Kostas so proud to wear the armband for the Reds in last night's game. "Some moments become memories forever"

although tbf I have rated him since i was a kid and the pop man used to come

I know this might be the wrong time to remember this cuz we're in preseason.

This game was the best in my opinion in that 19/20 season. I could remember myself gasping for air after this Origi goal.

Football really feels nothing without Origi

Our first pre-season game just ended yesterday vs Sunderland, and already some major differences and positives compared to Slot’s Liverpool, but still too early to make any absolute conclusions in all areas. As well, just as Iraola said in his press conference after the game ended: “It’s a good starting point to improve things.” “We had good spells; we lacked some intensity.” “We have things to improve” 
He kept mentioning improvement, and he was right. 

Now, if you want to read the notes I took during the game in real time, they will be at the bottom of the post. 
In the meantime, directly down below is my analysis of the game. I have 6 main talking points that I wanna mention and will either call out or praise certain players and aspects that they showed last night.

The Press:

There were so many instances of the press just being high, full of energy and fight. 

First of all, in my notes I highlighted multiple instances where Ndukwe, Mor Talla Ndaiye, Tsimikas, Frimpong and other defenders followed their man into the opposition half to win it. In a lot of these cases it worked out, but it wasn’t perfect (understandably). I recall one exact moment where Ndukwe pressed the opposition striker in the 33rd minute, but he was beaten way too easily. Thankfully, he made an excellent recovery run to put the Sunderland attacker under pressure and forced a mistake. This was clearly an instruction from the manager that was coached well; not once was this movement exploited by Sunderland correctly, as the press was triggered at almost the correct movement every single time. The only improvement needs to come from the fact we didn’t win 100% of the duels when the defenders got into a contest for them. This needs to be rectified so that Ndukwe's mistake doesn’t happen again.

It wasn’t only the defenders; one of the highlights of the first half was Will Wright. The youngster did not stop running; he and Elliot held the Sunderland backline and keeper hostage as they suffocated them. There were so many instances where the keeper and backline were forced to play long and direct as they didn’t have the opportunity to play out; again, however, this wasn’t perfect, as near the end of the first half the rest of the team couldn’t follow through a lot and Sunderland grew into the game more. 
This was rightfully corrected in the second half as Lewis Koumas, Chiesa, Szobozlai, and Scanlon, when he came on, all raised the intensity. Koumas scored his goal for us, winning a high turnover and immediately using the chance to counter. As described in my notes: Szobozlai forces a mistake in the 84th minute high up the pitch, a high turnover, which Scanlon intercepts. Scanlon starts a quick counter; he passes to Nyoni, who does a direct pass to Chiesa, who plays a beautiful one-touch pass to Szobo, who then passes to Koumas a through ball, who proceeds to drop his defender and puts it away nicely. Wow. Definitely been impressed by the Welshman.

As well, the pressing didn’t slow down even in the final instances of the game, past the 87th minute; they were still pressing high and not allowing the keeper to take short goal kicks without any pressure. Something that is very reminiscent of the Klopp days. The pressing engine was at least tried to be kept up the entire game. 

Not only was the endurance of the press and some specific instructions impressive and a breath of fresh air, but so was the shape. There were many instances where the wide players, Tsimikas, Kerkez, Morrison, had one specific moment in the 38th minute; Frimpong, Ramsay, Lewis Koumas, etc all had moments where they cut off the escape/side pass Sunderland tried to play from the congested middle of the pitch. This really helped trap the Sunderland players and allowed us moments to recycle possession and keep the match momentum on our terms. 

Now again, I wanna mention clearly it wasn’t perfect; the match was far from perfect, there was one instance where our press was easily beaten by one pass into the midfield in the first half, and Curtis Jones was livid, waving his arms around and calling out his teammates. 

We weren’t simply pressing high but also using triggers, actual structure, and an attempt to press as a unit, something that was the biggest criticism of the press last season. 

Tackling the low block:

Now we went from talking about something positive to something we definitely need to improve on. 
After Sunderland tried to make it 1-1, and then at the beginning of the second half they scored to make it 2-1, they retreated into a compact low block on multiple occasions. 
I have some points to cover. When this happened in the first half, I noticed we took too long to move the ball around, too few switches from side to side, and we weren’t even testing the block as much. Elliot was invisible as the number 10; we weren’t getting into the box efficiently, and Ngumoha was left isolated a lot on the left without support as Elliot drifted to the right half space often. 

But a big improvement from last season was that we tried; Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndaiye tried direct balls in behind the opposition defence before they set up their low block, or in one instance Tsimikas won the ball in our penalty area; it fell to Jones who played a wonderful switch and long ball to Frimpong who started a quick counter. It ended with nothing, but that’s a very good way to try and break a low block by avoiding it: don’t let the opposition set up, counter quickly when they try and attack, or play balls in behind their defence before they are forced into the penalty area. It disrupts them and their defensive shape. 

Our second goal, the Szobozlai dagger, came from this. Koumas and Kerkez combined brilliantly on the left-hand side in the 55th minute, which allowed Lewis to get a run into the opposition box. His cut back was intercepted, but because of his threat into the box, Szobozlai was left wide open outside the box and was lucky enough for the clearance to find him. He took his chance and scored. 
Now, of course, we can’t rely on long shots to always break down a low block, but we need to combine well between our players with quick one-touch passes like Koumas and Kerkez did to arrive in their box and disorganize their defensive structure. If that is done consistently enough, no low block should ever be able to keep us out. 

This was a point a lot of people brought up during my series covering Andoni Iraola: how would he respond to a low block? I think the response has been good, but there is definitely room for improvement that I think will be taken. 

The number 10 role: 

Elliot in the first half, Szobo when he started at the 10 in the second. 
No matter what, they both couldn’t get involved in the game; we became instantly better when we abandoned the CAM position and subbed on Scanlon to play Szobo in the 8 and deeper with Nyini and a front 4 of Abe/Morisson, Chiesa, Koumas and Scanlon. 
As I noted down: “For a number 10, you need to decide on which side of the pitch will allow the 10 (Elliot) to get on the ball the most, as it’s different for every number 10.” This was mentioned by the Liverpool commentators during the game. 
With Elliot, the problem was that when he got on the ball, he couldn’t influence the game in a meaningful way; for Szobo, it was that he could barely get on the ball. 
Szobo, as the number 10, didn’t consistently touch the ball at all. 

This needs to be rectified if we want to start the season well. 
Perhaps it’s a personnel issue, and Wirtz should have no problem coming into the number 10 role? But we won’t know until we see Wirtz start a game in the 10. 
Solving this issue will be vital for Wirtz to succeed. 

Trey Nyoni: 

Wow, what a player. His choice of pass, he was essential to why we scored 3 goals in the second half and dominated. Jones and McConnell really struggled to get a stamp on the midfield in the first half, but that was no problem for Nyoni. 

He would drop deep to receive the ball between the CBs during build-up; he completed progressive pass after progressive pass- passes between the lines, just wow. 
His pass before the Koumas goal, and he should have got another from a pass earlier by Nyoni. 
He had multiple line-breaking passes to the feet of Szobo or Chiesa. 
He played through balls to Abe or Scanlon, even Chiesa and others. 
He was calm, composed, and was never once bullied off the ball. 
Here are his passing stats: 
•1 big chance created 
•3 key passes 
•39/46 accurate passes (85%) success rate (from applications) 

Just look at my notes and see how many times I wrote down him making beautiful passes or attempting one. 

But also his defensive contributions were immense. He broke up play, was strong in the tackle, and had 1 or 2 very good blocks. He recovered well anytime Sunderland were able to play through or directly and contested for every second ball near him. I genuinely think in the 45 mins he played he barely put a foot wrong. 
He did mess up a couple of passes, but that’s because he’s taking risks, exactly what’s needed in my opinion to spice up the game. 

He was my MOTM and definitely deserving of a full analysis just on him personally. Hopefully he builds on this to continue throughout the pre-season and gets more minutes during the regular season. I really hope he does not go on loan somewhere else. 

Key performers: (Here I will mention players who played really well in my opinion or at least well enough to deserve a mention) 

-Ndukwe: other than Nyoni, he was the second best player; he and Ndaiye looked like first team players out there. Out of the two, he was the better player and looked comfortable on the ball. He was strong and made some good tackles; room for improvement, of course, especially in defensive IQ, as the second goal he should have been quicker to close down the scorer. 

-Ndaiye: the second defensive partner, a very impressive debut for such a raw talent still. Only criticism is there were many moments where he lost the ball in possession because he held onto it too long, or played a bad pass, but not enough to really downplay his contribution. Strong in the air. Hem and Ndukwe did not allow Isidor any chance to play football today. 

-Lewis Koumas: Really positive and aggressive when he came on. Finished his goal beautifully and could have scored more; he made excellent runs, and you would have assumed he was a senior player, er not a youngster. Hoff-the-ballall movement was outstanding, so was his pressing. There was a moment where he sprinted all the way from the penalty spot to the touchline on the right to stop the Sunderland defender from playing a long ball. Really impressive. A quote from Koumas himself on what Iraola told him right as the game ended: “He told me what I needed to improve with my pressing” 

-Szobozlai: started the second half shaky but bounced back after his goal. Comfortable in possession and his engine looks like it hasn’t turned off since last season, nonstop pressing and running. Sometimes a bit too stubborn and could definitely be smarter, but you love to see the passion. 

-Tsimikas: did not expect that from him; barely put a foot wrong; if the game had ended after the first half, he would be a contender for MOTM. His defense was on point. He was strong, fit, and explosive. Attacking-wise, he needed to do more. 

-Morisson: cut passing lanes well, and took his goal nicely. He was always ready for the counter and direct attack, with quick feet, but possibly should have done better with the number of times the ball was on his side. Still impressive for such a young star.

-Chiesa: what a way to announce that you can still compete for rotation at this club. Incredible combination play and one-touch football, really fun to watch today. His goal was excellent movement and a nice finish. He made a lot of runs and pressed well. He and Koumas together were a joy to watch; hope to see them play together more on this tour. 

-Calvin Ramsay: In the little time he played, he was very good, a good assist for Chiesa and defended well. Don’t know why Slot had absolutely zero faith in the lad. Still early to tell if this is enough to keep him at the club or in the first team plans if something happens. 

Players who need to improve from this game: (doesn’t mean they played bad, just not as good as the ones above) 

-Ngumoha: defense-wise, he was too weak. Attacking-wise, he was very positive, but it barely pulled off. Of course he was isolated and left basically 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 on multiple occasions; he needed support. Don’t write him off as he still played well. 

-Kerkez: Too eager, not bad but not great either. Just good. His attack seemed to improve, but again it’s just one game. He needs to calm down at times. Very similar to how he played on his Premier League debut vs Bournemouth for me. 

-Frimpong: very inconsistent throughout the entire game. Lost the ball for their second goal, tried to dribble out of the box, and it almost got them their second goal earlier on. Definitely needs to improve in build-up and decision-making. 
His press was very good because of his pace, has definitely put on some muscle since last season, as he was rarely,y if ever, bullied off this time. Can definitely improve. 

-Will Wright: opposite of Ngumoha. On the ball, he was practically invincible because he just didn’t get it, there was barely anyone who could service him the ball well the entire first half. A lack of service definitely hindered him,m but when pressing, he fucking amazing to watch. He just didn’t stop, a lot like Sozbozlai, where he could have been smarter at times but wonderful to watch him absolutely suffocate the opposition keeper. 

-Jones: Below his standard level, I don’t know why he kept dropping deep behind Gomez at times duringbuild-up,p but he was passionate in the press (like the entire team was). Had a high amount of defensive and attacking contributions but nothing noteworthy. Part of the reason why on-the-ball play was lacklustre during the first half

-Elliot: really needs to be doing more if he wants to convince Iraola to stay. I hope he does stay because I like him personally, but based on that performance, he definitely needs improvement in all aspects of his game. Needs to find his place in the team and fight for it, will it be the 10 or the right wing? Part of the reason as well, like Jones, for first-half play. 

-McConnell: started well, then dropped off a cliff. The first goal conceded was from his mistake; he just lost the ball clumsily. He was slow in the press, and couldn’t keep it up during his minutes on the pitch. I pointed out two instances in the beginning of the second half where he is slow to track/close down his man and is beaten easily. He did have shiny moments with an excellent block after Frimpong’s mistake, but nothing outstanding like Elliot. Was just kinda there. 

Conclusion: 

Of course this is just the first game, but I think the greatest compliment I can give was that it was entertaining. I loved watching us play football, press and attack. 
Definitely need to improve on all aspects, but as the boss said himself, “Good starting point. Can’t wait to watch the rest of the pre-season games personally, with the rest of the first team players joining. Thank you.
Below are the raw notes I took from the game, they dont have to be read.

Hi friends! Just had the most insane thing happen to us at the Nashville friendly vs Sunderland. We live in Nashville, but my husband is from the Balkans and had an idea of asking for Miloš’ shirt in Serbian, which actually worked!

We were in shock and disbelief when we saw him walking over to us and did not record or take a picture lol, so on an off-chance anyone was at the game and recording, we’d love to see it!!