Miscellaneous Reserve/Youth News

lysglimt said:
A Swansea-site claims they are very close to getting Laird on-loan - and that they also want Garner.
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That would be a terrific move for Laird. I'd fancy him to get plenty of gametime for a promotion chasing team under a manager who got plenty out of him with MK Dons last season. If he steers clear of injuries he'll have a PL loan next season and challenging AWB in the 1st team after that all things well.
 
United's first U/23 game of the season v Leicester City which was scheduled for Monday 16th August...has been brought forward to Sunday the 15th at Leigh Sports Village. Kick-off 2:00

Apparently you can only gain entry by downloading tickets from the LSV website in advance.
 
lysglimt said:
A Swansea-site claims they are very close to getting Laird on-loan - and that they also want Garner.
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Would be good to get two of our lads at the same place. Swansea play some good stuff as well. I'd prefer if Garner played in the prem, but not sure any prem side will give him the minutes needed.
 
I’m concerned about how much gametime he’d get there with Conor Roberts ahead of him, and Kyle Naughton as well, if both stay.
 
NYAS said:
I’m concerned about how much gametime he’d get there with Conor Roberts ahead of him, and Kyle Naughton as well, if both stay.
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Swansea could use him as a versatile squad option like MK Dons did, who played Laird as a midfielder on several occasions. Then again, I'd rather Laird get more match time as a right back than as a midfielder. The last thing I want is for his development to go down the Fosu-Mensah route where he plays in various positions but never consistently in one position.
 
Mickson said:
The U23 game against Kidderminster was on the MUTV schedule but now they have removed it. AGAIN. I don't want to sound like a bitter old man but what am I paying for!?
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Yeah, I was just going to post about that myself.

I could understand the issues during the social distancing / lockdown times. But this summer has been so frustrating so far: both U23 friendlies look like not being on MUTV despite being scheduled. And I missed almost all the first half of the first team game v Derby with just a blank screen on MUTV.

It would be less annoying if they'd update that it's happened, and why. Usually to do with covid in one way or another, I assume. But, instead, I just keep having to check the schedule with the expectation that it'll just suddenly disappear without an explanation why.
 
mazhar13 said:
Swansea could use him as a versatile squad option like MK Dons did, who played Laird as a midfielder on several occasions. Then again, I'd rather Laird get more match time as a right back than as a midfielder. The last thing I want is for his development to go down the Fosu-Mensah route where he plays in various positions but never consistently in one position.
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I don't think Laird changed position much at MK Dons - I think he always played the RWB / right midfielder role in a 3 at the back system.

The good and bad thing with that formation, in terms of his development, is that it gave him game time and really played to his attacking strengths - but it didn't help him address his defensive shortcomings as the role was very much centred on his attacking contribution with the RCB tasked with covering a lot of Laird's right back duties.

Because he's missed a lot of time injured, another season playing to his attacking strengths as a wing back wouldn't be the worst thing in terms of him more likely impressing and getting game time. But he really does need to start addressing his defensive weaknesses - the down side being if he focuses on the weaker side of his game, at a higher level in the championship, he might end up being dropped and struggling for game time?

Maybe a good mixture of the two for this season would be stepping up to the championship but playing the attacking RWB role under Martin again, this time at Swansea, and giving him the best chance of game time at that higher level? And then looking to focus on improving his defensive game the following season?
 
Bertie Wooster said:
I don't think Laird changed position much at MK Dons - I think he always played the RWB / right midfielder role in a 3 at the back system.

The good and bad thing with that formation, in terms of his development, is that it gave him game time and really played to his attacking strengths - but it didn't help him address his defensive shortcomings as the role was very much centred on his attacking contribution with the RCB tasked with covering a lot of Laird's right back duties.

Because he's missed a lot of time injured, another season playing to his attacking strengths as a wing back wouldn't be the worst thing in terms of him more likely impressing and getting game time. But he really does need to start addressing his defensive weaknesses - the down side being if he focuses on the weaker side of his game, at a higher level in the championship, he might end up being dropped and struggling for game time?

Maybe a good mixture of the two for this season would be stepping up to the championship but playing the attacking RWB role under Martin again, this time at Swansea, and giving him the best chance of game time at that higher level? And then looking to focus on improving his defensive game the following season?
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You're right, he wasn't always switching around, but at the start, he would often be subbed in as a midfielder or even start from there on a few occasions. To be fair, I don't mind seeing him develop as a wing back as he is quick enough to keep up with pacy players out wide but only if he's exposed to defending the far post from time to time.
 
Bertie Wooster said:
Yeah, I was just going to post about that myself.

I could understand the issues during the social distancing / lockdown times. But this summer has been so frustrating so far: both U23 friendlies look like not being on MUTV despite being scheduled. And I missed almost all the first half of the first team game v Derby with just a blank screen on MUTV.

It would be less annoying if they'd update that it's happened, and why. Usually to do with covid in one way or another, I assume. But, instead, I just keep having to check the schedule with the expectation that it'll just suddenly disappear without an explanation why.
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Yep, I made plans to see this game so I put other things aside, and then they just removed it from the schedule. I sent an e-mail to them but they haven't answered. Annoying.
 
mazhar13 said:
You're right, he wasn't always switching around, but at the start, he would often be subbed in as a midfielder or even start from there on a few occasions. To be fair, I don't mind seeing him develop as a wing back as he is quick enough to keep up with pacy players out wide but only if he's exposed to defending the far post from time to time.
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He went straight into their starting line-up, he only made 1 sub appearances there and it was in his 17th appearance. Transfermarkt has him at RWB/RB for every match and from the matches/highlights I watched he was always there too. Pretty sure he never played in midfield, never has for us either so would have been weird if MK Dons randomly played him there. I think you must be thinking of someone else.
 
limerickcitykid said:
He went straight into their starting line-up, he only made 1 sub appearances there and it was in his 17th appearance. Transfermarkt has him at RWB/RB for every match and from the matches/highlights I watched he was always there too. Pretty sure he never played in midfield, never has for us either so would have been weird if MK Dons randomly played him there. I think you must be thinking of someone else.
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Yep, I followed him closely. 1 sub appearance in his debut, then pretty much the rest from start as an RWB. He played a few minutes as LWB though. So no, he didn't really play several different roles. I don't know how Martin will set up at Swansea, but probably in a similar way which means RWB again. I would like to see Laird in a back four though.
 
limerickcitykid said:
He went straight into their starting line-up, he only made 1 sub appearances there and it was in his 17th appearance. Transfermarkt has him at RWB/RB for every match and from the matches/highlights I watched he was always there too. Pretty sure he never played in midfield, never has for us either so would have been weird if MK Dons randomly played him there. I think you must be thinking of someone else.
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I must have misremembered, then. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
Maybe he's down with covid?

Timing seems to coincide with the supposed outbreak in the team and all the club confirmed was that first team members weren't the ones who tested positive.
 
elmo said:
Maybe he's down with covid?

Timing seems to coincide with the supposed outbreak in the team and all the club confirmed was that first team members weren't the ones who tested positive.
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Makes sense to be honest. Could also be why Isak Hansen isn’t with the 23s as he’s also disappeared
 
So how do you guys keep tabs on our players out on loan? Wanting to take more of an interest in our loan players this season.
 
Jack-C20 said:
So how do you guys keep tabs on our players out on loan? Wanting to take more of an interest in our loan players this season.
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Someone on the reddevils reddit does a write up of ratings and comments from fans of each player. Usually say if alaves, forest (if Garner goes there) or Swansea are on sky sports then I'll put that game on
 
Connor C said:
Makes sense to be honest. Could also be why Isak Hansen isn’t with the 23s as he’s also disappeared
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If they injured, the club usually says it in the match report.

Covid wise, so far I think the club only announce it if they're in the first team.

Never heard of any of our youngsters having it so far from the club, which would be a miracle considering how rampant it has been.
 
pascell said:
Someone on the reddevils reddit does a write up of ratings and comments from fans of each player. Usually say if alaves, forest (if Garner goes there) or Swansea are on sky sports then I'll put that game on
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Nice one cheers. I’ll check it out.
 
The first U23's league game of the season, v Leicester, was meant to be on MUTV live at 2pm on Sunday. Now MUTV is just listing it as the full match, not live, from 8pm.

What the hell is happening at the moment? There's surely fewer restrictions than last season with no lockdown, people being vaccinated, etc. And, beside that, the games they usually couldn't show last year were away games, mostly U18. This is an U23 home match. I assumed things would be better this season - so far they've started much worse as regards U23 coverage.
 
pascell said:
Someone on the reddevils reddit does a write up of ratings and comments from fans of each player. Usually say if alaves, forest (if Garner goes there) or Swansea are on sky sports then I'll put that game on
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Don’t think he’s doing them this season sadly.
 
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