Liverpool dominated Stoke City with a 5-0 scoreline in a behind-closed-doors friendly at AXA Training Centre and the key takeaways were interesting.
After the comfortable 3-1 victory against Preston North End in their first pre-season friendly of the 2025-26 season last weekend, the Reds hosted the Championship side at their training ground for a behind-closed-doors friendly yesterday.
After last week’s friendly, the Merseysiders have been returning to their usual life, recovering from the tragic passing of beloved No. 20, Diogo Jota.
Although the match was neither televised nor open to spectators, journalists provided important updates throughout the game, and the official LFC website later provided an extended highlight of all the missed action.
This Sunday’s game was crucial as Arne Slot & Co. have flown out of England to the Far East for their pre-season tour.
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Liverpool Vs. Stoke City friendly: Summary
LFC started off the game with a strong lineup, with their record signing Florian Wirtz making his unofficial debut for the club, donning the No. 58 shirt, after sitting out the game against Preston.
The first half lineup consisted of Giogo Mamardashvili at goal, who, after the impressive clean sheet appearance in the 3-1 victory, started between the sticks.
Virgil van Dijk captained the side alongside Joe Gomez as his defensive pairing. Andy Robertson started at left-back, but quite surprisingly, Dominic Szoboszlai featured at right-back, similar to how he played at RB Leipzig in a DFB Pokal match.
Slot’s first-half midfield featured youngster Trey Nyoni, Curtis Jones as the pivot and debutant Wirtz operating as the No. 10.
Up top, the forward trio lined up as Mohamed Salah at right-wing, Darwin Nunez at striker and 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha at left-wing.
The game started off with an early goal from the Uruguayan international in the sixth minute. He went on to score two more goals in the 12th and 20th minutes to complete his hat-trick within 20 minutes of the game.
Before halftime, young forward Ngumoha, although unofficial, registered his first senior LFC goal. At the end of the first-half, the Reds were 4-0 up.
The second-half team featured summer signing Armin Pecsi at goal, who replaced Mamardashvili at the 59th minute.
The defensive duties were rested upon Ibrahima Konate, wearing the captain’s armband, alongside Kostas Tsimikas. Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez featured as the fullbacks.
Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch operated behind Ben Doak, who played as the attacking midfielder. The Scottish forward was replaced by Luca Stephenson at the 74th minute.
And the attacking line consisted of Cody Gakpo, Jeremie Frimpong on the wings and Federico Chiesa as the centre forward. The Italian international scored the final goal of the match.
Liverpool first-half team: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Van Dijk, Szoboszlai, Nunez, Salah, Jones, Robertson, Wirtz, Ngumoha, Nyoni.
Liverpool second-half team: Mamardashvili (Pecsi, 59), Endo, Konate, Chiesa, Gakpo, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Doak (Stephenson, 74), Kerkez, Frimpong, Bradley.
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Liverpool Vs. Stoke City friendly: Key Takeaways
Although this was a friendly with little to no consequences, the game provided a deeper insight into what the Premier League champions will be offering when the season starts.
As the pre-season tour squad was announced yesterday, the names of Luis Diaz and Federico Chiesa have been left out, highlighting their potential exit from the Merseyside club.
Examining the game, it is safer to say that, although Slot will be deploying a 4-2-3-1 formation on paper, whenever the team has possession or is in a position to counter, the formation would look like a 3-1-5-1, with both fullbacks jumping up to cover the wider areas and the wingers inverting as No. 10s.
During the second-half, the Reds rested the captaincy duties upon Konate, which signals that the club are increasing their faith in the Frenchman, despite his recent contract conundrum.
With a four-goal basking form, Nunez can be sold for a higher price after LFC have secured the services of Hugo Ekitike. The club has the upper hand in this transfer saga now.
Lastly, by the looks of it, Slot might be providing increased playing chances to the youngsters such as Nyoni and Ngumoha, as they have massively impressed in the last two matches.
So, with a number of changes and developments at the club, Liverpool look set to prove their worth in the pre-season tour as they make their trip to Hong Kong and Japan.
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