U18s: United vs. Spurs

I just feel we have taken HUGE steps in talent development in the last 5-6 years. There were a couple of generations around 07-08 that were awful and the majority of them not only turned out poorly - you could almost see that some of the players never were destined for anything close to success.

Now - the majority (if not all) the player have quality enough to make it in league-football. And when i look at our U-18 sides over the last 3 years, I don't see many players without the quality to succeed in league football.

And I feel that we will only get stronger over the next few years....
 
I'm getting a bit giddy about this lot. Time to calm down.

Yeah me too. It's ridiculous. Also if you see the talent coming through with the likes of Mitchell(who from bits and pieces looks ridiculous really) and Rashford(Another player who comes with the hype). It's hard to control yourself.
 
Yeah me too. It's ridiculous. Also if you see the talent coming through with the likes of Mitchell(who from bits and pieces looks ridiculous really) and Rashford(Another player who comes with the hype). It's hard to control yourself.

Jesus lads, settle down! :nervous:

As usual we can only really hope that one or two of this crop "makes it" at United.
 
I anticipate there will be a lot of love for Rene in the coming years.
 
Aye after I sort of mentioned it in the Cleverley thread, I reckon he reads the Caf :cool:.

All the journos do. No joke. United are always the biggest story, and for all the crap, RedCafe is a good source for United news and views.
 
I just feel we have taken HUGE steps in talent development in the last 5-6 years. There were a couple of generations around 07-08 that were awful and the majority of them not only turned out poorly - you could almost see that some of the players never were destined for anything close to success.

Now - the majority (if not all) the player have quality enough to make it in league-football. And when i look at our U-18 sides over the last 3 years, I don't see many players without the quality to succeed in league football.

And I feel that we will only get stronger over the next few years....

Agree. Although I remember thinking that the FA Youth cup winning team of 2010/11 was a bit special. Yet only a small percentage make it. The star players of 2011 - Ravel and Pogba - have already gone so who knows what will become of these lads. But I do like the look of this lot even more.

Is this crop the first to benefit from the 90 minute rule getting scrapped?
 
What is also great about our youth team at the moment is all the coaches have to do is tell the lads to take a look at Welbeck and Cleverley and where they are now and use it as an inspiration. It wasn't that long ago they were in the same position that the current 18s are in with the same coaches etc. It shows them that if they work hard enough and apply themselves properly they will get their chance at the club and they are in the right hands to get them there.

Agree. Although I remember thinking that the FA Youth cup winning team of 2010/11 was a bit special. Yet only a small percentage make it. The star players of 2011 - Ravel and Pogba - have already gone so who knows what will become of these lads. But I do like the look of this lot even more.

All is not lost on the 2011 group yet. Lingard, Cole, Keane x2 all have a good chance of making it here in my opinion, with people like Thorpe, Johnstone, Blackett, etc an outside bet. Would of included Tunnicliffe as well but he has probably blown it now.

Is this crop the first to benefit from the 90 minute rule getting scrapped?

I don't think it came in till this year so I doubt we'll see the benefits of that for another 5 years plus.
 
Agree. Although I remember thinking that the FA Youth cup winning team of 2010/11 was a bit special. Yet only a small percentage make it. The star players of 2011 - Ravel and Pogba - have already gone so who knows what will become of these lads. But I do like the look of this lot even more.

Is this crop the first to benefit from the 90 minute rule getting scrapped?

Of this current group of youth players, I think only Januzaj and perhaps Daehli have the potential of Morrison and Pogba. Though the group as a whole is maybe more talented, but that is arguable. Januzaj is definitely the big hope for me currently.
 
Of this current group of youth players, I think only Januzaj and perhaps Daehli have the potential of Morrison and Pogba. Though the group as a whole is maybe more talented, but that is arguable. Januzaj is definitely the big hope for me currently.

Lingard is in with a shot...was Llarnell Cole not in there too? or am I getting years mixed up?

I'd say Will Keane has a real shot.
 
Of this current group of youth players, I think only Januzaj and perhaps Daehli have the potential of Morrison and Pogba. Though the group as a whole is maybe more talented, but that is arguable. Januzaj is definitely the big hope for me currently.

Rothwell is arguably the biggest talent of the lot, Pearson, Barmby and Wilson aren't far behind either.

There is less balance in terms of prospects with his group compared to 2011 side, as they had potential in most positions, whereas with this group all the standout players are midfielders. Others may surprise people in their development though, just as Michael Keane and Jesse Lingard have done since 2011.
 
All is not lost on the 2011 group yet. Lingard, Cole, Keane x2 all have a good chance of making it here in my opinion, with people like Thorpe, Johnstone, Blackett, etc an outside bet. Would of included Tunnicliffe as well but he has probably blown it now.


I don't think it came in till this year so I doubt we'll see the benefits of that for another 5 years plus.

Yeah definitely. Lingard etc all look good and could make it. I just meant that youth football is extremely volatile and difficult to predict. I was convinced Morrison and Pogba would make it, but we can never tell. Lingard wasn't even on my radar until the end of last season when he suddenly started to improve quite dramatically.

As for the 90 minute rule, if it's only just gone then I guess it will take time. We could potentially get an even better batch of schoolboys next year then. Mix that in with the excellent coaching and good work Meulensteen & Fergie are doing and the future is very bright. Mixing these lads with players from our scouting networks in South America should help us compete with Barcelona.

Of this current group of youth players, I think only Januzaj and perhaps Daehli have the potential of Morrison and Pogba. Though the group as a whole is maybe more talented, but that is arguable. Januzaj is definitely the big hope for me currently.

Really like the look of both. Shame Januzaj has a knee injury by all accounts. Hope its nothing serious.
 
Of the current reserves, I'd only risk money on Will Keane.

The academy is brimful of talent. Even though I've only seen him twice :D Wilson looks close to a dead cert.
 
Lingard is in with a shot...was Llarnell Cole not in there too? or am I getting years mixed up?

I'd say Will Keane has a real shot.

They're in the current u21 squad, which Morrison and Pogba were in. All three are good players but I don't think they'll be as good as the other two could have potentially been.

Rothwell is arguably the biggest talent of the lot, Pearson, Barmby and Wilson aren't far behind either.

There is less balance in terms of prospects with his group compared to 2011 side, as they had potential in most positions, whereas with this group all the standout players are midfielders. Others may surprise people in their development though, just as Michael Keane and Jesse Lingard have done since 2011.

I just feel that some have the potential to be very good, just as I would have said about Pogba and Morrison. Some are also good players but are in the level below Januzaj and Daehli, just as the Lingard and Cole were compared to Morrison and Pogba. It's very hard to say at an early stage, but Januzaj looked like the Morrison of the group to me. As always though, the more talented players don't necessarily become the better players. Just my opinion on how I see it currently.
 
I just feel that some have the potential to be very good, just as I would have said about Pogba and Morrison. Some are also good players but are in the level below Januzaj and Daehli, just as the Lingard and Cole were compared to Morrison and Pogba. It's very hard to say at an early stage, but Januzaj looked like the Morrison of the group to me. As always though, the more talented players don't necessarily become the better players. Just my opinion on how I see it currently.

Absolutely mate I can agree with you that Adnan and Mats look special stand-out talents. The only thing I differ on is that Rothwell isn't on the level of these two or hasn't looked has promising, I think he has and is arguably a bigger prospect.

Incidentally I dont think Januzaj has played with Rothwell more than once yet unfortunately. Start of last season Rothwell was fit and Januzaj was not cleared to play yet, then Rothwell broke his hip and missed the middle of the season while Januzaj came in. By the time Joe returned near the end Januzaj was missing with an injury and still has one at the start of this season.

The group of really talented midfielders we have are all yet to be available at once so far unfortunately. Lets hope by the time the youth cup comes round we can choose from Rothwell, Januzaj, Pearson, Perriera, Barmby and Daehli. I don't think I have ever seen a more talented group of midfielders in our academy than this lot.
 
Yeah it's going to be exciting watching this group of players. Hopefully it won't be too long before some of them get a chance with our u21s. That will probably depend a lot on if/when some of the u21s go out on loan. What was wrong with Januzaj last season and how long was he out for?