Nick Cox says this is beneficial week for Man Utd Academy

“If we go from Friday last week, it was a very tough game against very tough opponents. I really respect Liverpool and the programme they have got in place and we had a very young team on top of that, compared to theirs. It was a real showcase fixture, under the floodlights, and we found it really tough.

“We learned a load of things – young players made their debuts, a young player was sent off, kids were making mistakes but we showed character to try to recover. So we come away saying okay, we’re disappointed to lose, no-one likes losing, but you scratch beneath the surface and, actually, we’re quite delighted with some individual performances and some young players have had brilliant learning experiences. 

“Then you flip it and, on Saturday morning, without being disrespectful to Burnley, it was a different type of fixture. Going into the end of the game, it was more comfortable but, again, we’ve got a completely different set of players. There are maybe 40 payers across the development phase, and probably 30, including subs, were all involved in fixtures. It’s a different experience where, again, players are playing their first game for us and it’s an opportunity for youngsters to express themselves, be creative, score goals and have a great time.