Manchester United were beaten 3-0 by Burnley in a behind-closed-doors friendly at their Carrington training complex on Wednesday.
Erik ten Hag is making a habit of 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.
Jacob Bruun Larsen, Jay Rodriguez and Zeki Amdouni scored for the Clarets as Vincent Kompany’s men picked up some much-needed minutes ahead of their clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.
Burnley did not play last weekend as their clash with Luton was postponed due to construction work at Kenilworth Road.
Some of United’s first-team who were either nursing injuries during pre-season or didn’t get as many minutes as they would have wanted have been at the forefront of attention during friendly clashes.
Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United lost 3-0 in a friendly defeat against Burnley on Wednesday
Both Anthony Martial (left) and Scott McTominay (right) started United’s woeful friendly defeat
Jacob Bruun Larsen, who joined the Clarets this summer, netted during the midweek friendly
Amongst the starters in Wednesday’s heavy behind-closed-doors loss were Jonny Evans, Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay and Facundo Pellistri.
Northern Irishman Evans is still waiting to have his future resolved after signing a short-term deal with United during pre-season and the club in talks over a permanent contract.
Van de Beek is one of the players that will want to use these opportunities to maximise his chances of getting more minutes in Ten Hag’s set-up after a turbulent time to date at Old Trafford.
The Dutchman moved to Manchester in a £40m deal three years ago but has struggled with injuries and was also forced to endure a period on-loan at Everton.
Martial, meanwhile, made his first appearance in 79 days in last week’s friendly win over Everton and against Burnley and came off the bench against Spurs at the weekend.
The Frenchman looked to be lacking match sharpness in London and started against Burnley at United’s training ground.
21-year-old Facundo Pellistri – who is wanted by Nottingham Forest – started upfront in a three-pronged attack alongside Martial.
There were also outings for academy products Hannibal Mejbri, Dan Gore and 20-year-old Alvaro Fernandez.
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Vincent Kompany’s Burnley bagged some much-needed game time ahead of the weekend
Donny van de Beek (left) was also involved for United in the behind-closed-doors encounter
Fernandez is wanted by LaLiga strugglers Granada in a bid to improve their early-season difficulties after suffering consecutive losses and at the bottom of the Spanish top-flight.
Under 23 captain Teden Mengi was also involved alongside fellow academy colleagues Marc Jurado and Omari Forson.
However, new £72m star striker Rasmus Hojlund wasn’t involved but could possibly be fit to make his debut in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest.
United are attempting to bounce back from a difficult defeat against Tottenham last time out that saw them labelled as ‘soft’ by former captain Roy Keane.
