Liverpool brought down the curtain on their pre-season tour of Germany with a crazy 4-4 draw against Greuther Furth on Monday that must have left manager Jurgen Klopp scratching his head.
The Reds were sublime in the first half and led 1-0 at the interval before some poor defending meant they needed an 89th-minute equaliser from Mohamed Salah to come away with the draw.
It was very much ‘a game of two halves’ and we have taken a look at five positives that Klopp can take away as he prepares Liverpool for their trip to Singapore on Thursday.
Five Positives For Jurgen Klopp
1 – Forwards Scoring Goals
Liverpool look to have five terrific forward options heading into the new season.
Darwin Nunez looks as confident as he has done since joining last summer and has scored three goals in just 90 minutes of football.
Luis Diaz was also back on the scoresheet meaning that all of Klopp’s first-choice options have now registered a goal in the first two matches with Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota (x2) opening their accounts against Karlsruher SC on Wednesday.
2 – Ben Doak
The 17-year-old has once again shown great promise in the two matches so far.
He is very direct in and around the box causing huge problems for defenders. Perhaps his greatest asset is that he also appears to be fearless.
Assuming he is not loaned out this season, once he starts adding goals and assists to his game, he will compete for a place in Klopp’s squad.
3 – Versatility
Anyone trying to predict the Liverpool starting XI for the Premier League opener against Chelsea is likely to struggle.
One of the reasons for that is that Trent Alexander-Arnold and Cody Gakpo have not appeared as expected so far.
The England international has taken up an out-and-out number six position and left the right-back duties to Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez.
As to whether this is because Klopp is struggling for options with the impending departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson remains to be seen.
The same goes for Gakpo who has looked very good in an attacking midfield role which could provide Liverpool with an option to get four of their forwards into the same team.
4 – Salah/Nunez Link Up
In just 45 minutes on Monday, Salah assisted Nunez twice, and the Uruguayan returned the favour for the equaliser.
The two showed glimpses last season that they had a good understanding and it looks like that will be the same as the new campaign approaches.
5 – No New Injuries
Klopp confirmed that everyone came through the match unscathed. The German also suggested that new signing Dominik Szoboszlai would have been in the squad if the match against Furth was a Premier League game and was only left out as a precaution with his ankle problem.
Hopefully, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic are not too far away from a return as well as Liverpool jet off to Singapore later this week to step up their pre-season preparations.
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