FA Youth Cup 4th Round Swindon Town vs Man United 16/1/2024

Inexplicably bad that, might be the worst early FAYC exit I can remember, given the level of expectation and standard of opposition (good as they were tonight). Just a collective shitting of the bed (with some of the usual best performers being notably awful). You get these results in this competition but that's a really tough one to take.
 
Watched all the game , very few United players looked the part. Amas and fletcher probably a 6, the rest were very poor. Can't see any of the forwards marking it, technically limited. Missed Lacey and Gabriele Biancheri badly.
 
AltiUn said:
That isn't what he's suggesting at all.
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Good because at this age he was phenomenal.
PS18 said:
Inexplicably bad that, might be the worst early FAYC exit I can remember, given the level of expectation and standard of opposition (good as they were tonight). Just a collective shitting of the bed (with some of the usual best performers being notably awful). You get these results in this competition but that's a really tough one to take.
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Its a more realistic barometer of where we are at. That and the Youth champions league. In the 18s league the best sides play players in the 21s. Its pretty meaningless and we have mainly played championship sides. People will use the weekends game against City as a gauge when 9 u18s dont play in that league anymore. Nobody cares anynore about the 18s league. The u17s are better than the 18s for sure. Lacey looks a talent. Im not convinced any get near our first team any time soon but hope im wrong
 
You have to remember that the midfield 3 were all 16 years old. They're usually the bright spot and today they were awful. Amass is also 16. The attack and rest of the defenders are all 17-18, with majority of them being 18 years old. Missin is the youngest of the 17 year olds and Wheatley is about to turn 18.

That amount of 16 year olds getting that many minutes is unusual for a fa youth cup side or even the u18s. For example, I think only Mainoo was 16 when the 2022 side won the youth cup.

Says a lot that the coaches chose the 16 year olds over the older players. When I looked up the sides of other clubs the other day, I think United have the most amount of minutes given to 16 year olds. And that's with Lacey being injured, as well as Ibragimov just returning from injury. I think the only other u18 side similar to this one was the City side with Sancho, Foden, Poveda, etc...
 
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lysglimt said:
He is slow, doesn't score goals and lacks physique - apart from that he is ok
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I can't see anything in him, technically limited, poor movement, bambi om ice today. Could have a career im the lower leagues but never in a million years at United.
 
In Rainbows said:
You have to remember that the midfield 3 were all 16 years old. They're usually the bright spot and today they were awful. Amass is also 16. The attack and rest of the defenders are all 17-18, with majority of them being 18 years old. Missin is the youngest of the 17 year olds and Wheatley is about to turn 18.

That amount of 16 year olds getting that many minutes is unusual for a fa youth cup side or even the u18s. For example, I think only Mainoo was 16 when the 2022 side won the youth cup.

Says a lot that the coaches chose the 16 year olds over the older players. When I looked up the sides of other clubs the other day, I think United have the most amount of minutes given to 16 year olds. And that's with Lacey being injured, as well as Ibragimov just returning from injury. I think the only other u18 side similar to this one was the City side with Sancho, Foden, Poveda, etc...
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Louis Jackson played in youth cup final as a schoolboy. Given we bought Amass and Fletcher not surprised we played them. Majority of side that played was u18. 5 u17s.
 
They have been terrific all season. Tonight they had a mare. Ffs, cut them some slack. You lot are never happier than when you are slaggibg off our players. They had an off day, perhaps they underestimated Swindon. It happens. I imagine most of you are so frigging brilliant in your jobs you are all CEO 's of your companies. FFS.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The best bit was someone telling everyone that a one off game, on a shite pitch, against a lower league team is a more accurate judge of where they’re at than multiple games against teams that play in higher divisions.
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I think people underestimate the impact of this. The midfield couldn’t do their usual slick pass and move due to the state of the pitch and that may have been deliberate from Swindon. The teams capability has been demonstrated this season so whilst disappointing, this result is nothing to worry about.
 
I think this does show that this team relies a bit too much on the midfield to produce. Not criticizing Jack of course but when things are not clicking for him like today our performance level dropped at least two levels compared to usual. Slightly similar to our dependency on Bruno on the first team. And yeah the crappy pitch certainly played a part.
 
Pitch was a definite leveller especially the left side in the 1st half.Amass had more problems with the Pitch than he did with his opponent.
Last night was a perfect example of total complacency towards the opponent. We looked nothing like the team that takes to the Pitch on a saturday morning.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The best bit was someone telling everyone that a one off game, on a shite pitch, against a lower league team is a more accurate judge of where they’re at than multiple games against teams that play in higher divisions.
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Tbf we have beaten Wolves, Newcastle, Everton and Forest from PL in 18s League. Wr have hammered a good few Championship sides. Won 1 from 6 in Youth champions league and lost to Swindon Town.
Joseunited said:
Pitch was a definite leveller especially the left side in the 1st half.Amass had more problems with the Pitch than he did with his opponent.
Last night was a perfect example of total complacency towards the opponent. We looked nothing like the team that takes to the Pitch on a saturday morning.
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Hope Newports pitch is perfect then.
 
Bigsid said:
Tbf we have beaten Wolves, Newcastle, Everton and Forest from PL in 18s League. Wr have hammered a good few Championship sides. Won 1 from 6 in Youth champions league and lost to Swindon Town.
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Exactly my point. Why would that one game against Swindon tell us anything useful about the level this team is at that we didn’t know already?
 
Didn't play well. Swindon were scrappy and up for it and poor shooting cost us. The pitch too was pretty dire and hurt our passing game but its a good lesson for the youngsters that they need to adapt to this.
 
Whoever said it's similar to the 2nd Greenwood season crashing out early is spot on. The team is very talented. They failed a test but it's not the end of the world.
 
I may be misremembering but I think we played reasonably well vs Brighton, if memory serves they had 3 counters and scored all 3 chances they had, whereas in this game I feel we were just outplayed and Swindon consistently had the better chances. I am a bit of a moron so I could be completely wrong.
 
Bigsid said:
Good because at this age he was phenomenal.


Its a more realistic barometer of where we are at. That and the Youth champions league. In the 18s league the best sides play players in the 21s. Its pretty meaningless and we have mainly played championship sides. People will use the weekends game against City as a gauge when 9 u18s dont play in that league anymore. Nobody cares anynore about the 18s league. The u17s are better than the 18s for sure. Lacey looks a talent. Im not convinced any get near our first team any time soon but hope im wrong
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Well this is not really true. This is one game where all players played very bad, and that happens sometime even in senior football and not with kids.

Youth Champions League is completely different competition and it is hardly better barometer for this team as just a few players for U18 team had solid minutes in Youth U19 league.

Yes, it is true that some of the teams have 18 years old playing for U21, like City. Some have U18 playing for both sides which is normal. It is a question of what is better for development of the kids. Still we have very young side playing for U18 and it is not older one that what other teams have. Beside City that opted to play with younger side with older ones loaned out, others did not go in that direction. (City is by the way the bottom last in U21 league as kids are not ready). Our key players in U18 team like Amass, Fitzgerald, Fletcher, Deveney, Lacey are 16 years old and when we are talking about talents in this team it is mostly them under the radar.
 
KevinJoh said:
Well this is not really true. This is one game where all players played very bad, and that happens sometime even in senior football and not with kids.

Youth Champions League is completely different competition and it is hardly better barometer for this team as just a few players for U18 team had solid minutes in Youth U19 league.

Yes, it is true that some of the teams have 18 years old playing for U21, like City. Some have U18 playing for both sides which is normal. It is a question of what is better for development of the kids. Still we have very young side playing for U18 and it is not older one that what other teams have. Beside City that opted to play with younger side with older ones loaned out, others did not go in that direction. (City is by the way the bottom last in U21 league as kids are not ready). Our key players in U18 team like Amass, Fitzgerald, Fletcher, Deveney, Lacey are 16 years old and when we are talking about talents in this team it is mostly them under the radar.
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We have a younger u18 side than City. At least when it comes to giving minutes to 16 year olds. Not sure about average age, with players like Williams still playing.

If I recall, we gave 6 players 400+ minutes to 16 year olds. City gave 3 players aged 16, 400+ minutes. Both had similar amount of 16 year olds playing, but United had more given heavy minutes. And that's with Shea Lacey and Ibragimov having been injured, who would have surely racked up a couple more 100+ minutes. I don't think there is anybody with as many minutes as Fitzgerald for example.

The u19 squad suffered for two reasons. The more talented players are u17 players like Fitzgerald, but are still super young to really be dominating the u19 and we had injuries to players like Lacey. Given the squad make up, that was a big blow, but it's not like they were performing all that well with him either. I would expect a better u19 performance next season, if United manage to qualify via winning the u18 league.
 
In Rainbows said:
We have a younger u18 side than City. At least when it comes to giving minutes to 16 year olds. Not sure about average age, with players like Williams still playing.

If I recall, we gave 6 players 400+ minutes to 16 year olds. City gave 3 players aged 16, 400+ minutes. Both had similar amount of 16 year olds playing, but United had more given heavy minutes. And that's with Shea Lacey and Ibragimov having been injured, who would have surely racked up a couple more 100+ minutes. I don't think there is anybody with as many minutes as Fitzgerald for example.

The u19 squad suffered for two reasons. The more talented players are u17 players like Fitzgerald, but are still super young to really be dominating the u19 and we had injuries to players like Lacey. Given the squad make up, that was a big blow, but it's not like they were performing all that well with him either. I would expect a better u19 performance next season, if United manage to qualify via winning the u18 league.
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Unless our first team qualify for the Champions league we wont be in the u19s Youth champions league next season. Winning the u18s North title sadly doesnt mean we qualify. Will be interesting if City play a mainly u17 team today or bring some of the u18s down from the 21s. City have 6 u18 players in their squad. The rest are u17s. Warhurst and Noble played similar minutes to Fitzgerald. Wint and 15 year old Stefan Mfuni have certainly all played 400+ minutes so its certainly more than 3.
 
Bigsid said:
unless our first team qualify for the Champions league we wont be in the u19s Youth champions league next season
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If we win the national U18 title, we will play in the Youth League next season. Just in a different section that then joins up with the main tournament later on.
 
Gungerz said:
If we win the national U18 title, we will play in the Youth League next season. Just in a different section that then joins up with the main tournament later on.
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We'll need to win the playoff-final against the southern team too, no?
 
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