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The Andoni Iraola era at Liverpool opened with a victory over Sunderland in Nashville – and a deepening of concerns over the defensive options at his disposal. The sight of Joe Gomez hobbling off after 10 minutes of the new head coach’s first game and two teenagers forming a raw central defence partnership in his absence intensified the spotlight on a department in need of work.
Liverpool had few issues at the other end of the pitch against Regis Le Bris’s side, resplendent in pink in Tennessee, where second half finishes from Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas delivered an ultimately comfortable win.
“Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe,” admitted Iraola, who will have been impressed by lively displays from Calum Scanlon, Kieran Morrison and Koumas.
“We were happy because we were going through training without losing any players and unluckily for us we’ve lost Joe straight away.”
Geodis Park paid tribute to the late Kevin Keegan before kick-off on Saturday with both sets of supporters applauding the Liverpool, Hamburg and Newcastle great prior to observing an impeccable period of silence in his memory. The crowd itself was sparse, with plenty of empty seats around the 30,000 capacity stadium, although the official attendance was given as 24,897. Charging from $129 to $392 (£96 to £292) for tickets to a pre-season friendly missing its contingent of World Cup players perhaps explains why.
Sunderland were without Granit Xhaka, Brian Brobbey and summer signing Thomas Meunier. Liverpool’s absentee list included World Cup finalists Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz, Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch, who will join the tour next week, and Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Alisson, who also resume pre-season training next week but back on Merseyside.
Liverpool also had a summer signing missing. Jeremy Jacquet, acquired for an initial £55m from Rennes, was left out as a precaution but is expected to feature before the tour concludes against Leeds in Chicago next Sunday.
“With Jeremy we decided to take it easy with him,” Iraola explained. “He’s had a lot of months without playing, he’s been training very well, but we’re going to take it easy with him. He will play probably in the last game of this US tour, he will have time to have minutes.”
Having expressed worry over his “very thin” defensive options earlier in the week, Iraola’s resources were stretched further when Gomez went down injured early on. The luckless Gomez was unable to continue after treatment and his departure meant Liverpool’s central defence comprised two 18-year-olds recruited in January, Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe. Kostas Tsimikas took the captain’s armband from Gomez, then passed it on to Szoboszlai when he was replaced at the interval.
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Talla Ndiaye, a £1m signing from Amitie in Senegal, and Ndukwe, a £2.5m transfer from Austria Vienna who only teamed up with Liverpool this summer, reflect Liverpool’s policy of recruiting central defenders for the future. The here and now must also be addressed. With Ibrahima Konate exiting to Real Madrid, Giovanni Leoni yet to resume full training after his ACL injury, Gomez injury prone and Jacquet untested in the Premier League, though rated extremely highly, the responsibility on Van Dijk will be considerable next season. As it was last season.
The answer to the future quiz question of who scored the first goal of the Iraola era at Liverpool is Kieran Morrison. The 19-year-old winger started on the right, also known as the chasm left by Mohamed Salah, and slid a fine finish into the far corner of Melker Ellborg’s goal when released inside the area by Harvey Elliott, another player desperate to impress the new Liverpool head coach following a wasted season at Aston Villa.
Sunderland equalised in style when Enzo Le Fée broke from midfield and swept a superb shot into Giorgi Mamardashvili’s top corner from 25 yards. Le Bris made 10 changes at half-time, Iraola five, and Sunderland soon took the lead when Jaydon Jones picked out Timur Tutierov inside the area and the striker slotted beyond the Liverpool goalkeeper from 12 yards.
Szoboszlai gave the majority of the crowd what they had paid good money to see when controlling a loose Sunderland clearance 22 yards out and beating Ellborg with a convincing finish. Chiesa steered a clever shot inside the near post from Calvin Ramsay’s pass behind the Sunderland defence before Koumas, released by Szoboszlai, sealed the win.
