Reserves: Ben faces Bolton

[PS18]

Not sure it was a case of Kiko letting Fábio have the first one - from memory Kiko's never taken a pen for the reserves (bar the shootout on Monday), and I'm struggling to remember him ever taking one for the academy either. Gibson's been the penalty taker for the reserves this season, and I think Fábio has taken them in the past for Brazil youth teams (and quite possibly for Fluminense youth).

 

[noodlehair]

Probably the best I've seen Macheda play for the reserves. His movement's definitely improved and he's looking more comfortable on the ball now than he did before. Don't understand why Petrucci doesn't get to play in the reserves more. He looks more than comfortable whenever he does.

I also don't get why Fabio is still in the reserves but Rafael isn't? It's silly how easy Fabio finds it. Seems a waste of time having him stroll through reserve matches gaining nothing, when he should be in the first team squad with his brother.

Possebon just doesn't look the same since that injury of his.

Yeah. Not even close. He was better in this match, but it's like he's suddenly forgotten how to be a midfielder. Weird

 

[PS18]

Thought Thursday was a big step in the direction for Rodrigo. As for Fábio, he missed so much time in the first half of the season that he needs games - this is essentially another pre-season for him. He did well against Spurs on his debut but with Evra and JOS around he's not going to get much of a look-in at left-back in the immediate future so it makes sense to get as much football under his belt as possible at reserve level so he's ready if we need to bring him into the first team at some point.