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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

Jurgen Klopp drops big Darwin Nunez hint as Liverpool plan for Man City emerges

If Liverpool are determined to eclipse last season's 63-game marathon that took them to the quadruple's cusp, then this week will at least provide a passable impression of what will be another jam-packed fixture list.

Three games in five days between Wednesday and Sunday is something fitting of the closing stages of last term when it seemed as though the Reds were involved in one football fixture or another virtually every other day in April and May.

But while these summer friendlies are always good, positive workouts to use for the forthcoming season, it's the work that has been undertaken during the double sessions of training out in Austria that will really be beneficial to Klopp's charges going forward.

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This ultimately inconsequential 1-0 loss to Red Bull Salzburg won't live long in the memory, even by the standards of pre-season, but a match against a domestic champion whose campaign is already underway will be more than helpful for the long-term cause at Anfield.

With Manchester City to come in the Community Shield on Saturday evening at the King Power before Sunday's Anfield friendly with Strasbourg, Klopp named something of an experimental lineup and it was perhaps a fleeting glimpse into Liverpool's future as Harvey Elliott (19), Fabio Carvalho (19), Curtis Jones (21), Stefan Bajcetic (17), Isaac Mabaya (17), Darwin Nunez (23), Ibrahima Konate (23) and Joe Gomez (25) all started.

Nunez, who was making his first start, was lively and keen to add to his four goals against RB Leipzig last week. The Uruguayan struck the bar from a tight angle and had another effort well blocked by Bernardo before the half-hour mark. Content to run in behind when the space was there while also acting as the focal point from a target man's perspective, the £64m man has a lot to his game and will have felt the benefit of his 45 minutes.

There is little denial from inside the Liverpool camp that an adjustment in tactics and approach play will be required to extract the best out of Nunez. Klopp has never utilised such an obvious, archetypal No.9 regularly at Anfield before, so there will be a teething process before the 23-year-old is at the sort of level that made him one of the most in-demand strikers in the continent at Benfica last season.

It would have been interesting to have seen how Nunez performed had he remained on the pitch when the bulk of the more established stars arrived on the hour mark, but his start in this one is a hint that Roberto Firmino will be entrusted to lead the line at Fulham on August 6.

The early signs are positive, however. This was another good runout for him in a game that could have brought more goals had some excellent defending not been in his way. The sharpness will come.

Benjamin Sesko gave the hosts the lead with a well-worked goal in the first half. Having escaped the attention of Ibrahima Konate, a one-two with strike partner Noah Okafor ended with the 19-year-old forward slotting past Adrian.

The Austrians are already underway in their own campaign and that much was evident, particularly with some of the tackles that came in. Liverpool's approach play was easy on the eye to a point, but so often the final pass, cross or shot was lacking the finesse that will be evident once the competitive stuff kicks off next month.

Tyler Morton, Firmino and Andy Robertson were introduced for the second period and Elliott almost slid on to the end of the latter's low cross early on as Liverpool searched for a leveller. As expected, the hour mark brought a raft of changes as Klopp sent on Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, Virgil van Dijk, Luis Diaz, Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah.

It meant the final half hour looked a lot more like a familiar lineup and perhaps gave away a big hint as to what the team will be on Saturday when the Reds go head-to-head once more with City in the Community Shield. One suspects the identity of the opponent means there will be an additional source of motivation for the players to strike the first psychological blow of the new campaign, even if very few of them will admit as much publicly.

Almost instantly, Liverpool started to create better quality chances and Diaz should have made it 1-1 after a sweeping move that was started by Thiago and also involved Henderson. Salah was denied by Nico Mantl at his near post after scampering away from one challenge before Firmino was thwarted by the German U21 keeper inside the final 20 minutes.

Diaz, one of the best performers on the night, thought he'd made it 1-1 from Firmino's through ball, but the Brazilian's decision to delay the pass meant his Colombian colleague had strayed marginally offside before an excellent finish.

The final moments were somewhat chaotic as Liverpool laid siege to the Salzburg goal only to find their hosts blocking, tackling and saving everything that came towards them.

Klopp said last week that "the most important part of pre-season starts now" ahead of the trip to their Austrian base and while that was undoubtedly true, it is this Saturday, against City, that the fans will see as the prime period of the summer schedule. On to the King Power they go.

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