Why Michael Carrick was delighted with what Manchester United youngsters did vs Rosenborg

Man Utd stepped up their pre-season preperations with a superb performance in a 5-0 win against Rosenborg.

Michael Carrick praised Manchester United’s young guns for expressing themselves on the pitch after they turned on the style to beat Rosenborg 5-0 in a pre-season friendly in Norway.

Carrick again started with a strong side in Trondheim, but introduced two youngsters at the break in full-backs Jaydan Kamason and Harry Amass. Kamason laid on two assists, while Amass registered an assist and a goal.

Eight more youngsters followed on the hour mark, with Fletcher twins Jack and Tyler catching the eye in midfield. Jacob Devaney again came on at centre-back and netted from a corner, while winger Ethan Williams rounded off the scoring.

The youngsters had looked good in the second half against Wrexham last week without finding a goal, but they were ruthless against Rosenborg and played some excellent football.

“That’s the best place to be as a footballer, when you’re in that zone and you’re confident, and that’s that’s my job to try and get the players in that frame of mind,” said Carrick.

“The senior players at this stage, they’re finding their way, but you can see they’re in a good place and kind of getting used to having good results over a period of time, which is good.

“And the younger players, when you see them expressing themselves and being themselves and keep pushing themselves to be better, I think some of the play in the second half was really, really good, and I was delighted to see that from them.

“They’ve all got potential in different ways, and you want them to fulfil it and keep pushing themselves, and they certainly did that.”

Radek Vitek got the longest of any United player, lasting just over 70 minutes before being replaced by Dermot Mee, and Carrick was pleased the defensive effort.

“Radek got good minutes. Just over 70, so really, really pleased with what he did today,” said the United boss. “And Dermot coming on and towards the end was nice to get him on the pitch, so I thought we defended pretty well as a team for the most part.

“A couple of little bits earlier on that we had to work out, but I thought we defended well as a team and protected the goalkeepers largely. Clean sheets is a beautiful thing.”

United have now played two pre-season friendlies and will return to Carrington for another week of training in Manchester.

They are back in action on Saturday, August 1, when they face Atletico Madrid in Stockholm and Carrick is happy with the progression he is seeing.

“I think we’re in a good place,” he said. “There are four weeks to go until the start, and gradually getting some boys back from the World Cup as we progress.

“But I think a little bit of patience and time and trying to keep ahead, and as I say, keeping everyone fit. But moving forward is a really good direction to go in, and as it stands right now, I think we’re in a pretty good place, so the boys will get better as we go.”