Liverpool start Iraola era in style to beat Sunderland but Gomez injury puts spotlight on defence
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The sight of Joe Gomez hobbling off after 10 minutes of the new head coach’s first game and two teenagers forming a raw central defence partnership in his absence intensified the spotlight on a department in need of work.Liverpool had few issues at the other end of the pitch against Regis Le Bris’s side, resplendent in pink in Tennessee, where second half finishes from Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas delivered an ultimately comfortable win.Geodis Park paid tribute to the late Kevin Keegan before kick-off with both sets of supporters applauding the Liverpool, Hamburg and Newcastle great prior to observing an impeccable period of silence in his memory. Liverpool’s absentee list included World Cup finalists Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz, Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch, who will join the tour next week, and Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Alisson, who also resume pre-season training next week but back on Merseyside.Liverpool also had a summer signing missing.
Photograph: George Walker IV/APHaving expressed worry over his “very thin” defensive options earlier in the week, Iraola’s resources were stretched further when Gomez went down injured early on. The luckless Gomez was unable to continue after treatment and his departure meant Liverpool’s central defence comprised two 18-year-olds recruited in January, Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe.
Kostas Tsimikas took the captain’s armband from Gomez, then passed it on to Szoboszlai when he was replaced at the interval.Talla Ndiaye, a £1m signing from Amitie in Senegal, and Ndukwe, a £2.5m transfer from Austria Vienna who only teamed up with Liverpool this summer, reflect Liverpool’s policy of recruiting central defenders for the future. The 19-year-old winger started on the right, also known as the chasm left by Mohamed Salah, and slid a fine finish into the far corner of Melker Ellborg’s goal when released inside the area by Harvey Elliott, another player desperate to impress the new Liverpool head coach following a wasted season at Aston Villa.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionJaydon Jones and Timur Tutierov combined for Sunderland’s first goal.