Manchester United made a losing start to pre-season as they were beaten 1-0 by Wrexham in Helsinki.
With United’s World Cup stars unavailable, Michael Carrick played his senior players in the first half and gave a debut to new £50million signing Andrey Santos in front of 20,069 fans at the 36,000-capacity Olympic Stadium.
He saw his team fall behind in the 39th minute to a goal by former United academy player Sam Smith after Joshua Zirkzee had fired narrowly off target and Smith had headed against his own bar from Mason Mount’s corner.
Carrick changed all 11 players at the interval and sent on his youth-teamers who went on to dominate the second half, but they couldn’t find an equaliser against the Championship club. Daily Mail Sport looks at what we learned from United’s first outing in pre-season.
Andrey on the defensive
United’s new signing arrived from Chelsea with a reputation as a box-to-box midfielder, but we saw him in a more defensive role in a pivot alongside Mount.
The game was only 40 seconds old when Santos had to get a foot in to intercept Smith’s cross and turn the ball out for a corner after losing the ball outside United’s penalty box.
Andrey Santos made his first appearance for Manchester United after signing a £50m deal
It was the first of a number of duels between Santos and Smith, and it flared in the 17th minute when United’s new No.17 reacted to a late challenge by pushing his opponent in the chest.
Santos was caught in possession again early on by Lewis O’Brien whose through ball found Smith in an offside position. But he continued to show his awareness to cut out Matty James’ through ball with a lunging interception, and then got across to block from Smith again as their joust continued right up until half-time when both teams made wholesale changes.
Aside from the couple of occasions he gave the ball away in dangerous areas, Santos had 93 per cent pass accuracy from his 55 touches, won four of his six duels and created two chances.
Carrick will have been satisfied by what he saw from the new man, having praised Santos before kick-off.
‘He’s settled in really well,’ said the United boss. ‘He’s a fantastic character and he’s buzzing to be here, you can see that. We’re not expecting anything crazy special today. It’s just a step: get your eye in and get back on the pitch again.
‘He’ll do really well for us, so I’m looking forward to the progression that he shows the longer he’s here. But it’s nice to get that first one out of the way.’
United’s other new signings so far this summer, midfielder Youri Tielemans and goalkeeper Karl Darlow, didn’t feature in Helsinki. Tielemans is on holiday after playing for Belgium at the World Cup, and Darlow stayed in Manchester to complete his recovery from a medical procedure at the end of last season so veteran Tom Heaton played in nets in the first half and Radek Vitek in the second.
Captain Harry going strong
It’s a measure of Harry Maguire’s staying power at United that the central defender didn’t just kick off his eighth pre-season at the club, he did it wearing the captain’s armband.
Maguire was stripped of the captaincy in July 2023 by Erik ten Hag, who handed it to Bruno Fernandes instead. That was the summer Maguire was booed by United fans during a pre-season friendly against Athletic Bilbao in Dublin. His future at Old Trafford was in doubt as recently as April when he signed a new one-year contract with the option to extend it by another year just two months before he would have become a free agent.
Maguire is still going strong at the age of 33, despite being snubbed by Thomas Tuchel for a place in England’s squad for the World Cup, and there were certainly no boos as he led United out in Helsinki wearing the armband again in the absence of Bruno Fernandes.
The United fans in Helsinki appreciated it when he got across to put in a strong challenge on Nathan Broadhead on the touchline, although Maguire will be disappointed that Lewis O’Brien’s low cross crept through his legs and left Smith with a tap-in after George Thomason got the ball back from Broadhead at a throw-in and fed it to O’Brien.
Game of two halves
The question beforehand was whether Carrick would play his first-teamers in the first half and his youth-teamers in the second, or mix them up. He chose the first option, partly because the make-up of United’s senior squad without so many World Cup stars actually fitted well into his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.
‘I think the senior boys who haven’t been away make up a good team,’ said Carrick. ‘It fits quite nicely. Sometimes you overload in certain areas, but I think it makes sense to go with that, and then look forward to the younger players second half.’
Michael Carrick bet on youth as the more unified second-half team to face off with Wrexham
Leny Yoro had to adapt at right-back, but the young Frenchman has done that before, with Maguire, Ayden Heaven and Luke Shaw all in their natural positions. Heaven made a brilliant recovery challenge to deny Bailey Cadamarteri after his pass was blocked in the 18th minute.
Santos was alongside Mount in the middle, and Bryan Mbeumo played on the right with Patrick Dorgu on the left where he has been most impressive for United. Jack Fletcher played in the No.10 role behind Joshua Zirkzee who led the attack and went close on one occasion when he flashed a first-time shot just wide from the edge of the box.
With the World Cup players making a staggered return to pre-season, Carrick is likely to continue relying on the same group – plus possibly Benjamin Sesko and Darlow – when United take on Rosenborg in Trondheim in their second pre-season game on Friday.
The kids are alright
United’s youngsters gave a good account of themselves in the second half as they took the game to a Wrexham side that showed 10 changes from the first period.
Even so, the Welsh club could have gone further ahead in the 66th minute when Vitek – who impressed for Bristol City in the Championship last season – came out to block with his leg from Davis Keillor-Dunn. The Czech is expected to go out on loan again next season or maybe even make a permanent move.
United pushed for an equaliser and went close when Ethan Wheatley’s close-range effort from Harry Amass’ cross was saved before United had a penalty appeal rejected in the dying seconds when Dan Gore was pushed over in the box.
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