U23s : United vs Leicester

mazhar13 said:
They've performed like that throughout the match. They haven't gotten much defensive support from the midfield, and the full backs have been beaten way too easily. To see them hold their own in such a situation is a great sign of their ability and composure.

Garner, Galbraith, and Mejbri have struggled to defend against Leicester's midfield. I'm quite surprised by Garner, especially, given that he did start off as a centre back. None of the midfielders have done a good job in plugging the spaces and winning the ball. That's understandable for Galbraith and Mejbri given that the Leicester players are physically ahead of them, but Garner should do better given that he's grown and played a bit of senior football already.
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Thanks for the reply!

I was hoping our midfield would do more considering, as @limerickcitykid says above, two of them are knocking on the 1st team. Aside from one run into the box from Galbraith and a one-two that resulted in a shot by Garner, they've been too quiet.
 
Yagami said:
Thanks for the reply!

I was hoping our midfield would do more considering, as @limerickcitykid says above, two of them are knocking on the 1st team. Aside from one run into the box from Galbraith and a one-two that resulted in a shot by Garner, they've been too quiet.
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That Leicester midfield is physically stronger and quicker than ours, overall. The only one who can probably keep up with them is Garner, but he's failed to recover his position after going for a press. My guess is that the players have been caught by surprise and haven't adjusted. I expect Wood and the coaching staff to offer different instructions and change a few things in our game, so hopefully we get more control in the 2nd half.
 
I'm not a huge fan of Bernard but my God is he good in the air.
 
Mastny produced a couple of great saves so far. Our left is getting targeted now with Svidersky struggling to stop the crosses and defend that area. To be fair to him, Galbraith hasn't offered him much defensive support.
 
Leicester deserved the goal but of course it's the bloke who should've been sent off.
 
Shola Shoretire's coming on for Connor Stanley. This should get interesting.
 
Bit unfair that Leicester were allowed to bring their own ref. To be fair, the stumpy Leicester player put some force into that push :lol:
 
I've got a good feeling about Will Fish. Calm and composed on the ball and he seems to read the game really well. Easy to see why he's so well thought of.

Midfield tonight has been awful, they've been allowed to waltz through us with ease.
 
Garner has been underwhelming so far this season. I'm more and more skeptical about him, he is feisty but his touch lets him down now and then. Needs a good loan now but not much seems to happen there right now. Bernard and Mastny very good. Elanga a threat but too isolated. A very unbalanced team, sadly. I think Ercolani did a good job and almost always does. However, Svidersky was poor. Not his fault though, not a left-back. Play Hoogewerf up top.
 
Drainy said:
I swear the Leicester scouts are biased heavily towards the players who score high in the 'looks a cnut' category.
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Haha and they are of course lead by the king of this category, Jamie Vardy
 
This Tweet sums up my assessment of this match.


Both Galbraith and Mejbri were physically overwhelmed by Leicester. They clearly aren't used to this yet, but this was a good test for them. They'll have more tests like this in Division One, which should develop their game even further.

The lack of two proper full backs hurt us big time on the attack. Defensively, only Svidersky was a concern as he gave too much space to Leicester's wide players. For the most part, though, our midfield was overwhelmed and looked out of place in that match (other than Garner who didn't anchor the midfield that much).
 
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mazhar13 said:
This Tweet sums up my assessment of this match.


Both Galbraith and Mejbri were physically overwhelmed by Leicester. They clearly aren't used to this yet, but this was a good test for them. They'll have more tests like this in Division One, which should develop their game even further.

The lack of two proper full backs hurt us big time on the attack. Defensively, on Svidersky was a concern as he gave too much space to Leicester's wide players. For the most part, though, our midfield was overwhelmed and looked out of place in that match (other than Garner who didn't anchor the midfield that much).
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Reminds me a bit of that game a few season against Wolves, ours lads had their first really challenging opponent in Iorfa, was a good learning experience.
 
On a more positive note, that long spell of possession which resulted in a great chance gone begging was brilliant. I don't think we were outclassed too much. In fact, from the 70 mins I watched, we could've had about 3/4 ourselves.
 
Grande said:
So how did Shola do?
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He looked pretty good in his cameo. He was quite tricky on the ball and a threat almost every time he received it. He was able to get others into the game in a way that Connor Stanley was never able to. The fact that he performed like that against a more mature, physical Leicester side puts him in good stead. I would expect him to make more appearances off the bench before eventually getting a start.
 
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mazhar13 said:
He looked pretty good in his cameo. He was quite tricky on the ball and a threat almost every time he received it. He was able to get others into the game in a way that Connor Stanley was never able to. The fact that he did against a more mature, physical Leicester side puts him in good stead. I would expect him to make more appearances off the bench before eventually getting a start.
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Thanks!
 
quite ironic that the goals were scored by two players who should not have been on the pitch. Leicester really overwhelmed us, really was a case of boys against men. Bernard and Fish looked decent. Elanga had his moments. I am sure that when these players get used to it, they will look better.
 
Not too concerned by the result or performance yesterday considering because of injuries we were relying on lads like Stanley and Svidersky who haven't even proved themselves at u18 level yet(mainly because of injuries), and Ercolani who is a box defender and not much else, against a Leicester City side who were much older/bigger, and pushed Chelsea all the way at this level for the title last year.

The fact neither goalscorer should have been on the pitch to score makes it easier to accept the result as well.

Oh yeah, an Impressive debut from our 8th choice keeper.
 
mazhar13 said:
This Tweet sums up my assessment of this match.


Both Galbraith and Mejbri were physically overwhelmed by Leicester. They clearly aren't used to this yet, but this was a good test for them. They'll have more tests like this in Division One, which should develop their game even further.

The lack of two proper full backs hurt us big time on the attack. Defensively, only Svidersky was a concern as he gave too much space to Leicester's wide players. For the most part, though, our midfield was overwhelmed and looked out of place in that match (other than Garner who didn't anchor the midfield that much).
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Watching the first half, I had this exact thought in the tweet, whether the Leicester lineup is 'old' for U23 level. On top of that most of their players looked like fecking tanks. In comparison ours looked very young. Stanley looked like a little kid :D.
 
limerickcitykid said:
And seen a hundred more that weren’t given red. Like I said, a push to the chest is virtually never a red.
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Well - according to the rules, it is. But as you said, not that often given. The one from the striker in the first half, was a blatant red though
 
Regardless of how old are the Leicester line-up, the 3 on midfield should have done better considering the hopes we have on them.

Bernard shows that he's ready for that loan move.
 
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