‘Was clear’ - Jurgen Klopp says what Dominik Szoboszlai was the best at during Liverpool debut

Jurgen Klopp told of his satisfaction as Liverpool opened their 2023-24 pre-season campaign with a victory.

The Reds ran out 4-2 winners against Karlsruher during their training camp in Germany. All of those available bar youngsters Calum Scanlon and Lewis Koumas were handed a 45-minute outing against the 2. Bundesliga outfit.

Darwin Nunez opened the scoring for the Reds in the third but that was cancelled out by Lars Stindl’s thunderbolt of a volley. The home side took the lead early in the second half through Sebastian Jung before Cody Gakpo levelled on 70 minutes. Then in stoppage-time, Diogo Jota netted a quickfire double to hand Liverpool a deserved triumph.

Dominik Szoboszlai was handed his unofficial debut from the outset after he joined the Reds from RB Leipzig for £60 million earlier this summer. Alex Mac Allister, signed from Brighton for an initial £35 million, came off the bench for the second half and assisted Jota’s second goal.

And Klopp was impressed with the counter-pressing that Szoboszlai showed during his cameo. Speaking to LFC TV, Klopp said: “The workout was good obviously and you could see it was intense for the boys. I liked in the first half the start, a few other things, but then we became a bit stiff, didn’t play as well as we could. The start of the second half when we respect the formation, when we are calmer. I said to the boys already in the second half after 20 minutes: ‘I think you played double the passes from the last line into the half spaces than the complete first half’. Whereas we were waiting, give the ball to Trent, let’s see what he can do – and that makes no sense.

“But it’s fine, it’s early days, that’s how it is. But you realise then, ‘OK, no, that’s not exactly like it works.’ But you could see in the second half what Cody, Diogo, Macca, with the kids right and left what they can do there. James [McConnell] on six together with Kosti [Tsimikas], honestly, it’s a pure joy, the boy never played that position before in his life. Yeah, last line, good. Good.

“So we win a game 4-2 but you can lose it, of course. They were good, organised, but they scored two worldies, hey? Wow! And fine. But, of course, that’s now nicer [that] the boys have tomorrow the first day off since we started, so let’s use that for recovery and then we go again. Yeah, I liked a lot and the atmosphere was good as well. Karlsruher, obviously everybody enjoyed the new stadium – that’s how it should be.

“Well, look, first half it was clear, the new boys – the kids and Dom – were the best in counter-press. So they obviously say: ‘Oh my God, the boss said this and that’ and they go. They all have to do that. It’s not that because it’s my idea, it’s just because we have to do it in common. I liked Dom a lot, especially when he was half-left, looked really good, Bobby did really well, Conor Bradley was super, so that’s all positive signs. Let’s keep going, let’s keep going. This is not a season-defining game – we know that – but we came through and, as far as I know, nobody has any issues. Good.”