Liverpool defeats Darmstadt 3-1 in the final preseason friendly, with Theo Squires at Deepdale providing analysis.
It was only a matter of time before Saudi Arabia reportedly expressed interest in Mohamed Salah.
Al-Ittihad acquired Fabinho for £40 million, leaving Liverpool without a holding midfielder on the eve of the new season, but reports on Sunday night and Monday morning suggest the Saudi organization had the Reds’ Egyptian King in their sights.
Salah’s signature would unavoidably be the most valuable gem in the Gulf state as the most prominent Muslim player in football. But the forward’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, didn’t waste any time in making his position on his future with Liverpool clear.
“We wouldn’t have renewed the contract last summer if we had been thinking about leaving LFC this year. Mohamed has not changed his dedication to LFC, the tweet read.
Salah would demonstrate this point in just five minutes of Liverpool’s final preseason matchup with SV Darmstadt.
The Egyptian entered this final friendly as their lowest-scoring forward, which was perhaps surprising given the scorching form all of Jurgen Klopp’s forwards have been in this summer. He had just one goal before taking on the Bundesliga team, despite being the best creator with six assists.
He doubled his preseason account in five minutes, though. He was the first to react after a corner and converted inside the six-yard box because he was in the right place at the right time. A goal is a goal, regardless of how pretty or memorable Salah’s goal might not have been.
The truth is that he would have started against Chelsea on Sunday even if he hadn’t scored this summer. After all, the four players are vying for two starting positions in attack alongside the Egyptian, and they have combined for four goals between them: Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, three from Luis Diaz, and two from Cody Gakpo.
Because of this, Salah will give his all in Sunday’s Premier League opener against his former team and helping Liverpool get off to the best possible start. On the first game of the season for the Reds, he will continue his six-season streak of perfect scoring, which includes a record of 100 points.
Aside from that, the 31-year-old is tied with Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, and Alan Shearer for the joint-most goals on the first day with eight. He’ll be aiming for yet another record against Chelsea.
This contributes to the fact that there was never any real concern about Salah leaving Anfield just yet. He still has a lot to accomplish since his contract is good until 2025. Having already won every major award available to him with Liverpool, he will want the Europa League to complete the set and provide some extra winner’s medals for good measure.
Both the number of goals and trophies to be won is increasing. The time is not right, even though Saudi Arabia might make another visit. Even though Salah’s fellow Liverpool forwards may have outscored him this summer, who would have thought that by May, the three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner would not have won again—at Anfield, at the very least?
Mac Allister demonstrates his resolve.
“Macca on six tonight, Curtis has a slight — well, nothing really, he’s on the bench but can come on — he felt a little bit, but the idea was to look at Macca in that position,” said the announcer. Aside from that, we give it a shot. ”.
Jurgen Klopp wanted to see Alexis Mac Allister in the position against SV Darmstadt after starting Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, and youngster James McConnell in that position this summer.
While Jones may have had a knock, he hadn’t appeared particularly at ease in that deeper position, and with Conor Bradley’s injury, Alexander-Arnold was still required at inverted full-back. The only real reason Liverpool is still using this 3-2-2-3 formation is to maximize the potential of their new vice captain.
It was then Mac Allister’s turn to assume defensive responsibilities, with the Argentine international being the most confident contender thus far. Even if not in the current Reds lineup, he has the most experience playing holding midfield.
The World Cup winner forced SV Darmstadt into mistakes and was not afraid to get his hands dirty; his repeated attempts to recover the ball were greeted with applause. However, the Liverpool player who stood out the most that night at Deepdale did so while moving forward.
He frequently used devastating through-balls to crack open the Darmstadt defense, and it was unfortunate that one of his long-range attempts missed the goal. He already exudes a sense of belonging in Liverpool.
But that doesn’t mean he ought to; he can play defensive midfield. Sure, he’s doing a competent job, but in the more challenging position for which he was hired, he’ll be much deadlier.
It says it all that this performance at position six came just hours after the Reds received a third offer for Southampton’s Romeo Lavia. In that deeper role, Mac Allister might be a possibility, but he is not the answer.
defensive déjà vu.
Liverpool struggled mightily on defense last season as they became rather simple opponents. Their defending always appeared so frantic and desperate, whether they were allowing quick goals or allowing opponents to take advantage of the space behind them.
The same was true for a portion of the opening period versus SV Darmstadt. Even though they may have been up 2-0 when the Bundesliga team cut the deficit in half, Mathias Honsak’s goal was still given up far too easily.
In just the 10th minute, the Austrian raced onto a straightforward ball over the top before putting the ball past Alisson.
Long balls like these continued to cause Liverpool problems before halftime, and in the second half, the Brazilian had to be strong to stop a Darmstadt forward from scoring from close range. Alisson will likely have a busy season after rescuing the Reds from a number of defeats last year, according to the evidence.
Better teams would have punished Klopp’s team much more than the German outfit, who went into the match against Liverpool without scoring once in the entire preseason. And despite their own issues last year, Chelsea are exactly that.
While the 3-2-2-3 formation helped the Reds’ season last year and made the most of Alexander-Arnold in the middle of the field, it only makes Liverpool more vulnerable to long balls that completely skip over the midfield. As they continue to gradually get used to this new setup, releasing a brand-new, incomplete midfield only makes things worse.
A new holding midfielder and center back might help, but there is no assurance in that.
With Klopp continuing to use it throughout preseason, this new formation is currently here to stay. But you wonder how long it will take for the Reds’ defense to improve or if the manager will be forced to make another decision.
As the saying goes, “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” is the definition of insanity. On the verge of a new season, the same defensive problems persist, and this new formation is doing nothing to close them as players get used to their new positional responsibilities.
Jorge Schmadtke, Liverpool’s sporting director, will be watching from the directors’ box at Deepdale. After seeing how poorly the Reds performed in their most recent preseason game, it is once more clear what they still need to do in the transfer window.
