Liverpool welcomed the new Premier League season in preparation far from convincing. In the last test match, Liverpool had disappointing results after a 0-3 defeat of Napoli at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland, Sunday (28/7).
Signs of Liverpool’s defeat had emerged when Lorenzo Insigne broke into Simon Mignolet’s goal when the match had been running for 17 minutes. Midway through the first half, the Liverpool goalkeeper was again broken into this time by Arkadiusz Milik.
In the second half, the Reds got worse because Amin Younes added to their suffering after breaking into Mignolet’s goal. Liverpool could not do much and gave up three goals without reply. The defeat with a landslide score continued the failed trend to win the port city team in the last four test matches. Before this defeat, Liverpool drew 2-2 against Sporting Lisbon, three days earlier.
In the two test matches before that, Jurgen Klopp’s squad had to recognize Sevilla’s superiority with a score of 1-2 and Borussia Dortmund 2-3.
So far, Liverpool have only won two wins from six trial matches. But the two victories were won by a team that was below Virgil van Dijk et al, namely Tranmere Rovers (6-0) and Bradford City (3-1).
Of note in the six matches, Liverpool’s pre-season could not be said to be going in the direction Klopp wanted. Although, there is still one more trial match against Olympique Lyon in the middle of this week before they challenge Manchester City at the Community Shield event on 4 August.
Various results achieved by Liverpool are certainly not an ideal form of the team that last season won the Champions League title after beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0.
If comparing Liverpool’s pre-season report cards with the previous several seasons, Klopp feels worthy of worry. Liverpool had undergone a bad preseason when handled by 2009/2010 Rafael Benitez, Roy Hodgson (2010/2011), and Brendan Rodgers (2012/2013).
After a disappointing preseason, Benitez started the season with a defeat from Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 and defeated 1-3 at Aston Villa while playing at Anfield Stadium. The Reds only finished seventh in the Premier League and failed to move from the Champions League group phase.
The record was repeated by Hodgson who only won in three pre-season trial matches. The former Inter Milan coach is even worse because he can’t lift the club’s performance. Hodgson was sacked in January because Liverpool were only ranked 12th in the Premier League standings.
Finally Rodgers led Liverpool to play four trial matches in the summer of 2012. The result was only one victory won by Rodgers in the friendly match.
Wading through a season full of inconsistencies, Rodgers can only put Liverpool seventh in the Premier League final standings in that season.
“The problem is that all of our games are published so that everyone can see what we are doing. But we have to prove ourselves throughout the season, not in one match,” Klopp said, seemingly not too bothered by the team’s preseason results.
Whatever it is, the series of results achieved by Liverpool is not ideal to look at the game against Man City in the opening season of the Community Shield. In contrast to Liverpool, The Citizens had a more convincing pre-season period.
Pep Guardiola’s team won three wins and only lost one of four trial matches. The only defeat occurred against Wolverhampton Wanderers, it was on penalties.
Beyond that, Raheem Sterling and others managed to beat West Ham United (4-1), Kitchee SC (6-1), and the last test match against Yokohama Marinos (3-1). The depth of the Manchester squad’s squad is also better because it brought Rodri from Atletico Madrid to become an equal competitor to Fernandinho at the defensive midfield post.
“I don’t want to find an excuse before we play against Man City but we really do a different preseason,” Klopp said.
“We played without six players. From a fitness standpoint, the match came in the wrong moment,” he continued.
The German manager is just fine looking at the new season with optimism. The fact was during the pre-season of the Reds without Alisson Becker, and front line trio Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane who were still on holiday because they had just strengthened their respective national teams.
Not to mention Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri were also injured. Liverpool weapons were also incomplete during the preparation period to welcome the new season.
Keita and Shaqiri have started to practice while Alisson, Firmino and Salah joined the team for the first time on Monday (29/7). Practically only Mane will be absent when Liverpool challenge Man City at Wembley Stadium, this weekend.
With disappointing results and incomplete composition of players during pre-season, Liverpool should be careful of their winding road this season. Moreover, the collection team of 19 league titles aimed at the Premier League trophy this season as the main target.
