Youth
James Wilson shined in his opportunity against Hull
Speaking of positives, there is an assortment of young players impressing far away from the shadow of the blues for the senior players. Jesse Lingard has been shrewd and incisive for Birmingham City on both the flanks. His defensive abilities often go unnoticed but he averages an astounding 4.5 tackles per match. With 5 goals and as many assists, Jack Barmby is already a ‘talismanic’ figure at Hartlepool. Nick Powell meanwhile has been the highest scorer(12) in all competitions for his loan home at Wigan. The club’s foreign exports Bebe and Angelo Henriques have earned plaudits during their respective loan spells at Portugese Paços de Ferreira and Segunda side Real Zaragoza respectively.
As for the reserves, a win during last night’s final over Chelsea would have been fitting but still nothing should be taken away from them. James Wilson and Tom Lawrence combined well for the former to score, like they did against Hull City earlier this month.
With three world class No 10 options in the form of Wayne Rooney, Shinji Kagawa and Juan Mata behind the likes of van Persie, United have a formidable attacking force with the young attackers also on the rise. That said, central midfield and vacant places in defence remain major areas of concern and are needed to be sorted out as soon as possible to avoid a similar pattern of distortion of the glorious numbers of one of the largest clubs in the world.
