Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has told the squad how they can learn from a defeat to Astana in the Europa League, insisting the young side played well.
Jesse Lingard, captain for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team in Kazakhstan, opened the scoring in the first half to end his goalless streak that had lasted since January and looked to put United in control.
However, despite dominating proceedings, the hosts responded valiantly in the second period, levelling the scoring moments after Tahith Chong had missed a glorious opportunity at the other end.
Astana, who had conceded 17 goals and scored just once in their last six Europa League matches prior to this game, then stunned United by finding a winner - but Hargreaves believes there is lots that can be learnt from the match.
“I thought in the first half they were great, they were perfect actually, Astana didn’t come to play and they dominated the game," he told BT Sport.
“The second half, I think for Ole this is great coaching wise because they dominated and then Astana came back into the game. You have to learn from these moments. The Chong chance, he’s just got to score, he knows better than anyone, if he gets his body over the ball it’s a tap-in.
“That’s the difference between kids football and men’s football. They punished the mistakes from the young kids, they didn’t take the chance and then it goes the other way. That’s something Ole will say they’ve got to learn. If the chance is there, you’ve got to take it.
“Mistakes at this level get punished and that’s what Ole will say. The boys played really well but there was a win there for them today, it’s just a shame they didn’t win because they played well in the first half.”
Hargreaves was also asked which member of United's side he was impressed with the most and singled out 18-year-old Ethan Laird for praise.
“I thought Laird looked great, he looked so quick and looked lively. I was impressed with his pace.”
