Liverpool finished their pre-season tour of Asia on Wednesday with a 3-1 comeback win over Yokohama F. Marinos.
The Reds demonstrated resilience and skill to change the game around after going behind in the 55th minute.
Asahi Uenaka started the scoring for the J1 League team, thereby mounting pressure on the Merseyside outfit in the Tokyo match.
Florian Wirtz, though, rose and snatched his first goal for Liverpool to draw level, thereby establishing the tone for a powerful ending.
Teenagers Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha took center stage with assured goals that secured the triumph. Their influence off the bench gave fresh coach Arne Slot much to grin about as the team develops chemistry in advance of the next season.
“[We played] a good game against an opponent that is already in the middle of the season [and] used to the circumstances over here,” Slot told club media. “They made it an intense game for us, which is always nice to have in pre-season because this is also what we’re looking for.”
Following his falling behind, the Dutchman loved the team’s fighting attitude. He lauded the team’s depth and underlined how substitutes helped to change momentum.
“We want to have teams that can really compete with us and today was definitely one of them,” he said. “I’ve seen a few very positive things. For example, [we came] back after going 1-0 down, this is something that we did last season a lot of times; seeing players from the bench impacting the game.
“So, more than a few times there were some very good moments in build-up, but what I also saw in the goal we conceded and in the first half the big chance we conceded was that we had to work harder in those moments to sprint back than we did,” he acknowledged.
He continued: “That is something that also happened to us when we played [AC] Milan. It could be with a tough training camp and it could be with the heat circumstances.”
With the following game scheduled against Athletic Bilbao at Anfield on August 4th, Slot feels the team’s sharpness can still be improved before the competitive season begins.
“That’s something that we definitely have to improve towards [Athletic] Bilbao that we’re going to play as our next opponent,” he concluded.
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