What is Lou Macari talking about? That was going wide.
U21s: United vs. Leicester
- Thread starter gooDevil
- Start date
I'm with Lou on this one. It was heading for the bottom corner.
So I count Lawrence and Barmby that Leicester have bought from the United youth squad. Am I missing anyone else?
Speaking of Lawrence, he's just missed a one-on-one with Amos.
Speaking of Lawrence, he's just missed a one-on-one with Amos.
Matty James and Danny Drinkwater too, although they're in the first team. They also have De Laet.
Yeah three whole pages....
Simpson's out there as well. Then there's Rowley.
That flick from Wilson was 
That flick!
That was sensational from Wilson
Cheers, it's amazing how many ex-United reserve players are scattered around the league.
Did he score?That flick from Wilson was
That was a brilliant touch from Wilson, unfortunately it's his last contribution before he's taken off.
any rivers ?
Looks like Pereira and Wilson will be involved again at the weekend.
Is that Danny Simpson? Oh yeah, forgot about Louis Rowley. Who's the decent right back I'm confusing him with, he plays for our U18's I think?
What a chance for Keane.
Harrop has been bright since going central.
Harrop has been bright since going central.
Sure got their fighting spirit back in the second half. Should be more goals for them I'd think.
Could someone please PM me a river?
No not after the flick but it was a beautiful flick to take the ball past the defender.
It's Joe Riley. Riley and Rowley, I knew there was a reason for the confusion!
That's a red.
if only the premier league matches had benevolent refereees like this. the challenge was really stupid. could have been red. Blackett not having best of matches
Argh feck.
Had to be...
Barmby and Lawrence. Figures..
Deserved to lose really, been absolutely terrible all over the pitch
How was Thorpe?
Much better than the guy to his left.
Ok(ish) but nothing that made me think "potential first team player". A bit like Vermijl, though not quite to that extent. Our defence, as a whole, looked awful but I suspect the main reason for this was the inability of our midfield to either stop, or at least track, their midfield runners, resulting in the likes of Thorpe and Blackett, abandoning their man at the last min in order to make a desperate attempt to stop a Leicester player in a dangerous position. In reality Amos was forced to make plenty of decent saves as well as conceding 3 goals.
Back to Thorpe, positionally not too bad but in terms of strength and winning aerial battles, clearing dangerous high crosses etc, he looked vulnerable.
Not sure I agree with the assessment that Thorpe was better than Blackett. They have very different strengths and weaknesses. Neither was impressive on the night.
It was a night when the "might make it at United" list would have had Wilson's name on it, everyone else would have been on the "won't make it at United" list.
Last edited:
Oh god its seeping though the team
Apparently every time we lose or draw an U21s match, the whole U21s team won't make it.
Well seeing as our entire first team defence (bar Shaw and McNair) has been written off after City beat us, that's no great surprise!
What I noticed was Thorpe's not the best dealing with aerial duels.. might be why McNair's ahead of him
Neither is Blackett
Thorpe is excellent in the air. He has shown consistent form over the last few years so most regulars are baffled why McNair is ahead of him.
The midfield were poor tonight which put a lot more pressure on defence. Whole team was below par so singling anyone out doesn't achieve anything.
Not singling him out.. noticed the back line struggling with long balls.. I'm just trying to figure out why McNair is ahead of the Thorpe who is not only more experienced and physically better developed but also the captain of the reserves.
When Smalling, Evans and Jones were out, both McNair and Thorpe trained with the first team for a week prior to the West Ham game. LVG said McNair impressed him and the coaching staff with his ability to follow their instructions; that's why he got chosen; reading between the lines, that also says something about McNair relative to Thorpe. During the summer tour Kagawa was given some mins in a deep midfield role, appearing to do ok. Afterwards LVG said Kagawa failed to follow his instructions.
I think it is pretty clear now that good performances (and experience) at U21 level don't count for much (under this regime) beyond the chance to train with the first team, typically when there are injuries. Hence the series of decisions that have surprised regular followers of the U21s.
If we got to see first team training, the decisions would probably make more sense.
Last edited:
If you really read between the lines you'll find out that LVG thought Thorpe is a holding midfielder.
Indeed.
And he clearly didn't pay much attention to the scouting reports from Blackett and M.Keane's respective loan spells last season. That is assuming someone from United was actually watching.
I think it all comes under "LVG's philosophy" which I still haven't fully (or even partially) understood beyond him wanting a right-footed right central defender and a left-footed left central defender