Preseason | athletic club
the hit
“My Adidas,” Run-D.M.C. (1986)
The three stripes are back and glorious, headlining new kits befitting of the defending champs.
8/4 | game one | Liverpool 4, athletic club 1
Lineup: Woodman, Stephenson, Nyoni, Robertson, Tsimikas, Mac Allister, Jones, Elliott, Doak, Ngumoha, Nunez.
Do I really have to be the guy who says Rio Ngumoha is the best 16-year-old he’s ever seen? We must have invented some kind of… Lamine Yamal cloning machine.
It’s not just the goal he scored 87 seconds into the game — a 40-yard run followed by a 20-yard back post curler. Or the assist from a cushioned header he provided three minutes later. It’s the stirring from the Kop every time he gets the ball, the anxious body language of the closest defenders.
A friend of mine who’s prone to unpredictable behavior called himself “a grenade” once. The one thing you should never do, he warned, is “stand too close to the blast zone.” That’s Rio. When he picks the ball up, God knows what’s going to happen next, other than destruction. It’s the most exciting quality you can have in your attack: a pulled pin.
On the opposite flank, Ben Doak showed he possesses a lot of the same threat. He caught a bobbling ball perfectly from nearly 30 out, forcing their keeper to sprawl and bat it out of the top corner. Moments later, he twisted and turned past two men on the right side of the six-yard box and drilled a low effort through the keeper’s arms. If he gets scooped up by another Premier League side, I’ll be bummed to see him go. Sounds like West Ham and Wolves are in for him.
Veterans Curtis Jones and Andy Robertson put in super polished performances at holding mid and center back, respectively, but it’s youngster Trey Nyoni that deserves one of the two final shoutouts from the opening fixture. At 18 years old, he played over an hour faultlessly at center back after previously featuring in midfield and on the wing. He’s obviously technical and athletic, but it’s his decision making, positional awareness, and reading of the game that make him an incredible plug-and-play option for Slot. He looks poised to nail down the long-term spot in the squad that the likes of fellow central players Bobby Clark, James McConnell, and Tyler Morton never quite could.
Lastly, it was great to see Harvey bag a goal in what seems to be his final appearance for the Reds. The way he celebrated scoring and blew kisses to the fans post-match suggested an exit’s coming soon. It’s a hard one to take because of his quality, and just because he seems like a good dude. Assuming he does move on, I know we all hope he has a phenomenal career. As I write this, RB Leipzig is the club linked most closely. That you, Jurgen?
8/4 | Game Two | Liverpool 3, Athletic Club 2
Lineup: Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Konate, Endo, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Salah, Gakpo, Ekitike. Alisson was out as his wife recovers from surgery, Van Dijk was sick, and Bradley and Gomez weren’t fit enough yet.
Before we proceed, did you realize the Athletic Club manager is Ernesto Valverde, Barca coach on the night of the 4-0 comeback ? I wouldn’t have thought he could even say “Anfield” out loud — that maybe it was more of a “Stadium-That-Must-Not-Be-Named” situation — so fair play to him for getting back on the touchline.
It only took a matter of minutes for our attack to click into gear, interchanging positions and piercing Athletic Club’s setup with line-breaking passes. Watching this newly assembled collection of talent combine so fluidly made me giddy. There were endless exciting personalities on display.
Wirtz, for one, has an otherworldly ability to find space with a silky touch or body feint when an onrushing defender looks certain to take the ball. Once he has space to exploit, he uses his passing options at every opportunity and advances the ball as efficiently as possible. He’s got magic feet but don’t mistake him for the smiley Ronaldinho type — he’s a grinder, check the crustache. He’s more than willing to press, break up play, and make lung-busting runs. When he does do the world class stuff with the ball, he’s going to do it deadpan, with a shrug. In his eyes, that’s just what he does.
For a guy with Victor Wembanyama’s body type, Hugo Ekitike is surprisingly smooth and dynamic. He’s eager to drop in and link play but also kept finding himself in foot races down the left — he kept winning them, too. His burst forward, scissor, drop of the shoulder, and pinpoint cutback to Salah opened the scoring. He’s physical with a little bit of gnarliness, the kind of forward who smacks defenders’ hands away when they mark him — saw it multiple times. Diogo would be proud.
Gakpo is just flat aggressive. He goes for it. Sometimes his crosses are overcooked, or he’d be better off moving the ball than trying to cut in on his right and shoot, but his sense of urgency is going to lead to a lot of goals. Hell, he had two (three if you count his OG) in this one.
I’ll include Gravenberch and Szoboszlai in the attack because both were constantly involved on both ends. Gravenberch was quietly immaculate. Crisp, smart passing. Tons of interceptions. One clean strike from distance — something that’s become a bit of a trend this preseason. He looks fit and sharp, and will be constantly involved for us again this year. Along those lines, the only player you could argue was more involved in this contest was Szoboszlai. A little surprisingly, he served as the foundation of our buildup play even more than Gravenberch, dropping into our final third to draw in Athletic Club’s press. He put out fires on our behalf and started some for our opposition, feeding our front three in dangerous positions. It’s also worth pointing out that with Trent’s departure, he appears to be our first-choice free kick taker. Gravenberch, Wirtz, Mac Allister, and Jones will all play big-time minutes in the center of the park, but even with that world-class competition, I think Slot sees Dom as a nailed on member of our strongest 11.
There’s also the small matter of Mohamed Salah.
I love Florian Wirtz in the 7 shirt as much as the next guy. I’m bullish on Ekitike, who’s much more than the “project” he’s been portrayed as. And the thought of adding Isak to the equation… Mother of God.
That being said, I think Mo Salah is the best player on the team. Probably the best player in the league. His through ball to Gakpo in the first half was borderline offensive. You shouldn’t be able to do that. His finish was nonchalant as ever: send the goalie one way, send the ball to the other way. He takes one touch when 99% of players need two. He sees things 99% of players can’t see — and has the quality and impudence to capitalize on them. The most thrilling part of all this attacking quality is how Mo Salah will use it to his advantage.
[I’d talk about the penalty but I’ve wiped it from my brain like a Men In Black retiree.]
As far as the defense is concerned, I’ll start with the positives. Frimpong and Kerkez are going to offer the injection of life and pace we clearly lacked last year at outside back. Neither are conventional. Both are amazing athletes. Frimpong is desperate to get crosses off, and it’s worth pointing out he limited Nico Williams to next to nothing. Kerkez is desperate to crunch someone. He’s brave and stays switched on. With Bradley and Robertson as the other options on either side, we’re in great shape in these two positions.
Our glaring weak spot is at center back. Sure, Endo and Konate both had moments of hilarious heroics. Wata left a trail of bodies in his wake just before the full-time whistle, throwing in a billion tackles to the Kop’s delight before the ref finally made him stop. Ibou got on the end of a sumptuous Salah cross and chose to scissor kick it over the goal. But on a serious note, the lack of depth (and frankly, height) in the center of defense, particularly after saying goodbye to Quansah, is a concern.
Van Dijk and Konate are a best-in-class starting center back pairing. The trouble is who we play when one of them can’t. Gomez is our longest-serving player and more than capable, but you can’t count on him to stay fit for more than half of a season. Endo is a decent emergency option, but his range of passing, size, and athleticism are limited. Whether it’s Guehi, Leoni or someone else, we need to sign a dependable CB and ensure we don’t undermine our obvious firepower up front with a thin defensive line. We already lived that in 2020-2021.
And can we make him a defensive corner specialist, Arne? Two corners conceded in one game, woof.