Brendan Rodgers got the result and, for the most part, the performance he would have been asking for in Helsinki tonight. The Reds were particularly impressive in the second-half, moving the ball quickly and taking chances.
Divock Origi and Philippe Coutinho scored two late goals after the Finnish champions had frustrated us for long periods, regularly putting all their men behind the ball and defending stoutly.
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Here are five things we learned from the game:
5) Joe Gomez is edging closer to the Stoke team
The youngster was excellent tonight. The progress he’s made in such a short space of time has been truly outstanding. He’s gone from one for the future – likely to be loaned back to a Championship side – to a decent back-up option, to genuine competition, to almost guaranteed starter in the space of four weeks. Alberto Moreno better have a very good game against Swindon tomorrow, or he’ll be sitting on the bench come our trip to Stoke.
4) Simon Mignolet still doesn’t like crosses
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar famously described our number one as ‘Dracula’ last season, due to his repeated failure to deal with crosses (via Daily Mail). Judging on tonight’s evidence, not much has changed. The Belgian had very little to do in the game itself, but still managed to fumble two routine crosses, one of which should have led to the opening goal for the home side. Mignolet has made a lot of improvements over the last six months, but the only man likely to have enjoyed tonight’s performance was Adam Bogdan.
3) Divock Origi and Danny Ings are dead level
There were a lot of Liverpool fans getting on Origi’s back after his no-show against the Malaysia XI last time out. However, we must remember that this guy is still only a kid, he’s going to have off nights. He was much better today, having come off the bench to replace Danny Ings mid-way through the second-half. He took his goal nicely and was a real menace for the twenty or so minutes he was on the field. In contrast, Ings struggled somewhat, despite showing his usual high work-rate. He toiled away without success and will have come off disappointed.
2) Jordon Ibe needs to be the first name on the teamsheet
This guy is just getting better and better with every passing game – who needs Raheem Sterling? The teenager was thoroughly impressive once again tonight, setting up the first goal for Origi and causing constant problems down the right-hand side. The 4-2-3-1 formation, with Ibe and Lallana wide of Coutinho, was interesting. It allowed Jordon to play as a more traditional winger and this suited him down to the ground – as he constantly got the better of a rather hopeless full-back. It’ll be interesting to see what set-up we get against both Swindon and Stoke.
1) Pre-Season can be very, very dull
The first-half of this game was one of the worst 45 minutes of football we can remember watching in a very long time. There was only one chance of note, the HJK header which went over the bar, and at times it looked like little more than a glorified training game. By the break, we were all very much asking when the real football was going to be starting again. Thankfully, it was much better after the interval. The guys came out with a new intensity and moved the ball much quicker – something that eventually led to the positive result. Still… five down, one to go.
