20/02/2012 

Today At Old Trafford

The editorial team for ManUtd.com, United Review and Inside United provide regular updates from the home of the Reds...

Tuesday 21 February

18:47 Today, Tomasz Kuszczak left Old Trafford for Watford on loan. Three years ago today, the Pole was in goal as United conceded a league goal for the first time in 15 games. Roque Santa Cruz was the culprit who finally breached the Reds' record-setting defence but the champions still beat Blackburn 2-1 with goals from Rooney and Ronaldo (him again). (AB)

18:22 Fond memories are being stirred this evening with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring at the Luzhniki Stadium - I presume for the first time since he headed home United's opener in the 2008 Champions League final. His current employers Real Madrid are leading CSKA Moscow 1-0 as I type this. (AB)

17:13 No rest for Phil Jones on his 20th birthday. After training today, he faced the MUTVcameras at Carrington and was asked what he's hoping to get as a present. To see his answer, click the Tuesday news link on the left. (AB)

15:53 Full-time: Wigan Reserves 0 United Reserves 0. A dreary affair on a difficult pitch would be my summary. Look out for my slightly longer match report on the proceedings very soon on ManUtd.com. (AM)

14:50 Half-time: Wigan Reserves 0 United Reserves 0. Still goalless and largely uneventful at Robin Park Arena, although Warren Joyce has already made a personnel change. Tom Thorpe came on for the injured Reece Brown shortly before the interval. Wigan have been the better side with the Reds reallyonly having one attempt to speak of -  a blocked Ryan Tunnicliffe shot. (AB)

14:41 Latest score: Wigan Reserves 0 United Reserves 0. A turgid game so far, I'm sorry to say, with little to report except for Will Keane clearing a Latics effort off the line. Hopefully the imminent half-time break - we kicked off at 14:00 - will enable Reds coach Warren Joyce to inject some life into the proceedings. (AM)

14:38 Birthday-boy Phil Jones spoke about the Duncan Edwards references in a live webchat for ManUtd.com earlier this season. "It's incredible to hear people saying that. To be mentioned in the same sentence as Duncan Edwards is a huge honour. He was playing well before my time but I certainly knew about him growing up. It inspires me to go on and become a better player. It makes me want to work even harder in training." (AB)

14:35 Some may find this uncanny but Phil Jones - a young man whose playing style has drawn the occasional comparison with Duncan Edwards - was born 20 years ago today. Happy birthday, Phil. (AB)

14:30 It was remiss of us not to mention this earlier - but today is the anniversary of Duncan Edwards' death in 1958. One of the greatest players to ever wear the shirts of Manchester United and England, big Duncan fought on for 15 days after sustaining dreadful injuries in the Munich air disaster on 6 February. Like the seven Reds team-mates who also perished, he will never be forgotten. (AB)

14:10 Wigan - like Man City - have a different name for their reserve team. The Latics' second strong go by the monicker of Wigan Athletic Development Squad or WADS for short. City have EDS, where Eis for Elite. Apparently. (AB)

14:07 Good to see Ryan Tunnicliffe back in a United shirt this afternoon. He's still on loan to Peterborough but like Josh King against Man City a fortnight ago, he's getting some much-needed match practice. Ryan's not had much of a look-in with the Posh's first team lately. (AM)

14:00 Here's the United Reserves' side: Johnstone, De Laet, Fryers, Fornasier, M Keane, Brown, Vermijl, Tunnicliffe, W Keane, Petrucci, Lingard. Subs: Thorpe, Coll, Giverin, Massacci, Veseli. (AM)

10:22 The referee for Thursday's Europa League tie with Ajax will be Damir Skomina from Slovenia. He took charge of Napoli's 2-1 defeat of Manchester City in the Champions League earlier in the season. (AM)

10:15 The Reserves are in action this afternoon at Robin Park against Wigan with kick-off at 2pm. We'll bring you all the updates here and, of course, a full report soon after the final whistle on ManUtd.com. (AM)

Monday 20 February

18:13 We'll leave you for today by directing you left to the latest MUTV news bulletin, read by Mark Sullivan, who was once likened to Jedward by Reserves boss Warren Joyce. (JT)

18:09 As you may have read in our What The Papers Say round-up today, BBC Radio 5 Live are broadcasting an in-depth interview with Sir Alex at 20:00 GMT tonight. In it, the Reds boss says that when he retires, he wants to finish on a high. "I think you always want to go out on a winning note," he says. "Hopefully we can do that. I don't know howlong I can last now but if my health stays up, I don't think another two or three years would harm me any." (JT)

15:24 I've just returned from Carrington, where I interviewed Fabio for this week's Ajax programme. As you might expect, he was full of mischief and gave some great answers - especially to questions from the fans. Keep an eye out for the results in Thursday's edition of United Review. (Steve Bartram)

12:31 And one final note on the youth team - forward Tom Lawrence is on the stand-by list for the Wales Under-21s' Euro qualifier against Andorra on 29 February despite being out of action recently due to injury. (AM)

12:24 On the subject of the Academy, it's been interesting to note how many players are on the books with surnames of United representatives from the past. Liam Grimshaw, Louis Rowley, Matthew Wilkinson, Ben Pearson, Josh Harrop, Sam Byrne and James Wilson would all be following in the footsteps of namesakes if they eventually make it into the first team. Of course, Jack Barmby (Nick), Kenji Gorre (Dean) and Luke Hendrie (John) are all sons of former footballers. (AM)

12:23 Just a note that the Under-18s' home fixture with Wolves on Saturday 25 February is due to go ahead as planned despite the FA Youth Cup tie against Charlton taking place on the following Wednesday (29 February). (AM)

11:15 Jonny Evans, who has been in splendid form recently for United, has been included in new Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill's first squad - for the Windsor Park clash against Norway on 29 February. (AM)10:36 Larnell Cole has been forced to pull out of the England Under-19 squad with the hamstring injury he sustained in the Reserves' win against Bolton last week. Sam Johnstone is still in contention to play in the match against Czech Republic at Leyton Orient's Matchroom Stadium. (Adam Marshall)

10:10 Sir Alex's men may not have played at the weekend, but there was still some new content on ManUtd.com to enjoy. If you missed it, the U18s lost the derby 3-1, Nicky Butt and Bryan Robson praised Tom Cleverley and we ran interviews with milestone man Ryan Giggs and assistant boss Mike Phelan. (JT)

10:05 Ajax warmed up for their visit to OT and the onerous task of overturning a 2-0 deficit with a comfortable league win at the weekend. Frank de Boer's side beat NEC Nijmegen 4-1 at home, with burly striker Dmitri Bulykin bagging two of the goals. No injury news to report from the Dutch camp. (JT)

09:58 Morning all. How was your weekend? Twiddling your thumbs without a United first-team game to enjoy? It was a unusual feeling at this time of season, I must admit. Anyway, it's Monday and we don't have to wait too much longer until the Reds are in action again. (James Tuck)