Manchester United was beaten 3-0 by Vincent Kompany’s Burnley in a secret behind-closed-doors friendly held on Wednesday at their Carrington training complex.
The Red Devils have endured a poor start to the new campaign, with their 22-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend highlighting the level of work Erik ten Hag still needs to do in his team.
The Dutchman is habitually using the current break between Premier League fixtures to get match minutes into his players after United used last week to play Everton in a similar outing.
But their outing this time did not have a positive outcome as Burnely won 3-0 courtesy of goals from Jacob Bruun Larsen, Jay Rodriguez and Zeki Amdouni. Vincent Kompany’s side did not play last weekend as their clash with Luton was postponed due to construction work at Kenilworth Road, so the game allowed them to pick up some much-needed minutes ahead of their clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Ten Hag uses these behind-closed-door games to give minutes to some of United’s first-team players who played few games or were absent during the club’s pre-season. His side will face Nottingham on Sunday at Old Trafford.
Donny van de Beek, Scott McTominay, Anthony Martial, Jonny Evans and Facundo Pellistri were among the starters of Wednesday’s heavy behind-closed-doors loss.
Man United starting XI
Radek VitekMarc Jurado, Teden Mengi, Jonny Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Donny van de Beek, Scott McTominay, Hannibal Mejbri, Facundo Pellestri, Anthony Martial, Omari Forson
