Written by Lewis Thompson – @LewisGThompson
Today is officially the first day of Liverpool’s pre-season. A crucial period when it comes to preparing for a new season for all football clubs worldwide. It is a time where you can test different tactics, experiment with young and new players and overall get a sense of where your squad is at and how they are performing before the start of the new season.
For Liverpool, they have numerous amounts of games where Jurgen and the rest of his staff will have the chance to test the waters and give new signings like Nunez and Carvalho, as well as youth talent, the opportunity to get up to scratch with the rest of the squad before the start of the new season.
First up on the schedule is a trip to Thailand to play our good old friends, Manchester United. The match will be played on Tuesday, July 12th at the Rajamangala Stadium, with a kick-off time of 2 pm BST. It is the first time that the Reds have returned to the stadium in Thailand since their 2015/16 pre-season tour. It is located in Hua Mak Subdistrict, Bang Kapi, Bangkok with a capacity of just over 50,000. New Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag will be looking to get off to a good start as a tough season looms. United have yet to make any signings in the current summer transfer window.
Following the game in Bangkok, Liverpool then travel 1,147 miles south to take on Patrick Viera’s Crystal Palace in Singapore. The match will be for the 2022 Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy and it will be the Reds’ third visit to Singapore since 2001, also visiting in 2009. The fixture will take place on Friday, July 15th, kicking off at 1.35 pm BST. As the centrepiece of the Singapore Sports Hub project, the Singapore National Stadium, based in Kallang, has a capacity of 55,000.
So far this window, Palace have managed to sign goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, former West Brom player and England international as well as Malcolm Ebiowei, a right-winger who played his football at Derby County last season. Both on free transfers.
Liverpool then leave Southeast Asia and return to Europe for a game against German side, RB-Leipzig. Thursday, July 21st is the official date of the fixture with a 6.15 pm BST kick-off. The match will take place in the Red Bull Arena, with a capacity of just over 53,000. The Reds have a small history with the Red Bull side, previously playing around 18 months ago in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Mane and Salah scored in both legs to make the overall score a 4-0 win for Liverpool on aggregate.
Leipzig have had a fairly busy transfer window so far, signing centre-midfielder Xaver Schlager from Vfl Wolfsburg for a fee of 12 million Euros. They also picked up goalkeeper Janis Blaswich on a free transfer.
Six days after the encounter with Leipzig, Liverpool then travel to Austria to take on Red Bull Salzburg at the Red Bull Arena Salzburg. A 7 pm kick-off on Wednesday, July 7th will be Liverpool’s final outing before the first competitive encounter of the new campaign. The stadium in Salzburg holds over 30,000 people and the last time the two sides met at the ground, was in a friendly back in 2020, 8 months after Liverpool beat them 2-0 in the 2019/2020 Champions League group stages.
Salzburg have been quite active in the summer window so far bringing in Strahinja Pavlovic, a centre-back from Ligue 1 side Monaco, Fernando, a centre-forward from Shaktar Donestk and Karim Konate, another centre-forward brought in from Cote d’Ivoire side ASEC Mimosas. The three signings set Salzburg back just shy of 15 million pounds.
After that, the opportunity for the first piece of silverware comes as we take on Manchester City at the King Power Stadium. The Community Shield will take place on Saturday, July 30th at 5 pm. Leicester City’s home ground is hosting the game due to Wembley not being available because of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Final. We all know the qualities that City possess and the additions of Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips, for a combined fee just short of 100 million this summer, will only make the title race even more competitive than it already has been.
Finally, just a day after the meeting with Man City, Liverpool finish their pre-season against RC Strasbourg Alsace on Sunday, July 31st at Anfield with a kick-off time of 7.30 pm BST. The French side finished 6th in Ligue 1 last season and will be Jurgen’s last chance to test his players before travelling to London to face newly-promoted Fulham just six days later.
Pre-season has officially arrived and we can’t wait to get back to watching the mighty Reds!
