Man United drew 2-2 with Everton in Atlanta to win the Premier League Summer Series as Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount scored.
Samuel joined the Manchester Evening News in 2014 and is the Chief Manchester United writer. He has broken exclusives on Jose Mourinho’s appointment, the re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking, the club’s interest in Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag, as well as numerous other transfers and team news. He has represented the MEN on the BBC, Sky News, Sky Sports News, TalkSport, Radio 5 Live, CNN and various other media outlets worldwide.
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There is another pot to add to the Bangkok Century Cup, Snapdragon Cup and Defining Education Challenge Cup for Manchester United: the Premier League Summer Series trophy.
They are not attractions that merit plinths in the club museum or will get supporters flocking to the Old Trafford tour. United did not beat Everton in Atlanta but this has been one of their most buoyant tours in years.
This was the least accomplished of United’s performances in the States. The only post-match activity Ruben Amorim must have relished would have been the on-pitch training session as opposed to a trophy presentation.
Even without a new No.9, United have rallied eight goals across three games. They have avoided casualties in defence, a department usually hit by injury crises, but their midfield is thin.
In this squad with a surfeit of No.10s, another popped up with a goal. Mason Mount’s goal evoked memories of his tie-killing strike against Athletic Bilbao in May. That goal and cameo effectively earned Mount a promotion to the starting XI for the Europa League final. He is now even more up against it to regain a starting status.
A commentator familiar to American soccer audiences announced the line-ups as if it were a wrestling event. In case anybody could not hear him, the 360-degree giant screen listed Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha in the same United line-up together for the first time.
United’s warm-ups consist of defence-versus-attack drills and their set-up in the magnificent Mercedes-Benz Stadium confirmed Cunha would be the centre forward. He was the only one not to hit his cue in the fifth minute when played in by Amad.
The most striking sequence in the move were Mbeumo’s two touches – his first two in a United shirt. It advanced the attack and enabled Bruno Fernandes to accelerate it. Mbeumo’s prompt play drew ‘ooh’s from a starstruck crowd. Then he generated a round of applause following a canny dribble out of defence in the 33rd minute.
Mbeumo was on the right of the two playmakers but popped up on the left wing. His first time through-ball for Amad to win United’s penalty was exemplary.
That opening was fashioned by Cunha, Fernandes and Mbeumo all combining from deep. Mbeumo’s awareness of teammates’ positioning was so natural that it belied the fact that this was his first appearance for United. The trio clicked quickly.
Amorim never entertained the prospect of playing a strikerless system in the final weeks of last season when it was worth trialling amid Hojlund’s impotence. He has had a change of heart following £133.5million worth of investment in the attack.
Amad, a winger-cum-playmaker, is one of three players to have started all three tour matches. As starry as Cunha, Mbeumo and Fernandes are, the signing driven by John Murtough remains one of the most integral in Amorim’s side. Amad has played wide right and as one of the two 10s and is emerging as a hidden asset with his lung-bursting sprints on the defender’s blindside.
As game as Cunha is, there were flickers of frustration from him as he operated as the centre forward. It is in his and United’s interests that he does not remain there for most of the competitive season, though he is possibly more suitable than a Slovenian playing for the seventh-placed side in the Bundesliga. Cunha still rallied to press and embark into a rousing sprint.
The incumbent striker, Rasmus Hojlund, feels he is being forced out at United and emerged to vent again. Hojlund kicked the post after Patrick Dorgu kicked the ball at goal rather than across the goal.
United still have issues further back. Manuel Ugarte went from domineering against West Ham to dominated by Everton. He erred for Iliman Ndiyaye’s equaliser by attempting to dribble the ball out of United’s third.
Everton sensed Ugarte’s vulnerability and they were quicker to press him in the second half. Ugarte pleaded with the referee for extra protection, which merely fuelled Everton whenever he next had the ball. He attempted to match them and fouled Ndiyaye overzealously.
Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo, Casemiro and Toby Collyer is not a midfield quartet that is going to cut it over the course of a season. Even without European football. United intend to loan out Collyer and Casemiro has been omitted from the new six-man leadership group, having been a member of the eight-man team under Erik ten Hag.
Mainoo was replaced by Mount and Fernandes dropped back into midfield. That worked a treat when Fernandes shifted the ball inside for Mount to leather the ball past Jordan Pickford.
You could play Fernandes in goal instead of the errant Altay Bayindir and he would still be the most influential player in the United shirt. He is papering over the cracks in midfield now, though he erred for both of Everton’s equalisers. Fernandes was squaring up to Ndiyaye, having kicked out at him, when Amad’s attempted clearance deflected in off the luckless Ayden Heaven.
Fernandes does at least have a new cast list to ease the burden on him. And perhaps possibly win the actual Premier League trophy in the future.