Man Utd boss Ferguson should have started Powell against Newcastle

Why didn’t Powell start for United on Wednesday?

The third round of the Capital One Cup threw up plenty of talking points and how about this one – why wasn’t Nick Powell starting for Manchester United against Newcastle United on Wednesday night?

Here is an 18-year-old with bags and bags of talent, he’s already scored for United this season, and the League Cup is the perfect stage to give him some regular action.

Let’s be honest, coming from Crewe over the summer, he is unlikely to start many games, especially when Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes continue to defy the ages of time.

Yet, while Sir Alex Ferguson put up a defence full of youngsters, this 18-year-old was on the bench and even then his appearance was ruined by Ryan Tunnicliffe’s debut.

Now Ferguson cannot be accused of not looking after young English hopefuls but he got it wrong by not starting Powell last night.

No stopping Cleverley now

It looked like it was going to be another barren night for Tom Cleverley after his howler of a miss in the first half against Newcastle – but thankfully he finally grabbed his first Manchester United goal and now there will be no stopping him.

Cleverley’s goal drought had become a bit of a worry – of course, he has only made 20 appearances during his injury-raved time at the club but he has been in great goal scoring positions in almost all of them.

He had shown he knew where the goal was in the pre-season tours when he was coming through the ranks, leading many to speculate he would be a future star.

But after breaking into the first-team last season, the one thing lacking was his ability to find the back of the net with his dry spell even spreading to the national team.

Cleverley was barracked for missing a hat-trick of great chances against the Ukraine at Wembley during the international break, and many began to suggest he simply was not a goal scorer.

But a brilliant curling finish in the second half of Wednesday night’s Capital One Cup game at Old Trafford later and Cleverley is now up and running.

It was a fine way to open his account, and you could see how much it meant to him with his emotional celebration – Danny Welbeck was first over to congratulate his mate because he knew what a relief it would have been for Cleverley.

Now he has broken his duck, expect Cleverley to chip in with ten goals this season, and a goal scoring central midfielder is something United are in very dire need of.

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Read more on: capital one cup, Manchester United, Newcastle United, nick powell, Sir Alex Ferguson, tom cleverley.