The Reds have yet to bring in any new players but are nonetheless shaping up well ahead of the 2024-25 campaign
Arne Slot will have Liverpool's full complement of players available to him for the first time on Tuesday morning. Remarkably, his will be the most notable new face in the group that assembles at the club's AXA Training centre at Kirkby, as the Reds remain the only Premier League team yet to make a signing during the summer transfer window.
Given Liverpool's campaign begins at Portman Road in less than two weeks' time, the tension is unsurprisingly rising around Anfield right now. The nagging fear is that the Dutchman's hopes of a successful first season in charge will be undermined by the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) and their perceived parsimony.
Restlessness hasn't yet given way to outrage, though. For one thing, Jurgen Klopp left the first-team squad in rude health, leading Liverpool back into the Champions League after a successful midfield overhaul last summer, while at the same time winning the Carabao Cup with 'kids'.
Secondly, new sporting director Richard Hughes said as soon as he arrived on Merseyside as part of a major overhaul of the club's sporting hierarchy that he expects a relatively quiet summer to come to a "crescendo" shortly before deadline day. Liverpool, then, are still likely to make at least a couple of meaningful moves between now and the end of the month.
However, the supporters' relatively restrained reaction to the lack of transfer activity also owes an awful lot to the Reds' near-perfect pre-season programme under their new coach, who couldn't have hoped for a better start to his quest to emulate his esteemed predecessor by turning doubters into believers.
GettyPerfect U.S. tour
It's always foolish to read too much into friendlies, of course. At this time of the summer, when so many star men are still recovering from the effects of major international tournaments, top teams rarely field their first-choice XIs, and even when they do, it's never for more than 45 minutes.
However, just as problems can be exposed in pre-season, grounds for optimism can also be detected, and it would have been difficult for even the most cautious of supporters not to have been excited by what they saw of Slot's Liverpool during their tour of the United States.
The Reds beat Real Betis 1-0 in Pittsburgh before defeating Arsenal 2-1 in Philadelphia and then routing Manchester United 3-0 in Columbia. Three games, three wins, six goals scored, just one conceded – the numbers were impressive, but the performances even more so.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesPatience in possession
Liverpool by no means played 'Total Football' in each and every outing, but there were fantastic flashes of quality, encouragingly early evidence of what Slot's style is all about. The Reds were bold and brave on the ball, always looking to build from the back and beat the opposition press with swift exchanges of passes in the tightest of spaces deep inside their own half.
Some of the goals scored in the States were outstanding, with Liverpool displaying admirable patience in possession before tearing teams to shreds with sudden bursts of brilliance.
Hughes has already admitted that Slot was considered the ideal candidate to succeed Klopp because of their similar styles of play and, against Arsenal, we saw evidence of the devastating transitions that characterised the German's time at the helm. The game's opening goal felt like classic Klopp, with Liverpool turning defence into attack in a matter of seconds thanks to a measured pass from Caoimhin Kelleher and some fine one-touch football involving Diogo Jota and Harvey Elliott that resulted in Mohamed Salah racing away to score in familiar fashion.
Early signs of Slot's style
Slot's influence was also evident beforehand, though, in the way in which Liverpool won possession in their own third but, rather than immediately looking to drive forward, they worked the ball back to Kelleher because of a lack of options up front – before then looking to get forward as quickly as possible.
It was a similar story against United, with Liverpool content to hold onto the ball at the back until an opening presented itself. The third goal was a perfect case in point, with Ryan Gravenberch, playing in a deeper midfield role, exchanging passes with the centre-halves before finding Elliott in between the lines.
On this occasion, the versatile Englishman required a second touch, but his involvement was no less decisive, as he quickly released Conor Bradley on the right wing, and the Northern Irishman's delightful one-two with Salah resulted in Kostas Tsimikas tapping home a rebound from Jota's low shot.
GettyPerfectionist
Slot himself acknowledged that Liverpool scored some "really nice goals" in the U.S., but it was interesting to note that he wasn't entirely happy with his side's performances. For example, the most resounding win may have come against United, but the former Feyenoord boss was unhappy with the amount of chances given up and felt that the final scoreline flattered his team.
Even more tellingly, Slot also lamented the fact that his side lost "control" of the contest at times, offering real insight into exactly what he hopes to achieve at Anfield.
The objective will clearly be to deprive opponents of as much possession as possible – which is an utterly unsurprising approach from a coach that has never hidden his admiration for Pep Guardiola's footballing philosophy.
For that reason, it has already been argued that Slot's style of play might be less punishing on the players than that of Klopp, whose relentless Reds were eventually worn down by the very approach that enabled them to overwhelm opponents. It's still very, very early days, of course, but the early signs are that Liverpool will look to tame teams – rather than throttle them.