Actually, it WAS a waste of time.
I don't think we learned anything from pre-season that which we didn't already know.
Without several first-team players, we look shite. Hell, some would argue that even with them we are bang average, but certainly in their absence, United aren't anything special.
I didn't see much improvement in our style of play to what we had last season; we still made the same errors as before; and even picking up injuries remained.
This is probably a pre-season to forget.
Style of Play
Everyone wanted to see something new and improved from last season even if some of our heavy hitters weren't available.
Instead, we got that same dross we've been seeing for quite some time.
Erik ten Hag added new coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and even a new goalkeeping coach in Jelle ten Rouwelaar to his staff. This was in the hopes that we could better our style of play as well as try and improve Andre Onana between the sticks as he is a player who was much like the team, very hit and miss.
Later on, Swedish set-piece coach Andreas Georgson was added to ten Hag's coaching staff in an attempt to help better United when it comes to set plays.
That is an area which definitely needs drastic improving as the last time we scored from a direct free-kick was Cristiano Ronaldo against Norwich in April 2022!
Beginning with Onana and our defence, that build up from the back and progress the ball up the field was nowhere to be seen as a lot of the time, Onana just pumped it long to whomever was up front.
Most of that time, we ended up losing possession which is the whole reason as to why we want to build from the defence in the first place.
While not having the likes of Lisandro Martinez and, well, I guess that's it, in terms of our modern, ball-playing centre-backs as the only other CB who could do that was Rapha Varane who recently signed for Como in Serie A.
So without these type of players in your defence, it is a lot tougher to play out from the back. The likes of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans aren't capable of playing this way which gives United more reason to go long.
Without Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw, playing it short was out of the question because the two of them are more than capable of playing from deep.
The addition of Leny Yoro was positive but he only featured for a small amount of time before picking up the injury virus and missing the next three months.
In midfield, Casemiro was all over the place and not being anywhere near a mentor - at least in performances - to the likes of young promising talent Toby Collyer.
The Brazilian was much like himself of the past year in that he flew into tackles, was slow to react, was caught out of position quite a lot and ended up leaving his partner shorthanded and the team exposed.
His rashness was something that needed to be removed. However, from pre-season, it appears as if it has remained. Even against Man City, he was all over the place although admittedly, he did look a lot better in the Derby than he did in any of the previous five pre-season matches.
Up front, that issue of not taking our chances was clear to see as United scored just the 7 goals in 6 matches, 3 of which came in the win over Real Betis.
Nevertheless, an improvement to our game was that we actually created the chances to score, something that Erik ten Hag pointed out. We just didn't take them.
After the 3-0 loss to Liverpool, ten Hag told Sky Sports that he would be "concerned if we didn't create chances."
He was also "pleased" with how the chances came out. "So I'm pleased with the way we create chances out of open play but also from good pressing situations and counter press situations."
Clearly, the Man Utd boss was happy with some aspects of his team's play.
Positives
Not many.
But, one of the things that make this club is the youth.
United are famous for it's academy and academy players who go on to great things. We saw on tour more promising young talents come through.
Harry Amass at left-back is one player that has had much light shed on his talent. In fact, a player that many would like to see Amass come in for is Luke Shaw. The number 23 said in an interview that a player that we should all be looking for as the next up-and-comer is Harry Amass.
A lot have pipped him to be the next breakthrough star similar to Alejandro Garnacho in 22/23 and Kobbie Mainoo last season.
Amass was a standout as one of the better players in pre-season showcasing just how good he can be.
Can he be the next left-back for United in the future though? With Luke Shaw's unreliability, perhaps there's a chance.
Toby Collyer was the other standout youngster who many were impressed with.
The midfielder partnered Casemiro for most of pre-season and was probably better than the senior pro.
He keeps things quite tidy and doesn't try to do too much. He sticks to his job and just keeps it simple.
Very impressive stuff from the young man.
While the two youngsters weren't absolutely incredible, they were still very very good and could be the breakthrough academy players of this season.
Amad was the player though.
Every year, we always have that one crap or average player who turns up for the tours and plays like a Ballon d'Or contender: pre-season Pirlo.
If there was a player who was this this pre-season, it would be Amad.
However, I don't believe he was a pre-season Pirlo. Amad was great towards the end of last season and continued his good form in pre-season and against City, he was my MOTM.
He scored 2 goals on tour and should've had a few assists as well. Amad was constantly terrorising oppositions down the right flank with his skill, speed and directness. These are great attributes for a wide player.
Amad is also unselfish which is something that we've had a problem with for a while as Rashford, Garnacho and Antony would all prefer the more selfish route instead of being a team player.
This has to be his year. He's been at the club for a while but has never really had as consistent a chance as now. This is the most he's featured in the team and I hope that the manager does give him the opportunities he deserves.
That right-wing spot is up for grabs and Amad at the moment, is definitely our best right-winger.
Let him cook.
Negatives
Style of play not that great. Defensively shaky. Midfield too open too often. Not clinical up front.
Basically the same issues as last season.
The concern as to why this was a problem for me is that a lot of the senior players didn't really perform.
As I said, a lot of the positives from the tour were the youngsters. None of the seniors really stood out, for all the right reasons at least.
The likes of Andre Onana, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Casemiro, Scott McTominay, Christian Eriksen, Antony, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford were all pretty dreary.
To be going into a new season with a lot of these players not performing at the required level is a bit of a worry, unless United move them on.
That is easier said than done though, as one could argue that almost all of those players should leave. We've seen the recent 'Here we go' for Aaron Wan-Bissaka to West Ham but the likes of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Scott McTominay, Christian Eriksen, Antony and Jadon Sancho really need to be sold.
I find it hard to see where some of them will play especially after bringing in Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs De Ligt to strengthen our defence.
Perhaps their lack of quality was a good thing as it made it easier to see that they are just not good enough.
We'll have to wait and see who will be next to leave.
If they don't, we really need them to up their game or we will have some serious problems this season.
And then of course, the injuries.
We've lost both Leny Yoro (3 months) and Rasmus Hojlund (6 weeks) both in one game. We saw Marcus Rashford and Antony go off injured in another but thankfully they aren't too bad. Harry Maguire didn't feature in the final game on tour because of a precaution and even Victor Lindelof had to come off at halftime against Liverpool because of a problem.
Injuries were the main reason as to why we struggled a lot last season. 70+ different injuries and illnesses was what Erik ten Hag had to deal with last campaign which would be tough for any manager to play how he wants. Anything like that this time round, we're stuffed.
It already hasn't been a good start on the injuries front.
New Signings
We only made the two.
Joshua Zirkzee did all his formalities on 14 July as his move from Bologna was confirmed. However, as he was part of the Dutch team that made it to the semi-final of the Euros, he was given time off before the start of the season.
He didn't play a minute of pre-season which was surprising when looking at this final game against City.
Many (including myself), thought we would see a debut for our new striker due to Rasmus Hojlund's injury.
Erik ten Hag had other ideas as he didn't play the 23-year-old at all, to everyone's surprise. A little disappointing if I'm honest.
Although, rumour has it that ten Hag wanted to use Zirkzee in a behind closed doors game on Sunday. He felt it would be better for him to play that match instead of the Derby.
But what was also disappointing was Leny Yoro. He came into the club just days after Zirkzee after MUFC had taken him off Real Madrid (of all clubs) which made us all feel quite happy and perhaps a little invincible, in a way.
He then made his debut for United in the pre-season win over Rangers in Scotland just a couple of days later.
Yoro was as impressive as one could be in his debut in pre-season but just seeing arguably the most talented up-and-coming centre-back of the past season was quite a sight. To know that we beat Liverpool, Real Madrid and PSG to his signature made watching his debut all the more satisfying.
The 18-year-old was then injured in the first half of the 2-1 defeat against Arsenal in Los Angeles and brought us all back down to earth as well as give us some PTSD in terms of injuries.
Erik ten Hag was said to be quite concerned over Yoro's problem. Those concerns turned out to be true as he is now out for three months.
Three bloody months!
He did post on his social media that his surgery was successful so at least that is good news.
But to basically not see any new signings on tour is kind of a bummer both for those who went to the games and those who watched it online.
That was all the business we've done although we have received two 'Here we go's' on Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs De Ligt to United. Hopefully they can be involved for the game on Friday.
What to expect
More than anything, I'd like to see us play some good football. We've been starved of that from United for a while as the last time we played consistently good football was post the World Cup in 2022 until the Carabao Cup final in which we beat Newcastle.
Other than that, it's been like flat coke.
I'd like to see the improvement of several aspects of our game that are football basics with a lot of it coming down to concentration. It's an issue the manager has complained about and was plain to see at times during pre-season as well. The silly goal to concede late-on against City was a great example of this lack of focus.
What do I think will happen though?
Surely we can't be as bad as last season, right?
I do expect to see some improvement even more so when bringing in the likes of Mazraoui and De Ligt as well as two promising youngsters in Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro.
To be having players of such quality, it will allow ten Hag to play a style that is more akin to what we saw at Ajax. That style was the whole reason a lot of the fan base wanted him at United.
In his two years, he's never had a better chance to play that way than this season.
Final Thoughts
I'm not really a fan of these big tours. I feel that these players need as much rest as they can even more so in this day and age where there is so much football being played.
I would prefer something a little more local where much travel isn't necessary. United travelled a total distance of 15 298.4m during this tour.
And why do we go to America so often? United have fans all over the world. I find it unfair on the rest because we deserve something too. As a South African, it is annoying that United haven't visited the country since 2012.
But I believe that this tour was such a waste. We didn't really learn too much, there was hardly any improvement, players got injured and some of thefirst-team regulars weren't there.
The performances were average at best and we lost four of our six matches.
So what did we learn?
Background Image: Erik ten Hag and Leny Yoro | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)