Liverpool’s pre-season trip to Asia concludes with a friendly against Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace in Singapore on Friday.
Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace
Pre-Season Friendly (2) | Singapore National Stadium, Singapore
Friday, July 15, 2022 | 1:35pm (BST)
The Reds will take another step forward in their preparations for 2022/23 and will be hoping for a better result than they managed against Man United on Tuesday!
Here, we run through 10 key things to know before the game.
1. Who will play for the Reds?
There was some disappointing team news from Jurgen Klopp on Thursday, who revealed Diogo Jota has suffered a suspected recurrence of the hamstring injury he sustained on international duty with Portugal at the end of last season.
Jota is now set for further tests, but the issue comes at the worst possible time as the Reds look to build fitness for the new season.
He won’t be involved against Palace, while Alisson also looks set to miss out, having picked up a knock in recent days.
Klopp said the Brazilian was unable to finish training on Wednesday and he remained absent from Thursday’s open training session.
The other 35 players were present and, at one stage, there were two XIs clearly training together, which could be an indication of the teams that will play against Palace.
You can find the two XIs that trained together and other team news here.
2. Less players, more minutes?
Having fielded three different XIs in the defeat to United, there is a chance Klopp will allow some players to play 45 minutes rather than 30.
However, speaking to reporters in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, the Liverpool boss was keen to stress that the approach will largely remain the same, with team selection likely to be based around giving most of the squad minutes.
“Some might get 45 minutes tomorrow, we have to see, but again it’s the period of the year where we have to be really careful with different things.
“These are our footballers, these are the only boys we have. We have a lot of them but these are the only ones we have so we have to take care and we bring them in the best possible situation.”
3. 12,000 watch open training
A 35-man Liverpool squad trained in front of 12,000 supporters at an open training session on Thursday at the impressive Singapore National Stadium.
Mohamed Salah was all-smiles and Darwin Nunez was heavily involved once more.
4. 14 senior players missing for Palace
There’s every chance you may not recognise too many players in the Palace line-up, with up to 14 missing from their pre-season tour this summer.
The Eagles were made to leave a host of senior players behind in London for their tour of Singapore and Australia as they “did not meet the entry requirements.”
The Eagles confirmed their travelling squad on Monday and there was a list of missing names, including Wilfried Zaha, Christian Benteke and Eberechi Eze.
“Some of these players are not currently fit and therefore will not travel on tour, whilst some did not meet the entry requirements for Singapore or Australia when travel arrangements were made,” the club said, via The Telegraph.
The latter will relate to their coronavirus vaccination status, but Palace did not confirm which players were recovering from injury and who remain behind due to not having the vaccine.
Not exactly ideal preparation for the new season!
5. More game time for new boys
The game will inevitably give us the opportunity to see more of Fabio Carvalho and Nunez in action, after their first outings for the Reds against United on Tuesday.
Carvalho looked promising, starting the match in a midfield three and hitting the woodwork before his 30-minute introduction came to an end.
Nunez had chances to score himself, most notably an effort he blazed over after a Salah effort had come back off the post.
The Uruguayan seems to be settling in nicely, with Klopp shedding some light on how he believes Nunez can “refresh” his attack earlier this week.
A goal sooner rather than later would be nice please, Darwin!
6. “It is not my favourite thing to do!”
Klopp’s pre-match press conference offered a reminder as to why pre-season ‘tours’ aren’t really his thing.
The Liverpool boss clearly enjoys the opportunity to meet some fanatical supporters who are not often able to make it to Anfield, but in terms of training and preparing for the new season, it’s not always easy!
“These trips are really a wonderful, cool thing. The only problem is you have to fly 14 or 15 hours and you train at completely different times.
“The humidity is not exactly what we are used to. So, it is good and not so good, but the best thing about it is we come closer to our fanbase. Our fanbase here in Asia, we know how big it is and we know how important it is to come here and we love doing it.
“From a training point of view, and first and foremost I am a coach, it is not my favourite thing to do because if we can go to Austria for two weeks and train twice a day, that would be better.”
7. “He’s tall!” – You’re not wrong, Robbo
Andy Robertson had some nice things to say about Darwin Nunez in his pre-match press conference on Thursday and is confident the Uruguayan will be able to hit the ground running this season.
“He’s tall! But, look, he has obviously come in, we haven’t been back for too long, but we have to let him settle in.
“He’s looked good in training, and the Brazilian boys and everyone that speaks his language have helped him a lot.
“I don’t think me and him have had many conversations yet, we’ve just kind of smiled at each other, but that will come.”
8. Remember the last time we played Palace in Asia?
Crystal Palace in pre-season, you say?
It’s been nearly five years to the day since Liverpool beat Palace to win the Premier League Asia Trophy in Hong Kong.
At that time, Mohamed Salah had just arrived, Dominic Solanke caught the eye and Philippe Coutinho was set to push for a move to Barcelona.
Only seven of the 22 players that featured for Liverpool that day are still playing their football at Anfield.
Liverpool’s team that day: Mignolet; Alexander-Arnold (Flanagan 46′), Matip (Klavan 46′), Gomez (Lovren 46′), Moreno (Milner 46′); Henderson (Solanke 50′), Lallana (Grujic 48′), Woodburn (Wijnaldum 48′); Salah (Kent 50′), Firmino (Coutinho 48′), Sturridge (Origi 48′)
What else do you remember from this game?
9. Singapore National Stadium
The venue for this friendly is rather impressive, as the Reds found out during their open training session on Thursday!
Liverpool did play at the stadium in a friendly against Singapore during their pre-season tour in 2007, but the arena has since undergone reconstruction.
The record attendance at the Singapore National Stadium is 52,987, recorded during a friendly between Man United and Inter Milan three years ago. It remains to be seen whether this game will generate the same sort of attention!
10. Follow TIA’s live blog
Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace is available to watch on LFCTV GO from 1pm (BST), with kickoff taking place at 1:35pm.
However, if you don’t subscribe, This Is Anfield will be providing you with regular updates in our live blog, which you’ll be able to access from 1pm.
Jack Sear will be the man keeping you company!
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