What Manchester United players discussed in the dressing room after Astana defeat

Man United were left frustrated in their Europa League group defeat to Astana after Tahith Chong wasted an easy chance and Dishon Bernard scored an own goal.

Lee Grant says there was no need for Manchester United players to rally around Dishon Bernard after his own goal agony against Astana.

Bernard, 19, made his United debut at centre half alongside Axel Tuanzebe but deflected the ball into his own net to secure a comeback win for the Kazakh side as Astana secured their first points in the Europa League.

The disappointment Bernard felt was tempered a few hours later when AZ Alkmaar only drew at home with Partizan Belgrade to keep United at the summit of Group L, with the Dutch side due to visit Old Trafford in two weeks’ time.

Bernard was immediately consoled by Tuanzebe following his own goal and received words of reassurance from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at full-time. Solskjaer told Bernard to extract the positives from an otherwise mature display and Grant echoed his manager’s advice.

"There's absolutely no need to rally around him because he's smart enough to know that he's actually played really well tonight,” Grant said. “I've just watched both goals back and his positioning is excellent and the second one is unbelievable.

"He's got himself back into a fantastic area and he's even done the right thing in standing up, keeping his body square, and it comes off a chest and a shoulder and hits the post and it‘s gone in. It's one of those things. It's really difficult for him to predict that outcome.

"But he's smart enough to know he's played well and has got a bright future ahead of him."

Bernard, Ethan Laird, 18, and Dylan Levitt, 19, made their first career starts and fellow academy graduates D’mani Mellor, 19, Largie Ramazani and Ethan Galbraith, both 18, also emerged off the bench.

United’s callow side were dominant for an hour until Tahith Chong scooped the ball over the Astana crossbar with the goal gaping. The hosts equalised a minute later before they took the lead soon after and Grant accepted Chong, 19, had learnt a harsh lesson on his third United start and that was mentioned in the dressing room debrief. “Very much so, very much so. But, of course, that's no slight on his performance.

"Everybody worked really hard and showed good moments. It's just very much a case of us trying to string that together and, as young players, they'll learn to do that better as they go on.

"From a professional point of view, very disappointing [to lose], obviously. I think you have to sort of take a step back and look at what the game was in the bigger picture.

"Obviously, for the young boys that were playing and making their debuts, as well as myself making my [full] debut, it was an extremely proud night. You step back and you have to look at the bigger picture.

“Of course, when you're Manchester United and you come to Astana, there's absolutely no question that you want to win the game of football. We're disappointed that we haven't done that, so there is that.

"We've spoken about that but, as I said, we have to look at what tonight was about and take that away with us.

“Technically, they're all capable and they showed that throughout the 90 minutes. There's absolutely no doubt that they've got talent as individuals, it's just about learning those finer details that will help us to win games, especially what can beat teams in difficult circumstances away from home. You've got to contend with the (plastic) pitch or all of the rest of it.

"But, for the most part, I was really pleased with how they handled it and they will take lots and lots away from this. They will take a lot.

“Just being out there in a Man United shirt, it's a really fantastic experience. It's not one that comes around every so often. Hopefully it gives those boys something really to aim for, as well as the rest of the academy and the young boys in the set-up, because it's important for them to see the pathway at the football club.”

Levitt and James Garner, 18, acquitted themselves especially well in a midfield axis in the first-half, though Grant opined it would be “rude of me to single anyone out. Of course, for me, I was really pleased with the boys in front of me. It would have been nice to have a clean sheet.

"And I must say that was my main feeling coming off the pitch, that sort of professional disappointment on that - especially in a game that we know probably could have won had we limited their chances.

"There were areas where we should have done better but, as I say, the bigger picture is I am really pleased for the young guys and that will certainly stand them in good stead going forward."

Grant, 36, featured heavily on the pre-season tour of the United States last year after his £1.5million arrival from Stoke City but the third-choice goalkeeper only appeared once off the bench last season in the League Cup third round defeat to Derby County.

His full United debut in Kazakhstan came two months before his 37th birthday. “Ummm, it felt normal actually, to be honest,” he quipped. “But obviously I've been around the football club a while now. That's not to say it wasn't exciting and obviously, of course, a little bit of nerves, but I felt ready to be out there and be a part of it.

"But, as I say, now the game is out of the way and done with, really, really proud and looking forward to the next one."