Man Utd 0 Liverpool 3: Red Devils will hope £36.5m Joshua Zirkzee will have an impact as Prem rivals run riot in US
JOSHUA ZIRKZEE had better be good because right now Manchester United have got nothing up front.
The £36.5million new signing from Bologna has been back training a week at Carrington.
It was decided not to bring him out here in the US to get used to his new team-mates after he was part of the Holland squad that went to the semi-finals of the Euros.
But he played only four minutes in Germany and even on holiday in Los Angeles when Manchester United were out here at their training base.
Could he really not have joined them for part of it?
Meanwhile Rasmus Hojlund scored and then limped off in the opening game against Arsenal and will be out of action with a hamstring injury for six weeks.
That has left Erik ten Hag deploying a false nine system since.
It worked in the FA Cup Final against Manchester City where Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay acted as two false nines coming from deep.
The neighbours meet again this Saturday in the Community Shield and that will probably be used again.
They also got three goals in the second game of their tour against Real Betis without a recognised striker.
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Still it cannot be the answer for the first three or four games of the season, so much will rely on Zirkzee who is not exactly a proven striker.
Bayern Munich did not think the 23-year-old was good enough, and he played only 17 times for them. You have to wonder why?
For Bologna he scored just 14 goals in 58 games.
They are back in the same position as this time last year, going into a new season with a young unproven striker in the Premier League.
United are desperate for goals to come from somewhere as well.
It was a largely disappointing first season for Hojlund as the Red Devils had the joint worst goals-for in the top half of the Premier League alongside Crystal Palace with 57.
The good news is that Marcus Rashford shook off the injury he suffered against Real Betis to start in this game.
The evidence of the three games out here has shown that Rashford is getting back to his best after he found the net just eight times last season down from 30 the season before.
He was United’s star performer again as he had been against Real Betis although without finding the net on this occasion.
Liverpool however did so with some ease.
Fabio Carvalho opened the scoring on 10 minutes when he sold Casemiro a dummy and rolled a shot into the far bottom corner with the help of a slight deflection.
Curtis Jones got ahead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka to slot home the second from close range on 36 minutes after good work from Mohamed Salah to tee him up.
The third followed on 61 minutes when Diogo Jota’s shot was parried by Andre Onana and Kostas Tsimikas followed up.
There was a sell-out 77,559 at the Williams-Brice Stadium for this game.
That is the largest ever for a soccer match in either North or here in South Carolina which is where there is the most interest in the Premier League of anywhere in America.
The Liverpool fans will most definitely have left with most to feel positive about.
United fans not so much.
There are those injuries to Hojlund and Leny Yoro which have proved a major blow as the squad flies home today.
Yes, main players like Bruno Fernandes, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw were not here and as ever in pre-season matches the teams chopped and changed as the game progressed.
Still, this was a chastening defeat for United to a big rival.