Liverpool began the Andoni Iraola era with a 4-2 victory over Sunderland in Nashville, with goals from Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas.
The mood was quickly dampened, however, when captain and centre-back Joe Gomez was forced off injured in just the eighth minute of the opening friendly.
Iraola did not hide his concern after the game, describing the setback as the worst possible start to life in charge of the club.
“Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe. We were happy because we were going through training without losing any players and unluckily for us we’ve lost Joe straight away,” the Liverpool head coach said.
The situation was made more complicated by the absence of new signing Jeremy Jacquet, a centre-half who was managed carefully by the coaching staff during the tour opener.
“With Jeremy we decided to take it easy with him. He’s had a lot of months without playing and he’s been training very well but we’re going to take it easy with him,” Iraola said, adding that Jacquet would feature in the final game of the tour.
With Virgil van Dijk given extended time off following the Netherlands’ World Cup campaign, two eighteen-year-old centre-backs were called upon to fill the void.
Mor Talla N’diaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe both made their debuts and performed admirably, while Giovanni Leoni, 19, continues individual training as he recovers from a severe ACL tear.
Sporting director Richard Hughes was present at the game in Nashville and would have been left in little doubt about Liverpool’s urgent need for experienced defensive reinforcements.
Iraola had already flagged earlier in the week that his squad was “very thin” defensively, and the events of the opening eight minutes only reinforced that assessment.
Despite the defensive concerns, there was plenty to celebrate on the pitch as Liverpool put on an entertaining show for the 24,897 fans inside the ground in Nashville.
Harvey Elliott caught the eye on his first appearance back at the club following his spell at Aston Villa, making a surging run to assist Morrison for Liverpool’s opener.
Morrison, a 19-year-old Northern Ireland international, cut in from the right and produced a lovely left-footed finish, showing why he could serve as a valuable option even without a permanent move away on loan this summer.
Szoboszlai, who had taken a stroll along Nashville’s famous Broadway entertainment district the previous evening, came on at half-time wearing the armband and scored a superb strike from outside the box to level at 2-2.
Sunderland had twice taken the lead, with Enzo le Fee and Timur Tutierov both scoring, and Iraola acknowledged the manner of those goals highlighted areas that still need significant improvement.
Chiesa delighted the supporters with a brilliant finish to make it 3-2 after a good ball from Calvin Ramsay, before Koumas wrapped up the victory with a composed goal late on.
Sixteen-year-old Josh Abe, who only celebrated his birthday last week, also made his Liverpool debut in the second half and played an important role in the build-up to Koumas’s goal, showing glimpses of why he is regarded as a highly rated prospect.
Iraola kept his feet firmly on the ground after the win, insisting there is still considerable work ahead for his squad as they prepare for a busy pre-season schedule.
“It doesn’t matter the result but keep pushing, don’t relax, get used to not playing too comfortable. We still have a lot of things to improve,” he said.
Liverpool now head back to their base in Chicago, where Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch are set to begin training on Sunday, before the squad faces Wrexham in New York on Thursday.
