It is no surprise that after Manchester United’s disastrous display in the Carling Cup quarter final this week, that the Old Trafford club have come in for a rough ride. Headlines have declared the youngsters not good enough and even some of the old guard including the likes of Viv Anderson and Lou Macari, have had their say. Sir Alex Ferguson was obviously fuming at the performance, but will be the first to demand there to be no knee-jerk reaction. But should he be concerned about the quality of United’s next generation?
Talking to MUTV, Viv Anderson quite simply declared United’s youngsters “not up to the tasks that everyone thinks they are”. Quite a statement to make on the clubs own television channel. In his defence, judging by the defeat at Upton Park, he’s right. But the youngsters aren’t the only ones: Darren Fletcher was unusually poor, John O’Shea was wasteful going forward and anonymous defensively, whilst Ryan Giggs did his best to remind everyone that it was his 37th birthday not so long ago.
What stood out more from a United fans point of view was the fact that these senior players did little to appease the trouble the younger players were having. Fair enough, the defence were given a torrid time against Carlton Cole, but you would expect a central midfield partnership of Fletcher and Anderson to be able to keep quiet a full-back come playmaker like Jonathan Spector. So let’s not be so hasty to pile all the blame on the likes of Johnny Evans, Chris Smalling and Fabio.
When put all together, Fergie’s kids have a long way to go before they can safely call themselves the next generation. However when playing alongside Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic, Chris Smalling has looked more than comfortable, whilst with a decent run of games, which would mean staying injury free, you’d expect Fabio to mature the way his brother, Rafael, has done.
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Fergie is obviously a fan of Gabriel Obertan and it’s fair to say the potential is there. Bebe on the other hand; well, we will have to wait and see. £7 million on an unknown quantity was a gamble, and Ferguson doesn’t like to be wrong. Expect to see more from him despite the last horrific 45 minutes of football the Portuguese forward played.
What will always go against the next generation at United is that they will always be compared to crop of talent which once came through the ranks and dominated all before them. Admittedly, they don’t match the quality of a young David Beckham, Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs, but let;s be honest not many footballers do.
The kids will be given a second chance. Ferguson, in all his wisdom will call it a ‘learning curve,’ whilst behind closed doors I’m sure the players won’t be allowed to forget in a hurry what happened against West Ham. Luckily for them, though, the United manager puts a lot of faith in his younger players and would not agree with what the likes of Viv Anderson have had to say.
The warning signs are there for Ferguson that maybe some of his prospects would already class themselves good enough to stroll into a place like Upton Park and demand the win. The laboured way in which they played on Tuesday illustrated that they just weren’t up for it; an attitude not welcome at a club like Manchester United.
Be that as it may, his reaction won’t be to go selling players in January just off the back of one defeat. The result and performance was nothing short of embarrassing for Ferguson but they have a lot to learn. The reason why his young-guns will still be at Old Trafford until next summer at least is because he has faith in their ability, and who are we to argue with him? Not good enough? I’d say the future still looks bright at Old Trafford.
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