Ahead of their match against Adelaide United on July 20, Liverpool FC have started their pre-season tour with a comfortable 4-0 win against the True Thai All Stars in Bangkok.
Goals from Lazar Markovic, Mamadou Sakho, Adam Lallana, and Divock Origi rounded off a brilliant team performance from the Merseyside outfit who used the fixture to field the vast majority of their squad in preparation of their 2015/16 competitive campaign.
The match commenced in hot and wet conditions and at no point did they ease with torrential rain in the second half making things much more difficult for both sides.
However, the Reds were able to capitalise on some early momentum, Markovic popping up to open the scoring after just three minutes following a defence-splitting through ball from young Portuguese midfielder, Joao Carlos Teixeira.
The two sides then traded chances with the hosts coming close to beating new Liverpool goalkeeper, Adam Bogdan, who made his first appearance in a Red shirt during the match. But the chance, struck by Mika Chunuonsee, drifted over the crossbar.
Another of Liverpool’s newest players, Danny Ings, then had a goal disallowed when Sakho was deemed to have fouled the All Stars’ ‘keeper, Warut Mekmusik. Yet moments before the interval, Sakho made amends scored with a powerful header from a Teixeira corner.
Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, made 11 changes at the break including the introduction of new Reds’ captain, Jordan Henderson. Henderson was instrumental in scoring his team’s third after an incredible rabona through ball was met by Lallana whose sublime composure allowed him to slot his low drive into the far corner and past Mekmusik.
For the majority of the second period, Liverpool’s quality shone through despite the horrid conditions with a number of players demonstrating their class.
One of these was Origi and just prior to fulltime showed his aerial prowess when he converted a pinpoint header from a curled Henderson corner.
Following the match, Rodgers’ spoke of his delight at how well his side played despite the testing conditions, noting the team’s preparations for their upcoming season as being exactly what he had hoped for at this stage.
“Obviously we played two different teams in either half and I thought both teams played very, very well,” Rodgers’ explained.
“The first half in terms of the heat and the (second half) conditions were difficult but I thought over the two halves they played very well.
“The Thailand team is a very difficult game for us but I was very pleased with that first game and the fitness levels (of our players).”
Liverpool will now travel to Brisbane to face Brisbane Roar on July 17 before touching down in Adelaide on July 18 ahead of their clash with United at Adelaide Oval.
