Academy Briefing: FA Youth Cup fixture details

UNITED DOMINANT IN THIRD ROUND

Our high-flying U18s began the latest Youth Cup campaign in ruthless fashion, with Gabriele Biancheri’s hat-trick and Chido Obi’s double headlining a 5-0 victory over the visiting Coventry City.

Biancheri scored twice in the opening 10 minutes, assisted first by James Scanlon and then by captain Jacob Devaney, who had also played an important role in the opener. Biancheri turned provider to tee Obi up just three minutes later.

Obi’s early second-half free-kick ensured United maintained dominance after the break, and, having had a penalty saved, Biancheri completed his hat-trick late on to round off a satisfying day.

Wednesday's success was particularly gratifying for our young Reds after a tough UEFA Youth League exit at the hands of AZ Alkmaar a week before. This win sends United into the Christmas break on a real high.

“It’s always nice to get a dominant performance in and a win in the first game,” reviewed lead coach Adam Lawrence.

“Getting the goals early helped in settling any sort of nerves. I think, in the first half, Coventry’s defensive line was quite high and they weren’t able to get the pressure on the ball that they wanted, so we got into a rhythm quite quickly.

“I think what the boys did well is we attacked them in a variety of ways. Sometimes, we went through the middle, the diagonals to the opposite side of the pitch were another way, and we spoke about wanting to play forward and run forward early on in the game as well. I thought we did those things.

“Once you get that lead, it’s about the good habits and being professional in the right moments, and I thought we did that, particularly in the latter stages of the game, and then you end up killing the game off and being comfortable.

“When you look at this season with this current group, but also the last 18 months, with a lot of these players, of course the results and winning things is a good thing, but the development of the players and the group as a whole has been very, very good.”

United’s U18s lifted three trophies in an unprecedented season of success last time out, but it was the ability to combine winning on the pitch with individual development as people and players that was termed ‘utopia’ by Nick Cox, Director of Academy.

CAPTAIN AND HAT-TRICK SCORER REVIEW WIN

Captain Jacob Devaney and hat-trick scorer Gabriele Biancheri spoke to MUTV post-match.

“Last year, we obviously didn’t do as well as what we’d hoped, and I think everyone in the changing room is really confident that we can go on and do well this year,” said Devaney.

“We couldn’t have really got off to a better start. Before the game, we wanted to go into it 100 per cent and start on the front foot, which we did, we got a goal early on, and we just carried on from there. We might have been a bit nervous before the game, but getting that early goal really helped us and we went on to put in a good performance.

“I’d been captain in the younger age groups [U12s, U13s, U14s] but it’s something I’d like to take in my stride, obviously it’s a privilege to captain an U18s side at Manchester United. It does feel good, walking out in front of the fans in an evening game in the Youth Cup. You can’t get much better than that in U18s football.”

Biancheri agreed with his team-mate.

“It’s the Youth Cup, it’s the one that everyone looks forward to at the start of the season, wearing the blazer, going out there, you feel it when you touch the grass, and hopefully there are many more of these nights to come,” he said.

“The message before was just to play the game and not the occasion. We knew they’d come at us from the start, so we had to start fast.

“The main thing today was to get the result and we did that. The performance came with it as well. Personally, good for me to get three, and onto the next one!”

PRESTON UP NEXT ON 17 JANUARY

United’s FA Youth Cup fourth-round fixture against Preston North End will be played on Friday 17 January (19:00 GMT) at Leigh Sports Village.

Tickets will be available soon from the LSV website.

“It’s obviously always nice to be at home and playing in front of our fans,” reflected Adam Lawrence.

“Each individual game is a different type of test for us and obviously Preston have won in the last round against Liverpool. We’ll digest and enjoy this tonight [third-round win] and once that game comes around, we look forward to it. As you progress through the stages, the competition gets harder and the game asks different questions of you. But we’ll be ready.”

North End were 4-1 winners against Liverpool in round three and also have a long history of youth development. When the Manchester United Junior Athletic Club (MUJAC) came to the end of its very successful first season in 1937/38, United sought other professional teams’ youngsters to compete against. Everton and PNE were the two opponents also helping to push youth football on in England.

CHRISTMAS BREAK FOR ALL TEAMS

The Academy players and staff now take a well-deserved break for Christmas and the new year.

The Under-18s’ first domestic fixture back will be at home to Derby on Saturday 18 January after competing in two overseas tournaments, the REWE Junior Cup and the Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup, both in Germany on the previous weekend.

The Under-21s return before then, taking on Leeds United at the LNER Community Stadium in York on Friday 10 January (19:00 GMT).