Carrick pulled off two surprise positional tweaks vs Wrexham, one of them caught plenty off-guard

Manchester United’s first pre-season game of the summer ended in a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Championship side Wrexham in Helsinki on Saturday. Head coach Michael Carrick selected a senior team for the first-half, which included new signing Andrey Santos, as well as heavy hitters like Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, and Bryan Mbeumo. There were genuinely nice touches from the Brazilian, who dovetailed nicely with Mason Mount in the middle of the park. The Welsh team scored in the first half, while in the second half, they barely saw the ball against a youthful-looking United side full of academy wonderkids. Wonderkids impressed more than senior stars Players who spent last season out on loan like Radek Vitek, Harry Amass, Toby Collyer, Jacob Devaney, Dan Gore, Ethan Wheatley and Ethan Williams were all seen in action. Shea Lacey and Amass caught the eye, as United kept hold of the ball well but hardly showed any impetus to draw level on the day. It was a limp performance in the end, but at this stage of pre-season, it is all about getting minutes under the belt while staying injury-free. What was particularly intriguing was Carrick’s positioning of two of his senior stars — Mason Mount and Leny Yoro against the Red Dragons. New positions for Mason Mount and Leny Yoro The former Chelsea ace played as a No. 8 alongside Santos, like he did during the last two games of the previous season. With the Red Devils struggling to sign that elusive third midfielder, the United No. 7 might need to get used to playing in this new position in the upcoming season. Another fascinating positional switch involved Leny Yoro, who was asked to play as a right-back. Currently, the 20-time English league champions do not have a specialist senior option there with both Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui on break after their World Cup exertions. The new boss could have opted to play Jaydan Kamason as a right-back, while asking the Frenchman to start at the heart of the defence in the second half. Leny Yoro, the backup plan in case Mazraoui leaves Instead, Yoro was asked to play as the right full-back and he demonstrated his pace and willingness to get up and down the pitch. The former Lille star certainly possesses the engine to play there, and with Mazraoui linked with a surprise exit, it will be interesting to see if Carrick sticks to this position for Leny Yoro moving forward this pre-season. Feature image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25