Reserves this season - wah g'wan?

Pogue Mahone

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So far this season, we've managed to pip Oldham by a single goal, beat Stockport in the MSC and beat City with a side packed with first teamers.

When we've been up against Premier League teams (City aside) we've had our arses handed to us. Thumped 4-1 by Villa tonight, the same scoreline against Chelsea and beaten by l'Arse, a game I attended and was shocked by the gulf in class - how we escaped with just a 2-1 defeat I'll never know.

So... What's up?

Obviously, results are essentially meaningless at this level but I'm just curious about why our team seems to be so much weaker this season than last.

Any ideas? Who is really struggling with the step up from the academy? Is this a much younger team than usual? Out of the players who went out on loan who are we missing the most?

Discuss...
 
our best 'reserves'

macheda, welbeck, cleverly, gibson, james, etc not playing for our reserves?
 
We had a really strong pre-season but then King went out on loan and lost our main front player. Since then the line-up has been much changed game on game and they are struggling to find consistency.

In flashes in each game they have played some excellent football though. As it is a pretty young line-up this year I'd expect some inconsistent results.
 
It's tough to say but at united the reserves have never been about results, just player development. I tend to watch thr games for individual players rather than results.










Except against the dippers like.
 
I don't think the midfield has the right balance to be honest. Evans is a little lad, can't take a grip on a game, Morrison is young, inexperienced, positionally naive and Eikrem, while being very good on the ball, is a luxury player. To get the best out of him you really need some muscle in there alongside him to do the dirty work, at least in my opinion. As a result, we get easily closed down and bullied in the middle and end up lumping it long to the likes of Keane, Ajose etc who are still growing/filling out and struggle to compete physically. At least, that's my take on things, others may disagree.
 
It's all Bebe's fault.

Even those games where he wasn't actually playing.
 
Tonight we got out muscled and outrun by a very fit and physical side, Eikrem especially was shadowed all night and none of the creative players got any space or time on the ball. Ignoring the result I thought our two wide players had some encouraging moments, especially Obertan.
 
samabachan said:
I don't think the midfield has the right balance to be honest. Evans is a little lad, can't take a grip on a game, Morrison is young, inexperienced, positionally naive and Eikrem, while being very good on the ball, is a luxury player. To get the best out of him you really need some muscle in there alongside him to do the dirty work, at least in my opinion. As a result, we get easily closed down and bullied in the middle and end up lumping it long to the likes of Keane, Ajose etc who are still growing/filling out and struggle to compete physically. At least, that's my take on things, others may disagree.
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I agree completely. We essentially had 5 attack-minded players against a tough Villa side that had two physical 20-somethings bossing the centre of midfield.

Perhaps playing both Eikrem and Morrison together in CM will have to be abandoned. I guess it's an opportunity for Pogba or Tunnicliffe to break into the reserves but they also are very young.
 
datura said:
No, they have to adapt. This is a learning process to prepare them for the first team. They will learn far more from these games then trouncing some no mark team 6-0,
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I am not too worried about this game for several reasons

1) Villa had the best reserve team I have seen for several years - Bannan had a day when everything went right and the team looked very well-balanced

2) We are roughly 10 players short who would normally play at this level

3) We do have a defensive problem - Wootton is not a right back and had a hard time against Bannan when he got the ball on the left

4) Our midfield (as some people have pointed out) lacked a good balance - Evans was simply awful and lost every battle - and Morrison and Eikrem started well but dissappeared out of the game

5) Obertan and Bebe were lively going forward - but left huge gaps behind them defensively - which Villa took advantage of - again and again

We did a lot of things wrong - Villa did a lot of things right. This doesn't make our team crap all of a sudden.
 
All good points and I hope nobody thinks my concerns (actually, I'm not even that concerned, so "questions" might be a better word) are based on tonight's game, or that I think reserve football is all about results.

My personal take on it is very similar to sambachan. The balance of the team looks all wrong to me at the moment, especially in central midfield. This probably doesn't matter all that much but the only worry is how much our attacking players can develop if they have to keep feeding off scraps as they have done against every PL side we've faced so far this season.

Which makes me wonder whether Ole might give Tunnicliffe a few games? He's got so much drive and aggression, as well as decent physical presence for a young lad - which are qualities I've seen very little of in our central midfield so far this season.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Yeah, definitely got the impression against l'Arse we were getting bullied in midfield. Not sure if that will change any time soon. Shame Pogba's out for so long.
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Mentioned on MUTV last night that Pogba was 'a couple of weeks away' from returning.

I know original estimates had him out until the new year, so I don't know if last nights throw away comment was an accurate timeline or just some incorrect bull to fill some airtime.
 
Mitch Conor said:
Mentioned on MUTV last night that Pogba was 'a couple of weeks away' from returning.

I know original estimates had him out until the new year, so I don't know if last nights throw away comment was an accurate timeline or just some incorrect bull to fill some airtime.
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Yes I heard this too from some source last week, can't think where now offhand, so nice to see it mentioned again on MUTV. Can't wait to have this lad back, he's been a revelation.
 
I'm not an expert on the reserves at all but in my eyes it's the fact that we're bringing our youngsters up properly.

After last night's performance it's quite clear that Villa's winger Bannan should be back on loan with Blackpool but he's not - he's playing for their reserves. One of the match reports got it spot on when it roughly said that we were a young reserve team and Villa were a team of first-team fringe players.

Counter this with us sending some of our best prospects out on loan and it all makes sense. King was one of the reasons we looked so good in pre-season so he joined James on loan at PNE. While it makes our reserves a bit weak, we get the best out of the players in the long term.

Again, I could be wrong but I think that this is one of the youngest/most inexperienced reserve teams we've had for a couple of years. It just so happens that the "senior" reserves are all pushing for first team places either here or on loan. Which can only be a good thing :D
 
Fair points Avarice. Perhaps the reserve league will be a tougher competition now that we're playing against good sides like Arsenal, Chelsea and Villa as well. It would be excellent if, in future seasons, keeping some of the most talented youngsters in our reserves was a decent option as opposed to loaning to Championship or League 1 sides. It could benefit all the sides and England too.
 
Rowem said:
Fair points Avarice. Perhaps the reserve league will be a tougher competition now that we're playing against good sides like Arsenal, Chelsea and Villa as well. It would be excellent if, in future seasons, keeping some of the most talented youngsters in our reserves was a decent option as opposed to loaning to Championship or League 1 sides. It could benefit all the sides and England too.
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If we were playing teams like the Villa one last night every week, there'd be no point sending youngsters on loan. It was a good team full of strong players.
 
samabachan said:
If we were playing teams like the Villa one last night every week, there'd be no point sending youngsters on loan. It was a good team full of strong players.
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I take your point but I think that it's important to note that even if the opposition is strong it's still just a reserve game, I should think nothing is as beneficial to a player's development than a real game with real pressure.
 
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