Chicharito for one has carried his fine scoring form into the Gold Cup where he’s currently the top scorer with 5 goals from 3 games. For a player who was supposed to be eased into the rigors of the English game and pegged more as one for the future, he played in well over 40 games for us last season. Despite that many appearances for us, he’s still showing the same enthusiasm and energy in the 3 games he’s played for Mexico thus far.

We’re also well represented at the European Under 21’s with Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck playing for the three lions. All 4 United players started the first match against Spain that ended in a 1-1. I only caught the last 30 minutes, but it closely resembled our game against Barcelona at Wembley. The Spanish team kept the ball well and England were left chasing the ball for most of the time. Both Smalling and Jones looked solid without being spectacular. Welbeck took his goal well although it looked offside. Cleverley never really looked like he would make an impact (at least in what little of the game I saw).

Not too sure which one is true, but I’m just glad that we can finally put this to bed.

Finally! A new signing and not one that we’ve never heard of before (ie Bebe). He’s also demonstrated his quality in the limited time he’s been on display in the league with some noteworthy tackling that caught everyone’s attention.

We’ve potentially got England’s central defensive pairing for the next 10-15 years in our squad. In the interim however, with Vidic still very much the first name on the teamsheet, I would love to see SAF give Jones a go in that defensive midfield position to add some much needed bite in the center. We’ve been rather soft in that area of the pitch especially after Fletcher was hit by that mysterious virus for the 2nd half of last season. It may be a long ways away, but to have him assume a role like that of Keane or even a Gattuso would be huge for us.

Is anyone else as excited about this signing as I am? Or is it just the thrill of having a new player in our stable?

Soccernet is reporting that while we’ve agreed to personal terms with the player AND met the buyout clause in his contract, the most important thing hasn’t been resolved. And that would be the actual transfer fee to convince Blackburn to sell him to us.

The original reports were that the 16m pounds inserted as the release clause would automatically be the transfer fee. That doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, all it did was allow teams willing to at least start negotiating from 16m and up the chance to hash out personal terms with the player himself.

So we find ourselves in the odd situation of having the player already agreeing on terms such as his new weekly salary that he would be picking up at United. Yet, the clubs can’t seem to find a valuation for his talents that would work in the best interest of both teams.

We’re apparently holding out for 16m while Blackburn is expecting to receive something more in the neighborhood of 25m. Is that realistic on the part of the Rovers? I don’t think so. Not for a player who hasn’t amassed a wealthload of experience at the top level. Sure, potential counts for so much more these days. Take into the account, the infamous “English” tax and you arrive at a fee (typically quoted by the selling club) that boggles the mind.

Since Jones himself has expressed a desire to play at OT next season having chosen us as his club of choice over Liverpool and Arsenal, it may just be a matter of time before we see him officially unveiled as a United player.

As to the actual fee that ends up being agreed upon. It’ll probably be somewhere in the middle. I’m guessing around 19-21m. Any more than that and Ferguson will probably say “no value” and rellocate those funds somewhere else.

In your opinion, what’s a fair price for Phil? At what point should SAF just move on instead of being held to ransom?

That was the big question throughout the day that marked the (at time of posting) potential transfer of Phil Jones to United. If you followed it unfold as avidly as I did, the whole debacle could be summarized in this way:

Breaking news – Phil Jones has snubbed some of the other big clubs to sign for United.
More details – Arsenal, Liverpool are among the clubs that met his release clause of something like 16 million pounds and were given permission to talk to him. Ultimately, he chose United because SAF whispered some sweet words AND wowed his parents.
United fans – celebrate everywhere over the signing of a potential future England centerback and captain
But wait – rumors start to circulate that he failed his medical. Cue the jokes and one liners about Jones’ condition in light of the fact that both Owens have passed medicals at United in recent years. There was also the odd mention of Giggsy’ current dilemma playing a part in this “failed” medical. (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up on twitter).
Another update – downplaying the false rumors that were circulated earlier. Apparently, Jones did pass his medical and had rejoined the England U-21’s. Apparently, he’s also been awarded the #2 jersey previously worn by a certain G Neville.

At this point, I still have no idea whether or not we’ve signed Phil Jones, or whether he’s failed his medical, or whether he’s changed his mind and is about to sign for Arsenal/Liverpool/take your pick.

Of course United keeps us in the dark by not releasing anything official to either confirm or deny the rumor. So, we’ll all have gone to bed thinking about the possibilities of a central defensive pairing of Smalling and Jones in red for years to come, but still, not really putting too much hope in that since we don’t know if it’ll actually materialize.

I for one, am hoping that it’s true. Why?

1. Because it proves that we do have money to spend on talent (and we’re not just looking in the bargain bin for the likes of another Bebe).
2. Because we’ll have a solid English defender that many other top teams were vying for as well. It’s not like our only competition for his signature were teams from the lower leagues.
3. Because there’s talk of him being potentially considered for the defensive midfield position that we’ve been crying out for SAF to fill. If we can have him in tandem with a creative sort like Nasri or Modric, we would be a happy bunch.

If we can lock this transfer up soon as well as the signings of De Gea and Young, we can just spend the remaining weeks looking to bring in the best creative midfielder we can get our hands on and we could potentially be done.

The other piece of good news from today? Sunderland wanting to take Gibson off our hands.

Perhaps the fact that Scholes hasn’t featured as prominently in the past couple of months has made the announcement easier to stomach. Yes, we’re losing a legend. But better for him to go now than to attempt to try and play next season and potentially look like Neville did earlier this season.

As the tributes start pouring out across the internet and blogs everywhere, let’s take this moment to really reflect on an incredibly sparkling career that has earned him 10 Premier League winners medals and a host of other accolades. Beyond the silverware, Scholes has also never been short of admirers having been on the receiving end of some of the highest compliments afforded to a player in the sport.

Very shortly, we will need to turn our attention to the incredibly pressing and almost impossible task at hand: Who will (attempt to) step into his shoes?

It obviously doesn’t matter what we think or want, but if it were up to you, what would you do in this situation? Knowing that our first choice pairing is probably going to be Rooney and Chicharito heading into next season, and with Welbeck, Macheda and Diouf coming back from their loan spells, will we even have room for Berba?

My take is that he’s still got a lot to offer. Sure he doesn’t pair as well with Rooney as Chico, yet, he offers a level of calm and ball possession that none of the returning 3 have demonstrated as of yet. Whether or not he’s willing to accept a role off the bench for most of the season is another thing to consider. We can’t possibly get more than £15million for him considering his age and his contract situation. With that being said, I’m of the opinion that we hang on to him if he wants to stay since it’s unlikely we could find a player of his talent at that price range. The only rationale I could imagine in letting him go would be if we could land one of our coveted midfield targets and Berba was requested as part of the transfer.

What would you do if you had a say on Berba’s future? Do you even care if he stays or goes?

We fared better than our showing from 2 years ago. But that wasn’t exactly very difficult to do. Yet again, Barcelona showed why they are a class above every other club team over the past few years and it will take something miraculous to displace them at the top.

Impressions:

1. No Berbatov. Wow. We all had a feeling that Rooney and Chicharito would be the front pairing to start. But to look at the bench and not even see our top scorer on there told us everything we needed to know about SAF’s estimation of him for the biggest games. How much longer will he be content to merely come off the bench?

2. Valdez did not have that many shots to stop during the night, but I thought he was excellent with his focus and came off the line very quickly to snuff out any long balls we sent forward from deep.

3. Messi was magical as always. I don’t know if there was ever any hope of containing him for the full 90 minutes. Villa worked hard and his strike for the third goal and the quintessential nail in the coffin was pure class.

4. Just like 2 years ago, we started off well, but once Barca got into their rhythm, there was little we could do. On the positive side, we weren’t solely reliant on a Ronaldo to pull us back into the game this time round. As has been the case all year, we attacked us a team, but had no answer to Barca’s ability to shut down space and regain possession very quickly.

5. Would the inclusion of Fletcher or a player like de Rossi have helped? I don’t think so. Not on a night when Barca were as rampant as they were. Sometimes, you just have to tip your hat to the opposing team and say “well done”.

6. Evra appeared a weak link in our defense tonight. The Barca players found acres of space out on the right with Evra being sucked into the middle way too often. This capped a less than remarkable season for our leftback who has up till this year, been the standard of reliability at the back.

7. Make no mistake about this. I was and still am incredibly proud of the effort our team put forth tonight. They knew their game plan and stuck to it. They worked hard and did everything they could to pressure Barca when they had possession. Unfortunately, the effort wasn’t enough to get us the result we wanted.

A sad way to end a career for VDS and possibly, Scholes. I can’t see the Ginger Prince coming back after the way he’s performed in the second half of the season. As sad as it is to see him go, it will force us into transitioning our squad sooner rather than later.

Congrats to Barca again for a win that they fully deserved. It sucks to lose. Yet, the blow is softened by the fact that we put up a bit more of a fight than the last go around. However, we were always second best and even subpar at times against a world class Barcelona team.

Becks looked like he’s still got it. His delivery was exceptional all night long and his hustle for the 90 minutes reminded everyone why we loved him and how like Giggsy, he’s expanded his game to extend his playing career.

On the flip side, is there any hope for Bebe and Obertan? Even in a testimonial with Juventus playing at a much slower pace, the duo looked confused and never brought anything to the game. In fact, it was Bebe’s introduction as our sole forward in the 2nd that saw our hope of winning the game disappear. We never looked like scoring after Owen was taken off although the former England forward was guilty of wasting numerous chances himself.

Ultimately, it was a superb goal that proved to be the winner on a night when the result was always going to be secondary to the celebratory and festive nature of the occasion.

Both teams cancelled each other out in the opening exchanges and United really played into the hands of Sheffield United by allowing themselves to get embroiled in a midfield battle they couldn’t win. Whitehouse and Harriott are very capable central midfielders and the former impressed me hugely last night. United played with no width and the middle of the park was too congested to play our quick, slick passing football, The Blades were more than happy with this.

Other than a rather large lady causing chaos trying to get to her seat, the first 15 minutes were pretty dull with United creating a couple of half chances and Pogba’s possibly goalward freekick deflected out for a corner. United were given a fright when Slew went close on 15 minutes after he controlled a high cross in and turned McGinty in the box, only to drill his shot a fraction wide of the keepers left hand post. Johnstone was rooted to the spot, and had the shot been on target The Blades were one up. Seconds later, Whitehouse found himself unmarked in acres of space outside the box but slashed his shot wildly high and wide. United needed to settle the nerves somehow, stretch the game out and utilise the size of the Old Trafford pitch.

Morrison, Pogba, Tunnicliffe and Gylino Van Velzen had started as if they were the only players in the game, each trying to do too much with the ball instead of letting the ball do the work and playing as a team. Sheffield United were chasing everyone down, pressing high up the pitch and forcing United into unnecessary errors. Morrison was the main culprit (not the first time those words will have been said!) getting caught on the ball time and again. Will Keane was dropping too deep to get involved, that meant that when the play did open up and Morrison, Tunnicliffe or Pogba had a chance to release him, he wasn’t looking for the ball in behind. It was left to Jesse Lingard to make the darting runs in behind but it wasn’t quite paying off. On 20 minutes Morrison made one of those runs with Pogba on the ball, Pogba slipped him in and Morrison was through on goal but George Long reacted quickly and smothered his shot.

Another dull 10 minutes passed by with the only chance coming from a Sheffield United corner that was headed over the bar. Then, as if McGuiness flicked a switch and ordered Michael Keane to finally overlap from deep, United found a way through. Fornasier played a simple ball out to Tunnicliffe, he powered his way into the Sheffield United half and picked out a superb defence splitting pass to find Micheal Keane with space to run into, his deflected cross fell to brother Will who made a hash of his shot missing it completely, the ball then fell kindly for Morrison who took a touch to set himself, saw a gap through a crowd of defenders, and slotted it in comfortably with the keeper stranded. 1-0 United.

Sheffield United made a valiant effort to repeat their instant reply of last week when they went a goal down. First Whitehouse missed a glaring opportunity to equalise a few minutes later when Ironside literally blasted the ball across the face of the goal and zipped past his boot, a tough chance, but on another day he may have connected with it and surely scored. Slew then beat Johnstone all ends up shooting from the corner of the United box and bending his effort just wide of the far post.

Just before the break United piled on the pressure and went close when Lingard’s shot from the edge of the area was headed clear by Whitehouse (not for the first time he’s cleared off the line in the two games) and then central defender Tony Kennedy had a rush of blood to the head. Morrison broke into the box and pulled the ball back towards Will Keane whose attempt at a header was fruitless because it never got to him thanks to Kennedy naively handling the ball out of play. The referee had no choice, you couldn’t miss it, United had a penalty and a chance to take a flattering two-nil lead into the break. Will Keane stepped up and coolly sent the keeper the wrong way for his first of the night. 2-0 United.

The standard of United’s football improved in the second half and the star players began to take control and have a positive impact. The emphasis was now on keeping possession of the ball, not that they hadn’t tried to do that in the first half, more that the game just opened up with Sheffield United looking for a way back into the match and their players tiring. Pogba found his range and his confidence, Tunnicliffe continued where he left off in the last 15 minutes of the first half, Morrison was afforded more space and made much better use of it when he had it and was only caught in possession once in the second half which he really has to learn from. Sheffield United on the other hand lost some belief as the minutes ticked away. I expected an onslaught that just never came, they created some chances late in the game but it was too late by then, the game was already over as a contest, it was just a case of how many goals would be scored.

Pogba conjured up a few moments of real genuine class. After fifty minutes he chipped a difficult ball to Tunnicliffe out wide on the right, Tunnicliffe expertly chested it under control with very little space to work with, the ball was played into the box and came out again via Will Keane, he played it to Lingard who simply tee’d up Pogba about 30 yards out, he shaped to hit it and caught it as sweet as a nut but the shot was saved well by Long. Should he be hitting the from there? Probably not, but who can argue with him when he gets it right like that.

Football has changed over the last few years and I’ve noticed there’s more thought involved. What I mean by that is that the old fashioned dummy has evolved and is used in a wide variety of ways. It’s not just the standard drop of the shoulder to send the defender the wrong way anymore, it’s knowing where your marker thinks you’re about to go and feinting to do that whilst all the while knowing you’re going to go the opposite way. It’s a skill that takes a calmness of mind. It requires a players natural ability with the ball to take over whilst he’s in possession or is about to receive possession. It also relies on the players being confident they’re not about to be rattled from behind (that sort of doesn’t sound right to me!), the outlawing of tackles from behind has allowed this new style of mental sparring to blossom. If you’re still following this……well done!!. For example, Pogba was given the ball in the centre circle after about fifty eight minutes, he knew where his marker was and he let the ball drift past his boot just a little bit longer than usual. He stuck it to his foot, swung it back round to his left to deceive his marker, then flicked it back behind himself and into the space opened up by sending his marker off for a picnic somewhere near Salford Quays. He looked up and Morrison had read what was happening and already bursting through the defence. Pogba delivered an inch perfect pass into his path, he raced forward and shot just wide of the right hand post. No one in Old Trafford expected him to miss that, and had it gone in, it would easily have been the goal of the game.

Just prior to that, we had a lengthy delay while Harry Maguire received medical attention after an accidental clash of heads between him and Morrison. It looked serious when he was manoeuvred into the recovery position and the stretcher came out. The game was stopped for about six or seven minutes and Maguire was taken straight down the tunnel and probably off to hospital.

The game continued in the same vein as it had with United dominating play and creating chances for fun. There were a few signs that Sheffield United could get a goal back when Johnstone needlessly made an error with a long throw that put United under a few minutes of pressure, but United were about to kill them off. The Blades replaced Gregory with Martin and two minutes later Morrison was about to make it 3-0.

He picked the ball up outside the box, advancing and jinking sideways past two defenders, he sent the ball into the opposite corner with ease and no one could get anywhere near him, or the shot. That’s all the explanation it needs…..it happened just like that…..in a flash. Morrison is capable of doing that and that’s so hard to either teach or purchase, hence why he’s so highly thought of as a player.

The teams performance up to this point hadn’t been brilliant but the irony of Sheffield United’s only goal of the game was that a wonderful passage of passing play came to an end when a sloppy GVV gave the ball away cheaply in The Blades’ box and from there United had somehow left themselves short at the back. Slew broke with the ball but it still looked fairly doubtful they could score, Slew curled an average  pass towards Ironside that wasn’t dealt with by Fornasier. Suddenly the pass looked a great one, it left Ironside one-v-one with the keeper and he scuffed it under him to give them a lifeline.

It would prove to be merely a consolation. With eight minutes of normal time remaining Will Keane scored a similar goal to that of Morrison’s second. Some poor defending, first from Whitehouse then from Kennedy, allowed Will Keane to combine with Larnell Cole, who had been on for just a few minutes after replacing Lingard, to create the space for a shot that he neatly drilled past Long to make it 4-1 on the night, 6-3 on aggregate.

The game was over, a few half chances were created by both teams in the final few minutes and we drifted through the extra seven minutes of injury time. The referee finally blew his whistle and United were FA Youth Cup winners for a record extending tenth time. The class of 2011 had accomplished what many had predicted they would, now it’s time to take the step up to reserves football for the majority on show here. For some they get the chance to do it all again next season. How many of these fledglings will ‘make it’ to the top remains to be seen, but on this seasons showing I’d say one or two definitely have a real chance.

Congratulations!

You can follow my Twitter updates during every Academy and Youth Cup game next season, so get following @Rimmerstweets now to stay in touch with what’s happening during the summer to ensure you’re ready for 2011/12.

Thanks to everyone who’s contacted me on Twitter, read my blog and Retweeted the links, they’re all very much appreciated.

If you want to see any of last nights pictures you can find them here courtesy of @TriciaRKG (Writer of ‘Roy Keane’s Gum’). The video highlights are there too - Thanks T.

http://triciarkg.tumblr.com/post/5782280736/goals-and-photos-from-todays-fa-youth-cup-victory

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Teams (plus MY ratings)

MUFC: Johnstone 6/ M Keane 9, McGinty 7, Thorpe 9, Fornaiser 7 / Tunnicliffe 8, Lingard 8(Cole 78), Pogba 8, Morrison 9(Cofie 90), Van Velzen 7 (Blackett 84), W Keane 8. Not used: Coll, Massacci.

SUFC: Long / Montgomery, Barry, Harriott, Maguire (Pomares 57) / Kennedy, Gregory (Martin 67), Whitehouse / Ironside (Wilkinson 76), Slew, McFadzean. Not used: Willis, Ahmadi.

Goals:
MUFC: Morrison (37, 69), W Keane (45, 82)
SUFC: Ironside (73)

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In that sense, it was mission accomplished.

A blend of youth and experience saw us grab the goals we needed to notch home win # 18 of the season and maintain our unbeaten league record at OT.

Quick impressions:

1. Scholes started the game off by getting crowded off the ball. After that incident, he rarely put a wrong foot forward and reminded us yet again why SAF is going to try and persuade him to stick around for one more year.

2. Pretty poor defending by Blackpool on Park’s goal. Which is a shame since they’ve garnered so many fans this season with their attractive play going forward.

3. VDS. What a professional. In his brief speech, he did speak of his regret that he only got to spend 6 years at United when it really should have been more. I don’t think any United fan disagree with that sentiment.

4. Park had a good game with a goal and an assist. Based on the team section in prior rounds and his usual endeavor, he looks to be a lock for a starting spot against Barca.

5. Not to rub it in, but we were rather wasteful in front of goal. Berba and Nani were both guilty.

6. Every game recently has been a Darren Fletcher Fitness Watch. Will he or won’t he be at the level that SAF is looking for to warrant selection in the starting 11 against Barca? He looked to be actively involved in the first half, but faded a little in the 2nd. Perhaps it was fatigue or a lack of match fitness? If our biggest takeaway from our embarrassment to Barca 2 years ago was that we missed Fletcher, then you have to hope that the backroom staff are doing everything they can to get him ready for Wembley.

On a day when we weren’t as concerned about the result as we were about the celebrations that would follow at the final whistle, it felt like a mere subplot in the larger story of a relegation battle that was being fought out on various grounds (including ours).

At the end of it all, it was an incredibly bittersweet day for everyone in attendance at Old Trafford. Aside from the celebration of an incredibly emotional season that has culminated in trophy # 19, United fans will also remember this day as the final home appearance of VDS and possibly, Scholes. For Blackpool and their fans, it was a sad finish to their season that started off so brightly, but faded toward the end.