THEY’RE young, they’re in red, they’re youngest Manchester United side ever to play in Europe.
But unlike the kids of old they need to learn when to roll the dice with the confidence of winners.
Di’Shon Bernard scored the own goal in Nur-Sultan – but he did little else wrongCredit: Reuters
While they are tactically disciplined, with a good first touch and ability to play on the half-turn — going for the jugular is one of the hardest lessons in football.
Whether the Busby Babes or the Class of 92 were born with it, or had it eked out of them by genius managers, is up for debate.
But against this incredibly poor Astana side, it speaks volumes that United will be kicking themselves they somehow failed to win.
There was more green behind their ears than on Astana’s plastic pitch.
And as Di’Shon Bernard and Tahith Chong learned, if you don’t take risks and make mistakes, you don’t learn.
It’s easy for those who purred at Becks, Scholes and Giggs to be cynical and sneer at the pair of blunders that turned the game on its head.
But only four of this squad were even alive when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer poked the ball into the Nou Camp net 20 years ago.
Dylan Levitt, 19, and James Garner, 18, controlled midfield behind Jesse Lingard for vast swathes of the match.
Welshman Levitt made 100 passes, more than any other player on the pitch, and impressed.
A question mark remains over the head of Angel Gomes, who wows so often in training.
But does he have the athleticism and outright pace to cut it at the highest level?
For the opening goal Gomes took down a high ball with a nice first touch before passing to Shaw, who squared to Lingard.
Seeing the lack of pressure, the England midfielder wellied it into the bottom right-hand corner, with no little help from a deflection.
Gomes also combined well with Shaw for Chong’s incredible back-post sitter, which the Dutch winger missed before being hauled off.
Then Chong’s free kick in the second half was curling in, but Nenad Eric did well to save.
Tahith Chong’s second-half miss paved the way for Astana to turn the game on its headCredit: BT Sport
Mason Greenwood’s late effort was superbly saved by Nenad EricCredit: AP:Associated Press
Axel Tuanzebe is also a growing talent.
At one point in the first half, he had the ball on his own with Astana striker Rotaru breathing down his neck and no options either left or right.
But he shielded the ball and won a free kick smartly.
He looks a first-choice Premier League centre-back in the making and should aim to become the go-to defender alongside Harry Maguire by the end of the season.
Bernard was also alert to danger around his box, coming out to win a 50-50 in the first half, before United cleared their lines and attacked.
He also nearly scored a spectacular own goal early in the second-half when his feet got tangled underneath each other and he skewed the ball over his own cross bar.
That served as a warning, when Bernard really did score an own goal from full-back Antonio Rukavina’s cross on the overlap.
Another pat on the back should go to right-back Ethan Laird, who was lively, committed and decent in defence and attack.
He could have done with more composure from Chong ahead of him.
And Mason Greenwood, so hotly tipped for stardom, did well and was unlucky not to score on the half-volley before Eric saved brilliantly.
There is to digest for United on their 3,000-mile voyage back to Manchester.
And plenty of distance to go if they are to become Premier League regulars, let alone potential winners.
But one thing is for sure, you will see these names again, starting with AZ Alkmaar in a fortnight.
They deserve that chance.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
