Miscellaneous Reserve/Youth News

United's u14 were in the Sonnenland Cup

United were last in the group. From a video, I could see Edson Dejonge Seiros. Click on Group B, and there are video highlights of each match. I had to switch to edge as my browser for the videos to load (was previously on Opera).
https://www.fupa.net/cup/sonnenland-cup-c-junioren/matches

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U13s went to the Vereins Service Cup in Germany last weekend, finishing 4th out of 29. The most impressive of their results was a 5-1 win over Atalanta, who eventually beat us 3-2 in the semis & went on to win the whole thing.

Also, a very nice touch from the players/club below.


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U18s had a friendly at Carrington tonight with those not involved last night + some younger players (including Ibragimov) featuring.
 
U14 keeper Darlington Osuchukwu attended an England U15 camp this week.

He was actually born in Spain to Nigerian parents & only moved here in 2021, so technically he wouldn't be eligible for England yet.
 
Gungerz said:
U14 keeper Darlington Osuchukwu attended an England U15 camp this week.

He was actually born in Spain to Nigerian parents & only moved here in 2021, so technically he wouldn't be eligible for England yet.
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That’s one hell of a name
 
AltiUn said:
Was just about to comment that, tremendous name.
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His name made me think of the full name of Ugo Ehiogu for those who remember the Villa-defender (who tragically passed away some 5 years ago only 44 years old) - I think his name was Ugochuku Ehiogu
 
Mather could be an under the radar good talent. He's very good in most areas without being explosively eye catching. His development has been slower since the youth cup win than others but it looks like he's on the right track nevertheless.
 
VDG17 said:
Mather could be an under the radar good talent. He's very good in most areas without being explosively eye catching. His development has been slower since the youth cup win than others but it looks like he's on the right track nevertheless.
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I believe he was injured for a while, which would slow down anyone's development.
 
VDG17 said:
Mather could be an under the radar good talent. He's very good in most areas without being explosively eye catching. His development has been slower since the youth cup win than others but it looks like he's on the right track nevertheless.
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I actually had him down as a bit of a dark horse a couple of years ago. Never a cert for me, but in that Lingard mould where you wouldn't be too surprised if he did make it. Then as you say, he's been off the radar for a while due to injuries and what not, so I became less sure. Really nice to see that performance today.
 
VDG17 said:
Mather could be an under the radar good talent. He's very good in most areas without being explosively eye catching. His development has been slower since the youth cup win than others but it looks like he's on the right track nevertheless.
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He stood out to me with his technique and ability to glide with the ball. Since he's been back from injury he's looked faster than I remembered and now a great 1 half hat trick. Over the moon for him but I don't see ETH going with any new youngsters soon.
 
Mather is an interesting one, not very explosive but is technically good and seems to have a good football brain. Happy to see him back on the pitch, and hope he can stay clear of injuries now.
 
Mather is one of those who weren't short of talent but was both slow and drifted out of the game too much. If he can be more consistently impactful I would say he's an interesting one to watch.
 
Anyone know where Ethan Ennis is? I know he did his ACL but seemingly returned for a game or two before vanishing again. Was looking a really good talent before his initial injury.
 
AltiUn said:
Anyone know where Ethan Ennis is? I know he did his ACL but seemingly returned for a game or two before vanishing again. Was looking a really good talent before his initial injury.
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Yeah wtf ive totally forgot about him! Huge potential…Also what happened with McNeil? He was rated highly. I know he got called back from his loan spell reccently but havent seen him in any of the youth squads after he came back.
 
RedKing91 said:
Yeah wtf ive totally forgot about him! Huge potential…Also what happened with McNeil? He was rated highly. I know he got called back from his loan spell reccently but havent seen him in any of the youth squads after he came back.
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McNeil was a great goal scorer not a standout player.
 
Glad too see Mather doing well after injuries. As others have commented he is in a similar camp to players like Curley and maybe Devaney and Missin. All have had time out and show promise, especially in the technical aspects of the game but maybe aren’t physically gifted.

There are a number of players entering the Savage Iqbal situation from a couple years ago.
 
RedKing91 said:
Yeah wtf ive totally forgot about him! Huge potential…Also what happened with McNeil? He was rated highly. I know he got called back from his loan spell reccently but havent seen him in any of the youth squads after he came back.
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So going to start off responding to this part, but then a more general note on some of the Mather comments :

Mather always looked a lot better to me when watching both. Ennis would get his head down and run at goal and shoot and he was okay at it. Not technically great but could get his shot on target. I didnt see the hype justification

Mather would have a great first touch, glide past defenders with a dribble, pass to a teammate in a great position. In the past couple of games hes also scored goals where hes now running in behind the defence using speed and scoring freekicks and longshots on top of the stuff thats just nice to watch.

I'm surprised to see comments people make about Mather being a dark horse etc because for me he was our most technical youngster other than maybe Mainoo. The only issues he had were 1) Isak - Hanson was playing every week on the left and was liked, despite not being very dangerous most of the time by the coaching staff. So Mather was in a hard position coming from the 18s to the 21s with another youngster having the spot. And then 2) He was out injured for a long time. And sometimes when that happens and a young player loses development time they arent able to immediately come back at the same level and progress towards first team level. But contrary to that being the case Mather is adding a lot of end product to his game, far more than he previously had so hes outdoing his old form.

A reminder of Mather's technical level before his injury





Edit - oh nice, individual highlights against Norwich

 
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Ekeke said:
So going to start off responding to this part, but then a more general note on some of the Mather comments :

Mather always looked a lot better to me when watching both. Ennis would get his head down and run at goal and shoot and he was okay at it. Not technically great but could get his shot on target. I didnt see the hype justification

Mather would have a great first touch, glide past defenders with a dribble, pass to a teammate in a great position. In the past couple of games hes also scored goals where hes now running in behind the defence using speed and scoring freekicks and longshots on top of the stuff thats just nice to watch.

I'm surprised to see comments people make about Mather being a dark horse etc because for me he was our most technical youngster other than maybe Mainoo. The only issues he had were 1) Isak - Hanson was playing every week on the left and was liked, despite not being very dangerous most of the time by the coaching staff. So Mather was in a hard position coming from the 18s to the 21s with another youngster having the spot. And then 2) He was out injured for a long time. And sometimes when that happens and a young player loses development time they arent able to immediately come back at the same level and progress towards first team level. But contrary to that being the case Mather is adding a lot of end product to his game, far more than he previously had so hes outdoing his old form.

A reminder of Mather's technical level before his injury





Edit - oh nice, individual highlights against Norwich

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Speaking for myself when praising Mather it wasn’t really in surprise but more that he isn’t/ hasn’t really been mentioned in the past year. Of course this is due to injury and the emergence of the current under 18s but I’ve always rated him.

You’ve hit the nail on the head in that he is a technical player first and foremost and I’ve always thought he could be an influence in the centre as a 10. He is a little bit more direct than some of the others coming through but he has a subtle nature to his game too and has scored some really nice goals. He was regularly involved with the England youth teams too if I remember correctly.

I wonder if he would have got chances at the time Garnacho did if he wasn’t injured, maybe he will before the season is out…
 
The reason I put Mather in the dark horse category is firstly because of the developmental impact of being injured but secondly because being a first team player requires an extremely high physical standard, as well as the technical. He could either make it in both respects or fall slightly short of both the technical and physical standard. Many others have done this: Mcnair, Norwood, Eikrem, Petrucci amongst others.
 
The U18's game v Liverpool is live on MUTV, kicking off in a few minutes (7pm)

Team: Harrison - Nolan, Jackson, Kingdon, Amass - Fitzgerald, McAliister - Missin, J. Fletcher, Williams - Wheatley.
 
Often when United are trying to "put the best team out there" they lose because they haven't the same relationship as with the other players. Why is Nolan playing? For example.
 
Kieran Morrison (#7), who is one of their better players, used to be at United before joining Liverpool as an U14.
 
Really frustrating way to go behind just before HT - as United kept winning it back and then sloppily giving it away (was it McAllister?)

And just before that looked like Wheatley had a great chance one on one, then pulled back for a very late, and tight, offside call.

Unlucky to be behind.
 
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