Arne Slot claims Liverpool will play with a 'real striker' when the competitive season gets underway, after selecting Harvey Elliott and Dominik Szoboszlai to spearhead his attack in Friday's 1-0 win over Real Betis.
Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez are yet to join up with their Reds team-mates after competing at major tournaments during the summer. It was therefore left to Elliott and Szoboszlai - two midfielders by trade - to lead the line in Pittsburgh.
And there were certainly signs of encouragement, with Szoboszlai scoring the only goal of the game to restore confidence following a behind-closed-doors defeat to Preston North End earlier this month.
Related articles
After the game, Slot confirmed that neither Szoboszlai nor Elliott will be called upon to spearhead his attack once all his players have reported back for pre-season. "I think during the season you will see us play with a real striker," said the Dutchman.
"But at this moment we have no-one available. That was one of the reasons why we played with a double 10 instead of with a striker. That is maybe out of necessity.
"But for the rest of the style of play with trying to build up from the back, that is our style – to control the game, to not concede constant counter-attacks. That will hopefully be our style during the season. There are also, of course, many things we can improve but that's normal after two weeks."
Slot's starting line-up featured Mohamed Salah on the right and Fabio Carvalho on the left, with Curtis Jones and Wataru Endo anchoring the midfield. Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah, Sepp van den Berg and Kostas Tsimikas lined up at the back as Caoimhin Kelleher took his spot in goal.
But the standout performance of the night came from 17-year-old substitute Trey Nyoni. Slot praised the youngster, who played a vital role in Szboszlai's 34th-minute strike, while urging caution that he may not be physically ready for regular Premier League action just yet.
Related articles
"I think he did really well today but it was only an hour," said the Liverpool boss. "He was one of the reasons why we scored the goal, because he turned really quickly and [played] a spot-on pass in between the lines. And he was also involved in the biggest chance in the second half.
"But he's just turned 17 and his body has to grow, and we are really careful with him. So he doesn't join every session and sometimes he goes out a bit earlier because he only turned 17. You can see his quality. He showed some interesting things today."
