Post Match Report - Preston v Liverpool

The first step into normalcy will not have felt normal. But one of the next ones will.

Fixture: Preston North End 1 - 3 Liverpool (Preseason)

Arena: Deepdale, Preston

Date: 7/13/25

Buzz: The Reds Have to Play Just 10 Days After

MOTM: Liverpool Away

Seasons come on quick. For the elite, they never stop. There is no off-season. That can’t be the mindset. You’ll fall behind. Family, other interests, a break from travel, fear… those will have to wait for retirement.

Arne Slot said as much when asked about his upcoming offseason. No, this is the busiest time of the year for me. I suspect it’s usually the most fun. Coaches want to realize their ideas on the pitch. They want that binder to come to life. Recruitment over the summer - especially if your club is capable of grabbing you Frimpongs, Kerkezes, Wirtzes - has got to feel so exciting. Especially when you didn’t do anything in the market last year. And you’re champions.

But Diogo Jota died 10 days ago. They players and coaches don’t have enough time anyway, and now this. Do we even take the field? It may be the best thing for them, but a part of grief is not choosing the best things for yourself. Not at first. Not 10 days after. But Liverpool take the field at Preston.

What Liverpool have done in the wake of the news has been perfect. Everything they’ve chosen to do has been spot on. It’d be ok if they weren’t, but they have been. I suspect that has come with a lot of listening, and that the tone is set by the fans who through supporters groups and overall tone drive the emotional reason of our club. They have been chiseling away at the owners for years.

What the fans did today, those who showed up, will forever be remembered. The away end at Deepdale on July 13th, 2025 will be up there with St. Etienne, Rome, Istanbul ‘05. There never has been, and never will be by the grace of God another preseason friendly like it. Or another game full stop.

As far as emotional breaks go, our players will have had none. Immense credit to them and everyone involved for taking the field today. Having lost a teammate once (not comparing experience, magnitude, whatever) I’ll say in my case that it felt GREAT to get out there playing again… until the adrenaline wore off. Then it felt worse. I suspect there to be walls punched, tears, and then a lot of silence when the players finally get away from the cameras. I don’t want to talk about them much or share more images of them in this space. The thing I’d want the break from the most, I think, would be the attention. The constant cameras everywhere. These guys are in a negative integer space with that and they don’t need more from me.

I suspect, from me, some talk on the game. Some normalcy. From me, for me… whichever.

We’re back! There’s some good in that. And Liverpool look to be showing things off already. Last preseason it was super interesting to see what Slot had in mind for the way we play…then he didn’t play those ways until March.

I suspect judging Liverpool’s lineup, formations, and style will be harder than ever this year, and I’m here for it. Playing in multiple styles is a bit like not being two-footed, in that I can’t believe all elite players aren’t there yet. Remember Raheem Sterling’s left foot? It was like a baby’s foot was screwed on there.

The game has evolved so much, and playing in one style so well that it beats everyone consistently enough just doesn’t seem like the best way home. Unpredictability, neutralizing a team’s preparation… that seems to be modus operandi for Slot.

So watch the fullbacks. Want to understand more about football? About Slot? About his sometimes tumultuous relationship with his father? Watch the fullbacks. If Arne Slot turned serial killer, and I was the detective profiling his mental… I’d solve it by watching his fullbacks.

In the first half, Conor Bradley looked twice the size of Jeremie Frimpong. But Frimpong was doing the Kostas thing more than he was doing the Bradley thing. Bradley is probably the best one to look to study overall system - check out these images from the first half, and check the clock.

Bradley is everywhere, in such a short space of time, in a way that makes me really excited about Frimpong. Frimpong in the first half Bradley positions makes a ton of sense. But you know who else makes a ton of sense in the first half Bradley position? Conor Bradley.

What makes less sense is the striker position. 11 days ago we needed one, and we still do. All the fun will have been taken out of Arne Slot’s transfer season. Liverpool are usually lauded for doing their business early, and in a purely sporting sense, I think this time it was critical. It can’t be fun to think about our striker needs now.

But I guess in the short term we could use a striker to do something, just to move forward a little. It wouldn’t have been easy for any of them, but try being Darwin and missing an open goal with that song ringing around the whole stadium, all sides. The point is he didn’t and with that smart dummy to Gakpo and the haircut he flirts with you and flirts with you again. Credit to Chiesa as well, who started where Diogo might have and jinked his way smartly through the box for our opening goal.

3-1 Jota’s Reds. No injuries. The first step into normalcy will not have felt normal. But one of the next ones will.