Arne Slot pleased with Liverpool performance despite Preston loss

Liverpool played their first match under the new era of Arne Slot and suffered a 1-0 defeat to Preston North End in a pre-season friendly ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. The match was played behind closed doors on Friday, which fielded a strong starting lineup including Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai.

The only goal of the tie came from former Manchester United winger Robbie Brady who scored a 40-yard lob against goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros. Only a few senior players were available in the first-team squad.

How did Arne Slot react to his first loss as Liverpool manager?

Despite fielding a strong starting lineup, Liverpool lost 1-0 to Preston North End in a behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly on Friday. Mo Salah was leading the side alongside a largely youthful Reds at the AXA Training Centre on Friday.

Liverpool would taste their proper pre-season friendly with Real Betis in Pittsburgh on July 26. Despite the loss, manager Arne Slot claims his side was unfortunate after having more shots than the Championship side.

He told LFCTV: “After two weeks of tough training sessions, it’s important to play a game as well. The most important thing was that everybody was fit before the game and they stayed fit during the game as well.

“It has been a good two weeks. Unfortunately, the result today was not what we wanted but they stayed fit, many of them got minutes, and I saw a lot of young players who got a few minutes. That is a good thing.”

The Dutch manager is without a number of first-team players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alexis Mac Allister, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Darwin Nunez, Andrew Robertson, Diogo Jota, Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz who will all return to the squad soon.

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