The Elite Development Squad suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat at Manchester United on Monday evening. Stephen Mfuni’s second half goal wasn’t enough to help City overcome strikes from Ethan Wheatley and Tom Huddlestone either side of half-time.
But the EDS head coach was proud of his team’s performance and hopes to see more of the player’s tenacity in our final handful of Premier League 2 fixtures.
“I want to see out mentality to keep going right until the end,” said Barry-Murphy when asked what he’d like to see implemented from the United defeat in our upcoming games.
“It’s very new territory for our players to be where they are in the table and to understand what they’re going through.
“So all the time you’re looking for clear signs that they’re really trying to improve and I saw that all throughout tonight’s game and it was a performance that was of the highest quality that I wanted.
“Obviously we want to score the goals at the end but that’s the next part for these players to actually go and do it because in training they can do it.
“I don’t think the players understand how well they played. I think it can feel as if it’s the same for them every week in terms of playing well and losing the game.
“They just don’t understand because they’re so young what it’s like to experience that but the performance was of the highest level.
“We created more chances than we have done in a long time and just couldn’t take them. I think they had three attempts on target and scored two and that was the story of the game.”
The defeat means City remain bottom of the Premier League 2 table but not an impossible task of jumping into the top 16 which would see up advance to the knockout stage of the competition.
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But before City can focus on making amends in our league performances, first our attention turns to the UEFA Youth League.
Barry-Murphy and his squad travel to Mainz for City’s Round of 16 clash with the German side who knocked out Barcelona Under-19s on penalties.
“It’s just another step in the journey of the season,” said Barry-Murphy.
“I think it will give our players a taste of what it will be like in an intense environment and a really good experience for our players. I’m very excited based on what I’ve seen tonight and the last few weeks.
“There is a big difference for us in terms of how we played against Stoke in the first game back after Christmas, we were really poor. And it’s very important that the players understand the difference between that and what we’re doing now.
“And now we have to be better as we go forward and Mainz will be a big examination of that because we believe that we are capable of putting on a very good performance.”
