Herrera: The Premier League is our main focus

Ander Herrera has played down the significance of Manchester United’s results on Tour 2018, presented by Aon, declaring the Premier League opener against Leicester City as the sole focus.

The Reds suffered a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool on Saturday evening, which was the team’s fourth match in the USA following the previous outings against Club America, San Jose Earthquakes and AC Milan.

Due to a touring squad that largely consists of youth players and returning loanees, with only a smattering of first-team regulars, Herrera is rightly not concerning himself with the friendly outcomes.

As he told us at Michigan Stadium, all minds must be fixed on that visit of the Foxes to Old Trafford.

“The least important thing is the result right now,” Ander explained. “We are playing with the same players every game. It looks like a Christmas period to be honest rather than a pre-season, but it is what it is. We have to be all together, to try to have minutes in our legs, to not think too much about the results and let's try to keep improving because the most important thing is Leicester.

“Of course it is never nice to lose. But pre-season is pre-season. Everyone is giving their best, trying to help us. Even the kids, they are doing amazing, they are trying to help. But the difference between us and Milan, or Liverpool, is that they have 16 or 17 first-team players and we just have maybe 10.

“We must say thanks to the kids because they are helping and giving everything, so let's try to keep improving and always focus on the first Premier League game against Leicester.”

Saturday night’s match at Michigan Stadium was played in front of 101,000 fans and Herrera is continually grateful for such support. The Spanish midfielder is just sorry that they did not get to see the full-strength Manchester United team, although he hopes to make it up to them soon.

“America is always nice to come as we have a lot of fans here,” Ander said. “They are very passionate to come here to watch us, they are waiting the whole year to watch us, but to be honest this time we are not able to show them everything we have because of the conditions and circumstances. The only thing we can say is promise to try to win the first Premier League game, then the second and then the third. We want to say thank you very much for the support.”