Man Utd 3-1 Lens: Post-match reaction
Our reporter Michael Plant gives his thoughts after Manchester United beat Lens at Old Trafford.
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00:00 Hello, it's Michael Plant coming to you from Old Trafford where this afternoon Manchester
00:05 United finished their penultimate pre-season game with a 3-1 victory over French side
00:09 Bronx. The game was only finished about five minutes ago, you can still see behind me plenty
00:12 going on, a couple of fans still milling around here in the ground. I thought it was a really
00:17 good day for United, although it didn't necessarily start that way. I thought United dominated
00:23 possession in the early stages, used the ball really well, some nice link-up play between
00:27 Bruno Fernandes, Mason Mount, Casemiro. But it was actually Lawrence who were the more
00:31 difficult side on the counter-attack. I thought he had a real dynamism and looked really dangerous
00:37 on the counter-attack in the early stages and did have the early chances. And then on
00:42 23 minutes, a bit of a nightmare moment for Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana, of
00:46 course playing his first game at Old Trafford since signing this summer from Ajax. It was
00:52 a loose pass from Diogo Dalo and from inside the centre circle he was chipped by Florian
00:57 Sotoko. Really difficult moment for him, all of about 40 yards. He was miles off his line,
01:05 as Eric Ten Hag wants him to do. That's what he wants from his goalkeeper, to be assertive,
01:09 to be front foot, to be helping in terms of possession and helping the side build up play.
01:13 But that high position from him meant that he was so easily chipped from the lawns striker.
01:19 I think it's certainly something that opposition sides are going to be looking at in the Open
01:22 in a couple of weeks of the season. Suspect Wolves who are here in about 10 days' time
01:26 on the 14th, they will be monitoring where his position is, Onana, and if that's possible
01:33 something they can use to their advantage. But to be fair to Onana, I thought he recovered
01:36 pretty well, made a couple of nice saves during the game, palmed away a couple of good shots
01:42 as well from the lawns. I don't think he let that necessarily affect him and his performance
01:47 and hopefully he will bounce back from that. And then United actually go after the goal
01:51 were certainly the better side for the rest of the game. Certainly the rest of the first
01:54 half, although he did go in at half time, 1-0 down. And then in the second half he came
01:59 out really well. First 15 minutes actually they scored three goals, really impressive
02:02 from United. It was Mark Strasford who got it going, nice ball in behind from Anthony,
02:06 he took a touch, fired past Samba in the lawns goal even though it did take a slight deflection
02:12 on its way in. And then Alejandro Garnaciu set up the second, so nice interplay between
02:16 him and Strasford in United's half. Garnaciu raced free and he had the pass to Strasford
02:20 on his left, instead he went to his right to find Anthony who actually took a bit of
02:24 an awkward touch with his right foot and then managed to calmly slot the ball, managed to
02:27 recover and then calmly slot the ball in with his left, past Samba in the lawns goal. And
02:32 then yeah a couple of minutes later it was 3-1, Casemiro with a goal, he didn't know
02:35 a huge amount about it. Ball came in, I think from a free kick or corner, Mark Strasford
02:40 headed it towards goal, hit off Casemiro and went in but he was certainly happy to take
02:45 the goal even if he didn't know a huge amount about it. As I say this is United's penultimate
02:49 pre-season game and they put out a really strong side here. I suspect a team that will
02:53 be very similar will start against Wolves in I think it's nine days time for their opening
02:57 Premier League game. Featured Onana, Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw, Midfield of Casemiro,
03:03 Bruno Fernandes and then Anthony, Mount, Mark Strasford and Alejandro Garnaciu in the attacking
03:09 areas. Nine of those players actually played 90 minutes, Anthony and then Garnaciu came
03:14 off so I think that's really encouraging for Ten Hag at this stage of pre-season to get
03:17 an extra minute in his players legs. Really important of course to build fitness up and
03:21 I suspect there might be potentially a behind closed doors game next week for United but
03:26 other than that this is the last opportunity for the players to play against a team in
03:33 an official pre-season game anyway so really important that they got the minutes. I thought
03:36 there was some encouraging displays but I thought the best player on the pitch was Alejandro
03:40 Garnaciu. I thought his decision making was brilliant, when to pass the ball, when to
03:43 shoot, when to dribble was a real thorn in the side of the lawns defence and repeatedly
03:48 caused him issues all afternoon I actually thought with his runs. So really good display
03:52 from him, I thought Casemiro, Martinez were good, I thought Luke Shaw was really good.
03:56 Overall a really good display from United certainly and let's say for the last three
04:01 quarters of the game I thought they were really good and Ten Hag will be very pleased with
04:06 that. Of course after this there is a game in Dublin tomorrow, United will bring probably
04:11 all the players who didn't play today, they had a bench packed full of players, the likes
04:14 of Harry Maguire, Lindelof, Donny van de Beek, Jadon Sancho did come on, I wouldn't be surprised
04:20 if he does play in Dublin tomorrow. Plenty of players still to be involved for United,
04:24 Aramond Bissaka another one as well but I suspect it will be a completely different
04:29 XI that plays tomorrow against Athletic Bilbao in what will be United's final pre-season
04:35 game and then all preparations moving towards the big kick off against Wolves as I mentioned
04:40 a couple of times in the Premier League. Encouraging day for United even if there is that tinge
04:45 of disappointment with Onana and as I say I think it's something that perhaps going
04:48 forward he might just drop that 5-10 yards, well 5 yards further back. I think if he would
04:52 have been 5 yards further back he actually would have got the ball and kept it out. That's
04:56 what pre-season is all about I suppose, getting those mistakes out of your system, ironing
04:59 them out and for the likes of Onana learning how he operates with his teammates. A good
05:04 day for United and certainly plenty to report and as always we'll be bringing all the latest
05:08 news from the game on Manchester World. I'm just remembering one other thing I should
05:12 have mentioned, the big news I suppose actually really from today is the signing of Rasmus
05:16 Hoyland. He was confirmed as a Manchester United player before the match here today.
05:20 He was actually unveiled on the pitch just before the match as well, held up his name
05:24 on the back of his shirt. No number yet, I think that will be confirmed in a couple of
05:27 weeks, well certainly in the next week actually. But yeah he is officially a Manchester United
05:31 player, not involved today. I've seen it reported on social media that he has actually picked
05:34 up a bit of a knock in training for Atalanta so he won't be involved in the opener against
05:40 Wolves for a couple of weeks. But yeah, plenty of optimism here today, mine played, Onana
05:46 played, Hoyland confirmed, a win for United, plenty of good performances, an encouraging
05:50 day even if there is that slight disappointment about Onana. But from me, Michael Blunt, Adel