Manchester United beat a near full-strength Arsenal team 2-0 last night in the first game of the pre-season tour in America.
Bruno Fernandes opened the scorer in the first half before Jadon Sancho secured the win with a great finish from a tight angle. Interestingly, a penalty shoot-out was played at the final whistle, which United also won, scoring five out of five penalties against Aaron Ramsdale.
After the game, Erik ten Hag spoke to MUTV about his happiness with the performance
I think it’s very good. The way we played,I was really pleased, how active we were in and out of possession. That is the way we want to play and that is the only period of the year you can really work in training and translate it to games without it having consequences. But still, we want to win, and I think the lads showed we played a good game.
Several youngsters were given a go, with Kobbie Mainoo particularly impressing in the first half, which was pleasing to Ten Hag.
It’s fantastic. Manchester United is famous for always bringing young players up and it can be done. But we have to see.
We have confidence, he [Mainoo] is playing with confidence, and I really like his performance. But this year, he showed it in spring, then he got injured. We are really happy. There are more youngsters with us now and they’re all doing very good. But I don’t want to rise expectations too high.
We have to see. The Premier League is tough but, definitely, you can see we have some really good young players who can play a role in the squad. But the bar is high.
