Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick believes the “game time for players who desperately need it” against Young Boys was a “good thing”.
The German changed the whole starting XI from Sunday’s win over Crystal Palace, as well as naming a bench full of youth and reserve players.
Nemanja Matic captained the side with the likes of Amad Diallo and Juan Mata starting for the Red Devils with top spot in Group F already wrapped up.
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“I was fully aware before the game that with this team that we played today, we haven’t played together as team,” Rangnick said after Wednesday’s win.
“The first half hour we did quite okay. We had a few unforced errors but had control of the game. We should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up. We had some great opportunities but we didn’t score. We were a bit sloppy with those situations.
“After we conceded the equaliser we were not defending high enough or pro-active enough. If in the end, the score would have been 4-4, then nobody could have complained.
“There were quite a few debuts and game time for players who desperately need game time. I wouldn’t say I was happy but it was okay.
“It was also good to see Luke Shaw back and hopefully he can be a candidate for the Norwich game. Aaron Wan-Bissaka got two knocks so we will have to see how this develops. It was an experiment but I did it on purpose as I wanted to save the players’ energy for Norwich.
“What was a little bit annoying was we gave the ball away and played too many balls into the first line of their area. Whenever we played the ball into the second or third line, we were always dangerous. I told them that before the game but they still played into that first line.”
Elsewhere in the Champions League, Barcelona were knocked out of the competition and will now play in the Europa League, something Peter Crouch has described as “unthinkable”.
“Football moves quickly,” Crouch said. “You have no divine right to be in the Champions League. They’ve crushed teams in the past. To see them on the slide is difficult to watch. To see them in the Europa League is unthinkable.”
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