Manchester United Under-21s opened the Premier League International Cup with a narrow defeat to AS Monaco B, with some blunders proving costly.
These are our player ratings for the match. You can read a detailed match report here.
(A score of six is around average.)
Ratings
Cameron Byrne-Hughes – 7.5 – Started the match with a massive howler, fumbling an easy save into the goal to gift Monaco the lead in just the third minute. He put the mistake behind him, though, and had a stellar performance, making a number of good saves, including showing quick reflexes in the second half. His distribution on the ball was also very good, and he had Quinton Fortune lavishing praise on him in commentary.
Jaydan Kamason – 7 – Very good at getting forward and mixed it up with overlapping and underlapping runs to consistently find space towards the byline. However, for all of the good work he did opening space on the wing, there was very rarely a target in the box for him to aim for.
Reece Munro – 5 – A poor performance; he found it tough against some of Monaco’s nimble, technical players who looked to glide across him when cutting inside. He also could have done better when defending set pieces.
Dan Armer – 6 – Similarly to Munro, he could have offered more of a presence on set pieces and was caught flat-footed for Monaco’s second goal. In possession, he distributed the ball well with a good range of passes, and he made a few key interventions with blocks and interceptions, but was also caught lacking a bit of speed at times.
Harry Amass – 7.5 – United’s best player, he was very comfortable in possession and played out of pressure to launch attacks down the left wing with a number of 40+ yard runs. He made some good movements in the final third but was let down by Thompson on the wing and looked the far more likely of the two to create something. Defensively, he was very solid, made some good tackles, and often found himself as one of the only ones willing to get a physical challenge in.
Tyler Fletcher – 6.5 – Covered the midfield with a lot of dirty work to sweep up and generally was key to United winning the battle in the middle third. He also linked really well with his midfield partners, but did get caught in possession a couple of times under pressure.
Jim Thwaites – 6.5 – His corner deliveries resulted in two goals, one dropped by the keeper and Kana-Biyik’s first goal for United. In general play, he played some eye-catching passes to split through the lines but also drifted through the match at times.
Bendito Mantato – 5.5 – Looked better going backwards with good defensive contributions and held the ball up well for Kamason to make runs off of. However, as the winger, he failed to create anything of note.
Jack Fletcher – 6.5 – He carved open Monaco at times with very clever touches to spin away from challenges and open space, but far too often he had no option ahead of him after creating space around the box, which ultimately limited his effectiveness. He also provided good set piece deliveries.
Tynan Thompson – 4.5 – An uninspiring performance; he slowed the play down too much, and his marker, Melvin Gomes, had his number throughout the match, forcing turnovers or Thompson to pass the ball backwards. On two very rare occasions that he moved the ball quickly, he actually delivered a dangerous cross and a delicate through ball to set Jack Fletcher into the box, but he followed up both plays by slowing play down again and killing the attack.
Amir Ibragimov – 5.5 – Not a natural striker, he dropped deep into midfield and linked well with quick passes, but it left a gaping hole in United’s attack with no focal point and no target in the area.
Substitutes
Ashton Missin – 6 – Provided a bit more directness and urgency in attack and came close with a curling effort that went narrowly wide.
Enzo Kana-Biyik – 7 – Offered a bit more presence in the area against a very big backline that United struggled to threaten throughout the match. He tested the keeper with a flick-on header from a corner before getting on the end of a near carbon copy delivery in stoppage time to score his first goal in United colours.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
