Manchester United were beaten in a post-season friendly 1-0 by an ASEAN All-Stars side. The only goal of the game was scored by 29-year-old Myanmar international Maung Maung Lwin as Ruben Amorim selected a starting XI with many typical starters such as Andre Onana, Casemiro, Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo.
Arsenal have ended their campaign, and players are now travelling to their respective international teams imminently. Some who are not involved in international action will have begun their holiday plans, but United engaged in this trip to Asia instead.
The trip has financial benefits for United, which the BBC reports are around £7.8million. However, after a 60-game season, questions have been asked if this was the right decision.
Having not qualified for Europe, they are in need of a financial boost which this does provide. However, the result will have done them no favours.
From an Arsenal perspective, a post-season friendly is something that the club would not have enjoyed this summer. When Mikel Arteta was asked about the Club World Cup in a recent interview, while honouring the tournament by suggesting he would have liked to have been involved, it was evident that this would not have been the best situation for his short and injury-hit squad to have had to deal with.
“We would love to be part of that certainly, but with the way the squad is at the moment, with the numbers that we have, that would put so much stress again on the squad,” he said. “It’s not a choice, we are not in it, but we have to plan the squad that we’re going to have to have available if we want to win these competitions, and we certainly have to evolve.”
The strain on players is already reaching its peak, and injuries are becoming far more regular. Arteta spoke after the last match of the season and explained that the team were in need of a break.
“I think we need to reset,” Arteta admitted. “I think it’s been an extremely demanding season because emotionally, to handle the team, to handle the club’s expectations with everything that happened, it’s been tough.
“So I think as well to get the best version of our seventh season is going to have to be a period where we have to disconnect and recharge those batteries.”
The idea that Arsenal could be involved in something like a post-season friendly or Club World Cup is scary. The team right now has neither of the starting centre-halves available, with Jurrien Timber having undergone a recent ankle procedure; Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Ben White have all had surgeries and made comebacks in recent weeks and months – this season is a scale of issues not seen before.
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