Liverpool might have sold Luis Diaz this summer, with Darwin Nunez quite possibly following him out the door, but there’s already plenty of fledgling attacking talent waiting to step up!
Rio Ngumoha has been turning numerous heads in pre-season and caught the eye once again with an outstanding solo goal inside the first 90 seconds of the friendly against Athletic Bilbao on Monday evening.
He wasn’t the only teenage Reds forward to score in the first half of Act 1 of the Anfield double header, with Ben Doak scoring our third goal shortly before the interval as his powerful shot was too hot for visiting goalkeeper Alex Padilla to handle.
Doak praised after superb showing for Liverpool
As the Scotland international was substituted for Jayden Danns 10 minutes into the second half, Lewis Bower – who provides independent coverage of the Liverpool FC academy – took to X to heap praise on the 19-year-old after his fine showing against the LaLiga side.
The journalist posted: “Delighted for Ben Doak, those who’ve followed me for a long time know I’ve insisted he shouldn’t be written off. And well, as for having Doak and Ngumoha as a pair, there mightn’t be a better pair of U20 wingers at a club in the world.”
Will Doak get much of a look-in at Liverpool this season?
Doak was on loan at Middlesbrough last season and has made just 10 senior competitive appearances for Liverpool (totalling 307 minutes), and he was ruled out of last week’s friendly against Yokohama F. Marinos due to a bizarre bureaucratic issue.
The Scot could find regular first-team football hard to come by at Anfield in the short-term, with the considerable presence of Mo Salah blocking his pathway to the starting XI, but he did his reputation no harm with his 55-minute display against Athletic Bilbao.
Shortly before his goal, the 19-year-old tested Padilla with a long-range effort that the visiting goalkeeper needed to get all of his body behind, and he caused all sorts of problems for left-back Unai Gomez with his direct running.
Arne Slot will no doubt have been highly encouraged by Doak’s performance this evening, with the Liverpool youngster doing exactly what the head coach would’ve wanted by making the most of his opportunity to impress.
I will repeat the point I have been making lately….LFC has only to look at Barcelona to see the impact of their youngsters on the team!! Yes bring in your isak’s and pthers into the squad, and pair them with these teenagers to create a momentum that finishes off oppositions. Let them run defences ragged by offering a different dimension in matches, more like the bomb squad in rugby!! Unleash them and make them win every football trophy on offer for LFC‼️
Brilliant observation. I couldn’t agree more. It is so encouraging to see our younger players stepping up and competing for a spot in a world class team if not the best assembled squad.
What about Harvey Elliott then why is he being sold!!!!
All looks great as an attacking unit. Midfield looks solid and constructive. Defensively too high too open and will concede too easily v counter attacks & set pieces. Defender or too should be our priority forget isac until this gap is filled.
Very correct. We have to solidify our defence as a matter of priority even before Isak
Totally agree, need centre-back backups for sure, especially if we’re gonna be pushing for all trophies
Great performance from both squads, but the defence still remains the area of concern. We need a solid back four to push back opposition strikers and stop every counterattack and through balls. When this is done, we will claim all the available trophies!
I also think defensive midfield is thin, too. Are Gravenberch and Endo enough cover? Thought LFC needed to reinforce with someone with similar attributes to Caicedo at Chelsea and Zubimendi at Arsenal. Adding another central defender would definitely relieve the pressure on Van Dijk and Konate, too.