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Manchester United suffered their first defeat of pre-season, succumbing to a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid at Houston, Texas on Thursday.
Despite trying really hard, the gulf in class showed as the La Liga giants produced two clinical moments in front of goal while United struggled to create clear-cut chances.
Jude Bellingham and Joselu scored either side of half-time with the English midfielder scoring from a petulant chip over the onrushing Andre Onana while the former Stoke City man scored from a fantastic overhead kick.
Solid in the middle is the plan
For United, it was interesting to see how Erik ten Hag lined his team up. It was almost like the Dutchman was preparing his team for the big away days.
Ten Hag is aware of the criticism he faced last season due to United’s poor record against the big six in away encounters.
The plan was to play two defensively astute midfielders — Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo while also using either of Bruno Fernandes of Mason Mount on the right for additional protection.
Unfortunately Mainoo got injured in the opening minutes but during the season, don’t be surprised to see the United boss playing both Casemiro and potential new recruit Sofyan Amrabat in the centre of the park.
United looked far too brittle last season with Christian Eriksen not having the same sort of defensive impact as the aforementioned names in the centre of the pitch.
The biggest difference in quality between the sides was up front. United still continue to lack cutting edge.
United lacking up front as usual
Ten Hag might want to use Marcus Rashford up front due to his goalscoring exploits last season but his back-to-goal play is still lacking while he keeps running out of patience due to which his first touch is not always great under pressure.
The Mancunian is still most dangerous from the left and United desperately need a striker and a deal for Rasmus Hojlund cannot come soon enough.
Alejandro Garnacho was once again the outlet for the team going forward with quick passes out to the left to try and allow the Argentine to isolate the full-back.
Garnacho should have scored in the first-half from a promising position but ended up firing over.
