Rating Manchester United's Young Defenders Against Newcastle

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 26: Wayne Rooney of Manchester United is substituted for Nick Powell during the Capital One Cup Third Round match between Manchester United and Newcastle United at Old Trafford on September 26, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

One of the defining characteristics of Manchester United as a football team, has been the willingness to promote young home-grown players from the academy to the first team. Every United fan of the past fifty years has been in awe of the Busby babes. More recently, fans have enjoyed a prolonged period of success built around the emergence of a new era of youth team favorites, better known as Fergie’s Fledglings. Over the years, Sir Alex Ferguson has actively sought to promote home-grown players and fast-track them into the team. Quite a few of them failed at United, some others flickered for a while before moving to other less daunting pastures, while a select few have stayed the course and made their name at Manchester United. In Sir Alex’s own words,

I never have a problem playing a young player in the first team – if he is good enough then he can play.

With a prolonged period of success on the field, and with Old Trafford playing host to some of the world’s greatest players in that period, it has become more and more difficult for the academy graduates to break into the United first team. A key part of United’s youth strategy then, has been to give opportunities to many youngsters in the League Cup (christened the Capital One Cup this season onwards). Since the mid-1990s, the League Cup has acted as the perfect big-game auditions for a number of United’s youth team players, and the first game of this season’s competition against Newcastle United was no exception. Sir Alex handed first-team debuts to no less than four players, while giving a first start to a fifth player. Scott Wootton, Michael Keane, and Marnik Vermijl all made their first starts for the club, while Ryan Tunnicliffe and Robbie Brady made their first appearance for the club when they came on as substitutes. In addition, summer signings Alex Büttner and Nick Powell both made their second appearance for the club, after their debut against Wigan in the Premier League.

The defensive crisis currently engulfing the club has shifted the spotlight onto the United bench, especially these young players who could deputize in defense. With the fact that any injury to United’s two remaining fit centre-backs, Johnny Evans and Rio Ferdinand, would require one or more of these youngsters to step up to the plate, this article tries to rate their performance in the 2-1 win over Newcastle United.

Scott Wootton

Wootton first came to the attention of many United fans when he played as United’s starting centre-back for many of the team’s pre-season matches. The game against Newcastle was his United debut, and if there were any nerves, the 21-year old Englishman did not betray them. His performance was one of calm and composure. He showed good ability on the ball and decent passing range (48 passes completed at a 94% pass success rate). In addition, he never shirked from contesting aerial balls, despite the physical presence posed by Shola Ameobi, and later by Papiss Cisse. However, he did lose Papiss Cisse in the buildup to the cross that Newcastle’s Senegalese striker headed in for Newcastle’s goal. Overall though, it was an encouraging all-action start to Wootton’s senior United career.

Rating: 6.5/10

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 26: Marnick Vermijl of Manchester United during the Capital One Cup Third Round match between Manchester United and Newcastle United at Old Trafford on September 26, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Michael Keane

Michael Keane acted more as the silk to Wootton’s steel. He seems to be a central defender much in the ilk of Rio Ferdinand, who relies more on positioning and speed, instead of last-ditch defending. For most of the game, he was less visible than Scott Wootton (whose job it seemed to mark Ameobi) but he applied himself well every time he was called upon to help United out. Just like his central defensive partner, he showed good composure on the ball, and a decent passing range. The 19-year old probably needs to bulk up more, and add some know-how to his defending at set-pieces, but it was again a promising first start for the England under-19 international.

Rating: 6/10

Alex Büttner

Büttner had a quiet game, relative to his extremely impressive performance against Wigan Athletic on debut. He was solid enough in defence, and was probably also given the responsibility of helping out his less experienced defensive colleagues in the game. In addition, Sir Alex seemed wary of the threat posed by the ex-United winger, Gabriel Obertan. As a result of Obertan’s presence, and also because of United’s relatively narrow, winger-less formation, Büttner tended to stay mostly in the United half. He linked up well with Welbeck and Cleverley every time he pushed forward, although his crossing can still do with a lot of improvement.

Rating: 6/10

Marnik Vermijl

The 20-year old Belgian, who United signed from Standard Liege in 2010, was possibly the pick of the United reserve team players on show today. Playing at right-back, he showed good stamina in constant running up and down the flank. He was always present as an outlet on the right (especially for Rooney to release) and also whipped in a couple of dangerous crosses. His defensive work was solid enough, at least until Shane Ferguson came on and whipped in the cross that led to Cisse’s goal. Having seen him in only game, it might well happen that he is converted into a centre-back, especially since he seemed to lack a bit of pace.

Rating: 7/10

To summarize, we are long past the days when the notion of Fergie playing his youth team members in the Cup used to elicit possible recriminations by the Football League, and demands for enquiries and apologies by Members of Parliament. Everyone now recognizes that they might potentially be taking their first look at future United greats, when a youthful team takes to the field in the early rounds of the domestic Cups. Whether the four players discussed above reach greatness is a question only time can answer, but they showed enough ability, courage, and initiative on the field to give the fans a glimpse of their potential. I, for one, will be excitedly looking ahead to future games with these players in the side, for they might just herald as bright a future for Manchester United, as the last twenty years have been.