MANCHESTER UNITED fans were left bewildered by the exclusion of Joshua Zirkzee during the club’s Community Shield defeat to Manchester City.
Despite being the worse team on the day, City got revenge for losing the FA Cup by beating their neighbours 7-6 on penalties as Manuel Akanji scored the winner after Jonny Evans blazed over the bar.
Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag called on five changes from his bench during the game, but opted not to bring on his new £36.5million ace.
Fans questioned the reasoning for this exclusion, especially as Man Utd ended up ruing their missed chances.
Taking to social media, one fan said: “I’m not sure why Zirkzee wasn’t put on.”
A second said: “Why didn’t Zirkzee feature?”
A third added: “I thought Zirkzee would’ve at least got 1 second on the pitch. At the very very very very least.”
Another said: “Where was Zirkzee in that game? I hope someone asks Erik that question post match.”
However, Ten Hag had warned fans to be patient with the 23-year-old earlier this week after he only joined team-mates in the last few days.
He had said: “He will have to make a step up and we will have to help him.
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“It’s not like when you have a proper pre-season with the team. He went to the Euros so had to train on his own.
“We will need time to fit him in and that will take some weeks.”
Zirkzee scored 12 goals in all competitions for Bologna last season.
Man Utd have also brought in Leny Yoro, who will be out for some time after undergoing surgery.
Meanwhile, a double deal for Bayern Munich duo Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui is said to be close to completion.
By Lee Scott
One of Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag’s biggest headaches has been fixing their leaky defence.
Despite still not being anywhere near his peak years De Ligt has built considerable experience so far in his career with Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich and he has 45 caps at senior level for the Dutch national team.
While he is not necessarily a highly modern ball playing type of defensive player he is a player with the defensive strengths and instincts to help shore up a United defence that was, at best, leaky last season.
He has a great ability to read the game which was one of the biggest issues that we saw from the United defensive unit last season.
De Ligt is also a master in one-on-one situations, who shows strength and intensity in his duels.
The Dutch star does a good job in keeping things simple and tends to make good decisions in possession.
The pursuit of Matthijs de Ligt makes perfect sense for United and for Ten Hag as a young defender who is still to reach his peak.
He has considerable experience at a high level and he understands the game model and system of play of the manager.
Click here to read our full analysis on De Ligt joining Manchester United.
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