#amir ibragimov

[cutesoccerguys]

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United U18s 9-0 Blackburn Rovers U18s

Well, this is a bit silly isn't it? The U21s threw hands with Norwich, but the U18s don't even let you glove up to fight. Ruthless little bastards, I love it.

James Scanlon, pictured above, managed to bag four goals for United; 1 in the first half and 3 in the second to really flex on Rovers.

Goal 1: Battling Biancheri won the ball back on the edge of the Blackburn box to jink into the box, pop the ball onto his left and bosh - bottom right corner finish for 1-0.

Goal 2: United had several chances from here on out but it took until the 30th minute for Zach Baumann to make it 2-0. Fitzgerald released Mantato, who then hit traffic, but the back pass came to Baumann for a lovely double-megs that the keeper had no vision of. Cheeky.

Goal 3: A nice win back from Fitzgerald was passed on to Tyler Fletcher and played through at the perfect pace for Biancheri to slot home with precision.

Goal 4: More nice give-and-go football from United sees Biancheri tee Fletcher who tees Scanlon for a close-range finish.

Goal 5: TYLER FLETCHER YOU BEAUTY. Left back Dante Plunkett scores, and it's a nice close-range finish again, but Tyler with the side-foot pass at an angle away from his body, through the lines, killer throughball... he sold everyone and just puts Plunkett through in miles of space. Unreal.

== HALF TIME ==

Goal 6: Hot prospect Jim Thwaites, on for goalscorer Zach Baumann, enjoyed another lovely spectacle of give-and-go 1-2 passing with Gabi Biancheri, allowing a sideways pass to Scanlon for his second goal of the game.

Goal 7: Centre-back Godwill Kukonki scored after United excuted a short corner, whipped in to back post and headed back central by Reece Minro for Kukonki to pass into the net.

Goal 8: Hat-trick hero! James Scanlon on the left side of the Blackburn box bundles home his third after pressure on the Rovers keeper saw Thwaites win the ball back mid-half. A short pass to Tyler Fletcher - him again! - and a timely relay wide to Scanlon again gave United their 8th of the afternoon.

Goal 9: Now you're showing off... Gibraltan hero Scanlon basically gets the ball and just drives, drives, drives, shoots, goal, thanks.

BONUS: A 91st minute red card for Jackson Shorrocks after a blatant, full-on arm grab and throw of United RB Devaney - but luckily for Blackburn it was just outside the penalty area, else we might have hit wacky double figures...

[montysworld]

Coldxman - Blasphemy from Mauro Chiarello on Vimeo.

Director - Ian Pons Jewell DOP - Mauro Chiarello Producers - Jon Adams & Sasha Bevka Prod Co: KAYFABE / Radioaktive Prod Design - Robin Brown Art Director - Evheniy Popovichenko Costume Designer - Ameena Kara Callender Choreographer - Charlie Mayhew Make Up - Marta Skalska Editor - Tobias Suhm VFX Supervisor - Dan Williams Colourist - Alex Gregory Sound Design - Tim Harrison @ Aumeta Song mastered - Dave Kutch Post-producer + Cast coordinator - Emmanuelle Le Chat

1st AD - Dennis Sonin 2nd AD - Vadim Yuzba PM - Julia Sotnikova PC - Daniel Linnik-Zhuravlev PAs - Vova Altsybeev, Anna Refel Chaperone - Andrew Birch Location manager - Dima Shevchenko Bullet Typeface - 10Foot

CAMERA 2nd cam DP - Ilya Maksymenko 1st AC/Focuspuller - Sergey Kolesnik Focuspuller cam B - Zhenya Bubley AC cam A - Vadim Dubas AC cam B - Vitaliy Topchiy Phantom OP - Dmytriy Grymalskiy Steadicam - Max Salo

GRIP Dolly - Artem Pilipchuk Dolly - Valeriy Legosha

CRANE Crane - Serhiy Subota

LIGHT CREW Gaffer - Leo Sidorenko

Key Grip - Oleg Egorov Chief Electric - Anrew Gorovoy Spark - Vova Akulov Spark - Serhiy Rudenko Spark - Vitaliy Schetinin Grip - Eugene Scherbak Grip - Dima Levchenko

PROFCOM TRUSS SYSTEMS Light Desk Operator - AAnton Medvedev

DIT/PLAYBACK DIT - Yan Wachowski Playback - Rupos Playback - Bear Playback - Eugene Ischenko

Playback - Lisa Tagintseva

ART DEPT Best Boy - Vitalii Shpakovich Prop master - Serhii Godlevskii

CASTING Casting Director - Nika Bondar

Casting assistant on set - Misha Voropay

WARDROBE Stylist - Kostya Goncharuk Assistant - Valeria Snesar Assistant - Julia Belous

MAKE UP Assistant - Maria Petrovskaya Assistant - Daria Gnatuikova

UNIT Helper - Tolik Oleshko Helper - Aleksey Vodopyanov Helper - Kirill Suzanovskiy Catering - Tetiana Okhrimenko

MISC Stills - Artem Nadyozhin @bornmentall

CAST CLOWN - Alexandr Gerasimchuk

POLITICIAN Veronika Boyarskaya Mikhail Bondarenko Larisa Chertkova Lucia Foloronso Boris Molodtsov Jean Ossoa Alla Priadko Alexei Romanov Vitaliy Shapovalov Valeriy Skripka Natasha Timoshenko Maxim Vakhovskiy Susanna Vyshneva Ihor Zorov Bakar Alwata Pavel Evchin Nicolay Bozhko Julia Farradjalah Phonsia Koba

AUDIENCE Tsoi Tania Pryhora Katya Demydenko Ostapenko Andrey Ostapenko Yura Ostapenko Dima Gasanov Elmir Chernyavka Vladimir Yadav Vishal Popenko Raisa Averina Nastya Otokhine Divine Onopa Sveta Misha Makarov @mishamihoan

Skisov Evheniy Garsia Joanna Dronchak Nantina @nantina__ Bello Akeem Bahtiar Ibragimov Syrovatka Tamara Dolapo Oso Maxim orobets Galena_Nina Muke Arno Amir Hanani Wale Adeyemo Keita Abraham Koval Vera Danyil Voronov Skargapolina @Skargapolina Zavertalyuk @Zavertalyuk Damien Paiatakov Aryna Kucheieva Vlada Malahova Dima Nalivayko Timofeieva Lidia Ngegba Thomas Chuikova Anna Bespechuk Max Brown Ester Natasha Boyko Shlyakovska Storozhuk Vasylenko Sanjaasuren Khmelnyckiy Hudabaeva Sveta Odushu Eysmont Karplyuk Monnie Ten Nastya Yulia Gomes Potopa Mukhina Novikova Kurtis Robaki Alma Gelmedova Kryvoruvhenko Devine Konchakovskiy Kushnerik

VFX - The Mill

Creative Director - Dan Williams

VFX Supervisor: Adam Droy

Executive Producer: Alex Fitzgerald

Producer: Dan Crozier Tarun Misra

Shoot Supervisor: Dan Williams

2D Lead Artist: Fergal Hendrick

3D Lead Artist: Dave Hempstead Umesh Namdev Ashwani Patel Gauri Razdan

2D Artist: Anand Daunde Abhishek Jain Jijo Joseph Putta Mahesh Mahesh Mane Sole Martin Matt McDougal Valeria Scalamandre Oscar Tornincasa Rafael Vormittag

3D Artist: Santosh Ambre Tony Atherton Dinesh B Ian Baxter Amit Das C Dinesh Reddy Pradeep Katta Fazal Khan Henry Medhurst @Henrymedhurstfxtd Sriram Namana Guru Prasad Showber Sadik Vudhata Sai Krishna Vinayak V Roman Vrbovsky

Production Coordinator: Jas Lewis-Humphrey Ankita Mitra

Colourist: Alex Gregory

Additional clean-up: Zdravko “Zee” Stoitchkov

Additional VFX - CGF

VFX SUPERVISOR Alexey Uskov

VFX PRODUCERS Ekaterina Averina Aleksandr Gorokhov

ART Sergey Manko Konstantin Radchikov

MODELS Ekaterina Glumova Nadezhda Kolganova

RIG Anton Pashkanis Anna Guskova

FUR Vadim Jiltsov

TEXTURES Nina Druzhkova

FX Evgeny Stefanov

ANIMATION Evgeny Mischenko Vlad Ladny

LIGHTING Aleksey Petrov

CAMERA TRACK Yaroslav Dyachenko

CLEAN UP Anton Yarovoy Sergey Likhachev Alexey Zhurin

COMPOSITING Victoria Demina Alexey Kulikov Dmitry Kirillyak Oksana Leferova Nikolai Kirienko

HEAD OF PRODUCTION Alena Kucherova

DI Stepan Neupokoev Alexander Zolotarev @AlexanderZolotarev

TITLE DESIGN Nico Chavez @ Done Thing

Song written, produced, mixed + performed by Coleman Hughes @coleman_hughes Executive Producer - Desh @iamdesh Legal - Gerard Anthony, Duane Hughes & Craig Cohen Accounting - JT Goldstein

[cutesoccerguys]

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester City U18 0-2 Manchester United U18

The season started with a bang for the United kids, back for a new campaign after utterly dominating last season and very nearly going the entire league unbeaten.

Manchester City, at all levels, have a stacked bank of talent. The U18s are a bloody good team and today they demonstrated that. 56% possession, 16 shots. The issue is that United are far more clinical. 7 fewer shots, but both sides had 5 on target - and United scored two.

United were on the back foot from the start, with City having a handful of chances before Tyler Fletcher hit a tame effort at the City keeper in the 12th minute. That seemed to wake United up and Biancheri could have given United the lead four minutes later.

Murdock was a busy lad in net for the remainder of the half, though Tyler Fletcher had another effort in the 41st minute - and again a curled low effort that was a little too easy for the keeper.

After the restart and Bendito Mantato's driving run down the right and into the box fizzed one across the ground to backpost where Tyler Fletcher skied over under pressure from the City defence and cramped out by his own teammate James Scanlon.

The opener came minutes later though - Gabi Biancheri poaching a lovely driven pass from wide right from Tyler Fletcher, finally rewarded with a goal involvement.

City pushed on to pressure United, but minutes later came goal number 2: a well worked passing move between Scanlon, Biancheri, and through the line to Baumann, whose acute cutback into the box was aimed for the run-on of Biancheri the striker but found Bendito first. Left foot, curled right, buried bottom corner. Lovely stuff.

The noisy neighbours put the pressure back on to United, but as the weather turned in classic English summer fashion, so too did City's dominance of possession water down. Subs of hot prospects Amir Ibragimov for Scanlon, and Jim Thwaites for Tyler Fletcher, gave United fans a glimpse of the U18s team to come, but it wouldn't be a Manchester derby without a little spice to finish the affair.

Will Murdock rushed out in the 79th as the last man to win the ball. He also got the man and luckily escaped with a yellow card. City then had a penalty shout in the 91st minute, while United were fouled AFTER the final whistle in a little bit of snide shithousery from a frustrated City.

[unitedbydevils]

Otten Cup 2024

Manchester United's U19s finished sixth in the Otten Innovation Cup this weekend - behind winners (and reigning holders) PSV Eindhoven, runners-up Atletico Madrid, RB Bragantino, Benfica, and FC Utrecht - who beat us on penalties in our final match.

United's youngsters went over to PSV's De Herdgang campus in Eindhoven, Netherlands last week to compete in the Otten Innovation Cup, which is a rapid-fire weekend format tournament with some unique rules to test format adjustments.

We've seen from the popularity of the King's League on Twitch, and the frustration with VAR about time to check that people want continuous action and engagement, so testing changes makes sense.

Game 1: United 0-1 Benfica. A tight, very-even game settled by a last-second goal from Francisco Couto. Sucker punch.

Game 2: United 2-0 PSG. Goals from Tyler Fletcher and Zac Baumann gave United their only win of the tournament against the Parisians. PSG weren't useless though; United's ill discipline saw several spells with 10 men due to the sin bin, allowing PSG to dominate possession and create chances they just couldn't finish.

Game 3: PSV 1-0 United. The eventual winners, reigning champs and tournament hosts managed a 1-0 win over United in another close game. Robin van Duiven scored in the 26th minute, finishing a cross from the right wing by Benjamin Khaderi. United were competitive though, with Amir Ibragimov hitting the bar and being saved on several occasions.

Game 4: HM Jeonbuk 1-1 United (1-4 P). United conceded a free kick through sloppy defending 10 minutes in, with Seokjin Han burying his shot expertly. United went on the offensive and Tyler Fletcher bagged his second goal of the tournament five minutes later, evening the tie. Not much else happened for the rest of the game, but United won comfortably on the deciding penalties at the end.

Game 5 - 5th/6th Place Playoff: United 1-1 Utrecht. United started slowly and suffered a few chances before Zois Karargyris tapped home the opener. The first half fizzled out and the second half wasn't much better - even with Utrecht down to 10 men. United won a late (arguably soft) penalty which Gibraltar international James Scanlon scored to take the game to penalties. Unfortunately for United, Tyler Fletcher missed his penalty and led to United losing 3-4 to the Dutch side.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Altrincham 0-4 Manchester United U21s

This match nearly caught me out, because Google's fixture listing doesn't have the National League Cup games on it. Rude.

Three goals from Ethan Ennis (above) and one from Amir Ibragimov (below) gave United's U21s a strong victory away at nearby Altrincham; based in southwest Greater Manchester and currently sat mid-table in the National League.

It's a promising season for United's U18s and normally the U21s suffer from that, with prospects pushed out to loans or absorbed into the First Team, but United's U21s are starting to look like a tasty side too - most notably Harry Amass, Sam Mather, Ethan Ennis, and Amir Ibragimov.

Ennis' first goal after 16 minutes was a banger, rifled in to the top right corner. Altrincham battled a bit but then 10 minutes later... Ethan Ennis hits another banger at the top right corner from the left side of the box.

It would then quieten down a bit until a Victor Musa effort rebounded off the crossbar for Ibragimov to tap home for 3-0, and then Ennis would secure his hat-trick in the 90th minute on a counter-attack after a great throughball but an even better chipped finish over the outstretched Altrincham keeper.

This and the 3-2 win over National League leaders Forest Green Rovers means United are looking very promising for progression in the cup - something we didn't achieve in the Football League Trophy.

United's next fixture NOW is that evening home tie vs West Ham at Leigh Sports Village on November 29th at 7pm. We've no indication of it being on MUTV but it's a Friday night... so maybe.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Leeds United U18s 0-8 Manchester United U18s

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Ah okay, review time. United were sensational, Leeds were shit. Done. Manager Adam Lawrence will be very happy.

The stats for possession are actually a little surprising, because United bullied the life out of poor old Leeds.

It took 10 minutes for James Scanlon (below) to score the opener, and then United bagged 3 more in the first half thanks to Bendito Mantato, a Victor Musa penalty, and Amir Ibragimov.

The second half was more of the same: Scanlon got his second, Ibragimov got his second, Amir then tapped in a third (sort of pissing off Chido Obi-Martin who had initially shot, but it felt like it was running wide) and then Scalon followed suit and completed his own hat-trick as well. Bosh. Leeds well and truly parcelled up.

Next up - a home tie in the league against Everton on Saturday 9th November.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United U18s 6-0 Nottingham Forest U18s

Fucksake. Arsenal have had our pants down with this kid...

Only joking. The boy wonder showed up in style on his debut for the United U18s, bagging his first goal in United colours inside the first minute. A panicky, short backpass from a Forest defender went nowhere but into the path of the lively Obi-Martin, who drove at the keeper, round the keeper, and tapped it home for 1-0.

This began the rout, with Chido then scoring again in the 5th minute (driven finish just inside the box), and the 14th minute (first time finish, left foot).

Thwaites and Scanlon both had chances in the first half, but it was Scanlon the Gibraltan international who managed to add to the tally - dancing through five Forest players who just did not press before driving home a shot that wrong-footed the Forest keeper for 4-0.

Obi-Martin and Thwaites weren't the only prodigies on the field though, with Amir Ibragimov the attacking midfielder making it 5-0 just on the stroke of half time.

This is my favourite goal of the bunch; Ibragimov plays the ball out of defence to Obi-Martin on the right wing, who then uses strength and pace to fly down the flank. He looks up, crosses towards Scanlon, but Forest intercept. Meanwhile, Amir Ibragimov has ran the length of the pitch to be the CAM role he's supposed to be. He bustles into the box and preys on the incredibly sloppy and amateur Forest defending and robs the ball between keeper and defender to tap home.

La Carrington is popping of at the moment, and the one starlet shining above all is the scorer of goal number 6 - Jim Thwaites.

We have the reincarnation of Anelka in Chido Obi-Martin, of George Best in Shea Lacey, and potentially Bobby Charlton in Jim Thwaites. Wild times.

Hyperbole is fun, shush. This dazzling midfielder though... what a kid. Goal of the season at U16 and U18 levels respectively last season - his breakthrough campaign. Today, he might have done it again; a Beckham-esque free kick nestled millimetre perfect into the top left corner of the Forest goal. An elite goal and one deserved after that performance.

The stats sum it all up: United were dominant in possession, lethal in front of goal, and generally ruthless across every sector of play. I do feel slightly sorry for Forest that their defence was significantly weaker than the rest of their side, and perhaps with alternate personnel they had more of a footing and confidence in this game.

31 goals scored and 7 conceded in the last 6 games for the U18s. Impressive stuff (bar the Spurs defeat). Next up: WE ALL HATE LEEDS SCUM. An away day against that horrible lot at noon on Saturday. Another rampage please, lads.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Tottenham Hotspur U18s 4-3 Manchester United U18s

A surprising defeat in the U18 PL Cup group stage for United, but not cause for concern...

What a weird game this was.

United were even with Spurs, both sides looking sharp, competitive, and eager to win. And yet, Ellis Lehane scored in the 5th minute, and Luca Williams-Barnett in the 19th and 26th minutes respectively. United just couldn't find the net and Tottenham couldn't stop scoring.

The second half saw Williams-Barnett complete his hat-trick in the 52nd minute with a calm finish, but it was poor defending to not mark the striker that had United looking on the wrong end of a big, big defeat with almost half the game remaining.

United held firm though, and things completely flipped with the introduction of substitute winger Shea Lacey.

A cut-in from the right in the 77th minute, onto his favoured left, and bang - bottom right corner. 4-1.

Strong high pressing from United won the ball back outside the box and allowed Biancheri to put Lacey through into the box. A quick shimmy, back onto his right, and his shot was tamely saved but dropped and rolled over the line. 4-2.

A foul by Reiss Elliot-Parris in the 85th minute on Gabi Biancheri earned United a penalty, which the young Welsh forward nestled nicely into the upper left of the Spurs net. 4-3.

Unfortunately, the comeback didn't go beyond this. United and Spurs both had late chances - one particularly unlucky one falling to Victor Musa and getting stuck in his feet. Still, a great show of resilience and effort and pride from United's youth to not give up and quietly accept defeat.

[unitedbydevils]

Amir Ibragimov supremacy

United U17s beat Liverpool U17s 5-2. That's excellent, but more than that is the fact that attacking mid Amir Ibragimov got a hat-trick and two assists. WEAPONS GRADE.

Bendito Mantato & Douka Nkoto were the other goalscorers for United, both also promising talents from the academy.

That's it. That's the post. Sucks to be Liverpool. GGMU.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Middlesborough U18s 0-4 Manchester United U18s

Another season, another storming campaign from United's youth.

Middlesbrough's training complex at Rockliffe Park was host to yet another United beating for teams in the U18 Premier League.

Welsh wonder Gabi Biancheri was back at it again, scoring a lovely bottom corner finish in the 7th minute after a great ball upfield from Kamason to James Scanlon, who brought it down beautifully and played a clever bouncing pass to Biancheri for the smash home.

Tactical academy highlights being what they are, we do lack insight into much of the game until Biancheri's 2nd - a penalty in the 53rd minute, calmly nestled into the mid-left of the net.

Goal number three came in the 79th minute from sub Victor Musa; a short pass dashed forward sharply from Amir Ibragimov - also a sub - allowed Musa to bully his way past and hit Boro on the break. Good strength to hold off the defenders, and a tidy drilled finish under the keeper.

A beautifully executed third-man run would give United their fourth and final goal; give-and-go between Musa and Ibragimov, and a lovely lob over the top for Bendito Mantato to run through with, rounding the rushing keeper and slotting home comfortably.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Newcastle United U18s 1-5 Manchester United U18s

A little frustrated that there's no YouTube footage of this one, but United ran rout away against the Geordies - proving once again who the real United are 😏

Whitley Park in Newcastle played host to United's youngsters, with two goals coming from Wales' Gabriele Biancheri (7 already this season) and Gibraltan international James Scanlon before half time. Biancheri's first was a rebound off a penalty save, but his second was a classic poacher's finish - which he's already making a name for himself with as a bit of a 'fox in the box' type.

The second half saw Newcastle strike back through Guy Bloomer in the 57th minute, but hero became villain as Bloomer fouled Scanlon for a second United penalty. Youngster Amir Ibragimov (CAM/LW) scored (doing what Gabe couldn't, lol) to make it 4-1, and midfield starlet Jim Thwaites then wrapped up the scoring by slotting home at close range.

Tactical highlights of the game are available below, but the match was given little to no support due to a clash with United's game vs Southampton - a worrying insight that maybe INEOS have significantly downsized United's media unit. We wait and see.

[unitedbydevils]

U14s win the Albert Phelan Cup National!

Like the U18s, the United U14s have dominated the north and gone on to claim the national trophy. Vive la Carrington 🔥

United ran out 2-0 winners against Millwall at Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium, with a brilliant lobbed finish from Kai Rooney for the first. A stunning run from his own half by Edson DeJonge-Seiros saw him shirk challenges to slot home a low finish past the Millwall goalkeeper and seal the win for Manchester United.

Unfortunately, as is the way with these sorts of youth games and limited attendances, there is little in the way of footage, but both goals - as well as celebrations - can be found on socials with a quick look.

Like with the northern final, Jacey Carrick and his dad Michael were pictured after the win, but this team has a more notable family name than Carrick or Rooney in the midst. IBRAGIMOV.

In this game it was Gazik Ibragimov; the captain and defender who has an Instagram post of him slide tackling a City forward with the tag "We don't play ballet here". This little fucker is a younger brother of Amir Ibragimov; LW/CAM for the u16s side and already being fast-tracked into first team training.

Maybe in two years time we'll be seeing Amir in the first team setup and talking about youngest brother Mo - a striker - having bagged the winning goal to get United another youth title. Regardless, this is a family of hot prospects, and there's a steely determination about all three (perhaps because of their MMA figher oldest brother and a driven father?) that promises some grit and fight that United's first team lack but is evidently paying dividends in the academy setup.

May they continue to develop well and have a real shot at becoming first team players because it would be WILD to have Kai Rooney, Jacey Carrick, the Fletcher twins, and the Ibragimov brothers all playing in that main United side. Family FC, and all via the academy route. Up the fucking reds.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United U21s 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion U21s

A frustrating draw for United's U21s in a game that saw the Red Devils highly wasteful on goal and Ruairi McConville score at both ends for the Albion.

United looked great in possession for the first 20 minutes but with nothing to show for it, and as they eased off the possession to take more chances it was Brighton who looked more likely to score.

The team pressed on though, and a Harry Amass cross low and hard into the heart of the box was slid home by Brighton centre-back Ruairi McConville to give United a cheeky lead just before half time.

The second half was more of the same, though Harry Amass once again stood out on the offensive. There's talk of him progressing through to the first team like Mainoo and Kambwala, and it's not hard to see why - although part of me wonders if he may do a Gareth Bale and move more to a left winger, or at least maybe an attacking wing back like Jeromie Frimpong at Leverkusen.

Another shining light for United's U21s at the moment is Amir Ibragimov; a youngster who started as an inside forward on the left wing ala Rashford but has now moved more centrally as an attacking mid or even deep forward. Ibragimov's give-and-go style and intelligent positioning made life hard for Brighton, and he was unlucky not to score.

The draw was earned back by Brighton defender Ruairi McConville though, who atoned for his earlier mistake by scoring off a corner. His header down at the floor was actually saved by Myles, but the rebound fell back at McConville's feet for a second attempt and an easy tap in.

Brighton could have stolen the points in the 94th minute, and United could have stolen them in the 96th, but all in all a draw isn't an unfair result.

United's U21s will always suffer a little due to the (correct) pursuit of loan deals for youth players. When the talent stays (U18s), the academy dominates, so it's not too disheartening to see the U21s misfire here and there.

That said, next up for United is a tough home tie against Liverpool...

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United U18s 5-2 Blackburn Rovers U18s

A classic United comeback on show here at home to the Rovers...

The game started in a very open fashion - ala the first team - but United were looking promising with the lion's share of chances on goal; Amir Ibragimov in CAM having his shot deflected away from a precision bottom corner goal.

Things flipped on their head when a slightly bobbling backpass from LB Harry Amass went under keeper Tom Myles' foot and ran straight into the net. 0-1.

United then went and turned on the pressure hard for the next 16 minutes, having chance after chance scrambled away by a determined Blackburn, but it was United's defensive uncertainty that started off a dodgy 20 seconds around the box which allowed Nsangou the chance to bury a great shot. 0-2.

We both saw the score about. 5-2. From 2 down. United then went on a bit of a madness, which the post-game stats reflected with 41 shots from Manchester United - and 23 of them on target. Whoa.

Bendito Mantato led the charge and got United a deserved first goal after some wicked footwork saw him step past three men in the box to score past the keeper at near post. Mantato would then go on to score straight after the break, and twice more in the half, to really solidify United's lead.

Promising prospect Victor Musa also got himself on the scoresheet, bagging in the 55th minute thanks to a killer square pass from Amir Ibragimov, before Mantato could secure his hat-trick and steal all the limelight.

United's sheer firepower and skill left Blackburn Rover shellshocked, in stark contrast to what had been a banger first half from both sides. The result keeps United 10 points clear of Manchester City in second place, with the Reds' only defeat this season coming at the hands of our noisy neighbours away.

Next up is a tricky away tie with Liverpool on April 6th.