Manchester United kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Rosenborg at the Lerkendal Stadion in Norway.
The goal from Noah Emmanuel Jean Holm came from almost the last kick of the game and the victory was a deserved one with the Norwegian giants creating chance after chance, with only Radek Vitek standing between them and an even more handsome margin of victory.
They had 22 shots, with seven of them on target while United just the two. They also clocked almost a 100 extra passes than their more fancied opposition while seeing 55 percent of the ball.
Usually, the first game for a club like United is all about slowly building up patterns of play moving forward and an easier opposition is chosen and the difficulty level goes up gradually.
Rosenborg too good
But on Monday, the hosts entered the game having already played half of their league season and it showed in the fitness levels and in their patterns of play as they completely dominated the ball throughout the game.
United, on the other hand, looked lost, in both halves. Granted Erik ten Hag was missing his best players and the second half team was entirely made up of academy products, but he would have liked to have seen more from a few stars.
Casemiro, who was a huge disappointment last season, did not look sharp and was subject to a nasty tackle from Tomáš Nemčík. He needs to really up his game or INEOS are likely to ship him off.
Marcus Rashford, who needs a big season to get the fans onside again, displayed some nice touches but hardly had any scope to attack.
Among the younger crop, Hannibal Mejbri, who returned from a disappointing loan spell in Granada, was anonymous and his chances of a breakthrough look slim at the moment.
The highly-touted Harry Amass did not have the best of games as a second half substitute, committing far too many errors with Ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy seen talking to the youngster.
Collyer impresses
The Dutch manager had spoken about the next crop of youngsters coming through and among the 16 youngsters on display, only Ethan Wheatley and Toby Collyer looked like they were close to a possible breakthrough.
Collyer is someone who Ten Hag seems to like, both were seen in a conversation post the FA Cup final triumph, reminiscent to the manager’s famous talk with Kobbie Mainoo two year ago.
The former Ajax coach was personally present during his contract signing, hinting at a bright future and the 20-year-old showed some nice touches while not shying away from the ball despite pressure.
It was an all-action display and with the midfield overhauls that are planned, the England U17 international might see a few cameos in the cup competitions.
With more players joining in, the team is likely to look a lot better moving forward. Despite a new contract, Ten Hag knows a huge season awaits him. It was not a great start but INEOS will reserve their judgements till the real action kicks off.
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