Ian Doyle with the Liverpool analysis after the Far East tour comes to an end with a 3-1 win over Yokohama F Marinos in Japan
Ibrahima Konate of Liverpool during the friendly match against Yokohama F Marinos at Nissan Stadium on July 30 2025 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan(Image: Kenta Harada/Getty Images)
Arne Slot didn’t mince his words afterwards. And for good reason was the Liverpool boss less than impressed with some of his team’s defending.
Having been regularly undone on the counter-attack by AC Milan in Hong Kong, there there was a similar story against a Yokohama side that, while lacking in quality, were busy and physical opponents in the middle of their domestic season.
While Giorgi Mamardashvili kept out an opportunity on the break in the first half, there was no such respite 10 minutes after the interval when, with Ibrahima Konate caught out of position, Asahi Uenaka opened the scoring.
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It wasn’t a great evening for Konate, who appeared lackadaisical and had been caught in possession for the earlier chance. But a combination of new signings – Mamardashvili and left-back Milos Kerkez were in the starting defence – still adjusting and a lack of continuity in other areas has contributed to defensive failings as a whole.
True, the heavy training workload and heat of the Asia tour will have had an effect.
But the wider trend is that since winning at Paris Saint-Germain in early March, Liverpool’s defending as a team has lacked intensity, 18 goals conceded in the final 12 games of last season and a further six shipped in four friendlies this summer.
The Reds conceded only five goals in their first 12 games under Slot last term. It’s a clear area for improvement.
Salah still the king
Florian Wirtz netted his first goal of any kind for Liverpool and Rio Ngumoha stole the show with his second-half cameo. But if this hard-earned win proved anything, it’s that Mohamed Salah remains the Reds’ most important player going into the new season.
Salah has shown he can adapt throughout his eight years at Anfield, and with a plethora of new recruits around him – ranging from right-back Jeremie Frimpong, attacking midfielder Wirtz and striker Hugo Ekitike – another sizeable change has now arrived.
The Egyptian, though, persists. And as well as being sharp and lively, he appears to have acquired a new weapon in his already-extensive armoury.
A pinpoint, first-time diagonal ball over the top sent Ekitike scurrying away inside the opening minute, before similar passes found Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo in good positions running towards goal.
There were once again signs of an understanding with Wirtz – whose gait is eerily reminiscent of Trent Alexander-Arnold – and it was Salah’s ball that was touched across by Curtis Jones for the Germany international to coolly finish to draw Liverpool level shortly after the hour.
And with that, Salah departed, his job done for the evening. Everything points to him being primed for when the real stuff begins next month.
Ekitike bow as Macca returns
It has been a whirlwind week for Hugo Ekitike. And this was the first sighting of the French striker as a Liverpool player since making his initial £69million move from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ekitike started well enough when expertly controlling Salah’s long pass before being hounded out of play. There was also a clever improvised flick when attempting to convert Conor Bradley’s pull-back at the near post.
But while he understandably soon faded having had barely a few days working with his new team-mates, there was sufficient evidence to suggest Ekitike can offer the forward line something different, not least with his height.
Meanwhile, there was the return of Alexis Mac Allister to a pitch for the first time in more than two months after being sidelined by a long-standing injury.
Within moments, the Argentina international had held off several opponents before being kicked to the turf and winning a free-kick. Welcome back, Macca.