Manchester United kicked off their preseason in style on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Championship side Derby County at Pride Park. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side made the away trip to take on old friend Wayne Rooney and his Rams.
With most of the first teamers on summer holiday right now (not that many of them would play too much in a preseason friendly anyway), the Norwegian only started one true first teamer (Aaron Wan-Bissaka), in addition to another player who sometimes gets starting assignments (Mason Greenwood).
Here is the full starting XI below:
Pre-season games start for #MUFC today away to Derby. Here’s how they line up: Heaton, Wan-Bissaka, Williams, Tuanzebe, Mengi, Garner, Levitt, Mata, Chong, Greenwood, Elanga. pic.twitter.com/U6L9bFW1JK
— Charlotte Duncker (@CharDuncker) July 18, 2021
Tahith Chong, who will spend next season away on loan in Derby’s division, with Birmingham got in among the goals, as did Facundo Pellistri. Rooney’s squad got one back from Colin Kazim-Richards. Despite conceding that scoring strike, newly acquired goalkeeper Tom Heaton, who is slated to be the third choice in between the sticks this term, was impressive.
Juan Mata served as captain today while Solskjaer made nine changes at halftime. Only the central defenders, Alex Tuanzebe and Teden Mengi, stayed on.
In terms of takeaways from this match, well, take a look at the joke tweet below, as it’s a could humorous summation. #Analysis
Things we learnt today:
-Garner is our best midfielder
-Elanga is the next ronaldo
-Greenwood deserves ballon d'or— ? (@MarcusPenford) July 18, 2021
It’s the preseason, and it’s the very first friendly at that, meaning there just isn’t too much we can really read into it. Still at least they won! As Arsenal failed to win both of their preseason tuneups thus far, and Tottenham have struggled too.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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