Liverpool’s summer has been arguably the most dramatic of any of the so-called ‘big six’ sides. Arne Slot won the title in his first season in charge, only to see the Reds slip to fifth on 60 points by the end of the 2025-2026 campaign, with many supporters being critical of the style of football that they were having to watch. The result was that he lost his job at the end of May, with the club’s statement on the matter saying only that ‘change is necessary’ without going into any further detail. Andoni Iraola, fresh from taking Bournemouth into Europe for the first time, was appointed within days.
By the time that the pre-season friendlies got underway, Mohamed Salah had also left, signing a two-year contract with Trabzonspor after nine years as the club’s talisman. That is a lot of change to cope with in a couple of months, especially for a side that will only just have been getting over the loss of a friend and teammate in Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash alongside his brother, André Silva, last summer. That meant that Liverpool basically didn’t have a pre-season ahead of the previous campaign, lacking fitness throughout the season as a result.
This summer, the Reds travelled to the United States of America for their pre-season, playing five friendlies across Nashville, New York and Chicago, before undertaking a further two games back at Anfield. The games looked like they were played by a manager and squad still figuring out exactly who they are and how to work together. There were wins to start, encouraging performances in the middle and then two separate occasions where a two-goal lead disappeared in the second-half, which is something that Liverpool fans grew all too used to last time out.
Fixtures & Results
Here is the quick guide to Andoni Iraola’s opening five games, of which three took place in the United States and two back on home soil:
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 July | Sunderland | Nashville SC Stadium | Liverpool won 4-2 |
| 30 July | Wrexham | Yankee Stadium, New York | Liverpool won 1-0 |
| 2 August | Leeds United | Soldier Field, Chicago | Liverpool lost 2-4 |
| 9 August | Monaco | Anfield | Liverpool lost 2-3 |
| 16 August | Como | Anfield | Liverpool won 2-0 |
Three wins and two defeats doesn’t look too bad on paper, but the way those two defeats happened is where alarm bells were ringing for Liverpool fans. Yes, they were only friendlies, but seeing the same weaknesses that plagued Slot’s final season wasn’t good news. The match-by-match breakdown below explains what happened:
How Each Friendly Played Out
Iraola’s first game in charge brought a 4-2 win over Sunderland in Nashville, with goals from Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas doing the damage. As has become the norm, Szoboszlai’s strike was particularly noteworthy. The result came with a worrying moment, however, when stand-in captain Joe Gomez pulled up with a muscle problem inside the first ten minutes and had to come off, prompting Iraola to admit afterwards that the injury was ‘probably the worst news’ of an otherwise smooth start.
Liverpool followed that up with a tighter 1-0 win over Wrexham at Yankee Stadium, thanks to Rio Ngumoha’s deflected second-half effort. It proved to be the difference between the sides in what was an otherwise low-key, professional performance against Championship opposition. This time, the Reds escaped with no further injury concerns, but supporters were once again looking at the lack of depth in the team, combined with absences to key players through injury, to mean that many expected a busy summer on the transfer front that never really materialised.
A Loss Before an Anfield Return
Then came Chicago, where Leeds United beat Liverpool 4-2 at Soldier Field after the Reds had led 2-0 at the break through goals from Luke Chambers and Florian Wirtz. Leeds simply took over after the break and scored four without reply to complete the turnaround, although it should be noted that Iraola rang the changes at the break and the Liverpool team that finished the match wasn’t even close to being a first-team one from Iraola’s point of view. Although throwing away a lead and conceding four goals isn’t ideal, it also wasn’t the disaster some painted it as.
The pattern repeated itself at Anfield against Monaco, however. Alexander Isak and Wirtz put Liverpool 2-0 up inside half an hour in front of just over 60,000 fans, only for Aleksandr Golovin’s penalty, a Mika Biereth finish and a Paris Brunner header in the final minutes to complete another comeback. Iraola made 11 changes across the second-half to spread minutes around a squad still building fitness, so it was another one where the headlines don’t tell the full story, but Iraola was honest about what he saw, saying afterwards that ‘we don’t have much more in terms of the level required to play like this’.
Pre-season finished on a happier note for the Reds, though, thanks to a 2-0 win over Como back at Anfield. The goals came from Cody Gakpo, linked all summer to a move to Tottenham Hotspur, and debutant Jeremy Jacquet, the club’s new centre-back signing from Rennes. New arrival Ronald Araújo, on loan from Barcelona, also made his first appearance, giving Iraola a fuller back line to work with heading into the season proper. Some of the players had also played against Como in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the AXA Training Centre earlier in the day.
A Team Still Capable of a Collapse
It is fair to say that all pre-season friendly results should be taken with a pinch of salt, but the headline number from Liverpool’s summer is not the three wins and two losses, but rather that two of their five friendlies saw a 2-0 lead thrown away in the second-half. The players have to learn what the new manager wants from them, but they also need to be better at seeing out results once they’ve got their noses in front in a game.
Similarly, the lack of squad depth was shown for all to see clearly across the course of summer’s pre-season matches, which will only become more exacerbated as the campaign gets underway and the matches start coming thick and fast. Pre-season results can be ignored easily enough, but the issues that they show up are to be ignored at your own peril.