Manchester United pre-season round-up as they finish in America
A round-up for the Red Devils.
Transcript
00:00 Is there a change in United's pre-season plans?
00:10 Things are wrapped up in America now for United. They had four games in the States.
00:17 They started really well with a win against Arsenal, building on the two previous wins before they flew out against Leeds and Lyon.
00:24 But they did suffer three back-to-back defeats in the States after that. They lost to Wrexham in a match that was mainly made up of U21 players.
00:33 They also lost to Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
00:36 With a first-team squad, the game against Madrid was what you would consider closer to a start in the strongest XI.
00:43 And in the second game, it was made up of the likes of Maguire, Lindelof, McTominay, Van de Beek.
00:50 I don't think there's ever really any concern about results in pre-season, but I do think there are certainly things to take in terms of performances.
00:57 I think Tennhagen should be encouraged with the first three performances.
01:00 And a bit disappointed, let's say, with the last two performances against Madrid and Dortmund.
01:06 You don't want to draw too many conclusions, but I think that if you can get into patterns of play, get players playing with a bit of confidence,
01:16 that is important when you go into the new season to hit the ground running.
01:19 They do have this final weekend before the Premier League season gets underway.
01:23 They do have two pre-season friendlies, actually.
01:26 They play Lens in Trafford on Saturday, and then they play Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in Dublin.
01:35 So Tennhagen will pretty much split the squad in two.
01:37 They'll play one XI at Trafford, and they'll play another XI in Dublin.
01:41 I suspect the stronger XI will go to the Aviva and play Bilbao, and a slightly weaker starting XI will play at Trafford on Saturday.
01:50 But yes, it's a good opportunity for all the players to get 90 minutes, pretty much all the players to get 90 minutes in their legs before the season starts.
01:56 So yes, plenty going on at United, and then obviously the season starts on Monday 14 August against Wolves, the final match of the opening Premier League weekend.