U18s: United vs Man City | Premier League Cup Winners!

top1whoisman

Meet the press(conference)
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Tuesday 23 April
Leigh Sports Village
Kickoff 19:30 BST
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Would be nice if Amass, Wheatley & Ogunneye would get some minutes here as they haven’t played much recently. But with our injury list I kind of understand why we don’t want to take any risks, even if they ended up not coming on for the first team. So apart from them I’m expecting the strongest possible side.

Harrison

Kamason - Jackson - Kingdon - Nolan

McAllister - J. Fletcher

Lacey - Scanlon - Williams

Biancheri​

Something like that. Could be Mantato/Devaney/Missin/Baumann instead of Lacey and Myles in goal if Harrison is not fit.
 
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Rashford and McTominay both being doubts for Wednesday might also cast questions over whether any more u18s will get drafted into the first team for Wednesday
 
I’ve heard the lads who have been in recent first team squads won’t be involved. Apparently City won’t be at full strength either. If correct should be a good even contest
 
Nick Cox:
They're going to play in a really good game, I hope.

On Tuesday it's us versus City, they obviously finished second in the league and in the league campaign [against each other] they won a game and we won a game. So it's a nice opportunity for two really, really good teams to go and play in what hopefully will be a really good atmosphere and have a tough game. We hope it's a tough game, well I do. I want the boys really to be tested and I want them to learn new things. That's the most important thing to me.

For the boys themselves, they'll be determined to win and it'd be nice if they won a trophy. I want a really good game and if they win the trophy, that's equally important because our program is also about life-changing moments and creating memories. The opportunity to lift the trophy with your mates is something I'm sure they would all remember for the rest of their lives.

Well I hope they [the fans who attend] will see a really good game. I've got a lot of respect for City and their program, and I think we've got really good players, so they are going to see potentially one of the highest level youth team games across Europe this season. I want them to come because they can be a part of our players' development. We only have to go back a couple of years to the FA Youth Cup where the fans admirably turned up to the Youth Cup at Old Trafford. The fans that turned up that day were very much a part of the development of the likes of Kobbie and Alejandro. They created an environment that was tough and that prepared them for when they eventually went on to make their debuts. So by fans turning up on Tuesday they're helping to create an environment that our boys are going to hopefully learn from.

And I always think it's nice for our supporters to turn up with their own eye and their own opinion, pick the player they think is going to go on and play in our first team. Because I think fans love to do that and there's undoubtedly going to be some boys in that group, not all of them, but there will be boys in that group that will go on to play in our first team. And I think the fans always love, don't they, to say "oh yeah I was there, I remember when"... it's always a bit of fun. So yeah, we hope for a full house, a full crowd!
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Adam Lawrence:
I think the tournament, particularly this season, has been really good for us. We have got to play a lot of the Southern teams. It's a national competition so a really good one for us to obviously be playing in. The way that the draws have been done and who we've played - we've drawn a lot of the Southern teams. In the group stages we played against Southampton and Reading and then in the knockout stages to play Arsenal, Crystal Palace etc. so we've had some really good experiences and some really good games against opposition we wouldn't always play against in the league campaign. So it's given us a different taste and a different flavour for the boys to be playing against teams across the country.

It [the tie against Arsenal] was a good game it obviously went to extra time and they're the type of moments you want the boys to experience. And then you look in to see if they can they get across the line, can they get to the point where they win the game and progress in it. And even [against] Crystal Palace I thought we were very good on the day and obviously the game finished 5-0 and stuff, but you have to get the games to look a certain way or get them to a point where you are dominant, and credit to the boys for obviously doing that as well.

We want to progress in every competition that we're in so for us to be able to be in this position now, it's obviously really exciting for the boys and they've earned the right to play in the final on Tuesday.

We can't hide away from that, it's a fantastic game and it's a fantastic occasion. Obviously we're playing against Manchester City so yes, you've got the Manchester thing there, the lads knowing each other, some of them going to the same schools previously etc., so there's always that little bit to that there. They're a very good team and we're a very good team. I think in development, when you get to these stages you realise that you need that level of competition and you need those sort of tests to see where you're at as part of your journey. And as part of your development as a player and as a team as well.

We'll be trying to approach it in a similar way that we would in terms of preparation for games, the way that we normally would. But we also have to soak up that different feeling towards it and sort of embrace that as well, not hide away from it. We want to be brave in how we want to approach the game, the personality and the mentality of the group etc., so we're definitely excited by it all.

The way that we look at the PDP (Professional Development Phase) program with the under 18s and the under 21s is - we have coaches that work with the players throughout those age groups, we have different departments and then we have the games program and different tours and tournaments within that as well. So we're definitely not the under 18s group sitting here and the under 21s group sitting there. We're basically a pool of staff working with a pool of players. And we have a pool of games, programs, tours and tournaments working within that as well.

We're very flexible with the players and how we use that and when we get to the end of the season. We have to able to look across each individual player's journey and the experiences they've had throughout the year and ensure that they've had enough of real good success or opportunities to succeed. But more importantly the opportunities to stretch and being able to be challenged as well. We have a very individual focus in the way that we look at each of the players and their program, and then look at the team stuff off the back of that. A lot of that is Nick [Cox] as the Academy Manager, Travis [Binnion] as the Head of the Player Development, they're the two key people that sit at the top of the academy structure. Then it's our jobs underneath that to support that vision and bring it to life, really. It's been great.
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Colin Little:
We've used this cup to make sure that sometimes we play a lot of the younger players in it and I think we did it this year from the start. If you win your games all of a sudden, which we did, I think we had some really good games. Reading, Southampton, we lost to Wolves but we managed to get through. And once you get through to the knockout stages the lads take it upon themselves, you're in now the last parts of the competition with a chance of getting to the final, if you like. So from then on we've really had the bit between our teeth. Southampton away was a really good game. We had a terrific game that day and in some of the players you start to see real evidence of the development.

Then Arsenal at home. We don't know much about Arsenal, but we know they're a great team and they've developed good players and athletes. We managed to beat them in a really good game in extra time. Obviously [against] Crystal Palace it was a bit more one-sided than we thought [it would be] but I think we played really well on the day. And then you're in the final which is great. We're all looking forward to being in a final at this stage of the season.

I suppose we're all individual coaches because we all know how important it is to get the players... we try to get them better at tasks that will give them a better repertoire to play in the first team. Can they receive it under pressure, can they finish under pressure, can they defend 1v1s - all the bits that make up a player. But you have to able to do that in a team environment and you have to able to do that under pressure in different experiences. We get lots of different types of games where we're the favourite, types where we're not the favourite. Types of games when we're up against it. This year they've had a game with ten men and managed to win. And then you want games with a crowd in.

We played in the Youth Cup and didn't perform as well as we should. You know it was a big occasion with lots of media. So what you want to do is get them to that experience again and see how they do and how they perform. That's basically what development is. It's putting people in situations where sometimes they're not quite there yet and sometimes they need a few more goes. Sometimes they can have as many goes as they want and they might not get there. They might not be quite able to do it and what you see is next time there might be a bit of a crowd on hopefully. Then there's a bit of a crowd but then it's a cup at stake and playing our local rivals. You have to add all of that into the mix and it becomes like a bit more... it's not as easy to just go out and play and do them things. So that's our jobs really.

The more chance you can get them in those experiences, the more chance you've got of developing them into the players like Garna and Kobbie, playing in front of was it 79,000 (poster's note: We're not quite there yet, Colin) at Old Trafford. So it fast-tracks them if you like and then when they do make their debut, they've been there before and they've felt that kind of pressure. Although there's an added pressure now as it's in the first team, but they've felt like under pressure. Hopefully that's when you know what kind of a player you've got and all that work that has been going on, by everybody. Not just the coaches but every member of staff. From when they were really young kids up until now, you realise why it was all worth it. All them trips abroad they took them to and it's not gone as well as they should've done. It all mounts up to become what the whole player is in the end.
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Grande said:
What’s that bit about at the end? About all those trips abroad that haven’t gone so well?
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Yeah, think it’s about perspective and about how also you need the ”negative” experiences (results-wise) in your journey. Everything has its purpose etc.
 
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If this is legit I'm so happy to see Harrison back so soon. Strong team as expected.

 
There doesn't appear to be a GK on the bench. God forbid Harrison gets injured because that'd be a terrible way to lose a cup final.
 
top1whoisman said:
If this is legit I'm so happy to see Harrison back so soon. Strong team as expected.
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Yea wasn't he stretchered off last game? Good to see him back so soon. Hopefully not a case of us rushing him back for this game.
 
Subs: Ogunneye, Mantato, Devaney, Lacey & Biancheri.

As @Gungerz said it's an interesting decision to leave out Myles if that's the case. He was pictured getting out of the team bus suited but I guess they have the whole squad there. And he's probably helping out with Harrison's warm-ups etc. Still quite a risk with Harrison's injury and all that could happen in a football match.

On a side-note, perhaps it's time the FA allowed youth teams to include seven subs as you're allowed to make five in a game.
 
The only obvious change I would’ve made is Ogunneye or Kamason (if fit) on for Nolan. Perhaps Mantato instead of Curley but it’s probably smart to have a strong midfield presence. And it’s good to have strong attacking options in a final.
 
Remember the geese said:
Ah of course, thanks. Players just tend to disappear and you're left thinking...injured then? I think Fitzgerald is a big loss. Looks a good player.
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Yeah Fitzgerald was very good at the start of the season. And I’d maybe prefer Munro in the place of Jackson.

The club doesn’t have any obligation and as far as I’m aware they don’t even have the right to release health details of underaged players. So that’s always how it’s going to go in youth football. Unless the players themselves post something about the injury, they kind of do exactly that, disappear. In the fans’ eyes.
 
This squad is so good. Would anyone be certain that the players we are missing would be automatic starters. There are few automatic starters within this squad, which is what makes them so brilliant
 
top1whoisman said:
Yeah Fitzgerald was very good at the start of the season. And I’d maybe prefer Munro in the place of Jackson.

The club doesn’t have any obligation and as far as I’m aware they don’t even have the right to release health details of underaged players. So that’s always how it’s going to go in youth football. Unless the players themselves post something about the injury, they kind of do exactly that, disappear. In the fans’ eyes.
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Even the first team seem a lot more reluctant to specify about injuries and timescales than they were in the past.
 
Remember the geese said:
Even the first team seem a lot more reluctant to specify about injuries and timescales than they were in the past.
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I wonder if it’s something that is changing in the game. In different North American sports they always have to check from the players what they’d want them to put out there when it comes to their injuries. During playoff time it’s an unwritten rule to just put out generic descriptions like ”lower body injury” etc.

Not giving specific time scales I totally understand, as that creates unnecessary pressure and fans will, as we witness currently, start questioning everybody at the club if the estimate doesn’t stick.
 
The free tickets are ”sold out” so I really hope the stands fill out during the first half. It’s a shame if a lot of people have just grabbed free tickets and don’t go.
 
That’s disappointing I had heard they were not full strength but expected them to go toe to toe more than that. 2-3 goal win margin here[/QUOTE]
 
Should be tough with City playing some of their players with plenty of u21 experience. Hopefully a win though
 
top1whoisman said:
I wonder if it’s something that is changing in the game. In different North American sports they always have to check from the players what they’d want them to put out there when it comes to their injuries. During playoff time it’s an unwritten rule to just put out generic descriptions like ”lower body injury” etc.

Not giving specific time scales I totally understand, as that creates unnecessary pressure and fans will, as we witness currently, start questioning everybody at the club if the estimate doesn’t stick.
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There does seem to be a shift. I'm not sure if it's just a Manchester United thing or whether it's something that has happened across the board.

Yes, "a few weeks" can very quickly become half a season as far as we are concerned.
 
3’

First strong run and a shot from outside the box from Williams. A trademark move.
 
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