Jurgen Klopp admitted his side were well below-par as they fell to a 1-0 friendly defeat against RB Salzburg.
Liverpool begain their pre-season fixtures by losing to Manchester United and now going into Saturday’s Community Shield against Manchester City off the back of another defeat, though results are certainly not yet the full priority headed into the new season.
Klopp named an inexperienced side against Salzburg, with Luis Diaz, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah introduced on the hour mark with the Reds a goal down. The cavalry were unable to find an equaliser.
The focus now shifts to Wembley, though the Liverpool boss has warned his players there is plenty to improve.
“First half we made too many mistakes, which they could use,” Klopp told the club’s official website.
“We had good moments as well, we could have scored obviously in the whole game like four or five goals at least. Didn’t do that because we were in the first half – if you want to talk about football – we were too open, we were too wide, we were not connected enough in moments when you lose the ball.
“Then everything is open, it’s like a motorway, and with their speed that’s how they had their chances, especially when you lose simple passes where nobody can react really.”
He added: “We played the game out of full training. We had to make a lot of changes – that’s fine, I take that. But what I can say: it’s really at least average to lose a game.”
Darwin Nunez started the match but was unable to find the kind of goalscoring touch he produced against RB Leipzig, when he scored four goals in a half.
Liverpool’s big-money signing has come under a lot of scrutiny in pre-season, but Klopp defended the striker for his quiet display up against the Salzburg defence.
“Darwin was much too often alone,” Klopp said. “Everybody dropped, everybody was involved in the build-up but too wide and we could only pass the ball to Darwin in the box.
“He had his moments and nearly scored, but he needs much more support around him.”
