U21s: West Ham vs. United

Lingard and Januzaj were the 2 that showed most promise yet again in this match.
 
I like Vermijl a lot. But I think I'm always keeping my eye on the attacking players more than the defenders. None of the players were outstanding, but I still thought Januzaj is still showing his promise.
 
U21s: West Ham 0 United 0

United's Under-21s had to settle for a goalless stalemate against West Ham at Upton Park on Friday night.

Warren Joyce's side missed out on an opportunity to climb to second in the table and, despite pressing towards the end, never really did enough to secure the three points.

Things were rather flat on a chilly night in the capital with chances few and far between in a disappointing first half. Frederic Veseli, tried in a holding midfield role, fired the first shot of note off target and Wellington Paulista's speculative long-ranger bounced in front of Ben Amos but was easy for the goalkeeper to field.

Sebastian Lletget was guilty of taking the wrong option when shooting wastefully into the side-netting while Jeff Schlupp lashed well wide from a neat Adnan Januzaj flick with little goalmouth incident taking place.

Paulista clipped his finish just wide when presented with the clearest opening of the first period but United then carved out a couple of opportunities. Jesse Lingard pulled a left-foot shot across goal following some good work by Larnell Cole and Veseli before Januzaj could only blast over when Schlupp got the better of Pelly Ruddock. The Belgian's shot was always rising and he had Cole in space beyond him.

After the interval, Januzaj had a shot blocked by Ruddock and then sent over a corner that led to Sean McGinty forcing Jake Larkins' first save, albeit a straightforward one. Around the hour mark, the Reds tried to gain a crucial advantage but no penalty was awarded after Ruddock clearly felled Schlupp inside the box. Seconds later, McGinty's cross was met on the volley by Lingard but Larkins produced an excellent save.

It proved to be the visitors' best spell as Elliot Lee robbed Januzaj to work Amos and the over-aged keeper also had to be alert to clutch a George Moncur cross at the second attempt with Lletget lurking. Schlupp had a clear sight of goal when Lingard was stopped in his tracks but could only screw wide from a promising position.

The two teams meet again at Altrincham's Moss Lane next Wednesday evening with the Reds edging into third place in the table on goal difference and certainly looking formidable in defence at present.

United: Amos; Vermijl, Fornasier, Thorpe, McGinty; Cole, Veseli, Ekangamene, Januzaj (Lawrence 72), Lingard; Schlupp. Subs not used: Blackett, Sutherland, van Velzen, James.
 
Genius Me! said:
I like Vermijl a lot. But I think I'm always keeping my eye on the attacking players more than the defenders. None of the players were outstanding, but I still thought Januzaj is still showing his promise.
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Januzaj's level of performance tonight reminded me of Pogba's reserve showings, the occasional glimpse of brilliance but not enough application and some sloppy moments. He can do far better.
 
Drainy said:
Januzaj's level of performance tonight reminded me of Pogba's reserve showings, the occasional glimpse of brilliance but not enough application and some sloppy moments. He can do far better.
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There's a big difference, he wasn't disinterested. Sure he's had better games, but he's younger than his teammates and he's not expected to be dominating all the games, especially not to Pogba's expectations anyway considering he was pushing for a place in the first team.

Januzaj definitely has the potential but he's still in that transition from u18s to u21s. He had a lot of time out injured last year and its a huge credit to him that we still expect more from him. If he continues the way he's been performing he'll be a big influence next year when the rest of his u18 teammates make the step up.
 
Genius Me! said:
Ah didn't see. So where abouts are you? I might try and go to the arsenal match and palace for the u18s. Enjoy the concert, hopefully he won't be going on half hour rants about everything and nothing.
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I'm in Islington will probably attend both if I'm not at work and in the country, need to check dates. I'll send you a PM when I find out and the concert was ok a solid 7!
 
pocco said:
He worked his arse off and did a lot of running and closing down. Lets not make a mountain out of a molehill, it just wasn't his best game.
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Genius Me! said:
There's a big difference, he wasn't disinterested.
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You're both right, I did say it in a silly way. By application I meant he didn't use his skill effectively and only showed glimpses of first team class rather than not working hard.
 
Drainy said:
You're both right, I did say it in a silly way. By application I meant he didn't use his skill effectively and only showed glimpses of first team class rather than not working hard.
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Would agree with this - definitely a valid 'criticism' of Januzaj. I say criticism like that because it's probably to be expected, although you can't help but feel he's got it in him to take it up a few more notches and really assert a greater level of control on games.

Was a really dry game tonight, but never mind. Hopefully Powell not playing means Fergie's looking at putting him on the bench tomorrow.
 
The main problem was that with the players we have available - there is no balance in the team. Veseli and Ekangamene can't be expected to show too much going forward, they simply aren't that kind of players. And when we have Cole and Lingard who clearly aren't playing the best football of their careers it was always gonna be hard.

I wouldn't say many players were poor - it was just that we didn't have a team that was ever gonna create a lot of chances, and when a couple of them didn't have the best of games - this was almost destined to be boring
 
Januzaj was still probably best of the attacking players tbf. Especially early in the 2nd half he did well after being largely uninvolved in the first.

The problem was that the back 6 + Amos was bypassing the 3 players in front of them and straightaway going to Schlupp so they had to feed of scraps a bit.
 
I didn't watch the game yesterday but it's worth noting that Januzaj's still adapting to u21 footie. The step up in tempo and intensity is huge. Showing the proverbial glimpses but struggling to influence games the way he did at academy level is par for the course at this point.
 
CLK_FPC said:
I'm in Islington will probably attend both if I'm not at work and in the country, need to check dates. I'll send you a PM when I find out and the concert was ok a solid 7!
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Not far from me, cool let me know ill most likely definitely go to the arsenal match.
 
gooDevil said:
Well, its tough when you're missing so many players. M. Keane, Wootton, Petrucci, Brady, King, Macheda, Henriquez and Cofie would certainly brighten up our play if they were still here.

Sending those players out on loan, and selling Brady and King, has probably killed any chance we had of winning this competition.
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It's a fair point, but thinking about it I can't remember the last time I enjoyed watching any reserve match as much as I enjoy watching the u18s.
 
How did Slurpy play?
 
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