Manchester United have draw 1-1 with BSC Young Boys at Old Trafford with Ralf Rangnick making eleven changes from the team that faced Crystal Palace whilst also handing out six UCL debuts to Man Utd Academy Graduates.
Rangnick: “We were not defending high enough, not proactive enough. We also could have conceded two or three goals. If the final score was 3-3 or 4-3 to us no one could have complained.”
Manchester United XI: Dean Henderson, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic, Luke Shaw, Donny Van de Beek, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Amad Diallo, Anthony Elanga, Mason Greenwood.
Rangnick on the team: “It was a experiment, I did it on purpose to save the players energy for their game against Norwich.”
BSC Young Boys XI: Guillaume Faivre, Quentin Maceiras, Mohamed Camara, Fabian Lustenberger, Jordan Lefort, Nicolas Moumie, Michel Aebischer, Christopher Martins Pereira, Fabian Rieder, Meschack Elia, Jordan Siebatcheu.
United started the game off very well, opening the scoring in the 9th minute through Greenwood, a good cross from Shaw came in, it was just behind Greenwood, who adjusted his body to volley it with his left foot into the back of the net to give his side the lead.
The game was very back and forth, but in the first it was United who had the best chances, a great chance fell for Mata from six yards out, it was great work for Greenwood to beat his defender on the left hand side and then great vision to cut the ball back, but Mata’s shot was blocked by the defender to keep the score the same.
Young Boys equalised through a great strike from Fabian Rieder in the 42nd minute, Van de Beek had the ball on the edge of the box, he tried a short pass to Wan-Bissaka, which was cut out by Rieder, he turned a struck the ball perfectly into the top corner to level the score.
Rangnick: ” What was annoying was how we gave the goal away. We played too many balls into the first line of their pressing area and this was also the case for the goal we conceded.”
United had another great chance on the hour mark, a quick counter attack found Lingard in the middle who had Greenwood and Elanga either side of him, he chose to pass to Elanga on his right, whose shot hit the top of the keeper and Young Boys cleared the ball.
For the rest of the game, United were pinned back in their area, they came really close with Maceiras who missed the target from six yards out, their other great opportunity came in the 70th minute, a ball over the top found substitute Wilfred Kanga in on goal, but after slipping, substitute Teden Mengi made a great recovery tackle to deny a chance for Young Boys to take the lead.
A worry at the end for Rangnick was that Wan-Bissaka had to be stretchered off after falling into the advertising boards.
Rangnick: “Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] got two knocks. One on the wrist, one on the knee. We have to see how this will develop by Saturday.”
Anthony Elanga, Teden Mengi, Shola Shoretire, Zidane Iqbal, Charlie Savage and Tom Heaton all made their Champions League debuts, with Iqbal, Savage and Heaton all getting their first appearances for the club.
The two standout players in this game were Mason Greenwood and Dean Henderson, Greenwood was easily United’s best attacker, he kept the ball well and played some great paces and put himself in contention to start on Saturday, whilst Henderson came off his line multiple times in a very good performance to try and reinstate himself as United no.1.
Rangnick on Mason Greenwood: “Mason is more a 9-and-a-half, very technical. Sometimes he doesn’t look on an athletic level. We need to develop him mentally and physically. If we do that he can be a great player for our club.”
