In Leigh Sports Village, this cold Monday evening, Manchester United and Liverpool’s under 21s faced off in the mini derby; a match where the Red Devils’ youngsters came out on top this time around. United gave a debut of sorts to former Barcelona stopper Victor Valdes, and first teamers Paddy McNair, Tyler Blackett, Anderson and Jesse Lingard all started to give them the edge over Liverpool, who had a younger average age in their line-up.
The game started off at a very quick pace, as it so often does at this level, although both defences were fairly untroubled in the opening stages of the game. The centre backs of both United and Liverpool being allowed to bring the ball out from the back, as they’re encouraged to do by not only their youth team gaffers, Warren Joyce and Michael Beale respectively, but first team managers Van Gaal and Rodgers as well.
Liverpool looked dangerous on the counter as they looked to exploit the pace at their disposal, although United held more of the ball, albeit in mainly positions of little danger. The first chance of the game fell to Liverpool, a bizarre stray pass from Tyler Blackett went to another former Barcelona man, 18-year old Sergi Canos who closed in on goal before missing narrowly, his pained expression afterwards highlighting just how good an opportunity it was for The Reds. This fixture holds some significance, even at this level, and Canos showed he was up for the fight with a late challenge on Northern Irishman McNair, although the united player took it well. Around the half hour mark it was United’s turn to spurn a good chance as Anderson’s lofted pass fell perfectly to Nick Powell who got in behind, the player, who was upfront tonight, took his time to pick his spot but he fired just wide. However Powell wasn’t made to rue his error as three minutes later, highly rated playmaker Andreas Pereira crossed in a sumptuous in swinging free kick which curled towards Powell as he rose highest to head beyond the indecisive Lawrence Vigoroux to give United the lead. United were 1-0 up.
The goal led to a upsurge in United’s play and they grew in confidence, penning in Liverpool, the only way they looked like conceding was from an error of their own – and that’s exactly what happened: left back Marnick Vermijl lost possession deep in his own half and highly rated striker Jerome Sinclair turn and fired a left footed drive inside Valdes’ near post, where he’ll be disappointed to get beaten. The Spanish keeper was playing for the first time in around 11 months, but a man of his experience was expected to do better. The goal came not long before half time and Liverpool’s goal didn’t cause the same rise in performance from them as United’s did for them as both teams looked to go in after 45 minutes without going behind.
It wasn’t long after the restart that United’s lead was restored; good work from Nick Powell to bring the ball down followed by a smart reverse flick from the Swiss Saidy Janko led to Paddy McNair coolly slotting into Vigoroux’s far corner on the 46th minute. Frustration started to set in for Liverpool, and 5 minutes after the goal Ryan McLaughlin was booked for pulling down winger Jesse Lingard, Pereira done well again with the free kick that ensued just outside the box, Lawrence Vigoroux done well to get across and stop a third.
United’s youngsters looked comfortable from there on, the 67% around the 60 minute mark showing their dominance; physically they looked stronger and kept the likes of Sheyi Ojo, who done well against them last time out, restricted and he was more often tracking back to defend than getting up the pitch. McLaughlin had more joy down the right hand side, making his typical bursts down the wing, although his end product failed to match his build up play. Jordan Ibe, recently back from his Derby loan, looked lively in the first half, causing problems for United’s defence with his pace and direct running, but his impact was nullified in the second as McNair and the excellent Tom Thorpe blocked him off at every opportunity. Quite significant was the shift being put in from all ends. Peirera was tracking Ibe well, and Thorpe was flying into tackles but coming out victorious almost every time.
Cameron Brannagan saw his half volley fly just over Victor Valdes’ bar after a fumble around United’s box and Londoner Ibe fired well over from 20 yards out towards the end but bar the goal he conceded, Valdes was relatively untroubled. Anderson looked decent, if not a bit uninspiring considering his experience in comparison he was playing both alongside and against, showing why it seems as though his career at Old Trafford seems to be over.
Manchester United saw the game out to win 2-1, a win which sent them top of the Under 21 Premier League table; meanwhile Liverpool were unmoved, and remain in 11th.
Man of The Match: It could easily have gone to Andreas Pereira or Saidy Janko but I chose United’s captain, centre back Tom Thorpe who looked assured and sharp in the tackle. He also looked equally comfortable bringing the ball out from the back. He was dominating in the air and rarely looked troubled which is impressive as it was his first game back after an injury that kept him on the side-lines for over 5 weeks.
Attendance: 5,102
Venue: Leigh Sports Villaga
Valdes; McNair, Thorpe, Blackett, Vermijl; Anderson (Grimshaw, 88), A.Pereira (Weir, 87), James; Janko, Lingard, Powell. Subs not used: J.Pereira, Love, A.Fletcher. Manager: Warren Joyce.
Vigouroux, McLaughlin (Gomes, 67), Maguire, Randall, Williams, Chirivella, Canos, Brannagan, Sinclair, Ibe, Ojo. Manager: Michael Beale.
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