The fixture list is about to go into overdrive with two competitions beginning, starting with the Carabao Cup tie vs Barnsley.
Coming into the game on the back of a 3-0 win vs Southampton, the focus has to be on continuing this semblance of momentum Manchester United have for the first time this season.
Fortunately for United, they already have a player who knows how to score against Barnsley, having done so as early as this season itself.
Erik ten Hag will have to make a brave call to make it happen, and the circumstances are somewhat different, but if the win vs Southampton proved anything, it is that confidence is key in football.
Jack Fletcher- Barnsley slayer
August 20, 2024. Manchester United are facing Barnsley but the Carabao Cup draw is not yet confirmed?
It’s the U21s in the Football League Trophy vs the senior side of the League One team in an uphill battle for the youngsters.
The game is turning out that way too, with Barnsley leading 2-0 within the first half and giving United’s kids a lesson in senior professional football.
Until the dying embers of the game, when the kids gave them a lesson in “Fergie Time” DNA at Old Trafford.
Ethan Ennis opened the scoring in the 81st minute as United could smell blood. Enter Jack Fletcher, the son of United coach Darren Fletcher who has been on a tear this season.
Fletcher scored in the 84th and 87th minute to complete a remarkable comeback against a proper professional side that Sir Alex Ferguson would be proud of.
And thus an upset was completed. As it turns out, it would go on to become a gauntlet for the senior team, as they are in a position where they are already favourites for this tie but need to match the result of the youth team!
Ten Hag’s selection call
With United playing six games in the next 20 days, the need for rotation is paramount, especially since they already carry some injury worries.
Ten Hag has decisions to make vs Barnsley and one of those decisions should definitely be to give chances to some youngsters.
Besides Fletcher, there’s Gabriele Biancheri, who’s on fire for the youth team, while the likes of Harry Amass and Toby Collyer, fringe first-teamers now, also deserve minutes.
Ten Hag hasn’t generally been one to rotate but the effects of that stubbornness were clear for all to see last season when players dropped like flies.
The team has been more cautious this season and the Barnsley game will be a good litmus test of actual change in approach.
If it happens, Jack Fletcher should have the first opportunity to make his debut. He has already dominated the opposition once!
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