Only a few member of the first team started and Liverpool were not taking the game as serious as Manchester United did by fielding unarguably all their regulars.
Jurgen Klopp choose to give minutes to the academy players and most of the first teamers only resume back to training not so long to have settled down and be ready for the game.
Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and the rest came on only 30 minutes to the end of the game and it was a needless game, so why would the manager risky fielding them for 90 minutes ?
What more thoughts will rivals not nurture just to evade giving the kudos for the job done by Erik Ten Hag in just few weeks ?
With what was witnessed in the later stages of last season, not many will bet on United coming out victorious against Liverpool, nonetheless the starting XI fielded.
In the first few minutes into the game, it was obvious a lot has changed about the way Manchester United approach games. Individual attitude, collective efforts, team spirit and most of all, cohesion.
It was cheer delight for Manchester United fans watching their team play football in that manner after a very long time, that even when they get a result, performances has not been convincing.
With Alisson Becker in goal, Liverpool did not concede more than three goals in a match all through last season and it was only once, whilst they’ve already sealed qualification for the Champions League semis.
Manchester United on the other hand never scored a goal against Liverpool in both legs of their league meetings last season, losing by and aggregate of 9-0.
Even with the XI that started for Liverpool on Tuesday, not even Jurgen Klopp would have anticipated such a humbling and that was evidence again as he made ten changes after conceding the second goal on the half hour mark, only for United to score a third seconds later.
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And when he choose to play all his best legs on the bench, for 30 minutes or so, it was Manchester United who struck again, with Facundo Pellistri finishing after a beautiful move from the back by Erik Bailly.
Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial were impressive for United, again reminding everyone what they have been known to do so well, and doing that in the course of a season will be crucial for United’s turnaround.
The second 45 minutes saw the likes of Amad Diallo, Facundo Pellistri, Zidane Iqbal, Charlie Savage and new signing, Tyrell Malacia line up against some fringe players in the team and even though 30 minutes of those was played against Liverpool’s best players, it was United who added a fourth.
It is impressive even though it is only a friendly and even if critics have their way of belittling the performance, it is no doubt that they have a reason to worry about what Erik Ten Hag is cooking within themselves.
United return to action on Friday against Melbourne Victory in Australia as they continue with their preseason tour.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
