Home » Player ratings: Lincoln City 3-2 Man United u21s

Player ratings: Lincoln City 3-2 Man United u21s

by Colm Murphy


Manchester United u21s lost their opening match of the EFL Trophy 2-3 away to Lincoln City. Here are our player ratings for the match:

(A score of 6 is around average)

Dermot Mee 5 – A very shaky first half and really slow reaction times for the three goals were the makings of a poor outing but he redeemed himself with two strong saves in the second half.

Charlie Wellens 5 – A victim of a bizarre formation for the first 30 minutes, he was lost between right-back and centre-back resulting in acres of space on the right side of our defence. A day to forget as Anthony Scully scored a hat-trick from his side.

Martin Svidersky 5 – Another given a tough task of trying to play centre-back while also pushing into midfield as well. Like Wellens, the unusual role was too much for him and it left the backline very exposed. He dropped back into a more orthodox centre-back role late and did better.

Bjorn Hardley 6 – An eventful match for the Dutchman, he was covering large amounts of space in the defence and made some crucial interventions. A really poor first half on the ball though saw him gift possession back to Lincoln in dangerous areas several times. A more composed second half provided some solidity to the team and a powered home goal from a corner marked off a performance of highs and lows.

Alvaro Fernandez 6 – A few characteristic driving runs through the heart of Lincoln caused the opposition troubles. But like much of the team, sloppy passing in the first half allowed to Lincoln to control the match early.

Charlie Savage 7 – A standout performance with several strong challenges and mopping up loose balls in midfield. But most impressively, his technical left peg was the star today. Whether it was producing a number of raking balls over the top with inch precision or driving passes through the lines into the forwards feet, such as the one for Shoretire leading to the first goal, his passing was top notch on the night.

Hannibal Mejbri 6 – A very sloppy first half, most of his passing was loose or turned over. Lincoln kept him at bay by getting tight in the middle of the park if he tried to dribble. In the second half he found more space, allowing him to pick out more dangerous passes and managed to get assist after a short corner, curling in a beauty for Hardley. It is his temperament which lets him down once again though as he saw red for two yellows on his first game back from suspension. With three red cards in the past year, and two in his last two appearances, he shows no signs of improvement in his petulance towards refs and retaliation in lashing out at opponents.

D’Mani Mellor 5 – Another quiet night out on the right wing, rarely ever seeing the ball but he did put in a shift defensively.

Shola Shoretire 6 – A fantastic touch into space and slipped through pass for McNeill for our first goal are the signs of his talent but it was another performance where he drifted through too much of the match.

Dillon Hoogewerf 5.5 – Was the most lively attacker in the first half but struggled up against the physicality of former United academy player Regan Poole. His clever runs in behind and movement were good signs of things to come for a still inexperienced player at the u23s level.

Charlie McNeill 6.5 – Saw little service all match but was quick and decisive when he did receive the ball. In the first half, he was played in twice out the right which he quickly got snap shots off for, but the wide angles didn’t give him much chance. In the 69th minute, he got his first chance in a central area and he made no mistake, not even requiring a touch before slotting into the bottom right with his left boot.

Substitutes

Zidane Iqbal 5.5 – Neat and tidy on the ball and kept the move ticking over as United controlled the dying minutes of the match.

Sam Mather 5.5 – Kept it simple and looked for the easy options on his debut at this level for the 16 year old.

Read our full match report on the game here.

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