Liverpool's Win in Helsinki a Pleasing Fitness Exercise Ahead of Premier League

With a week until Liverpool's first match of the new Premier League season, Brendan Rodgers will feel pleased after his side's comfortable 2-0 victory over HJK Helsinki on Saturday.

Bar some selection dilemmas still to be solved, the team that lined up against HJK Helsinki could prove to be the starting XI that faces Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday, 9 August, and Rodgers will have breathed a sigh of relief they all came through unhurt.

It's been a pre-season of many air miles for Liverpool, and with just days left to prepare for the new campaign, getting players up to match fitness will be top of Rodgers' priority list.

He told LFCTV after the game, as per This Is Anfield: "Considering all the traveling around the world they’ve been through, the players are in good condition.

"We still have another week’s good work to do but we’re really focusing on that after the Swindon game."

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The game against HJK Helsinki was the perfect warm up to an important final week of pre-season which will no doubt be centered around conditioning drills. A drab and lacklustre first half saw little in the way of creativity from Liverpool—Rodgers returning to the previously unsuccessful formation of 4-2-3-1. The whole half felt entirely experimental.

Having Jordan Henderson and James Milner, two players capable of driving a team forward and instigating attacks, sitting in an anchored midfield wasted the pair, and Liverpool looked understandably lethargic from the system.

The negative game plan did not allow Liverpool to utilise Danny Ings, whose energetic movement and runs were unexploited by the slow pace of the game being played behind him.

A shift to a 4-3-3 in the second half changed things, and Liverpool settled into the game with cries of “Quicker! Quicker!” coming from the bench. The Reds’ tempo increased, beginning to look more dynamic and capable of scoring.

Immediately they were pressing Helsinki deep into their own half and making good use of a flourishing partnership between Jordon Ibe and Nathaniel Clyne on the right channel, before the two goals arrived in quick succession inside the last 20 minutes.

Rodgers admitted after the game the first-half experiment hadn’t worked, telling LFCTV as per This Is Anfield: “We were better in the second half than the first. We tried something new in the first half, but our fluency was really good in the second half and obviously we scored a couple of good goals.”

In his first match of Liverpool’s summer tour, Philippe Coutinho provided much of that fluency, reclaiming the free role once occupied by Luis Suarez.

Although rusty and heavy-footed at times, Coutinho linked up well with Milner and was often looking for the runs of Ings.

Given his only other run-out since the Copa America was an hour in a Liverpool Under-21s friendly against Porto last week, Rodgers will have been impressed with what he saw of the 23-year-old Brazilian who played 81 minutes of the victory in Finland.

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The Northern Irishman will also be pleased with his side’s ability to keep a clean sheet so close to the start of the season.

Simon Mignolet had very little work to do as the Reds defence stayed solid in front of him.

Even when the support of Henderson and Milner’s anchored midfield moved forward, Clyne, Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren and Joe Gomez looked comfortable in each other’s company.

With Clyne and Gomez both confident going forward, Skrtel and Lovren held firm at the back, keeping the limited amount of Helsinki attacks at bay with a no-fuss attitude.

With the likes of Mamadou Sakho and Alberto Moreno not involved in Helsinki, Rodgers faces some defensive selection dilemmas as he looks to form a consistent and impenetrable back-four unit.

Attentions briefly turn to Sunday’s final pre-season friendly at Swindon Town, where Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino are expected to make their first appearances for Liverpool.

Off the back of Saturday’s victory in Helsinki, Sunday’s game provides a separate Liverpool contingent with a late fitness test and platform to experiment on before the real action gets underway a week later.