The pre-season period is often not an accurate measure of a team's strength. However, for Liverpool, two consecutive defeats against Leeds and Monaco are showing notable problems as the new season is less than two weeks away from starting.
Last summer, Arsenal lost to Tottenham and Villarreal in the preparation stage, but then still won the Premier League title and was only a penalty shootout away from the Champions League title. Therefore, friendly results should not be overestimated.
Liverpool also has positive signs under Andoni Iraola. Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak both impressed, in which each scored a goal against Monaco. However, fitness and squad depth issues are causing the new coach to worry.
Iraola's playing style requires very high intensity of pressing. Bournemouth of his last season was in the top group of the Premier League in terms of the number of accelerations. Meanwhile, Liverpool only performed the third fewest pressures and the second fewest high pressing times in the opponent's half in the league.
Iraola admitted after the match against Monaco that the players currently can only maintain the required intensity for about 30 minutes each match. This is a big problem when The Kop will start the Premier League with an away match at Newcastle on August 23.
Another sign that also makes the coaching staff think is the playing time of the key players. While Manchester City, Arsenal and Aston Villa all had at least 5 starting players playing 75 minutes or more in friendly matches last weekend, Liverpool only had 3 players playing an hour. Newcastle also had 6 players playing at least 67 minutes against Valencia.
That is especially worrying when most of the starting lineup against Monaco is likely to still be used in the match against Newcastle. These players helped Liverpool lead 2-0 and showed part of the playing style that Iraola wanted to build, but they still could not maintain the intensity throughout the match.
The squad depth therefore became an urgent issue. While Chelsea could put Nicolas Jackson, Geovany Quenda and Estevao on the field from the bench to defeat AC Milan 3-0, Liverpool had to use Wataru Endo and Luke Chambers in the center-back position for most of the second half of the match against Monaco.
Ronald Araujo is an important addition, but Liverpool still only has two experienced center-backs. Conor Bradley still needs a few months to return, while Jeremy Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni and Joe Gomez all have injury problems. In the opposite direction, Kostas Tsimikas and Milos Kerkez have recovered and brought more options for Iraola.
In attack, the "Reds" still need more options to reduce the gap after Mohamed Salah's departure. Victor Munoz may be an option on the wing, but the team needs more than that. Cody Gakpo is receiving attention from Tottenham, while Curtis Jones is absent in the defeat to Monaco and is still in Inter Milan's sights.
Liverpool spent more than 400 million pounds last summer, so the fact that the squad is still lacking depth in many positions raises many questions. However, part of the problem stems from unexpected injuries rather than a complete mistake in the recruitment plan.
Iraola has very little time to solve his weaknesses, especially in the wing forward and midfield positions. The recent friendly matches may not accurately reflect Liverpool's strength, but have revealed quite clearly the problems that Iraola needs to solve before the Premier League opens.
