Arne Slot opens his Liverpool career with a win in pre-season action.
In the early hours of July 27th in the UK, an evening match took place between Liverpool and Real Betis in the United States. A 34th-minute goal from Dominik Szoboszlai was enough to give the Reds a win in their first pre-season match as Real Betis failed to find the back of the net. Reflecting back on Arne Slot's first official pre-season match, what were three key takeaways from Liverpool vs Real Betis?
3 key takeaways from Liverpool vs Real Betis: Arne Slot impressed by Trey Nyoni
Takeaway #1: Forward set-up was a matter of availability says Slot
For the time being with Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo being on break and Diogo Jota still getting up to speed, Liverpool do not have anyone with experience at centre-forward.
In their match against Real Betis, Liverpool operated with what looked like two false nines, with Szoboszlai and Elliott operating as number tens playing higher up the pitch with Salah and Carvalho assuming their positions on the field out wide.
Despite this sort of set-up in the match, post-match, Arne Slot made it clear that it was a matter of who was available and not something he saw the club trying during the season (source).
""We don't have a nine at the moment, and we have two number tens who can play that position. We will play during the season with a number nine." "Arne slot to reporter John Gibbons
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