"Liverpool's Preseason Victory Secured by Late Goals as New Midfield Shines"
Liverpool’s preseason for the 2023–24 season got off to a good start when they beat Karlsruher 4–2 in Germany.
The Reds scored first when Darwin Nunez took advantage of a lucky bounce to score with a first-time shot from inside the box.
But the home team tied it up before halftime with a great goal from Lars Stindl, and then Sebastian Jung put them ahead after the break.
But Cody Gakpo scored after Joe Gomez knocked the ball down for him in the middle of the second half, and Diogo Jota won it at the end with a neat finish from close range.
There was still time for the Portuguese to score again. They got in behind the defense and scored on a one-on-one after moving the ball.
Henderson is getting ready to leave.
The biggest news of the day came out before Liverpool’s first friendly game of their pre-season schedule.
Jordan Henderson wasn’t on the team for the game, which was a pretty big sign that he was about to move to Al Ettifaq in the next few days. This Is Anfield later confirmed the news.
Now that the move is almost done, the captain has already played his last game for the red team.
Trent tries keeping the ball in midfield.
Liverpool fans were hoping that Klopp’s starting lineup for this game would show how he plans to set up his team for the rest of the season.
Would he keep the same shape that helped Trent Alexander-Arnold make a big difference in the last few games? Or would he try something he had never done before?
Unfortunately, no answer came, so Alexander-Arnold was put in a more standard holding role for this first friendly instead.
And it wouldn’t be smart to put too much stock in that choice, since it was mostly caused by the absences of Fabinho and Henderson.
Nunez gets off to a great start as No. 9
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Nunez is under a lot of pressure to live up to his promise after a rough first season with Liverpool.
And getting a goal in his first game of the new season won’t hurt his confidence as he tries to move forward.
It wasn’t the most beautiful goal—the Uruguayan hesitated at first and a lucky bounce helped him get the chance—but he has never been the most skilled player.
Still, that won’t mean much if he keeps scoring goals in the future.
Gakpo doesn’t seem like he’s going to slow down.
Obviously, if Nunez wants to play a lot in his chosen role this season, he will have to get Gakpo out of the way first.
After arriving in January, the Dutchman quickly became Klopp’s favorite center forward. His understanding of the defensive parts of the position helped a lot.
But he is also a real goal threat, as shown by a well-taken finish in this game.
If Gakpo keeps playing like this in preseason, it will be hard for Nunez to start the new season as Liverpool’s first-choice No. 9 player.
Speculate about the roles of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai
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Fans with sharp eyes have noticed that clips from Liverpool’s preseason training seem to show their two new midfielders playing parts that are a bit unexpected.
Instead of playing Alexis Mac Allister on the left and Dominik Szoboszlai on the right, as might be assumed, Klopp seems to have switched the positions of the two new players.
Even though the two players didn’t play in the same half against Karlsruher, the same thing happened here. Mac Allister played on the right in the second half, and Szobozslai played on the left in the first half.
It’s possible that the boss sees these as long-term jobs for the two of them. It will be interesting to find out why in the coming weeks.
