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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
George Smith

'I could cry' - Manchester United fans praise Erik ten Hag team news decision vs Leeds

Erik ten Hag has named his starting line-up for Manchester United's opening pre-season friendly against Leeds United at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo this afternoon.

United, who took four points off the Whites in the Premier League last season, will be looking to get their pre-season preparations off to an ideal start by hitting the ground running.

Ten Hag, who has taken a 26-man squad to Norway with him, will be hoping to learn plenty about his players over the coming weeks. The Dutchman, as expected, has named a starting line-up containing a blend of both youth and experience.

The likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Raphael Varane, Alvaro Fernandez, Kobbie Mainoo and new signing Mason Mount have been included in the starting XI. The latter joined the Reds from Chelsea last week and will be hoping to impress on his first United outing.

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READ MORE: United vs Leeds LIVE

Meanwhile, the likes of Rhys Bennett, Will Fish and Joe Hugill have been named among the substitutes. However, Dean Henderson, Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial and Antony have been left at home.

Having made the decision to name a flurry of household names and youngsters in his starting line-up, Ten Hag will be hoping to gather plenty of information from the Reds' first pre-season run-out. It is the inclusion of Lisandro Martinez in the starting line-up that has attracted the most attention from United's supporters in the immediate aftermath of the team news being confirmed.

Below, MEN Sport has taken a close look at what some of United's supporters have had to say in response to Ten Hag's decision to name the Argentina international, who missed the end of last season through a fractured metatarsal, in his first XI of pre-season.

As you can see from the messages displayed in the tweets above, Ten Hag's decision to name Martinez in his starting line-up has gone down a treat with the fans. The centre-back being capable of starting in the first game of pre-season after suffering such a serious injury only a few months ago is huge encouragement ahead of the forthcoming campaign.

United starting line-up: Heaton; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Martinez, Fernandez; Hannibal, Mainoo, Mount; Amad, Forson, Sancho.

Substitutes: Bishop, Kovar, Jurado, Bennett, Fish, Williams, Collyer, Gore, Hansen-Aaroen, Oyedele, Savage, Shoretire, Emeran, Hugill.

This afternoon's contest kicks off at 4:00pm BST and you can follow all of the action on our live matchday blog, which you can access by clicking here.

Follow the MEN's United coverage on TikTok and YouTube, and subscribe to the Manchester is Red podcast.

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