ReactionCaoimhin Kelleher: We showed we could back up our performances

Three days on from defeating Arsenal 2-1 in Philadelphia, head coach Arne Slot asked his squad to prove they could emulate the performance despite a short turnaround.

They did so impressively, with goals from Fabio Carvalho, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas securing a 3-0 victory over Manchester United in front of more than 77,000 fans in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday night.

Asked about Slot’s plan for the clash with United, goalkeeper Kelleher told Liverpoolfc.com: “He did say it has been three days since our last game, it was a good win against Arsenal, but we need to follow that up because it is going to be like that the whole season.

“Every three days we will have a game, so his main message was to back up that performance against Arsenal with this one.”

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He added: “The head coach has said it’s pre-season but we need to win games, that’s what we need to do, so we’ve been trying to take that onboard as well.

“Obviously playing the football and doing the stuff that he wants but also get results as well because that’s the most important thing. It’s been a great camp.”

Kelleher was between the posts for the opening 45 minutes of the encounter with United and thwarted the opposition on a number of occasions.

He was replaced by fellow custodian Vitezslav Jaros for the second period and the Czech performed in a similar vein with several important saves.

“Sometimes it’s nice to have games when you make saves,” said Kelleher. “It’s easier when you are busy to make saves so it’s good to be there for the team.

“I need to mention Vit as well, who made some brilliant saves in the second half. There was a lot of efforts at our goal and both of us were busy.

“It’s nice to get these games where we have to show up for the team and show them that we are there to help them as well.”

Liverpool are now a month into their pre-season programme and their first Premier League game of 2024-25 – away at Ipswich Town – is less than a fortnight away.

And Kelleher believes the players are improving at every step as they adapt to the new head coach.

“[He] has come in and has his new ideas and wants us to work on them, and as you can see I think game by game it is getting better,” detailed the Republic of Ireland international.

“The ideas are becoming more clear in the head for all of us, so it’s definitely improving and we’ve had tough games over here as well.”