3 things we learned as Liverpool crushed Man Utd in their pre-season friendly

The latest installment of the Premier League's fiercest rivalry turned out to be an easy task for Liverpool when they defeated Manchester United 3-0 at the Williams Brice Stadium, Columbia, South Carolina.

It's been a great pre-season for new Reds boss Arne Slot as he continued his unbeaten run in summer friendlies, picking up a third win on the trot after successes against Real Betis and Arsenal.

United, on the other hand, remain somewhat ubiquitous and could make some of their Euro 2024 stars return quickly after their third pre-season defeat.

With Fabio Carvalho, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas scoring on Saturday night, here are three things we learned from Liverpool's victory.

In fact, Liverpool's starting XI wasn't too far off from the team they could choose for the upcoming Premier League game. Even without Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Nunez, the Reds closed the ball from the back and struck first when Carvalho opened up space and fired into the bottom corner.

United's defense consisted of veteran Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof and right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka and their disorganization was exploited several times before Jones doubled Liverpool's lead after good work from Mohamed Salah.

Rhys Bennett and William Fish formed a junior center back partnership in the second half and were a little stronger in defence, although they were powerless to stop Tsimikas scoring the third.

It was a wasteful night in front of goal for Erik ten Hag and United, who had 18 shots to Liverpool's nine but could not find the edge to get themselves back into the game.

Mason Mount, Casemiro and Marcus Rashford all had three shots apiece but couldn't find a way past Caoimhin Kelleher and then Vitezslav Jaros. Jadon Sancho played 73 minutes up front as his comeback progressed, creating two chances without looking like an answer to Rasmus Hojlund and the absence of Joshua Zirkzee, while Amad Diallo was full of threat on the opposite flank.

The Red Devils will be hoping that summer signing Zirkzee can hit the ground running when the Premier League starts, because if not they could be toothless in attack with no one to finish off quality chances.

Liverpool and United's pre-season fun in the United States has come to an end and Dutchmen Slot and Ten Hag have plenty to discuss as the start of the campaign fast approaches.

It was the Red Devils' third friendly defeat of the summer after losses to Rosenborg and Arsenal, while defender Leny Yoro and striker Hojlund picked up injuries that will rule them out for the start of the season. There is a chance to start the term with more silverware in the Community Shield next week against Manchester City, but major improvements are needed and urgently.

Conversely, Liverpool can feel good about their early performance under Slot. He remains unbeaten in the summer and, even if his side have provided few chances to a wasteful United side, he can approach the new campaign with confidence.

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