Manchester United lost to Arsenal 2-1 to kick off their USA leg of the pre-season tour but there were still positives to take from it.
Amad looked sharp, Andre Onana looks back to his best, the form which prompted United to sign him from AC Milan and Marcus Rashford looks explosive again.
Rasmus Hojlund and Leny Yoro suffered injuries to put a huge dampener in the proceedings but amidst all the newsworthy happening, one player flew under the radar.
It is a big pre-season for Harry Amass and his prospects of breaking through into the first-team and judging from a big call Ten Hag made, it looks like it will happen.
Ten Hag makes big Harry Amass call
Before Rasmus Hojlund went off injured, to which the Dane had a two-word response after the game, United’s left side was humming.
Rashford was involved in the goal as he assisted Hojlund with a ball over the top, and a big part of why the left was humming was due to Harry Amass.
The 17-year-old impressed with his technical ability and replicated the ball progression and attacking thrust on overlaps which makes Luke Shaw so crucial to United.
He constantly looked to play the ball forward and tried to dovetail with Rashford ahead of him to create overloads out wide.
The Mount-Rashford-Amass troika constantly gave Arsenal’s right side trouble as Amass showed he is ready to receive at least some senior minutes due to his impressive physical levels.
Defensively, he remains a little naive, as he allowed Gabriel Jesus far too much space on occasion, which the Brazilian benefitted from as he scored Arsenal’s first.
Although it was offside, it showed the areas of improvement in Amass’ game, natural for a teenager without any competitive senior experience.
The trust Ten Hag has in him was clear to see with the call he made by starting him with the “first” team in the first half.
Sam Murray had started the previous two games and Amass had come off the bench to play with the reserve players in the second half.
However, when the opposition was elite, and the senior players were back, Amass got the nod ahead of Murray, speaking volumes about his standing in Ten Hag’s eye.
Crucial pre-season
Amass can expect an ever-increasing role in the next two games as he and Murray are the only two natural left-backs on this tour.
Luke Shaw is still undisputed first choice but with his injury worries and uncertainty over Tyrell Malacia, the field is wide open to gatecrash the first-team picture.
Amass has shown enough that he can be relied upon for at least games against more forgiving opposition where United will expect to dominate proceedings and the ball.
In such games, his attacking skills can come to the fore and he can polish his defensive game with experience and age.
Up next is a game against Real Betis before he takes on arguably his toughest challenge yet, a game against Liverpool in front of thousands that is as close as it can get to a competitive game without actually being one.
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