Liverpool will take on Manchester United at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, in the early mornings of August 4th (and the late night of August 3rd).
Last summer, during Manchester United’s USA tour, manager Erik ten Hag said that they “don’t play friendly games,” and that is expected to be the case against Arne Slot’s Reds. So, what are the Liverpool storylines in this fixture?
It feels fitting that to date, Arne Slot and Erik ten Hag have only faced each other four times, each earning two wins in the battle. Both have won the Eredivisie (ten Hag’s three to Slot’s one) and the KNVB Cup. They also faced European heartbreak with their respective former Dutch clubs.
Erik ten Hag suffered a heartbreaking loss in the 2019 UCL semifinals with Ajax after Lucas Moura’s hat trick lifted Spurs above his side. More recently, Slot’s Feyenoord fell 1-0 to Jose Mourinho’s Roma in the first-ever Europa Conference League final in 2022.
While the real first test will be on September 1st between the two clubs, Liverpool’s Arne Slot will get his first taste of how Erik ten Hag’s United will come up against his players in this match. This goes so far without mentioning the obvious that it is a rivalry match, even if it does mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The conclusion of Liverpool’s friendly versus Man United will see an 8-day gap before the club’s next and last friendly against Sevilla at Anfield on August 11th. That friendly will see all remaining players on break return to training ahead of the Premier League campaign kicking off on August 17th versus Ipswich Town.
Therefore, this friendly against Man United will be the last opportunity for players for a host of players to show their worth to Arne Slot. Among the names to mention are Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg whose futures could be elsewhere if they are deemed as surplus to the Dutch boss.
