Liverpool FC Preseason Update: First Team, Reserves and Under 18's in Action

Liverpool FC as a whole kicked on their preseason preparations in goalscoring fashion over the last couple of days with a series of high-scoring fixtures in the first friendly of the season for the senior, reserves and under 18s teams.

The first team, who are on tour in Asia at present, played Chinese outfit Guangdong Sunray Cave and won 4-3 in a game where no less than 23 players took to the field for the Reds.

A mix of youth and experience took part as well as some new faces, most notably new signing Charlie Adam who featured for the second 45 minutes. Defender Andre Wisdom also made his first string bow, fresh from signing a new contract with the club, while Conor Coady also played the second half.

The Reds took the lead through the much-maligned Christian Poulsen who knocked in at the far post from a Joe Cole cross before a sharp pass from Jonjo Shelvey was controlled and finished by David Ngog, who also saw two goals disallowed for offside.

Guangdong pulled one back before half time but Liverpool increased their lead in the second half courtesy of a great strike from first team debutant Coady and a finish from record signing Andy Carroll. The Reds cruised through the remainder of the game though two late strikes from the Chinese side gave the scoreline a closer look than the match suggested should be the case.

Liverpool players and technical staff have spent considerable time involved in community events and sponsorship corporate issues and the match will have capped a fine trip to China, which was the Reds' first ever in that country.

As they flew on Wednesday night to Kuala Lumpar to begin the second leg of their Asia trip, the news also broke that the club had agreed a fee with Aston Villa for Stewart Downing.

For the reserves, now coached by Rodolfo Borrell, a fantastically exciting match against Brentford ended up 4-4 after a topsy-turvy encounter. Suso scored from the penalty spot for the home side, playing at the Academy in Kirkby, before a couple of well-taken strikes from distance beat Jamie Stephens to put Brentford ahead.

Nabil El Zhar—back from his loan spell in Greece last season—showed good footwork to draw Liverpool level before two more players who spent time on loan last season combined to put the Reds ahead; David Amoo crossing for Nathan Eccleston to head home from a yard out. Another long range strike and a penalty swung the tie back in Brentford's favour before Michael Ngoo, who will shortly be Colombia-bound with the England Under 20s for the World Cup, swivelled and finished well to leave the match at four goals apiece.

An entertaining start for the reserves to life under Borrell, who will have his work cut out this season in maintaining the progress shown by several youngsters at the club over the past couple of seasons.

In the under 18s fixture the Reds comfortably won against Tranmere Rovers by 6-1.

Sam Gainford scored the first goal, the former under-16s performer cutting back and forth inside the penalty area before finishing left footed.

Trialist Nacho next tried his luck but was thwarted by both posts when first a left footed effort and then a right footed effort from the initial rebound struck the woodwork. Tranmere equalised with a header from a corner but in the second half the Reds youngsters took control of the tie, starting with a curling left footed goal from Nacho which found the corner of the net from the edge of the area.

Nacho then turned provider for the third goal before nipping in to pounce on a weak backpass to notch his second of the match. Josh Sumner then won and converted a free kick to make it five before a second trialist notched the final goal.

Mike Marsh will be pleased with his start to life as under 18s boss for this season and will look to build on the good work done by Rodolfo Borrell over the previous campaigns.

Attention now turns back to the first team for Liverpool who play their second friendly of the season against a Malaysia XI on Saturday, the same day that the under 18s will play Stevenage. The reserve side will face Bray Wanderers on their Irish tour on Monday 18th.

Stay tuned to this column by becoming a fan here on B/R for further news and updates of the Reds' preseason campaigns across all levels of the club!

You can follow me on Twitter @karlmatchett and on EighteenAndFive.