Liverpool trained at Melwood on Monday morning ahead of their trip to Naples for their first Champions League group stage game and the squad looked in good shape.
Jurgen Klopp held a brief meeting out on the pitch before the Reds got underway with their warmup and some light ball work, which Pepijn Lijnders took the lead with as usual.
Despite winning the Champions League last season, Liverpool’s away performances in the group stage a year ago were somewhat less-than-impressive; they’ll be aiming to improve markedly on that, and in the results attained, this time around.
It’s the hardest game first this year, with Napoli being a regular foe over the last couple of years, so the boss is likely to revert to his strongest team after making a couple of changes at the weekend.
Divock Origi was not in training, having gone off injured against Newcastle—Naby Keita and Alisson are the other first-team absentees—but that means there’s a space in the squad for a young attacker to emerge, quite possibly Rhian Brewster.
Fellow youngsters Sepp van den Berg, Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones also trained with the seniors, along with Ki-Jana Hoever—who is not in the Champions League squad.
More worryingly for the Reds, Andy Robertson was not part of the training squad, with Klopp noting him as having taken a minor knock after the Anfield game on Saturday.
While Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain started in midfield, it could be that Klopp opts to bring back captain Jordan Henderson to the lineup.
Roberto Firmino will also certainly return, having been instrumental and unstoppable once more after coming off the bench at the weekend.
And, given the goalscoring form of the duo of late and how difficult a game it’s likely to be, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane will complete the attacking lineup, as the Reds look to improve on not scoring or getting a point at the San Paolo last season.
James Milner, Xherdan Shaqiri and Joe Gomez will be among those hoping to see game time after short sub outings and bench duty recently.
Full Liverpool squad in training
Goalkeepers: Adrian, Kelleher, Lonergan
Defenders: Matip, Van Dijk, Gomez, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van den Berg, Hoever
Midfielders: Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Milner, Jones, Lallana
Forwards: Firmino, Salah, Mane, Shaqiri, Brewster, Elliott
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