Cochrane: We've got bravery and potential
Manchester United Academy head of player development and coaching Justin Cochrane believes that our youngsters are showing promising signs.
Our Under-21s fell to a 2-1 defeat to Sunderland in the Papa John's Trophy at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday but Cochrane reacted positively to what he's seeing from the young players at United.
Although the Reds were eliminated from the competition, the coach, who joined the club in the summer, was happy with the players' efforts and emphasised the importance of learning in a post-match interview with MUTV.
Cochrane: The boys will learn from this
Justin Cochrane explains what our Under-21s can take from the Papa John's Trophy loss to Sunderland...
He thinks that playing against opposition like the Black Cats and the fact our players also grasped the opportunity to play at one of the biggest grounds in the country, showed their bravery and that there's a lot of potential within the club's ranks.
"The positives are that we showed we can play at this stage, that the youngsters wanted the ball and created opportunities," Cochrane told club media.
"At times, when you think 'oh, this could be a bit of a problem', they kept going. We got lots of good young players now, who I look at and think this is something you can add, or tick, on the development, playing at the stadium of an ex-Premier League club. It showed you've got potential to go further."
Cochrane calls for the players to be even more clinical in the deciding moments but our head of youth development and coaching is not panicking, saying Academy football is all about learning how to handle different scenarios.
"The key massage is: 'Can you be more consistent in the way you play? Can you be more ruthless with your chances?' Because, ultimately, matches are decided by what happens in both boxes," he emphasised.
U21s highlights: Sunderland 2 United 1
Check out all the goals and key moments from our Papa John's Trophy game at the Stadium of Light...
"I haven't seen the second goal yet but I think we could have done better defensively. We could go forward, we had opportunities in their area. On another day, our two forwards might have a brace each.
"So that's the key message, we keep going, there were positive performances from the young players. They played the Manchester United style, we played in and around them, there were good creative bits, particularly in the second half, so lots of positives."