2 weeks ago
51
NISSAN STADIUM, JAPAN // Liverpool went 1-0 down against the J-League side Yokohama Marinos before it came back to win the game, concluding its Asia tour with a victory.
Asahi Uenaka opened the scoring in the second half against the run of play. But it didn't take long for Florian Wirtz to equalize and then Trey Nyoni to put the Reds ahead, completing the comeback. Rio Ngumoha, electric off the bench, made it 3-1 in the closing stages.
Arne Slot and his players will now fly back to Merseyside, where preparations for the new campaign will continue. They are next scheduled to be in action against Athletic Club on Monday. Here are the five things Liverpool.com spotted as the game unfolded.
Exciting Arne Slot hint
With just 16 days to go until the new Premier League season kicks off, this looked like a pretty good guess at what the starting XI will be at Anfield when Liverpool takes on Bournemouth.
Alisson Becker aside, it was about as strong as Slot could have gone from the off, and those players generally got an hour under their belts. The Brazilian goalkeeper, of course, returned home earlier this week for personal reasons, but will return when he is able to.
Conor Bradley is the leading contender to start the new campaign in Trent Alexander-Arnold's right-back berth. As it stands, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo are the only wide players.
Ryan Gravenberch will be suspended for the game with Bournemouth, but will be in the team most weeks. And with Alexis Mac Allister nearing a return to full sharpness, it isn't hard to imagine him being in the team in the Dutchman's place.
Those who started justified their position, though Jeremie Frimpong looked good when he came on. Rio Ngumoha was never going to start the season in the team, but he showed he can become a genuine option.
Hugo Ekitike debut
Arriving last week from Eintracht Frankfurt for a fee that could reach $106 million (£79 million), Hugo Ekitike made his first appearance for Liverpool here, lasting 45 minutes before he was replaced by Darwin Nunez.
He isn't fully up to speed physically yet — there is still time for that to happen in the next couple of weeks — but the 23-year-old was notably pressing well. He dropped deep and times and linked things up too.
There wasn't a huge deal to note on the ball (he lost it a couple of times and couldn't quite get it under proper control), but that will come. For now, this was a promising start in difficult conditions.
Alexander Isak, the Newcastle United striker, remains someone that Liverpool admires, but Ekitike is obviously a talent. Reds fans got the first glimpse of that here.
Playing surface concerns
Considering the size of the stadium (around 75,000 people were in attendance), the pitch was surprisingly terrible. The grass looked in poor condition, and the ball was bobbling around with every pass.
Bits of the surface looked to be loose, while it took some time for the Liverpool players to get used to how it was moving. Ideal? Far from it. But it does appear that the Reds came through unscathed and without injury.
Considering how bad the surface looked, that is a big positive. The last thing anyone would have wanted was to pick up something concerning little more than two weeks before Bournemouth.
Ryan Gravenberch's long throw
In a tactic that has been trialed in training, Ryan Gravenberch was tasked with launching the ball into the box a few times when there was a throw-in near the opposition's penalty area. It didn't work at all, however.
Gravenberch seemed unable to get much height, power or strength into the throw, with the ball often landing nowhere near a teammate. More work required on the training field in that department, for sure.
Wataru Endo looked decent enough at taking the throws during training earlier this week. That isn't much good, though. He only started one Premier League game last season, and his minutes are not likely to drastically increase any time soon.
Young duo impress
In Ngumoha and Nyoni, Liverpool has some real, real quality coming through. Ngumoha excited with his dribbling ability and he looked incredibly sharp once more, while Nyoni got his name on the scoresheet.
Between them, they should be looking for plenty of minutes in the upcoming campaign. Seemingly, they are going to get them.
Keeping a lid on Ngumoha is going to be very difficult over the next few months, you would imagine. He confidently took his goal and even at 16, looks physically ready for senior action.
For both players, it was some performance. Virgil van Dijk simply clapped and grinned when Ngumoha scored; Mohamed Salah was similarly as delighted. That tells you all you need to know.
English (US) ·