Murray: Cherries ‘fancied it’ when we saw United’s back four

Glenn Murray admits Bournemouth saw Guillermo Varela, Paddy McNair, Daley Blind and Cameron Borthwick-Johnson in Manchester United’s back four on Saturday and thought: “We fancy that.”

Borthwick-Jackson is just 18 and was making his first Premier League start, along with Varela, while McNair is far from Manchester United standard and Dutchman Blind – though the senior option – is not a career centre-half.

The young stars didn’t disgrace themselves, according to our Player Ratings review, though it was hardly surprising that they looked vulnerable in a 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth that heaps yet more pressure on Louis van Gaal.

“When you see a back four like that, you almost have to fancy your chances,” said Murray.

“It’s a very different United line-up to what we are used to over the years. So as soon as we have seen that, and obviously on the back of the confidence of last week – and they had a very difficult game in Europe this week – with all the factors, we really fancied ourselves.”

Cherries captain Simon Francis added: “I don’t think they have that aura any more.

“We looked at their team, especially their back four, and knew we could exploit that while staying wary of their front three, who always looked dangerous.

“We knew we could catch them cold and it came down to the bit of inexperience they had in their team, especially in the back four.”