Ten Hag sees ‘potential’ as United beats Liverpool 4-0

Bangkok, July 12 (BNA): New Manchester United coach Erik Ten Hag oversaw a 4-0 victory over arch-rival Liverpool on Tuesday in his first match as European pre-season friendlies return to Asia after a two-year hiatus.

The Dutch coach was quick to downplay the result, though, against a Liverpool side who made 21 substitutions, according to The Associated Press.

“I think our team played bravely, played proactively. We have to work hard to correct mistakes but of course we are happy with the first match. I know we have good players,” Tin Hag told the club’s internal TV channel.

“They weren’t at their strongest so we shouldn’t overstate that result. … But, nevertheless, I’ve seen some really good things and I think what you’re seeing is we have a lot of creativity and speed up front, so we have the potential.”

Over 50,000 fans thronged Bangkok’s iconic Rajamangala Stadium for a first chance to watch the stars of the Premier League since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europe’s top teams have been coming to Asia on pre-season tours for decades – this was Liverpool’s seventh visit to Bangkok – but those trips were canceled in 2020 and 2021.

Jadon Sancho, Fred and Anthony Martial scored in the first half for United, while Facundo Pellistri added a late fourth, reversing the results of last season when Liverpool beat their northwestern rivals 5-0 and 4-0 in the Premier League.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was unfazed by the result, leaving stars such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk on the bench at the start of the match.

“Obviously the game came too early for us, for a few of our players,” Klopp said. “You can see that too. Mistakes happen in football. We could have scored three or four points in the last five minutes but we didn’t and that was our fault.”

Ten Hag made 11 substitutions during the match as both coaches distributed minutes.

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