Erik Ten Hag insists he won’t be carried away after a 4-0 thumping of arch-rivals Liverpool in a pre-season friendly in Thailand, while Jurgen Klopp lamented the sloppy mistakes of his side. Catch up with all the reactions here.
United started strongly against an unfamiliar Liverpool lineup, cruising to a 3-0 half-time lead through goals from Jadon Sancho, Fred and Anthony Martial at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium, despite being without the unsettled Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed the trip for family reasons.
Both managers made wholesale substitutions throughout the 90 minutes and Jurgen Klopp’s stronger second-half Liverpool lineup dominated possession before Facundo Pellistri grabbed United’s fourth on the break, 14 minutes from time.
It gave Ten Hag and his new side a morale-boosting win in their first warm-up outing ahead of the new Premier League campaign beginning next month.
“I am satisfied today,” said Dutchman Ten Hag, who took the reins at Old Trafford less than two months ago.
“It was a team with a great spirit and we know we are just getting started. We made some mistakes in the press, we conceded some chances, but we created a lot.”
“We have to work hard to cut out the mistakes but, of course, we are happy. I know we have good players. We have started to build a team and I am happy with the first game,” he added.
“It will take a lot of time. I have seen a lot of mistakes. Liverpool played three teams, they were not at their strongest. We will not overestimate this result.”
United have come in for criticism from fans for their lack of activity in the transfer market.
But their faithful did get a glimpse of the club’s lone signing of the summer so far, Tyrell Malacia, after half time.
“I’m very happy. It feels amazing to be here and to wear this shirt,” said the left back who was signed from Feyenoord last week.
“It was difficult. It was very hard, but we made it.”
‘A bit early for us’
“The game came up a bit early for us. But I saw some good things,” said Klopp. “That is just the start of the pre-season.”
“It is all a learning process and we are at the start of it.”
With more substitutions after half time, Liverpool brought on experience and flair in the shape of Virgil van Dijk at the back and Mohamed Salah up front.
Big-money signing Darwin Nunez, bought for nearly €100-million from Benfica, played the last half an hour, the Uruguayan coming close to opening his account for Liverpool in the 70th minute.
However, in the end it was a frustrating day for Liverpool with Klopp admitting they made too many mistakes.
“