The first half of Manchester United’s preseason friendly against Wrexham, according to Erik ten Hag, was “a little unpredictable,” but he acknowledged the experience will be useful in the future
For the first time in 15 years, Wrexham was promoted to League Two last year, and it was decided that their game against United in San Diego would be played against a young youth squad.
The only members of United’s first-team tour group who traveled for the game were Alvaro Fernandez, Dan Gore, and Hannibal, who began alongside other Reds academy prospects.
Despite some strong early effort by United, Wrexham took the lead just before the 30th minute mark, and doubled their lead a few minutes later as a result of a long throw-in. Jonny Evans was the only senior player in the starting lineup.
Even though United’s youthful players struggled against Wrexham’s tenacity, the deficit was halved on the final play of the first half when right-back Marc Jurado scored; Fernandez assisted the goal.
That gave Travis Binnion’s squad hope for the second half, but after the interval, Wrexham took control and scored another goal for a 3-1 victory after Dan Gore was given a dubious red card.
After the defeat, Ten Hag told MUTV that the players would learn from the experience.
Ten Hag said, “It’s always disappointing, and we’re always disappointed with ourselves.” During the first half, “our play was a little erratic.” We lacked organization, and we failed to accomplish other objectives.
