Liverpool trained on Friday ahead of its departure this weekend on a pre-season tour of Asia, when preparations for the new season will really get underway.
Matches against AC Milan in Hong Kong and Yokohama in Japan will help get the players up to match speed ahead of the big Premier League kick-off in four weeks’ time. For now, the Liverpool squad continues to put in the hard yards at Kirkby, with the latest footage from Friday’s session showing the team looking slick and sharp at this early stage of the summer.
The majority of the squad was in attendance on Friday, and the club’s behind-the-scenes video shows the players arriving, undergoing some gym work, and working on some close-control drills before heading outside and receiving instructions from Arne Slot. The session finished with a small-sided game. We’ve picked out five notable things from training.
Who trained?
The burning question, particularly at this stage of the summer window. Well, Luis Diaz, Ben Doak, Luca Stephenson, and Kostas Tsimikas were all involved despite speculation about their respective futures.
But the pictures and videos didn’t show Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai or Federico Chiesa, although their absence from the media footage doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t at Kirkby, or that they’ve suffered a knock. Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton, who have been given an extended leave following the Under-21 European Championships earlier this summer, also weren’t in attendance.
Full group: Alisson, Mamardashvili, Woodman, Pesci, Bradley, Frimpong, Van Dijk, Konate, Gomez, Robertson, Tsimikas, Kerkez, Endo, Stephenson, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Jones, Doak, Wirtz, Nunez, Diaz, Gakpo, Ngumoha.
All eyes on Dias
The Colombian might be dominating the headlines for his reported desire to leave Liverpool, but if that is the case, it certainly hasn’t impacted his popularity in the dressing room. The winger was seen laughing with players throughout the video, with Cody Gakpo taking a camera to film a close-up shot of Diaz at one stage.
Liverpool’s No. 7 also had the biggest contribution in the small-sided game, firing in the winner at the end which resulted in Conor Bradley, Curtis Jones and Rio Ngumoha rushing to celebrate with the 28-year-old.
Sharp shooting
That left-footed strike from a narrow angle was one of several impressive efforts during the session. Diaz’s may have been the pick of the bunch, but Gakpo netted three impressive goals, while Darwin Nunez also demonstrated the sort of accurate finishing that fans haven’t always witnessed.
Even Virgil van Dijk got in on the act when he nipped in front of an opposition player and fired from distance. Doak also showed his quality when he netted during the game after evading a tackle from Tsimikas. “Yes, wee man,” screamed Andy Robertson as his fellow Scot grinned embarrassedly.
Filling in?
It was interesting to note that Stephenson, typically a midfielder, again seemed to line up at center-back during the matches. The Reds are lacking defensive options following the exit of Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen, and Stephenson played in the middle of the back four during Sunday’s pre-season friendly against Preston North End. Could he be involved in that role during any of the matches in Asia?
It was also worth noting that Alisson didn’t take part in the small-sided games. No reason for concern, after all there were four goalkeepers at training and only two were needed for the match, but he was the only senior player missing from the quick-paced session.
Settling in
All three new signings were involved on Friday. At one point, Milos Kerkez, Florian Wirtz, and Jeremie Frimpong combined in a free-flowing move that resulted in the latter netting a goal that will surely have pleased Slot. However, a subsequent shout of “offside” meant it didn’t stand.
Of the trio, it’s perhaps not surprising to see Frimpong settling in quickest - after all, he knows three players already from the Dutch national team and should feel more at home given he grew up less than an hour from Liverpool. The right-back was seen joking with Gakpo, Jones, and Endo at the Reds’ training base in Kirkby.