Van Dijk has been out since last October and days later Gomez was also sidelined for the year, leaving a big hole in defence to fill for Liverpool last season.
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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that he will not risk playing defenders Virgil van Dijk or Joe Gomez in pre-season friendlies until they are fully ready to return. Both players have been sidelined through injuries for a very long period. Van Dijk has been out since last October with an ACL injury, and days later Gomez was also sidelined when he did damage to his left knee which ultimately needed surgery. They left a big hole in defence to fill for Liverpool last season as the club failed to retain the Premier League title, which was eventually won by Manchester City. Both centre-backs have been training with Liverpool in their pre-season camp in Austria.
However, they have not featured in friendlies till now and their manager Jurgen Klopp believes it is unlikely that they will play any minutes in their next game against Hertha Berlin on July 29. “It would still be a surprise [if they played against Hertha], unfortunately,” Klopp told LFC TV after the 1-0 win over Mainz on Friday. “They look really good. But look, they do everything, they play football, we do the things we can do, they don’t do too much, we just have to be patient. We prepare for a full season, not a pre-season game. I will not risk it for a game here. We have a lot of games still coming, but I don’t see them being involved for the next one.”
Luca Kilian’s late own goal was the difference in Austria on Friday and Klopp seemed content with what he saw. “You always have to consider what you did the day before. We had a double session [Thursday], trained this morning, and this is exactly what you need. Good intensive stuff, and try to play the best football you can. It’s pre-season. I am happy about a lot of situations I saw. First half I saw some really good football, we passed the ball quite quickly against a good organised side, a good defending side. It was far away from being perfect, but it is absolutely OK,” he added.
“The kids forced for a result in the second half, and they got it, so I’m happy about that. We had to defend of course; organisation-wise it’s not even close to where we have to be, but how is that? When you’re tired you try to bring the best organisation possible on the pitch, it’s never about 100 per cent. I think the boys did that today, and so I am happy. Nobody injured, which is important, everybody came through, so fine.”
Summer signing Ibrahima Konate was also part of the team in the friendly, however, Jurgen Klopp changed his entire side at half-time. “Harvey Elliott in the first half was really good. The kids are doing well I must say. I really enjoy watching them, and helping them to understand the game better, the position, they have to be brave otherwise it’s a waste of time,” he added.
“In our system, how we play, we have to make the difference in one-vs-one situations, you get the ball, if you can make a little difference with a little acceleration, all of a sudden the game changes. We did that, Owen (Beck) did that in a couple of times, Kaide (Gordon) did it as well. We had good balls in behind for Divock (Origi). Billy (Koumetio) played his first game of pre-season, was OK as well, so all fine.”
