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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
BANGKOK, Thailand — Erik ten Hag says he will not get carried away with Manchester United‘s 4-0 win over Liverpool in his first game in charge after seeing “mistakes” in his team’s performance.
United kicked off their tour of Thailand and Australia with a resounding win over Jurgen Klopp’s side thanks to goals from Jadon Sancho, Fred, Anthony Martial and Facundo Pellistri.
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Ten Hag said afterward he was pleased with the result but insisted there was plenty of room for improvement and pointed to Klopp’s decision to play three different teams for 30 minutes each as a key reason behind the result.
“Of course we are satisfied today because I think that was a team with a great spirit and we know we are just starting and things went wrong, clearly,” he said. “We did the press, we made some mistakes in pressing, we conceded some chances, but also we created a lot.
“I think our team played brave, played proactive. We have to work really hard to cut out the mistakes, but of course we are happy with the first game.
“I have seen a lot of mistakes. You would not say [when you look] at the result but, be honest, Liverpool plays in three teams.
“They were not at their strongest so we have to not overestimate this result. We have to [be careful].”
Ten Hag picked a strong team to start the game at the Rajamangala National Stadium and made 10 changes at half-time.
Fred’s goal was the pick of the bunch after the Brazil midfielder chipped Alisson from the edge of the box. The one downside of the night for United was an injury to David De Gea, which forced him off in the second half.
“I know we have good players,” added Ten Hag. “Now we have to construct a team and we started the first game now, so I am happy with the first game.
“I have seen some really good things and I think what you see is we have a lot of creativity and speed up front, so we have potential.”
While United next head to Melbourne to play Melbourne Victory and Crystal Palace, Liverpool travel to Singapore, also taking on Palace.
“The result is there, we have to accept it,” said Klopp following the defeat to United. “We could have scored our goals as well and the goals we gave away were almost assists.
“I saw a lot of good stuff but the game came too early. Mistakes happen in football. It was so open and it was pretty clear where we made the mistakes.”
