Liverpool dismantle Manchester United in final stop of US pre-season tour
The Reds secured an empathic victory over their bitter rivals in South Carolina, winning 3-0 against Ten Hag's near full-strength side.
On a hot and humid night at the Williams-Brice stadium in Columbia, SC, Slot's men were playing blistering football from the first minute. The opening goal came about after just ten minutes, with Carvalho cleverly wrong-footing Casemeiro to dispatch a low shot into the corner.
United did not shrink, however, producing a handful of chances shortly after the opener. Mount's effort was brilliantly blocked by Kelleher, and Rashford came close from distance after a poor giveaway from Konate.
Ultimately though, the Red Devils proved disorganised and uninspired in attack, a pattern that would repeat itself across the whole 90 minutes. In turn, Liverpool looked to hit on the counter, with a mixture of quick passes between the lines and long balls to Salah, which often came courtesy of Elliott.
In between chances at both ends, the match kept up a good level of physicality, reminding spectators that there is no such thing as a friendly between Liverpool and Manchester United. Tsimikas left a bit on Diallo on the touchline, while Collyer cynically took out Bradley on the other byline, angering the Reds bench.
Despite a few half-chances for the opposition, the Reds doubled their lead ten minutes from the interval. Quansah stepped into midfield to intercept the ball and quickly lifted it down the line, where Salah was waiting. The Egyptian controlled it brilliantly and glided past Collyer, bursting into the box and crossing it to Jones, who couldn't miss.
Half-time saw two changes, with Kelleher replaced by Jaros and Sepp Van den Berg taking Konate's place at centre-half. United made switches of their own, hooking Lindelof, Rashford and Evans.
Both teams continued to create chances, with United's best effort at goal coming ten minutes into the second half. Amass' cross found McTominay in plenty of space in the box, with his first effort thwarted by a diving Tsimikas block. The rebound came back to the Scotsman but his goal-bound shot was parried excellently by Jaros.
If United thought this was a sign of things to come, they were sorely mistaken, with Liverpool notching their third goal of the night within five minutes of the goal-mouth frenzy.
Bradley played a quick one-two with Salah, with the Northern Irishman's cut-back finding Jota. The forward should have finished the chance, but Onana's save put it on a plate for Tsimikas, who slotted it away after drifting into the far post.
The replays showed that Salah would have been offside if it had gone to VAR, but the goal stood thanks to the absence of the technology during this US pre-season tour. The goal was Tsimikas' first for the club.
There were a plethora of changes upon the two-thirds mark, with both clubs making a raft of changes. Endo came on to push Nyoni up from holding midfield, who had come on shortly before the goal. Phillips, Chambers and Stephenson freshened up the defence, while Bajcetic and Morton injected fresh legs in midfield. Blair and Doak represented the more attacking changes.
As is usually the case when substitutions are aplenty in pre-season, the match lost a little pace, and full-time arrived without incident.
The Reds leave American soil with three wins from three, having dispatched two Premier League sides with relative ease. Slot's men will play their next friendly against Sevilla at home in a week's time.