Sunderland’s promising young goalkeeper Matty Young has been making the most of his loan spell at Salford City this season, but he did not have a good weekend.
The FA Cup third round was full of disappointment for Sunderland, who crashed out with a 2-1 defeat to Stoke City at the Stadium of Light.
While there were still some positives for Sunderland in that loss, there was very little consolation for Matty Young, who was on the wrong end of a battering at the hands of Manchester City.
This comes off the back of Young being nominated for the League Two Player of the Month award recently, but he cannot afford to let this crush his spirits.
Matty Young concedes eight against Manchester City in FA Cup
Nobody expected League Two Salford to realistically get anything from their trip to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening, but few could have predicted an 8-0 demolition job from Pep Guardiola’s side.
In fairness, the result did include two penalties — converted by Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku — and with the scoreline at 3-0 by half time, there was very little chance for Salford to recover.
| Statistics | Matty Young vs Man City |
|---|---|
| Saves | 1 |
| Successful run outs | 1 |
| High claims | 1 |
| Saves inside box | 1 |
| Pass success | 52% |
Young should take solace in the fact he didn’t play all too badly, either. The teenage ‘keeper registered one save, one high claim, and successfully ran out to close down the ball once, too.
While there could be improvements made in his passing, particularly his long balls, it is hardly fair to judge Young on this performance alone.
Indeed, Young has been tipped to go right to the top, and nothing has changed based on this outing.
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Young can bounce back and finish the season in style
The whole Salford team will want to put this result behind them quickly and get back to league action as soon as possible — they have a home tie with Fleetwood Town coming up next Saturday as they look to keep up their push for promotion.
Before the City game, Young had gone six matches without conceding a goal and had even attracted transfer attention from Man City.
After a tough start to life at Salford, where he was struggling to get minutes under his belt, Young has now made himself undroppable for the League Two outfit, and should continue to be their number one stopper for the rest of the campaign.
Hopefully, Young and his teammates can achieve promotion, and the Sunderland youngster could even return to Sunderland and become part of Regis Le Bris’ first-team plans.