Why Manchester United youngsters used Erik ten Hag approach in Youth League game vs Bayern Munich

Watching a very young Manchester United side open their UEFA Youth League campaign in Munich, there were clear tactical patterns and philosophies on show that will be viewed two-and-a-half miles across the city later on Wednesday.

It might be a similar outcome as well, but for a very young side this was a gutsy and determined performance that was only finally put to bed late on when Bayern scored their second goal.

United have never enjoyed great success in this competition but it is a valuable learning curve for youngsters and it is a perk of the first-team's presence in the Champions League. The next step for these players is to try and enter the first-team environment and to help prepare them for that, Travis Binnion's side try and replicate Erik ten Hag's approach as much as possible.

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There were certainly signs of that in the September sunshine in Munich. This was a sign of a club showing the kind of joined-up thinking and leadership that hasn't always been present.

You could have thrown that accusation around when Ralf Rangnick was appointed interim manager at the club less than two years and Rangnick was an interested observer at the FC Bayern Campus, along with his former assistant coach and analyst at Old Trafford, Ewan Sharp.

Rangnick, now in charge of the Austria national team, never did fulfil his consultancy role at the club, although he had watched their defeat to Brighton at the weekend. It would have felt familiar to him.

It was football director John Murtough who appointed Rangnick. He got that one wrong, but he looks to have got things right with Ten Hag and United's