Liverpool vs Man United – July 28th – Match Preview

Liverpool face off with Manchester United in the International Champions Cup tomorrow night and we have a preview of the rivals pre-season clash.

Tomorrow around 5 pm EST, Liverpool will take on  rivals Man United in their third match of the International Champions Cup. The match will take place in Ann Arbor, Michigan at “The Big House”, the largest stadium in the country. It is only preseason but we could see some key features as well as some flare up with Jose Mourinho’s latest comments on Liverpool.

Mourinho was quoated on The Guardian this week saying,

"“That’s OK. But maybe this season finally you demand they win. Now you have to demand and say the team – with the investments you are making last season and you make now, that will probably be the record of the Premier League this season, a team that was a finalist in the Champions League – you have to say you are a big candidate, you have to win.”"

This is another example of the Portuguese boss doing everything he can to deflect attention off of his performance at Man United. Whether it is scheduling, transfers or players he usually finds something to complain about and most of the time it is about Liverpool. With this pregame banter going on, it only makes the match that much more interesting as a fan.

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Moving forward, similar to the other preseason games it will most likely be a game with nearly switched sides at halftime. Some players that have not gotten as much time yet like Mo Salah and Sadio Mane could see 60 minutes on the field as that would give them a good fitness test as we approach the beginning of the season.

Many young players should also be featured in this game with the likes of Curtis Jones, Ben Woodburn, and Rafael Camacho all putting in good shifts against Man City.

However, many big names are also going to miss the match on both sides as they are still on holiday from the World Cup. For Liverpool, that list includes: Roberto Firmino, Simon Mignolet, Dejan Lovren, Jordan Henderson, and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Man United will also be missing out on David De Gea, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, and Ashley Young.

Naby Keita is another one that will be in question come game time on Saturday evening. He was a no-go for Wednesday’s match against Man City due to a sore neck and according to Liverpool FC he could be out longer, they released this statement,

"“Keita will be afforded time to recover by not taking part in the immediate sessions, although he has not been ruled out of the fixture with Manchester United in Michigan at this stage.”"

Hopefully, our new Guinean midfielder can heal properly in time for the start of the regular season. Reds fans around the world are dying to see the new high pressing, energetic number 8, paired with our other star players. But it looks like they might have to wait a bit longer. Our other world cup stars, new transfer Alisson, and Keita will be sure to be featured for a friendly against Napoli on August 4th.

One other bit of news is that this game against Man United could feature Xherdan Shaqiri for the first time. The winger has yet to make his debut for the team, but has been training with the squad since they arrived in New York, and will be available for Saturday night’s fixture.

My prediction for the match is 3-1 in favor of Liverpool. Without De Gea in net for the Red Devils, their defense will be too spotty to hold the likes of Mane and Salah along with our strong midfield. Alexis Sanchez and Anthony Martial could push our defense, but not enough to push more than one goal by.