Inside Liverpool’s summer so far – should fans be worried?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Liverpool won two games and lost one during their pre-season tour of the USAPublished47 minutes agoAndoni Iraola’s verdict after Liverpool‘s 4-2 defeat to Leeds in Chicago on Sunday was telling.
“Obviously it’s not the result you want but I think [it was] probably the most useful friendly we played,” he reported.
“In a positive way in the first half and in a negative way in the second half. We’ve learned a lot and I think we can take good conclusions and solve some things.”
If something needs solving, then it is a problem and Liverpool require reinforcements at the back. In three matches in the USA, they conceded six goals but four of those came against Leeds in the space of 25 second-half minutes.
Liverpool started that game with a backline of Jeremie Frimpong, Luke Chambers, Ifeanye Ndukwe and Milos Kerkez. They ended it with Calvin Ramsay, Mor Talla Ndiaye, Ndukwe and Kostas Tsimikas.
Against Wrexham four days earlier in New York, a similarly youthful backline deserved credit for keeping a clean sheet.
But against fellow Premier League opposition in Leeds and a solid top-flight striker in Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Liverpool were brutally cut open.
In fairness, Kerkez is the only one of those who you can class as an expected starter for the season ahead. Captain Virgil van Dijk is back in training but Liverpool do not have the depth to challenge seriously.
In fewer than three weeks, Van Dijk will need a partner at centre-half when Liverpool start their Premier League campaign at Newcastle.
The worry for Iraola is that neither Joe Gomez or Giovanni Leoni will be available while new signing Jeremy Jacquet failed to play a minute on this tour as Liverpool continue to manage his return.
Iraola has reported repeatedly that his side are “thin” at the back, not helped by the departures of experienced defenders Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate.
Jacquet and Leoni are huge talents but not proven and given his injury record, Gomez will not be able to paper over the cracks.
