- Youngster included from the off
- Replaced before half-time
- Ten Hag disappointed with defeat
WHAT HAPPENED? The 19-year-old winger was handed a starting berth and an opportunity to impress as the Red Devils faced Bundesliga opposition at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Old Trafford academy graduate failed to make it to half-time before being replaced, with Erik ten Hag sending on Antony in his place with a little over half-an-hour on the clock. That decision was taken after seeing Forson collect a yellow card for kicking out at Julian Ryerson and squaring up to Karim Adeyemi.
WHAT THEY SAID: Ten Hag told reporters afterwards when explaining his decision to hook Forson – with the youngster having to be consoled by team-mates on the bench: “When there is a VAR, he gets sent off. He played a good game and the opponent gets annoyed with him, so that is a learning curve but don't take it into your own hands. You can't be the judge, you have to play football, you have to beat your opponent, you have to net and that is the best way to react.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: United took the lead against Dortmund through Diogo Dalot, with Antony restoring parity again early in the second-half, but the Red Devils slipped to a 3-2 defeat and Ten Hag was disappointed with the overall performance from his team. The Dutchman added: “Two parts - first hour [was] good, well performing, playing as a team, lot of dynamic, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see. That is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time and then all of a sudden they gave two goals away and they really were giveaways. So that was already annoying but the last half an hour was bad, was a poor performance. Didn’t follow the rules at all, not in pressing, not in building up and not in attacking, so there were 11 individuals finally on the pitch and that wasn’t good at all.”
IN TWO PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT? United still have two more friendly dates in which to try and iron out any flaws – against Lens and Athletic Club – with their 2023-24 Premier League campaign set to get underway in a home date with Wolves on August 14.