Pre-season is a crucial time for every team, but the results in matches are a mere sideshow.
The weeks leading up to a Premier League campaign allow a manager and his players to prepare for the long season ahead, build up fitness levels, experiment with tactics and take a good look at the young stars hoping to push for first-team football. It’s a vital period in ensuring everyone is ready for when the first ball is kicked in early August.
For Liverpool, their preparations began early last week as the first group of players returned to the AXA Training centre in Kirkby. Others filtered in over the days that followed, while members of the squad involved in international fixtures throughout the summer joined up with the team as they arrived in Thailand over the weekend.
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Jurgen Klopp took a 37-man squad to Bangkok for the first stop in their tour of the Far East and he utilised almost everyone in the clash against Manchester United on Tuesday. The Liverpool boss changed his entire outfield team every 30 minutes, with a mix of both first-team players and academy stars.
The result at the Rajamangala National Stadium has certainly been a talking point - as any between the great rivals usually are. A 4-0 victory can only be seen as a positive start for new United boss Erik ten Hag and the final outcome aside, he will be encouraged by the intensity and pressing on display from his players.
Some of the performances from a Liverpool perspective, however, were described as a ‘nightmare’ by sections of the media. There will no doubt be similar comments if the Reds are unable to beat a depleted Crystal Palace side later this week, in Singapore.
But it’s worth casting the mind back a few years when Liverpool had what was described as a ‘woeful’ pre-season in terms of results. Klopp and his team flew out to the United States in 2019 to continue their preparations after two wins against Tranmere Rovers and Bradford City on home soil.
They kicked off the tour against the manager's former club Borussia Dortmund at Notre Dame in Indiana. Paco Alcacer opened the scoring for the Bundesliga side after just three minutes of action, but Harry Wilson was on hand to score an equaliser soon after.
Thomas Delaney went on to score Dortmund’s second after the break and Jacob Bruun Larsen put them 3-1 up. Rhian Brewster converted a penalty late on, but it wasn’t enough for the Reds as they fell to a 3-2 defeat.
Next up was Sevilla at Fenway Park in Boston, home of the club's owners FSG. But Liverpool were beaten 2-1 as they suffered another reverse. The match was marred by Joris Gnagnon’s tackle on Yasser Larouci, who was stretchered off as a result of the challenge. The Sevilla man was sent off and the Reds were left aggrieved with the Spanish side’s level of physicality in a pre-season friendly.
Liverpool ended their tour of the States in New York for the 2019 Western Union Cup clash against Sporting Lisbon at the Yankee Stadium. The two sides cancelled each other out on this occasion with a 2-2 draw.
The Reds returned to Merseyside without a win, but there was no time to dwell as they faced Napoli at Murrayfield in Edinburgh just a few days later. The Serie A side walked away with a 3-0 victory and concern started to arise in some sections of the media following the lacklustre performances for the newly crowned European champions.
Klopp, however, was unfazed as he issued a stern warning to Premier League rivals who may have hoped Liverpool’s poor summer form would continue into the new season. “If opponents want to analyse us now then they will say it is an easy job,” he said after the defeat to Napoli. “But we will be a different animal when the season starts.”
That they were. The Premier League campaign got underway for Liverpool almost two weeks later in early August and they got off to a winning start with a 4-1 victory over Norwich City. That kicked off a 27-game unbeaten run in the league that only ended in February when they were beaten 3-0 at Watford. By that stage, Liverpool had already won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup and were well on their way to the prize they wanted the most.
After a break caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Reds were duly confirmed as league champions in June 2020 after Chelsea beat Manchester City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. The club's 30-year wait for the title came to an end in impressive fashion as they ended the campaign 18 points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side in second and just a single point off becoming centurions.
There was debate in 2019 over how much people should read into pre-season results, but history will always prove they render meaningless. By contrast, Liverpool's pre-season form ahead of the 2017/18 season was pretty impressive. They won the Premier League Asia trophy, were runner- up in the Audi Cup and came home to beat Athletic Bilbao at Anfield. But when the actual season kicked off, it was a period to forget for the Reds as they were battered by rivals Manchester City and suffered some disappointing draws against the likes of Burnley and Watford. It was hardly a continuation of their fine form from the summer.
All that truly matters, to some extent, is turning up against Manchester City in the Community Shield later this month. But more so, ensuring the campaign gets off to a positive start when Klopp's side travel to face Premier League newcomers Fulham at Craven Cottage on August 6.
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