A youthful Manchester United side succumbed to a 1-3 defeat in pre-season at the hands of League Two side Wrexham at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Wednesday.
While the result will not have too much of a bearing on the club’s preparation for the upcoming season, it was not nice to see the team on the day make so many mistakes.
Wrexham were a non-league side until last season and it was not expected that the side picked by coach Travis Binnion would fail so spectacularly in front of first-team manager Erik ten Hag.
Hannibal & Alvaro will not face Real Madrid
The United manager loaned the likes of Hannibal Mejbri and Alvaro Fernandez from his first-team squad for the contest but in the end it paid no dividends.
The duo performed admirably, especially the Tunisian but it was telling that the manager did not play the two against Arsenal and instead opted to play them here.
It is probably an indication that another loan spell is in the offing and at their age, that could mean trouble going forward.
The Red Dragons took a 2-0 lead early on in the contest with their second goal typical of the type of football played in the lower divisions.
A long throw produced a flick on at the first post before it was nodded in by Aaron Hayden at the back stick. The defensive organisation was shocking with experienced professional Jonny Evans caught right in the middle.
The Northern Ireland man should have been either at the front post or at the back to try and cut out the danger, knowing fully well that the youngsters would not be able to deal with the physicality.
There were talks that the Champions League winner could even earn himself a brand-new deal at the club should Harry Maguire end up leaving but based on his display, that looks unlikely.
Evans and Bishop poor
Evans and Nathan Bishop showed terrible communication time and again and it was no surprise to see Bishop not emerging for the second-half.
He was also at fault as he clattered into Wrexham striker Paul Mullin who ended up suffering a punctured lung as confirmed by the League Two club.
As reported by The Peoples Person, Bishop is set to sign for Sunderland post United’s pre-season tour.
United did pull one back through Marc Jurado with the last kick of the first-half but an over-zealous tackle early in the second-half saw Daniel Gore see a harsh straight red card which allowed Wrexham to score the all-important third.
The first-team will now take on Real Madrid on Thursday and hopefully can continue in the same vein as they have done so far in pre-season with three wins and as many clean-sheets.