Reserves: Manchester United vs Boro

Virtuoso

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Reserves face bottom side Boro

United Reserves will try to make amends for a rare defeat when Middlesbrough visit Moss Lane, Altrincham tonight.

The Reds' 0-1 reverse at Sunderland on Monday ended a three-match winning run during which Manchester City (2-1), Bolton Wanderers (2-0) and most memorably of all, Wigan Athletic (5-4) were all vanquished.

While nine points from 12 have helped United to climb the table, Middlesbrough, by contrast, are rock bottom in the Barclays Premier Reserve League North. Boro have lost their last two league games, 1-3 at Sunderland in mid-February and 2-3 at Newcastle earlier this week when they conceded an injury-time winner to the Magpies.

Fabio is one of five players with senior experience playing for United tonight; the others are keeper Tomasz Kuszczak and midfielders Lee Martin, Rodrigo Possebon and Zoran Tosic.

The full team is as follows:

United: Kuszczak; De Laet, C Evans, Gill, Fabio; Tosic, James, Eikrem, Possebon, Martin; Brady. Subs not used: Zieler, Derbyshire, Galbraith, Norwood, Stewart.

MUTV will show the match live - coverage starts at 18:30 GMT, 30 minutes before kick-off.
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http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={B4CEE8FA-9A47-47BC-B069-3F7A2F35DB70}&newsid=6628399

No Davide Petrucci yet again, and this time no Federico Macheda either. In fact, there's no recognised striker in the starting eleven or even on the bench which is odd.
 
Blimey, a Galbraith sighting :o

Got to assume Petrucci's got a knock. Macheda's played plenty of football lately so might just be being given a break.
 
My interest greatly diminishes without Macheda and Petrucci. I guess there's some value in seeing Tosic again though.

PIG playing tonight maybe means Foster playing in the FA Cup. Also may mean no Fabio in the FA Cup.
 
What happened with Machedas suspension for the sending off could that be the reason for his absence?
 
PS18 said:
Blimey, a Galbraith sighting :o
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Where has he been all this time? Injured I suppose? What kind of injury was it? How long has he not played in?

charleysurf said:
PIG playing tonight maybe means Foster playing in the FA Cup. Also may mean no Fabio in the FA Cup.
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Or this means TK is in line for a Fa Cup app.. He played Foster in a Reserve match Thursday night just before he played him in some cup match on the weekend.. I don't remember when this was.. But yea I would rather like to see Foster continuing in goal on the weekend...

Also since you bring up Fabio... Eckersley is not featuring.. Does that mean he is in line for a start on Saturday?
 
Chirag said:
Where has he been all this time? Injured I suppose? What kind of injury was it? How long has he not played in?
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He's not played all season due to injury, he last played for us in the BlueStars tournament last May. Not entirely sure what the injury was, I'm sure he had a long-standing groin problem at one point but I don't know if that kept him out the full ten months.
 
I've got a bet on United. Any updates on the game? How we're looking?
 
Scholesy said:
Virtuoso, how come you always discuss the reserves and very quiet in the main boards?
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I'm always in touch with the first team news to be honest with all my family as well as some of my mates supporting United so I'm always discussing the latest happenings with them - I usually just read some of the stuff. Come on here to talk mainly about the Academy/Reserves because I don't really know anyone who watches or takes a great interest in the youth, plenty of knowledgeable members on here who know the ins and outs of the youth ranks too which is good.

Not a great game to be honest, wasn't expecting much considering we had very limited options up front. Last few minutes now and still 0-0.
 
Fabio scores a penalty in the 92nd minute after stewart is fouled
 
Nice, Fabio has scored a few pens hasn't he?

Sounds like he's quite good at them, did he take them in the U-17 Tournament for Brazil?
 
Fabio - sometimes gets a bit carried away like his brother - loads of pace and by the end owned the RW for boro'

Tosic - Nothing great but I thought his best game, definately getting fitter , picked out a few very good passes.

Possebon - very calm on the ball but still not playing as well as he was.

James - Did ok again good in possession I think played the pass through for stewart for penalty.
 
I'd like to see James step it up a bit - imo he has the ability to dominate midfields at this level, but seems to be playing within himself for the reserves of late.
 
Zieler - played in goal little to do

De Laet - again sloppy passing occasional decent play

C Evans - Mr consistant

Gill - Did ok

Eikrem - did very little

Martin - you have to admire his determination has skill and pace probably like Eagles will become a top player at another club

Brady - worked hard playing target man battled well


subs:

Norwood - did more than Eikrem in less time

Stewart - lost confidence but won penalty
 
Bloody cold there as usual. Not a bad game really, thought Fabio was excellent and easily the best player on show so him getting the late winner was fitting.

Petrucci was there tonight by the way. No obvious injury (i.e. he wasn't in plaster or obviously limping) but I'd assume an injury of some sort is keeping him out.
 
RedPhil1957 said:
Zieler - played in goal little to do

De Laet - again sloppy passing occasional decent play

C Evans - Mr consistant

Gill - Did ok

Eikrem - did very little

Martin - you have to admire his determination has skill and pace probably like Eagles will become a top player at another club

Brady - worked hard playing target man battled well


subs:

Norwood - did more than Eikrem in less time

Stewart - lost confidence but won penalty
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Im hoping Fabio was good enough to earn himself a start against Fulham. Haven't seen him play yet!
 
PS18 said:
Petrucci was there tonight by the way. No obvious injury (i.e. he wasn't in plaster or obviously limping) but I'd assume an injury of some sort is keeping him out.
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Cheers, hope to see him back playing soon whatever the problem is. Class act :devil:
 
Plenty of positives to take from last night. Fabio had a very good game, Evans gets better every week in his 'new' position, Tosic displayed some classy stuff, Brady showed a lot of heart in a very unfamiliar role. James once again gave a nice display of all-round footballing ability. It's rare to see a 17 year old without any significant 'holes' in his game and it's a very solid platform to push on from. As we were running out of time yesterday James upped the ambition level of his passing and right away created two of our best chances all game, including the decisive one.
 
Been impressed with Corry Evans lately - at the start of the season he looked like he was on his way out of the club, but his performances in central defense have been superb lately.

And I know a lof of people slaughter De Laet - but you can see that he is extremely talented. He did really well in a couple of occasions when combining with James to create openings for Martin. He makes too many mistakes - but if he can get rid of those, he could go pretty far
 
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