UEFA Youth League 2023/24

I guess our youth team has to win away against Copenhagen next time, or at least a draw.

#TEAMPWDLFAGDPTS
1FC Copenhagen U1933009369
2Bayern Munich U1931025503
3Manchester United U1931023303
4Galatasaray U19310239-63
 
DJ_21 said:
Yet had more possession and more shots on target…
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Over the course of the 90 minutes neither team particularly deserved the win. Shots on target has to be the most meaningless stat in football, the best chances in that game were put wide.
 
AltiUn said:
Over the course of the 90 minutes neither team particularly deserved the win. Shots on target has to be the most meaningless stat in football, the best chances in that game were put wide.
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How on earth does that make sense? :lol: Shots on target are the most meaningless stat in football? Without them their ain’t any goals
 
DJ_21 said:
How on earth does that make sense? :lol: Shots on target are the most meaningless stat in football? Without them their ain’t any goals
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They are to prove the context of whether a team was better on the balance of chances. Just because they had more shots on target didn't mean they deserved to win. Both teams had good chances, a lot of those good chances were put wide hence why I think it's stupid to use that as a metric to prove your point for this game.
 
AltiUn said:
They are to prove the context of whether a team was better on the balance of chances. Just because they had more shots on target didn't mean they deserved to win. Both teams had good chances, a lot of those good chances were put wide hence why I think it's stupid to use that as a metric to prove your point for this game.
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To be fair I only watched the second halve and the only good chance i seen us have was the one where he crossed that free kick when he spooned it wide and should have scored it. We had 1 shot on target all game and considering we conceded 1 that would have only got us a draw if it went in. Not good enough
 
I said back before this started when people were posting their predicted team that we would struggle with a team of first and second years and that’s not a criticism, the level of it is some distance above PL North U18 league. You would need 5 or 6 the level and experience of Gore and Mainoo to really have a chance imo.I think Chelsea won it back in their dominant youth football years with a team full of future PL stars, and City I don’t think have been close despite their years of youth football dominance. United just aren’t set up for this type of tournament, they just throw a young side in for the experience, the other European nations focus much more on winning.

I could be wrong but anything better than bottom of the group wouldn’t be a disaster
 
When you watch United against FC Copenhagen's U19 team, you have to remember that the structures in youth football in the 2 countries are different. While United has an U23 and U18 team, FC Copenhagen has an U19 team, which is used to playing together every single day.
 
stealthy said:
I said back before this started when people were posting their predicted team that we would struggle with a team of first and second years and that’s not a criticism, the level of it is some distance above PL North U18 league. You would need 5 or 6 the level and experience of Gore and Mainoo to really have a chance imo.I think Chelsea won it back in their dominant youth football years with a team full of future PL stars, and City I don’t think have been close despite their years of youth football dominance. United just aren’t set up for this type of tournament, they just throw a young side in for the experience, the other European nations focus much more on winning.

I could be wrong but anything better than bottom of the group wouldn’t be a disaster
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Fair point. Some dont realise the better sides have 8 or 9 not playing in the 18s Premier League as they have moved to 21s football in their second year. Youth cup be a fairer test.
 
Hester_manc said:
When you watch United against FC Copenhagen's U19 team, you have to remember that the structures in youth football in the 2 countries are different. While United has an U23 and U18 team, FC Copenhagen has an U19 team, which is used to playing together every single day.
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Would like to compare the spending budgets of the two!
 
Bigsid said:
Would like to compare the spending budgets of the two!
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Copenhagen have spent loads. They've put huge amounts of money into recruiting the best Scandinavian talent in recent years.

Not as much as United of course but it's miles ahead of anyone else in their region for sure.
 
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Bigsid said:
Fair point. Some dont realise the better sides have 8 or 9 not playing in the 18s Premier League as they have moved to 21s football in their second year. Youth cup be a fairer test.
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That true, even youth cup could be much tougher than league. It would be foolish to think flying high in the league means we will walk the youth cup, then you find yourselves away from home on a cold Tuesday evening against Stoke U21’s.

I think they could have a decent chance in the youth cup though, they seem to have a good group spirit
 
DJ_21 said:
How on earth does that make sense? :lol: Shots on target are the most meaningless stat in football? Without them their ain’t any goals
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If one team hits the post twice, miss an open goal and then they are inches away from putting the ball into an open net - that will be considered 0 shots on target. If a team has 5 shots from 30 yards where the keeper hardly needs to break a sweat to catch them - that is considered 5 shots on target.

Goal attempts is a much better way to calculate chances than shots on target which can be extremely misleading
 
lysglimt said:
If one team hits the post twice, miss an open goal and then they are inches away from putting the ball into an open net - that will be considered 0 shots on target. If a team has 5 shots from 30 yards where the keeper hardly needs to break a sweat to catch them - that is considered 5 shots on target.

Goal attempts is a much better way to calculate chances than shots on target which can be extremely misleading
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True. But the point was if you’ve got 1 team that has had 1 shot on target all game and 1 who’s had 3 shots on target all game then who’s been the better team? Who’s been closer to scoring?
 
Gungerz said:
Copenhagen have spent loads. They've put huge amounts of money into recruiting the best Scandinavian talent in recent years.

Not as much as United of course but it's miles ahead of anyone else in their region for sure.
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Yeah they have great scouting. The Icelandic player on the bench, Orri Óskarsson, was bought after playing a few games for a tiny team in the Icelandic 2nd division. They've most definitely spotted him at age 13-15 at some youth tournaments.

A massive United fan by the way.
 
stealthy said:
That true, even youth cup could be much tougher than league. It would be foolish to think flying high in the league means we will walk the youth cup, then you find yourselves away from home on a cold Tuesday evening against Stoke U21’s.

I think they could have a decent chance in the youth cup though, they seem to have a good group spirit
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A bit lack of goalscorers to win the Youth Cup tbh. Wheatley is a bit hot and cold and Musa's form this season hasn't been very good. Biancheri is not a number 9.
 
lysglimt said:
If one team hits the post twice, miss an open goal and then they are inches away from putting the ball into an open net - that will be considered 0 shots on target. If a team has 5 shots from 30 yards where the keeper hardly needs to break a sweat to catch them - that is considered 5 shots on target.

Goal attempts is a much better way to calculate chances than shots on target which can be extremely misleading
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DJ_21 said:
True. But the point was if you’ve got 1 team that has had 1 shot on target all game and 1 who’s had 3 shots on target all game then who’s been the better team? Who’s been closer to scoring?
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Exactly why xG was introduced, to describe the quality of the chances, aka how many goals would have been scored by the average player taking shots in the position they took them.

It has its weaknesses and excludes good chances where a shot wasn’t taken (e.g. could have slid and scored a goal) and finishing quality (a few world class strikers consistently outperform their xG), but is much more illustrative than shots on target and overall shots.
 
0-0 was pretty fair, neither side particularly deserved the win. United had the better chances, bar the first 5 minutes where Copen could have scored. They barely attacked after 15th minute. Was a strange game, both sides were pretty happy for the other to have the ball and just pass it around. Fairly different to both sides other games in the group so far.

On a side note, Mainoo didn't look anywhere near fit, not sure he sprinted the entire half.
 
Harrison has made a couple of excellent saves and Kambwala made an amazing block
 
Copenhagen back in the game. Hojlund's younger brother with the goal from the spot after a very theatrical dive from their winger. 2-1.
 
Asger said:
Damn, MUTV not showing outside UK!!!
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Now there's a surprise :lol:

I quite like how the MUTV commentators are obviously just really good mates, makes their commentary feel very authentic.
 
Where's Lacey by the way? I don't think he started any of our CL games? Only seen him make sub appearances previously and today he's not even in the squad.
 
saik said:
Where's Lacey by the way? I don't think he started any of our CL games? Only seen him make sub appearances previously and today he's not even in the squad.
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Saw on Twitter that he's out until January, not sure how reliable though.
 
I like Hansen but he's been useless today. Copenhagen somehow don't score :nervous:
 
Copenhagen look like they've managed to steal another result.
 
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