U21s : Manchester United vs Liverpool

RedMachine03

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Manchester United face Liverpool in the Barclays Under-21 Premier League on Monday night, 26 January, in what promises to be a keenly-contested encounter at Leigh Sports Village (KO 19:00 GMT).

"The Liverpool fixtures are the ones the first team look at as massive games and we do the same at Under-21 level as well," Joyce told MUTV. "Both clubs have a great tradition, not only for winning things but also for playing a certain brand of football. The games are always competitive with bragging rights for the fans at stake. We want to win them."
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Previous Meeting -
The two rivals drew 1-1 at Anfield in August with Tom Lawrence, who has since joined Leicester City, scoring for United.

Team News -
Ashley Fletcher is expected to lead the attack after Will Keane joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan although Nick Powell is another option. U21s captain Tom Thorpe has yet to return from an ankle injury.

Registration for free entry to tonight's game is now closed but the match will be shown live on MUTV with coverage starting at 18:30 GMT. Fans can, however, register for United U21s' match vs Fulham on Monday 2 February via www.leighsportsvillage.co.uk.


Ashley Fletcher is set to be handed the responsibility of leading the line for Manchester United's Under-21s following the loan exit of Will Keane.

With England Under-21 international Keane joining Sheffield Wednesday for the rest of the campaign, there will be an opening in attack as United prepare to face Liverpool to start a run of five successive Monday night games for Warren Joyce's men.

Fletcher scored home and away against the Merseysiders at Under-18 level last season but has had to be patient in the Under-21s this term, with his substitute appearance in the last fixture at Norwich City being only his second competitive outing of 2014/15.

When asked by ManUtd.com if he hopes the 19-year-old centre-forward grasps the opportunity, coach Joyce replied:
"Yes, for sure, because Will has gone out on loan and Fletch will be involved now and staking a claim.

"He has progressed well since the start of the season as he had a bad injury over the summer but he's come on a ton really with the work we have done in the last couple of months."
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Looking forward to see Ashley Fletcher start.Though I think his best position is second striker not up top.
 
I really hope they move the home games away from Leigh next season. It's such an inconvenience to go that far out of Manchester.

Thanks for posting @RedMachine03. I think the link needs to be edited a bit, though.
 
Looking forward to this tonight on MNF, should be a good watch with Nev and Carra
 
Spurs just drew vs Leicester so they're temporarily 1st.We need 1 win + 1 draw to overtake them.2 wins in case Chelsea or Southampton win their next match.

This new format was much more competitive tbh.The remaining issue is the lack of games.
 
Liverpool under-21s: Vigouroux, McLaughlin, Maguire, Randall, Williams, Chirivella, Canos, Brannagan, Sinclair, Ibe, Ojo
 
VALDES STARTS
#MUFC Valdes, McNair, Thorpe, Blackett, Vermijl, Anderson, Pereira (A), James, Powell, Lingard, Janko.

Substitutes vs Liverpool U21s. J.Pereira, Grimshaw, Love, Weir, A.Fletcher
 
That's a typical "before transfer window deadline" line-up.Half of them will be somewhere else soon (on loan,first team or sold).

Reckon we'll play shit football with that 3 at the back line-up and Anderson in midfield.
 
khoazany said:
That's a typical "before transfer window deadline" line-up.Half of them will be somewhere else soon (on loan,first team or sold).

Reckon we'll play shit football with that 3 at the back line-up and Anderson in midfield.
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Pretty much. I'm not really surprised that Valdes is starting. He needs some match rhythm in his recovery, and what better way to gain that than through U-21 football?

The one thing that I find interesting is that we're playing strikerless in this setup unless you guys consider Powell to be our striker. The fact that we have two box-to-box midfielders rather than 1 holding midfielder in there is a promising sign. At least we aren't playing the 3-1-4-2 that van Gaal plays for the first team, so our football shouldn't really be that bad.

I'm glad to see Lingard back. I hope he does well after the horrible injury he suffered at the start of the season. It's been a while since I've also seen Reece James play for the Reserves. Powell will, most likely, get loaned out again or even sold along with Vermijl.
 
Redo91 said:
Cheers.

Interesting that Pereira is captain.
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That is very interesting, particularly when Valdes is also playing. I guess Joyce wants Pereira to mature quickly and is giving him the armband to make him feel more responsible play with more maturity. He does have the talent in him, but he is still quite naive in his approach. The captain's responsibility should help him play with more maturity, I hope.
 
Anderson should really feck off. He has no future here. Why does he still get games at this level when someone else could use the experience.
 
My mistake. It's Thorpe who's actually captain, not Pereira.

And Janko as a striker? Is he there to play as de Laet did against Newcastle several years ago, or is he there to provide width and pace up front?
 
Pogue Mahone said:
How do we know Janko is a striker? Surely it's Powell?
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The MUTV team sheet showed Janko up front with Powell in a 4-4-2 diamond.

Blackett played a beautiful ball to Pereira with Janko showing why he's playing up front.
 
Liverpool are struggling to settle, but I think it'll be soon when they settle down and start passing the ball around.
 
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