Manchester United beat Melbourne; What we learned, Erik ten Hag reaction

Manchester United continued their fine start to preseason under Erik ten Hag, as the Red Devils beat the Melbourne Victory 4-1 at a packed MCG.

[ MORE: Full preseason scores, schedule ]

After going behind early on after a fine counter saw Chris Ikonomidis score, Scott McTominay’s deflected effort and a calm finish from Anthony Martial within the space of three minutes put them ahead just before half time.

A lovely finish from Marcus Rashford made it 3-1 in the second half, then an own goal from Edmond Lupancu late on wrapped up the win for ETH’s boys.

Defensive issues being ironed out: Melbourne’s goal showcased that United still have plenty of work to do defensively, as Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof were caught out with one long ball down the flank and United’s pressing was off all over the pitch. This kind of mistake is probably why United have signed a left back (Tyrell Malacia) and are now close to signing a left-sided center back (Lisandro Martinez) this summer, plus it shows that ETH has a long way to go to fine-tune his pressing ideas.

Chris Ikonomidis opened the scoring just 5 minutes in.

Crazy good assist from Ben Folami too. pic.twitter.com/SHs2ctzWcj

— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) July 15, 2022

Sancho, Fernandes, Dalot linking up superbly: On the other side of the pitch United are looking delicious. Jadon Sancho is cutting in from the right and causing so many problems, while Diogo Dalot’s fine cross set up United’s second. With Bruno Fernandes finding those half spaces in the areas Sancho vacates, United’s right side continues to be a huge positive.

Eric Bailly taking chances: He’s created goals with two marauding runs in the second half of games during preseason but he’s also looked a little shaky. With