else I'm as confident in as Mejbri.
Isn't it pretty obvious i haven't seen him, hence the question?
Get some of these players good loans. I think a fair few are ready.
best wide player in our academy. Not sure whether he will stay wide or become a striker but he seems perfect for the left inside forward role.
He's already destroying grown men quite regularly now, i'd like to see him get a chance in the first team soon.
Elanga is, I'm convinced. Shows as much promise as Rashy did as a kid
That’s actually an incredible result, I didn’t realise how good our youth teams are relative to the lower leagues.
Elanga looks good but you can never tell with pacey wide players. Sometimes they destroy full backs at youth level and when they step up, you find they don’t have the close control, passing ability or nouse to make it when things are more congested.
Hannibal is the only one that’s as sure a thing as you can get and that’s why he cost us so much. He’ll be ready for the first team pool in 18 months or less.
Hannibal is the only one that’s as sure a thing as you can get and that’s why he cost us so much. He’ll be ready for the first team pool in 18 months or less.
Mejbri is a class act and many others will improve this year. Looks good for the future.
Elanga has great close control when dribbling in that he's able to corral it back to himself (I feel it's a bit more natural than Chong or Rashford as dribblers), but having as much promise as Rashford doesn't really guarantee anything. We've had a lot of attacking midfielders with technique comparable to Rashford, and we've had superior goal scorers at youth level. I like to look at Rashford's skill level as sort of as this barometer for whether a player has a chance or not. But that doesn't make me believe they will make it or not. If they don't meet that barometer, I likely won't believe in the player. And if they're past that, I would be surprised if they don't make it, while understanding that it obviously can happen (Ravel). Elanga's at a level where I won't be surprised if he makes it, and I won't be surprised if he doesn't make it.
Rashford took to men's football really well which is not ordinary. I don't look at him in the way I looked at Greenwood where based on what he did at youth level, I was convinced he had a really good chance to make it.
Just to put our performance into perspective.
Oxford beat Chelsea U21 by 2-1
Villa U21 lost 8-1 to Sunderland
and Leeds U21 lost 7-0 to Accrington - and apparently Accrington had 42 shots in that game.
Oxford beat Chelsea U21 by 2-1
Villa U21 lost 8-1 to Sunderland
and Leeds U21 lost 7-0 to Accrington - and apparently Accrington had 42 shots in that game.
Not saying he will make it here - if anything I seriously doubt it. But I can see a future for him at a fairly high level - which is more than I could a year ago
Elanga seems to be improving at a rapid pace. So much so that he looks physically ready for at least Championship level football.
Hope he gets a loan this summer.
I don't think Elanga will get a loan. He is still 18, one year of U23 will be OK for him and will be able to get good loan next year.
In most cases loans don't work.
There are very few cases of extended loans whereby the player has developed any better than he would have done if he had stayed at the club.
For United, finding the right club, at the right time, with alignment to the players development needs is incredibly difficult. We also have an obligation to look after the young player. Fergie often cut loan deals short because it was having a detrimental effect to the player concerned.
It really is a minefield.
So suggestions that half of our U/23 squad need loans...is a big question mark.
We basically need to take care of three things.
1. Have a good enough U/23 team to compete in that league and develop the players that are still with us...provide first team training and experience.
2. Put players who we have identified as 'future first team' on some form of fast track/specific loan system if that's what they need.
3. Find a different 'loan approach' for those players who probably aren't going to make it to support them finding a permanent club down the track and release spaces for U/18 coming through.
I think Chong going to Werder Bremen is a different approach to Traore going to Caen for example.
The club does pretty well managing all the complex dynamics, but mistakes will always happen.
There are very few cases of extended loans whereby the player has developed any better than he would have done if he had stayed at the club.
For United, finding the right club, at the right time, with alignment to the players development needs is incredibly difficult. We also have an obligation to look after the young player. Fergie often cut loan deals short because it was having a detrimental effect to the player concerned.
It really is a minefield.
So suggestions that half of our U/23 squad need loans...is a big question mark.
We basically need to take care of three things.
1. Have a good enough U/23 team to compete in that league and develop the players that are still with us...provide first team training and experience.
2. Put players who we have identified as 'future first team' on some form of fast track/specific loan system if that's what they need.
3. Find a different 'loan approach' for those players who probably aren't going to make it to support them finding a permanent club down the track and release spaces for U/18 coming through.
I think Chong going to Werder Bremen is a different approach to Traore going to Caen for example.
The club does pretty well managing all the complex dynamics, but mistakes will always happen.
Yes, but unfortunately, in almost all cases without a loan players wouldn't have any serious competitive football in a few most important years for development. At the end, number of players that made a top level without loans while starting in big clubs is very small. Rashford, Sterling, TAA that I can remember in last 10 year for example. Maybe now Greenwood, Williams, Foden can get there, but we need to wait for that.
Sometimes good players make it ‘despite’ poor loan experiences. Remember, the loan system has only really been extensively used in the last 20 years or so...with the concept of large squads.
Prior to 2000ish most players didn’t go on loan and they made it regardless.
I can count only 4-5 players at United who came back better players...yet we have loaned out over 200 players.
Thats why I say loans dont work for the majority of most big clubs and getting it right is so hard.
Having said that, I get why the loan system has value to all concerned...but for me it predominantly helps ‘average’ players.