Liverpool short of centre-backs as Iraola’s Reds face Wrexham at Yankee Stadium

Liverpool travelled to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to face Wrexham on Wednesday night, with Andoni Iraola forced into fielding a makeshift back line amid a growing injury list heading into his first full pre-season in charge on Merseyside.

The friendly, played in front of Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds, followed Liverpool’s 4-2 win over Sunderland in Nashville the previous weekend, a match that doubled as Iraola’s competitive bow at the helm but also cost the Reds their stand-in captain, Joe Gomez, to injury early on.

Defensive options running thin

With Ibrahima Konate having left Anfield this summer and Giovanni Leoni still working his way back from an ACL tear, Virgil van Dijk was left as Iraola’s only fit senior centre-back. The Dutchman has returned for pre-season training after a long summer following the World Cup with the Netherlands, but remains on an individual fitness programme back in England rather than out in the United States.

Summer arrival Jeremy Jacquet, who sat out the Sunderland game as a precaution, was again left out of the squad to face Wrexham. That left Iraola to pair youngsters Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe at the heart of defence, with Ndukwe reportedly still unable to feature in competitive Liverpool fixtures because he does not currently meet the points threshold required for a UK work permit.

Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, Liverpool’s more experienced full-back pairing, were expected to flank that inexperienced central partnership, while Hugo Ekitike and Conor Bradley remained further names on the club’s growing injury list on tour.

Youthful attack given licence to impress

Further forward, Iraola had more encouraging options. Dominik Szoboszlai, who impressed against Sunderland, was tipped to feature more prominently alongside James McConnell in midfield, while Harvey Elliott, who supplied an assist in Nashville, looked to build on that form in the number 10 role as he attempts to reboot his career following a difficult loan spell at Aston Villa last season.

Teenage winger Rio Ngumoha was also handed further minutes to continue his rapid emergence, and Federico Chiesa, who scored from the bench in the Sunderland win, was again considered as an attacking option, potentially leading the line.

It was another academy graduate, 16-year-old Joshua Abe, who had the game’s first real moment of note. The teenager was played through inside the opening three minutes but could not convert a glorious early sight of goal against a Wrexham side who returned to the Championship last season under Reynolds and co-owner Rob McElhenney’s continued stewardship.

The friendly forms part of Liverpool’s US pre-season tour as Iraola continues building his squad and assessing his options before the Premier League campaign begins, with the club still working to resolve their centre-back shortage before competitive action resumes.

Read more: Iraola era begins with threadbare Liverpool XI against Sunderland in Nashville

Sources

• dailymail.com
• Evening Standard

This is an independent report written from the facts across the sources named above.