'Pre-season finale to forget for United'

[Getty Images] This was a pre-season finale to forget for Manchester United. Just a week away from their Premier League opener at promoted Hull City on Saturday, Michael Carrick's men took the lead twice against AC Milan before finishing on the wrong end of a 4-2 beating. First, the positives. Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez all made their first appearances of pre-season. Skipper Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans played for the full 90 minutes. From the looks of it, there are no fresh injury concerns for Michael Carrick at the end of a six-match pre-season that has been largely positive, albeit with a foot issue for Mason Mount in Gothenburg seven days ago that was initially shrugged off as a precaution but has now kept the in-form midfielder out for almost three full games. The problem, whether in pre-season or when the campaign proper begins, is that results shape narratives. And losing 4-2 in Wroclaw to a Milan side led by former United boss Ruben Amorim is not a good look. Three of the four Milan goals were close-range efforts. Those with the benefit of replays – there was no VAR in operation in Wroclaw – felt one of them was offside. Ruben Loftus-Cheek rounded things off by racing beyond Martinez and not getting caught before he drove a shot past Senne Lammens, without whom the overall damage would have been worse. Manchester United seemed to have a particular issue when AC Milan switched play to the right as Luke Shaw, who also played for the full game, had too much space to cover to get to the wing and not enough support. The gaps between defence and midfield were not big, but they were not covered adequately by United. After an eye-catching first five games this summer, this was also a day when recent signing Andrey Santos' inexperience was exposed. Such matters will give Carrick something to think about on the flight back to Manchester as he assesses how best to go about starting the Premier League campaign. "We are disappointed with today," Carrick told MUTV afterwards. "We didn't play very well. There are no excuses."