Covering: Manchester United’s 4-0 win over Liverpool, new podcast
Good morning!
It was a pleasure to see Manchester United not only play so well but to absolutely destroy Liverpool in Bangkok on Tuesday. As I explained in a recent issue of the newsletter, we couldn’t have asked for a performance like that, particularly in the first-half, but they blew Jurgen Klopp’s side out of the water.
I am not naive enough to get excited by the outcome of any of these matches on tour. We know it’s about the players getting minutes under their belt while the new manager lays foundations for future success.
The perfectionist in Erik ten Hag will point to the mistakes that were made throughout the game, even though they are to be expected. This is the best time to get those bad habits out of your game before the competition campaign kicks-off in August.
However, he ought to be happy with how the team performed in their first match. There is plenty of potential in this group of players and I enjoyed watching Charlie Savage and Zidane Iqbal operate in midfield after the interval. It was an incredible experience for the two young lads because Klopp started to throw on his big guns in the second half – including Mohammed Salah and new signing Darwin Nunez. The young midfield duo held their own and I hope to see them on the pitch again in Australia.
David de Gea suffered a knock after doing so well… The Spaniard came out of his comfort zone by running off his line on at least three occasions against Liverpool to prove he is not a dinosaur in a world of ‘modern goalkeepers’. I was very encouraged to see this in the first game back and it raises questions as to why Luis Enrique doesn’t ask him to do exactly this for the Spain national team?
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