Manchester United’s under-18s have several games in hand after a raft of Covid and bad weather postponements in December and January. This led to one of them being played on Thursday at 1pm, in the midst of the international break.
A sensible decision to squeeze a game in, and yet a problematic one from a selection point of view for United, with several FA Youth Cup stars off on youth international duty, or in Alejandro Garnacho’s case, the senior set up.
Midfield was where the main dilemma cropped up. Kobbie Mainoo, Dan Gore and Sam Mather were all on duty with England’s youth sides, Isak Hansen-Aaroen with Norway, and Maxi Oyedele making his Poland under-18s debut.
This led to a real makeshift duo being selected in central midfield for United’s trip to Sunderland, neither or who will be in consideration for the Youth Cup final in the position.
Central to victory
United went with under-16s midfielder Finley McAllister in the centre, and with him a more experienced face, Marc Jurado, making the shift from right-back.
McAllister, just 15, was making his fifth appearance for United’s under-18s side, having made his debut at 14 last season. An England youth international himself, he is very highly rated in United’s youth set up.
Jurado has played the position a handful of times as a fill-in before, and he was fresh off training with Manchester United’s first team earlier in the week.
and together, the pair were effective as United won the game 1-0 thanks to an impressive first half goal from Ethan Ennis, his fifth strike in his last three games.
The 1-0 victory was notable because of the clean sheet. This happens rarely in youth games. While the team kept a clean sheet in the FA Youth Cup semi-final in early March, United’s under-18s last kept a clean sheet in a league match against Nottingham Forest back in November.
The duo of McAllister and Jurado enjoyed, it and former Barcelona youngster Jurado compared them to Spanish legends Xavi and Andres Iniesta in a comment on Instagram.
Youth Cup final auditions
The absence of under-18s regulars gave some others a chance to stake their claims for a role in the FA Youth Cup final squad. Ethan Ennis has been doing his bit in recent games, with Garnacho spending more time with the under-23s.
Omari Forson, Manni Norkett and Joe Hugill all started this game, having been on the bench for the semi-final.
United have a fairly settled team, with the same XI selected for the quarter-final and semi-final, but the lure of the final approaching will be making players up their game, and following on from a 4-1 win over Leeds at the weekend, this was a good victory.
Jurado will likely start as usual at right-back in the cup final, moving away from midfield, while McAllister will have to wait until next year for his crack at the Youth Cup.
In the league United are up to fifth place and have four games in hand on leaders City. Win them all and United will go second, just five points back.
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