Calm down dear, it’s only pre-season!

Nani was just one of the player to benefit from yesterday's tough game

Losing any match is bad. I’m a sore loser and hate defeat probably more than the average person.

After losing to Chelsea in April I didn’t speak to my brother for about a day when he told me if Drogba’s goal didn’t count then neither should have Macheda’s thus they would have won 1 – 0 anyway.

Yet despite this competitive nature I fully understand that pre-season fixtures aren’t so much about the result rather the fitness and experience that is to be acquired.

I’ll be the first to say that I wasn’t over awed with how we played and if you follow me on Twitter you will have seen me voice my displeasure particularly with the fact that they played with 10 men for a large part of the match yet we couldn’t make our advantage tell and it looked like we were in fact the team a man short.

But that being said, the are a whole host of things to take into account. This is pre-season the players aren’t fully fit rather are playing to get their fitness back. This was the team’s 3rd game of the tour with the last game coming just 4 days prior. Obviously I’m not there but I’ve been told the heat and humidity may have played a part too.

Now before you start pointing fingers and think I’m making excuses, I’ll stop and say hands up Kansas were worth their salt in victory. As I said they managed to make it look like it was United who were a man down and if they were able to do so then fair play to them. I had said previously that Philly Union looked like they deserved something against us and Kansas went a step further and took the win .

Now here’s the important part.

The team that played last night was largely an experimental team and realistically if we were told to name our 2nd string that wouldn’t have been it. Yes there were first team players amongst them but it could have been a much stronger team and I think that’s why a game like this will be helpful.

Last night we saw a number of them including our whole back line, whose oldest participant was 22, thrust into the limelight. Usually it would be an inexperienced player alongside an experienced one to guide them through but this wasn’t the case. Some will immediately say “well look what happened when we did that, we lost!” but if we look at individual performances I’m not massively alarmed.

Rafael had a mare I won’t lie but having seen what he can do I’m not too concerned at his age there are very few who consistently perform at the highest level. It’s more peaks and troughs. Smalling has shown that he has something about him. He has good feet and can pass but last night did too much covering for Rafael which in turn made him look out of sorts. Evans was solid and De Laet looked better as the game went on.

When they came on both Welbeck and Cleverley looked good and Macheda really should have scored from what was a sublime Welbeck cross.

On a whole, a game and result like this does way more for them than a walk in the park 8-0 drubbing ever could. Yesterday the players were worked physically as well as mentally and many will return in the next game feeling like they have more to do. They were not flattered by their opponents something that can be dangerous for a young player.

Kansas fought hard and worked our players physically as well as gave them something to think about. Regardless of the result if you can get that from any pre-season game you should be happy.