FA Youth Cup Final 2nd Leg - Man City 2 Liverpool 0 (Apr 21 2006)

[TLW]

Man City U18 2 LIVERPOOL U18 0

Report by Dave Usher

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Eastlands Date - Fri 21 Apr 2006 Star Man - Jack Hobbs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well they did it, but only just. The reds’ youth team took a battering by Manchester City but just held on to record a 3-2 aggregate win and lift the FA Youth Cup for the first time since 1996. City will wonder how they didn’t manage to at least force extra time, but ultimately Miki Roque’s late goal in the 1st leg proved decisive.

Steve Heighway named an unchanged side from the 1st leg, whilst City made a couple of changes. In came a striker called Ched something or another, but more significantly Micah Richards was recalled from 1st team duty and skippered the side. He was outstanding, and looked like a man playing against boys. Powerful, quick, composed on the ball, it’s easy to see how he’s already made City’s first team.

His presence seemed to lift the rest of the City side, as they were unrecognisable from the side which lost by three goals at Anfield. In fairness, they played much better at Anfield than we did at Eastlands, and over the two legs they’ll feel they were the better side. I can’t argue with that, simply because our lads just didn’t turn up for the second leg.

The performance was truly awful, and the only postitive thing you can say is that the lads defended well under a lot of pressure and showed a great desire to hold onto the lead. In terms of ball retention, passing and attacking play this is as bad a performance as I’ve seen from a lot of these players.

Why they were so below par I don’t know, but these lads are much, much better than they showed in this game. Obviously, as they wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise. They were unrecognisable from the side which played so well the previous week at Anfield, and they put the couple of thousand of travelling fans through the ringer.

Credit has to go to City, who played very well. That said, Liverpool were as poor as City were good. I think inexperience played a big part in Liverpool’s non-performance. As much as the coaching staff can drum into them that the tie isn’t over and a three goal lead can be clawed back, the lads must have been thinking they’d done the hard part and all they had to do was see the ninety minutes out without any major mishaps and the cup was theirs.

They knew that City would throw everything at them, and obviously they will have been told that weathering the early storm was vital. Sometimes when you go into a game with that mindset, it’s difficult to get out of it. The lads went out on the back foot, and they never managed to get onto the front foot all evening.

City started the game well, and were getting a lot of joy down the flanks. The powerful Etuhu on the right got a lot of crosses in, whilst the diminutive Karl Moore on the left was also causing a lot of problems. Moore had done nothing in the first leg, and had looked like a little boy lost. He was a different player in the second leg however, and Steven Darby had a lot of trouble coping with him.

City created numerous good chances in the first half, but the only goal they had to show for it was a stunning strike by Sturridge (a player who Liverpool are keeping tabs on by the way). The 16 year old striker had missed a gilt edged chance minutes earlier, but out of nothing he turned and hammered a left foot shot into the top corner from 25 yards.

Liverpool had offered virtually nothing in attack, as poor Craig Lindfield toiled away with no support or service. A Paul Barratt run and shot was the only decent attacking moment in a one sided first half. Adam Hammill never got into the game, and on the odd occasion Paul Anderson looked like he may do something, he was usually stopped in his tracks by a hefty challenge. City had obviously identified Anderson as the main threat, and the winger came in for some rough treatment at times.

It was in midfield where the reds were really losing the battle. Barnett and Flynn were completely over-run, and neither of them could get into the game. It was no surprise to see Charlie replaced at half time, as Liverpool barely strung two passes together in the opening 45 minutes.

Substitute Miki Roque steadied the ship a little, as his physical presence at least offered some protection to the overworked defence. A strong case can be made that Roque should actually be the first name on the teamsheet, as for me he’s probably the best player Heighway had at his disposal. He’s been one of the reserve side’s best performers all season, and can consider himself unlucky not be in the youth cup starting line up. The problem is, he’s so versatile it’s difficult to know where to play him and personally I have no idea who I would leave out to accommodate him, as everyone else has played so well.

Clearly Heighway felt the same, but at least Miki knows that it was his goal which won the final. His attitude was spot on in both games even though he had to settle for a place on the bench, and he’s been a real find by Paco Herrera.

In an attacking sense Miki’s arrival made no difference, as Liverpool continued to look toothless. City continued to create chances, and when Sturridge drilled in his second with a neat finish it didn’t look good for Heighway’s side.

He responded by taking off Hammill and bringing on the defensively solid Jay Spearing. Hammill wasn’t happy, and neither was I to be honest. Not that I thought Adam was playing well, he wasn’t, not by any stretch of the imagination. But the way I saw it was if City did get an equaliser we wouldn’t have enough attack minded players on the field to be able to win the game.

Credit to Heighway though, as little Jay’s organisational skills and football brain shut the door on City, and they rarely looked like scoring from the moment ‘Speo’ entered the field of play. As for Hammill, he was far from happy at being brought off, and took himself off down the tunnel before presumably realising his mistake and returning to take his place on the bench.

Spearing was unfortunate not to win a penalty for his side when his shot was blatantly handled by a City defender. It could be argued that it was ball to hand, but you could also make a strong case that the defender’s hand was raised and he blocked a goalbound shot. It’s immaterial, as the referee didn’t give it, but it was the closest Liverpool got to a decent goal attempt in the second half.

City began to run out of ideas, as Antwi and Hobbs defended resolutely and Roque and Spearing provided a good shield in front of them. Barratt managed a couple of break aways which helped run down the clock, whilst Lindfield held the ball up well and managed to relieve some of the pressure on the defence. Craig ran himself ragged once again closing down defenders, and although it was a tough game for him in that he had no service at all, he still put in a good team performance.

The star man had to be a defender, although Spearing made such a difference when he came on that he was also a contender. I’m giving it Hobbs, as he made some key interceptions and blocks and stuck to his task well against City’s dangerous forward line.

The celebrations at the end were great to see, as the lads went mental. It was like a mini-Istanbul! Darby lifted the trophy as his team-mates went nuts. Then it was off to the away end to start the party.

Hammill was giving it the ‘Ring of Fire’ song into every Sky camera he could find, whilst Godwin did some sort of African jig in front of the travelling reds. The funniest for me though was Miki Roque’s cheesy celebration, pointing to the trophy and then pointing to the fans saying ‘this is for you’. Gotta love Miki!

Who knows what the future holds for these lads. If it’s anything like the 1996 side then three or four will go on to represent the first team (and if two of them can emulate Owen and Carragher than would be nice), a couple will end up in the lower leagues and the rest will disappear from league football completely.

It’s way too early to speculate on who will do what, and it’s not the time to do that anyway. The kids winning the cup has given everyone at the club a nice bonus, and the first team can hopefully emulate them and give us a cup double.

The youth team’s success has been built on a magnificent team effort in which everyone has played a big part. It wasn’t down to one or two outstanding individuals, it was down to a group of 15 or 16 excellent young players. I’d expect all of them to still be at the club next year, and many of this side will still be eligible to defend the trophy next year.

The aim for the Academy lads is to force themselves into the reserve side on a regular basis, whilst those who are established in the reserves already will be looking to attract the attention of Rafa Benitez and maybe get a first team game or two next season.

Finally, I’d like to say well done to Steve Heighway. He’s taken a much more active role than usual this season with the u18 side. He’s involved in the coaching more than he has been in previous seasons, and seems to have taken over the running of the side from John Owens this year.

He put together the youth cup side by bringing in some of Paco Herrera’s reserve squad to compliment the talent he had at the Academy, and he’s gotten the best out of them. So credit to Heighway, and also to all the players who have been involved in the campaign. You’ve all done the club proud, well done and congratulations.


Team: Roberts; Darby, Antwi, Hobbs, Threlfall; Anderson, Flynn, Barnett (Roque), Barratt; Hammill (Spearing), Lindfield: