I'm curious why Paul Pogba and Ryan Tunnicliffe were awarded first team shirt numbers and put on the bench for the Crawley match on Saturday? I am an avid fan of the Academy and welcome the development of any number of United's rising stars. I also know a lot of the obvious choices to get First Team action are away on loan (such as midfielders Tom Cleverley and Corry Evans). But what happened to Matt James, Oliver Norwood, and Rob Brady? Are they injured or away on international duty? If fit and available, surely they deserved a chance ahead of Pogba and Tunnicliffe? I'm happy that Josh King was there because he's been on a tear scoring goals for the Reserves lately.
James hasn't featured for the reserves since returning from loan so he's most likely injured. I'm sure Norwood is fit and he was given a squad number a few days before the game, but it's clear Tunnicliffe is rated higher at the moment. I think Brady is injured also.
