Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool: Tsimikas stars in comfortable Reds win

Liverpool concluded their pre-season tour of the United States in style, producing a commanding 3-0 win over rivals Manchester United in South Carolina.

Fabio Carvalho and Curtis Jones gave Arne Slot’s side a two-goal advantage at the break, with Kostas Tsimikas sealing the triumph just after the hour mark.

Erik ten Hag will have work to do ahead of their Community Shield fixture with Manchester City next week, having won just twice from their five pre-season encounters.

Liverpool took control of the contest early on, with their dominance rewarded in the 10th minute when Carvalho found the net with a low left-footed finish inside the area.

The Reds continued to create chances and were given their rewards nine minutes before the break as Mohamed Salah teed up Jones for a simple finish.

Slot’s side confirmed three wins from their three games Stateside in impressive fashion as a free-flowing move saw Diogo Jota sting the palms of Andre Onana, only for the rebound to fall kindly for Tsimikas who finished on the line.

Three wins from three on tour pic.twitter.com/YaLQ2UGB9a

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 4, 2024

Data Debrief: Slot ball too good for United

Despite United dominating much of the attacking statistics, Liverpool never looked tested as Slot continued to stamp his style of play on his new squad.

Tsimikas was a particular standout for the Reds, registering the most shots (two), most shots on target (two) and equal most touches in the opposition box (three).

For Ten Hag, the absence of Rasmus Hojlund and new signing Joshua Zirkzee proved pivotal as they were wasteful in front of goal. United underperformed their expected goals (xG) by 1.49, with only eight of their 18 shots on target.