Erik ten Hag and Manchester United got off to a brilliant start in their pre-season tour with a friendly 2-0 win over Premier League rivals, Arsenal. The match was played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, United States, in front of a record crowd of 82,262. 
Manchester United and Arsenal play a pre-season match at MetLife Stadium Manchester United’s new captain Bruno Fernandes gave his side an early advantage with a long rang effort. Gunners goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale did get a strong hand to the ball, but still failed to stop the goal. Just seven minutes later, Jadon Sancho doubled United’s lead, as he capitalised on Gabriel Magalhaes’ missed clearance and completed a brilliant finish past Ramsdale, putting the ball at the roof of the net. In the second half, Arsenal’s Kai Havertz had the best chance to score. He was picked out by a cross from Martin Odegaard, but the former Chelsea forward’s header did not hit the target. Arsenal, who had fielded new signings Havertz , Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber for the match, put on a dissapointing performance, which was made worse by a loss in penalty shootout as well. In the shootout, United converted all five of their spot kicks. Arsenal started their pre-season on July 8 with a 1-1 draw against Watford and followed it with a 1-1 draw against FC Nurnberg five days later. After this loss to United, they have matches against Barcelona, Monaco and Manchester City. They will take on Premier League Champions City for the FA Community Shield, as per Sky Sports.
Jadon Sancho sealed the win at the home of NFL teams the New York Giants and New York Jets. Source: Getty This is United’s third friendly of the summer having already beaten Leeds and Lyon in earlier contests. They have a hectic schedule over the coming weeks with clashes against Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Wrexham to come this month still. Next month, there is no slowing down with matches against Lens and Athletic Bilbao to come before the new Premier League season gets underway. United have already signed Mason Mount and Andre Onana, though the latter did not make the squad on Saturday night.
Kylian Mbappe on captain duty for PSG. Source: Getty The Athletic reports that PSG are planning life without him, adding: “The club say they asked the player to clarify his position by July 15th, however, after no communication from Mbappe or his camp this week, they have decided he is intent on leaving the club for free in the summer of 2024, for Real Madrid. “The club are now open to selling Mbappe and are willing to listen to offers for the forward. The club are also said to be willing to bench Mbappe this season if he does not finalise a move to another club this summer. 
Bayern Munich players celebrate a goal. Source: Getty Musiala opened the scoring after three minutes and the deluge of goals did not let up from there. Tuchel’s side were 18-0 ahead by half-time, with Musiala and team-mate Mathys Tel both bagging five before the break, while Gnabry scored a hat-trick. Sane, Alphonso Davies, Konrad Laimer, Noussair Mazraoui and Dayot Upamecano all netted before pausing for a breath. Things got slightly better for Rottach-Egern after half-time, with Tuchel’s side taking their foot off the throat by only scoring nine times. Marcel Sabitzer was not messing around as he banged in five goals in a 22-minute period in the second half. It was brutal for Rottach and it could have been much worse, had their goalkeeper not pulled off some heroic saves. 
Reece James protesting against a referee’s decision. Source: Getty The issue with his knee, sustained in a Champions League fixture with AC Milan, ruled him out for eight weeks and the World Cup, but he suffered another knee problem upon his return in December. From February onwards, he made eight appearances in the top flight before a hamstring injury suffered during a match against Real Madrid, again in the Champions League, ended his season. Having not played since then, the hope had been that James would enjoy a seamless transition back into training and senior action, the trip Stateside offering him a chance to build up his fitness. James has spent the summer recovering and working on his fitness, but The Athletic reported that he complained of pain in his knee during a training session in the early days of pre-season. 
Liverpool’s coach, Jurgen Klopp has disclosed that he regrets his team’s pre-season tour of Asia which they embarked on to get ready for the current campaign. 
In July 2022, they played Manchester United (losing 4-0 in Thailand) and Crystal Palace (winning 2-0 in Singapore) before jetting off to Germany to continue their preparations. Commenting on things he felt he could have done differently during a recent interview, Klopp stated that while he regrets the tour, he doesn’t think it’s why they’ve put a poor performance this season. He said; “Would I do anything different? I wouldn’t go in the first week to Asia. Not because Asia isn’t great, but I wouldn’t go [even] in the third week [of pre-season]. But it’s not really in our hands. Is that the reason [for our struggles]? I don’t think so, but it would have been better to do it differently. We learn from these things.” 
When asked if the 64-game 2021-22 season has had an effect on the current campaign, Klopp said; “It must have! We can say that now. But there was no book written about it, no data for it, because nobody did it before.”