???️ Liverpool pre-season summary

Mondays are a time of reflection wishing it was still the weekend and full of hope that the working week will fly by. More so now that The Premier League is back in action this weekend.This summer has been nothing short of mental abuse. Daily newspapers fill their articles with conflicting reports on player transfers, leaving readers with their minds sizzled. Almost to the point where they could make any old crap up and you would think it’s a possibility.Obviously their main angle is to create click bait and sell papers but on that merit, couldn’t we all be journalists? I will give the Liverpool reporters credit to be fair, they must be able to type VVD and Keita quicker than you can say FSG out.Back to reflection now. Besides all that transfer talk we have been able to discuss football over the past few weeks with Liverpool having a somewhat successful pre-season.Success was something which was highlighted rather awkwardly by Mark Lawrenson during his painful yet entertaining commentary stint for LFCTV. Honestly, he had a point. We now live in a era where unfortunately football is also a business rather than a hobby.  Therefore Liverpool Football Club are required to make trips across the world in order to fulfil the financial and marketing side, which of course they succeeded having made trips to Australia, Hong Kong, Germany and Dublin.Success can also be measured by performances and results. In my opinion Liverpool also succeeded in those departments too. Ok, there were a few moments where defenders lapsed in concentration but there’s nothing new there as far us Liverpool fans are concerned.So let’s look at the stats;Wins: 6Draws: 2Losses: 0 (Lost on pens)GF: 19GA: 4Reads quite nicely doesn’t it. Of course when you play teams such as Wigan and Tranmere (No disrespect) it is difficult to measure improvement and the level in which the team is at. Having said that it has allowed the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Kent, Ben Woodburn and Joe Gomez to shine. Individually and collectively they have all impressed. Jurgen Klopp integrated them into the team towards the back end of last season in which they looked boys amongst men. But now they genuinely look like players you feel confident could do a job going into the new season.There is much to be said of buying in players at £40m a pop in order to improve your squad but Jurgen Klopp has also argued the case of developing youngsters can also prove to be beneficial. I’m not suggesting that Ben Woodburn will be the next Lewandowski but the principle remains the same. Are we starting to see that method being developed?Besides the one or two defensive lapses it has been an exciting and impressive pre season. New signings always bring that excitement and none more so than Mo Salah. I thought Sadio Mane was fast but Mo has pace to burn! To see Mo, Sadio and Bobby all together left me wanting to see more.Then there is Dom Solanke. Now without getting to ahead of myself he has been an outstanding buy. We have previously looked at his stats for some shows and he is a consistent and clinical finisher. Something at times we lack. It’s great to look the squad or bench and be pleased to have different options. Only a few years ago we had Lambert, Balloteli and Borini as our attacking options. Now we have Bobby, Sturridge, Solanke, Ings and Origi. Who are effectively competing for one spot. Competition can only be healthy. Having that depth will also relieve some pressure on Daniel Sturridge as we wont rely on him as previous seasons. So when he does inevitably get injured we won’t fume as much as Big Dom can come into the fold. We have also seen a glimpse of resurgence from Alberto Moreno. Humble pie has been the order of pre-season from the Spaniard. Against Bayern Munich he was immense and against Bilbao he also put in a good shift. A few weeks ago I, like a lot of other Liverpool fans would have said sell him. But now I am torn. There’s a huge amount of games to be played this season, particularly if we want to do well in cup competitions. I think he is far from first choice but Klopp clearly backs him so I see no reason (besides that Europa League Final) why we as fans shouldn’t.Overall I think we can be pleased with how the footballing side of pre-season has gone. An injury to Adam Lallana and the scare of Daniel Sturridge being injured again has kind of clouded it somewhat.  Going forward we have an improved squad on last year and another pre season under Jurgen Klopp.Who has stood out for you this pre season? Are you happy with the squad (besides a centre back)?Let me know in the comments below Ross Chandley