Manchester United fell 3-0 to Burnley in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Carrington on Wednesday.
United boss Erik ten Hag was keen to hold the game to work on the fitness levels of his fringe players, while Burnley happily agreed after their Premier League clash with Luton Town was postponed, with Clarets manager Vincent Kompany keen to avoid losing any match fitness.
While most of United’s senior stars were kept out of the friendly in favour of an extra training session, there were a number of familiar faces in the United lineup that fell to defeat.
Jonny Evans, Scott McTominay, Donny van de Beek, Hannibal Mejbri, Facundo Pellistri and Anthony Martial were all part of the game against what ended up being a strong Burnley side.
Kompany deployed arguably his first-choice team in the first half before switching the entire lineup after the break. Jacob Bruun Larsen, Jay Rodriguez and Zeki Amdouni netted the goals for Burnley.
As for United, eight of the 15 players used had never played in the first team before.
On the morning of the game, Ten Hag held a senior training session which included all the players who faced Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend apart from Mason Mount, who has been ruled out for at least the next month after picking up an injury.
Fitness is a mounting concern among United fans, who watched their team outmuscled horribly by Spurs en route to a crushing 2-0 defeat on Saturday.
The Red Devils are back in action again this coming Saturday against Nottingham Forest, with a trip to Arsenal also on the agenda before the international break in September.
