Manchester United are in Bangkok for pre-season and Erik ten Hag is preparing his side for their first friendly of the tour against Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool. The Dutchman will get the chance to see his side in action against Premier League opposition and also see how far his side are off their rivals.
United fans will remember the last two times the club faced Liverpool in the Premier League, losing 5-0 at home and 4-0 at Anfield. Clearly there is a mountain to climb, but let's look at three things United could do to prove Ten Hag is making progress.
The rest of the team can help the defence
United had a problem with leaving their defence exposed and isolated last season. That then leads to defenders trying to overcommit while midfielders and wingers are leisurely jogging back.
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This must stop under Ten Hag. The Manchester Evening News understands that United are unlikely to sign a defensive midfielder this summer and that means that no one player will be tasked with shielding the centre-backs in transition - it will be the job of the team.
This means that when players are making late third-man runs into the box they must be tracked and no player should just be left free outside the box. Against Liverpool in both games this was a big problem and it led to a number of their goals.
Score at least one goal
9-0 on aggregate is not a scoreline you want against any team, let alone a side you consider to be your rivals. But that was the scoreline United lost by last season across their two league meetings and it can't happen again.
Ten Hag wants to play exciting, attacking football that wins games, the only problem is that requires United to score at least one goal. It's not yet clear what starting line-up the Dutchman will play against Liverpool but in open training it seemed like a formation with Marcus Rashford on the left and Jadon Sancho on the right was being trialled.
Keep possession
United lost the ball way too much last season. Their build-up was often inefficient and it led to players giving the ball away easily and giving the opposition simple opportunities to counter-attack.
Though Ten Hag would have hoped to have Frenkie de Jong at his disposal to help with this, the current options he has should be good enough to improve this aspect of their play. If they don't improve then Liverpool will run riot once again.
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