Brisbane Roar vs. Liverpool: Lessons Learned from Pre-Season Friendly

Liverpool's second match of their summer tour ended in a 2-1 victory against Brisbane Roar as the Reds continued their pre-season preparations in Australia. Adam Lallana and James Milner netted the goals for the touring team.

In contrast to their first match in Thailand, the pitch was immaculate, the conditions perfect and the stadium packed to the rafters—and the tempo of the game was accordingly upped.

It's still early in pre-season, and there is much to do ahead of the new campaign, but looking at Liverpool's second friendly fixture has yielded a few more takeaways for Brendan Rodgers to work with over the coming weeks.

Full-backs. Actual Full-backs.

Pre-season it might be, but the first and most immediate change in Liverpool's lineup that has been visible in these first couple of games is that they have full-backs who look sprightly, confident, competent in possession and solid in defence.

Against Brisbane Roar it was Nathaniel Clyne on the right and Joe Gomez on the left; Clyne didn't surge forward as often as might be expected of him in league play, but he released possession quickly and intelligently, defended stoutly and played a good supporting role when space opened up ahead of him.

Jon Super/Associated Press

On the opposite side, Gomez once again impressed as he showed immense control and composure going forward down the left, cut back and linked with his midfielders. He also defended well, most impressively with high balls that looked to be travelling over his head.

One concern in that area is the non-appearance of Alberto Moreno for the second game in a row, with no indication he is injured.

Jordon Ibe's Introduction

Whereas the match against Thai All Stars saw Liverpool play a diamond midfield one half and 4-3-3 in the other, the Reds played 4-3-3 throughout the 90 against Roar.

In one respect it was useful as it gave Rodgers the chance to see the different approaches of four very different wide forwards: Lallana technical, Danny Ings attempting to get central, Ryan Kent the youngster and Ibe with his pace and dribbling.

Clint Hughes/Associated Press

The difference when Ibe came on was immediate and apparent; he made great use of space in a game that had slowed in tempo by that point, and his blistering speed was too great for the right side of Roar's team to deal with. Ibe went close to scoring a couple of times and almost set up a goal too, before being involved in helping Milner get the winner.

If Liverpool are looking for a direct replacement for Raheem Sterling, Ibe is as close as you can get, stylistically. More end product from him and he could be a regular when the Reds field a 4-3-3, especially from the left side.

Midfield Combination

It looks as though James Milner and Jordan Henderson is going to be Brendan Rodgers' first-choice midfield pairing for the coming season, not just on pre-season but also on one being the appointed captain and the other the high-profile midfield signing.

Sakchai Lalit/Associated Press

The two bring energy, industry, commitment and vertical movement from the centre of the park—but also no shortage of technical quality. They won plenty of duels in the middle but also broke forward to good effect, a number of times getting into the area beyond the forward and getting shots away.

Milner claimed an assist and a goal for himself, and now the question for Rodgers is which system to put them in to also accommodate Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and whichever other attackers put themselves into the equation to start the season.

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