What happened in Manchester United vs Burnley friendly at Carrington

A youthful Manchester United side were beaten 3-0 by Premier League rivals Burnley in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Carrington on Wednesday.

Eight of the 15 players involved for United had never played for the first-team previously and they found life tough against a strong Clarets XI, with Vincent Kompany using 22 players in a split side, with his strongest XI playing in the first half before wholesale changes at the break.

The game against the top-flight newcomers was arranged to maintain fitness levels for first-team players who haven’t started in the Premier League matches against Wolves and Tottenham, with the likes of Jonny Evans, Scott McTominay, Donny van de Beek, Hannibal Mejbri, Facundo Pellistri and Anthony Martial all playing some part, while other first-team squad members trained instead on Wednesday.

 

Burnley took the game as they didn’t play at the weekend, with their trip to Luton postponed due to upgrades taking place at the Hatters’ Kenilworth Road home, so Kompany wanted to give his squad a run out to keep fitness levels high ahead of facing Aston Villa at Turf Moor on Sunday.

With Erik ten Hag wanting his first-team players yet to start in the league to get minutes into their legs, it meant stretched resources for United at the start of the week, with some of the club’s most promising youngsters playing in the 1-1 draw at Stockport County in the EFL Trophy on Monday night, rather than facing Burnley.

Ten Hag also oversaw a full training session at Carrington on Wednesday morning, which featured the players who started against Tottenham – minus the injured Mason Mount – and some extra first-team bodies to make up the numbers for the session.