Continuing the discussion from Liverpool FC - Pre-season (Part 1) - #5037 by SixpenceNun.
Previous discussions:
First? 
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This ended up being the last post of the other thread 
first friendlies announced
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Fixtures announced on the 19th of June.
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I can see there being more interest than usual with the new coach coming in.
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Albert Moreno now plays for Como I believe.
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As things stand, won’t be there anymore as his contract expires on June 30th.
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It’s written in the stars…
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In America prior to that.
The lads should just stay there and wait after the world cup, crazy that it ends on the 19th and Our friendlies start 6 days later. Wonder if they will squeeze one in against Preston prior to that or the like.
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Hopefully we don’t have those stupid ‘half way across the Globe’ tours this season.
I’ve seen us advertising the game against Wrexham as an essentially low cost alternative to the World Cup.
But the cheapest ticket I can find it $100 so not exactly bottom tier pricing!
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The first tickets I looked at were about $450 each. I ended up getting some pretty bad tickets for about $150 each
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Thinking ahead to what the travelling squad to USA would look like. Sounds like Iraola is keen to give the World Cup players that tour off (which makes sense) and is ready to look at the lads out on loan and youth prospects. This would be a 32-man squad which is slightly larger than Slot was taking (28 & 29 in each of his pre-season tours) but Klopp was normally in the low to mid 30s.
| GK | RB | CB | LB | CM | W | CF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mamardashvili | Gomez | Jacquet | Kerkez | Szoboszlai | Elliott | Danns |
| Woodman | Ramsay | Leoni | Tsimikas | Jones | Chiesa | Wright |
| Pecsi | Mabaya | Lucky | Beck | Nyoni | Ngumoha | |
| Davies | Stephenson | Nallo | Chambers | Bajcetic | Morrison | |
| Ndiaye | Scanlon | McConnell | Gordon | |||
| Abe | ||||||
| Koumas |
I imagine he’ll be relying on existing staff to tell him which youth prospects to use and some of these may already have transfers or loans lined up. Stephenson for example was set to join Bolton a couple of weeks ago but I saw on his instagram he’s on holiday so that may not be as close as reported, and Iraola coming in might tempt a few to at least give pre-season a go before leaving.
Jaros looks like he will miss out due to a knee injury he got at Ajax which forced him to miss the World Cup.
Quite a few of these lads are reaching that point where it is stick or twist with their careers. Likes of Ramsay, Mabaya, Stephenson, Beck, Scanlon, Bajcetic and Gordon might feel like it’s their time to move on unless they particularly impress on tour. I still hold out hope for Stephenson and Bajcetic.
A few names that could perhaps be called up to a pre-season team but I didn’t mention above would be…
Kornel Misciur, GK, 19 - Polish youth international signed from Hull City has been on the bench in the Premier League.
Prince Cisse, CB, 17 - Djibril’s son. Came into the U18s as a CF, played RB due to injury crisis and has now transitioned to CB where he suddenly emerged as a really impressive prospect and scored on his U21 debut.
Carter Pinnington, CB, 19 - Towering scouser is an England U18 international and gets used all over defence.
Joe Bradshaw, RW, 17 - Doesn’t get many mentions compared to more famous prospects but is always really impressive when I see him. Might be one of those slow-burn prospects. Scored 10 in 10 for the U18s, very fast and tricky winger.
Kyle Kelly, CM, 20 - Interesting one as I think he could get the call-up despite only establishing himself in the U21 team as 20 years old. St Kitts and Nevis international, finally got a run in the team at the back end of last season and was really impressive in the holding role. Probably not a first team calibre player long-term but could definitely see him getting brought along.
Keyrol Figueroa, CF, 19 - Maynor’s son and probably the biggest name that I left off my squad list. Does have a chance of going especially with the lack of striker options that will be available. He’s a bull of a striker, very physical and coming off an excellent U21 season where he scored 12 goals in 15 games.
Josh Sonni-Lambie, CF, 18 - Liverpool’s academy policy changed this season by taking the focus off forced early promotions through the ages. Sonni-Lambie will be one they point to for the benefits of that system. The 18-year-old managed just 10 goals in his first 45 U18 appearances before going on a tear this season with 19 goals in 29 games. Hasn’t stepped up the U21s very often but will have to this season due to his age. Could potentially be rewarded for fine form with a chance to travel with the first team.
I’m also not sure when Ifeanwi Ndukwe is supposed to get here but I imagine if that is before the tour he will probably come along (18 year old Austrian CB signed from Austria Wein. Recently made his first team debut but has spent most of his time in their reserve team which I think play in the 2nd division in Austria?)
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I am actually quite surprised that the destination for the pre-season is in the US. Wouldn’t the people be all broke after the World Cup? Or is FSG banking on the continuous excitement from the WC and the fans will come out in droves to watch us (and we do have a massive fanbase in North America too)?
Yeah, that is a consideration, but two of the games are in big cities that aren’t involved in the world cup so there will probably be a lot of appetite from local fans to see something live. And the third is NYC which is big enough to do big things every day of the year.
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I think quite a lot of people will have been outpriced, so actually this would be an affordable alternative.
I don’t think Jaros was going to the WC anyway. It’s been a while since he last got called up and played for them.
When Ifeanyi Ndukwe some journalist reported that it was planned for him to begin pre-season with us. But that was also a different coaching staff and since there’s also been some new players (like Ndiaye).
We’ll see, I don’t think Iraola already decided on all these names.
What about the other CB signing Ifeanyi Ndukwe highly rated, reckon he will be looked at.
Hadn’t read to the end when I put that was just looking at the list, I think he is with us for the start of this season?
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Bottom of the post! I’m just not sure when he’s supposed to be joining but if he’s here then yeah probably.
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