U21s: Newcastle United vs. Manchester United

[S.E.Arising]

Manchester United's U21s play Newcastle United in the Barclays Under-21 Premier League, on Monday evening, at Whitley Park, kick off is 7pm. The match is live on MUTV.

[Sideshow Bob]

Squad: Jonny Sutherland; Frederic Veseli, Scott Wootton, Michele Fornasier, Marnick Vermijl; Bebe, Tom Thorpe, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Adnan Januzaj, Larnell Cole; Federico Macheda; Tom Lawrence, Reece James, Kieran O'Hara, Charni Ekangamene, Luke Hendrie, Luke McCullough.

[Sideshow Bob]

Team: Sutherland; Veseli, Wootton, Fornasier; Tunnicliffe, Thorpe; Bebe, Cole, Januzaj; Macheda

Subs: Pereira (GK), James, Ekangamene, Hendrie, Lawrence.

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Sutherland forced into an earlier save from an effort inside United's penalty area by Xisco.

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Very little of note has happened so far.

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Fairly dull game so far. Newcastle looking the more likely.

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Well that was a fairly dull and uneventful first half. 0-0 at half time.

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1-0 United, Thorpe with a header from a corner. Januzaj took the corner.

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Lawrence replaces Macheda.

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1-1, Newton. Poor goalkeeping from Sutherland gifts the opportunity for Newcastle's defender.

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2-1, Lawrence. Fornasier with the assist.

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Ekangamene replaces Januzaj.

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2-1 full time.

[lomaxgr]

I watched the game, and we were poor at very best. Tom Thorpe had a decent game by keeping things simple on the ball and breaking up a bit of play, but other than that there really weren't many (if any) positives.

We can see what United staff see in Bebe; he floored the Newcastle RB with a shoulder barge without any momentum, but then proceeded to blast his shot 15 yards over the bar. He has a fantastic combination of pace and power, but he has absolutely no footballing brain whatsoever and just doesn't have the technical ability to compensate for it.

I fail to see the hype surrounding Tunnicliffe. Great attitude, average player in my opinion. Takes way too many touches, doesn't have great positional discipline because of his aggression and he isn't anything to shout about from a technical standpoint. He is overhyped because we haven't had a midfield enforcer since Keano, hence everyone wanting to compare the two. If Ryan kept it simple on the ball like Tom Thorpe, his chances of being a Premier League player would be a lot better.

Macheda just isn't interested as a United u21 player any more. His agent's recent comments clearly show he is on his way out, and the only reason we are playing him is lack of options and displaying him for potential buyers. I expect him to be out in January on a permanent basis.

Larnell Cole isn't ready to play as a CM; doesn't matter if we are playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 like we did last night. He is a winger without question in my eyes. I was actually really impressed with a couple of Newcastle's players to be honest. Their LB (tall black lad) looked very impressive, as did the aggressive/nouty CM who's brother plays for Marseille.

[Sideshow Bob]

You raise valid points about Tunnicliffe and Thorpe. In modern football I feel Thorpe is likely to have a career at the higher level - at United I see him as the natural successor to Carrick. I agree with your general view of Tunnicliffe.

[JSNFRMN_MUFC]

Missed the game. Thorpe has a great chance of succeeding at United. Seems to be excelling in midfield now as a holding player. Certainly see the similarities between him and Carrick, I think the role may even be more suited to Thorpe but we'll see. Look forward to watching him progress.

Love Tunnicliffe but also not sure he's someone who can make it. Still relatively young, needs to improve quite a bit over next few years though. Will at least have a good career at a Championship club.

[S.E.Arising]

Blog by Rob Britton: U21s: Newcastle United 1-2 Manchester United