Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has praised Manchester United’s midfield duo of James Garner and Dylan Levitt.
The young stars stood out as two of the team’s best players in the defeat to Astana.
United controlled the game and really should have won it, spurning one golden chance and then making two defensive lapses to slip to a 2-1 loss.
Garner was making his second start for United and Levitt was making his full debut.
They are used to playing together at under-23 level and it showed.
Solskjaer praise
Solskjaer told the club’s official website: “Some of them are knocking on the door for us. You can see the way we dominated midfield with Jimmy [Garner] and Dylan playing together and it was nice to see them dominating the game.”
He also praised debutants Ethan Laird and Di’Shon Bernard: “Di’Shon was composed, Ethan was marauding down the right-hand side, particularly in the first half. Some of these have done themselves a good favour.”
Bernard ended up scoring an own goal but Solskjaer waived him of any blame. He said: “Sometimes that [an own goal] happens in football, but I thought he was excellent.”
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Stats
Garner and Levitt were outstanding in possession and saw a lot of it. This showed up statistically.
Wales international Levitt completed 96 per cent of his passes, making 112 touches. He created one chance.
Garner managed 97 touches, and had a 97 per cent pass completion rate.
United enjoyed 66 per cent of possession and Garner and Levitt were a key reason for that.
Perhaps midfield depth at United is not so lacking after all. We can’t wait to see them get another chance.
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