Jack Hallows looks ahead to the Reds’ pre-season tour of the US and details who and what he’s excited to get a better look at.
While we’re not far away now from Liverpool’s full first team being back in action against West Ham United for their first Premier League fixture of the season, the Reds’ pre-season still has a lot left to offer over the coming fortnight.
The main feature to look forward to on the horizon, is the remainder of the club’s tour of the United States.
The Reds’ will play against Premier League reigning champions Manchester City and major rivals Manchester United having already taken on Jürgen Klopp’s former club Borussia Dortmund.
Of course, being only pre-season, we can’t take any of these games as gospel – especially not the results.
New systems will be trialled by all of the teams while fringe players and new personnel are likely to be integrated and given the chance to show what they’re about.
The Reds lost their opener 3-1 to Dortmund but while on the surface it’s a poor result, it didn’t provide anything to be worried about for the upcoming season. Especially given the likes of Alisson, Firmino, Salah, Wijnaldum, Henderson and Mané were all absent.
With that in mind however, the two upcoming games will serve as a much better indicator as to where our Red-men are at in this stage of their pre-season preparations with improved fitness and available personnel contributing heavily to this.
So, what can we expect to look forward to?
The return of Salah and Mané
Two thirds of our deadly attacking trio returned to pre-season training just before the squad jetted off to the states and while they are likely not to play a part until the final game of the tour against United, it’s great to see the pair back with the lads.
While Firmino is undoubtedly the glue that holds Liverpool’s attack together, Salah and Mané are both just so exciting to watch and their blistering pace and end product bring the real fear factor to the Reds’ line-up.
We saw so many times last season that even when having an off game, both players were far more likely than anyone else to still be able to affect the result and help Liverpool to the three points.
While other Premier League sides such as both Manchester clubs and Tottenham are going to be forced to wait for major stars to return after the likes of Lukaku, Kane, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling all progressed deep into the World Cup, it’s a welcome boost that Liverpool have at least two of their biggest names back and ready to get preparations underway.
We saw last campaign how vital pre-season can be to players in terms of helping them kick off their campaigns with a bang and if these two start how they did in 2017/18, we could be in for just as exciting a campaign.
Naby Keïta doing what Naby Keïta does
While the signings of Fabinho and most recently Alisson have dominated the headlines recently, Naby Keïta is still the most exciting arrival of the transfer window for me.
The former Leipzig man looks exactly like what Klopp desires in a box to box midfielder and once he’s had an entire pre-season to integrate with his new teammates and kick up and understanding with our front three, he’s going to be nearly impossible to stop.
The Guinean is sensational both on and off the ball, with his remarkable ability to read play and win possession equalled by his incredible close control and passing ability.
This is a guy with energy, intelligence, vision and an underrated mean streak that will add spice and bite to Liverpool’s midfield.
The scariest part is, that at 23 years of age, he’s only going to get better and better as he develops further.
I genuinely cannot wait to see him dominating the midfield in both the Premier League and Champions League this coming season and depending on the XIs fielded, the upcoming games against both Manchester sides could provide us with our best preview yet of what our new number eight can do on a big stage.
Enter Shaqiri
I know that the Fekir saga has overshadowed the arrival of Xherdan Shaqiri somewhat and has dampened the excitement over the Swiss international’s arrival for a lot of fans.
However, I’m genuinely very excited to see ‘Power Cube’, as Liverpool Twitter has coined him, in action.
The former Bayern Munich and Stoke forward has pace to burn, a hammer of a left foot and a creative streak that just simply hasn’t been given enough credit in my honest opinion.
He’s also superb from dead balls, both when striking at goal or when looking to put dangerous balls into the box.
It is unlikely that Shaqiri will feature heavily during this section of pre-season mind but he was confirmed by Klopp to joining up with his new team mates on Tuesday when the Reds touch down in New Jersey.
Could we see him in the Reds’ final fixture of this segment against Manchester United?
I hope so.
Gomez at Centre Back
This is something I’m actually really intrigued to see more of this coming season – especially given my feelings about Joël Matip and his injury record.
Gomez spent much of last season filling in at right back in the absence of Nathaniel Clyne and while, at times, he impressed, you can tell it’s not his natural position.
The Englishman’s height, pace and strength all make for an impressive package and while there were concerns over the regularity he would get caught under high balls at the back post, when played in the centre of the pitch he wouldn’t find himself in this situation.
Despite dubious links with Jamaal Lascelles of Newcastle and persistent talk over the potential signing of Domagoj Vida, none of the club’s current centre backs have left which to me, suggests we won’t be dipping into the market to reinforce our back four.
Not now that we have Alisson anyway.
With Klavan being a left-sided defender and Matip still failing to convince, I’m intrigued to see how Gomez handles himself at centre half against some of the Premier League ‘big boys’ in the upcoming matches.
Even if it is only pre-season, it’ll at least give us an idea as to whether he looks the part or not.
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