Arne Slot has given his verdict on Liverpool’s behind-closed-doors friendly

Arne Slot gave 25 players a run out in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Friday, and there was plenty to take from the occasion despite conceding from the opposition’s “one shot.”

The Reds are still only a couple of weeks into their pre-season schedule and have 11 senior players yet to report back for training, thus the scoreline against Preston was of no importance.

The Championship side – who were playing their fourth friendly of the summer – gave Slot’s men an early opportunity for match practice before their trip to the United States.

Fitness and application of tactics were the important things Slot wanted to see, and the head coach was level-headed when he gave his verdict to LFCTV after the 1-0 loss.

“The most important thing is that everybody was fit before the game and they stayed fit during the game as well,” Slot emphasised.

Arne Slot speaks after the Reds' first run out of pre-season, facing Preston North End this afternoon ??

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“It’s been a good two weeks. Unfortunately, the result was not what we wanted, but they stayed fit, many of them got minutes [and] also a lot of young players got a few minutes, so that was a good thing.”

Though only able to view a brief ‘highlights’ package, the Reds’ quick ball movement and runs out of possession were notable, and now Slot has more to work with going forward.

He added: “I’ve seen this a lot during the training sessions – maybe a bit more than [against Preston] – but that also had to do with the playing style of the opponent.

“Like I said, we controlled the Game completely, we only conceded one shot. The bad thing about it was that that shot went in, [it was] a great goal, though.

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“We had some good build-up moments and had some good chances in the first half as well.

“Second half, I didn’t think we created that much, which is normal because there were a lot of young players in the term who didn’t play in their own positions sometimes as well.

“So, we couldn’t have asked for more from the boys in the first two weeks – [they have] worked really hard, tried to implement ideas and it’s not that we only bring new ideas.

“There are a lot of things that have been done here that were really good. So, like I said, a bit unlucky to lose 1-0 if you only conceded one shot.”

Now for the US tour

Liverpool will travel to the United States on Tuesday, and it is where they will expect to welcome back Alisson and Diogo Jota, though the squad will still be predominantly made up of youngsters.

That is not lost on the Dutchman, but he is ready to take lessons from Friday’s outing into the next phase of pre-season – which will see the Reds face Real Betis, Arsenal and Man United.

“Every session or every GVl7UFC gives you new ideas where you have to work on,” Slot said.

“But we have to understand as well that still 10 or 11 players that played many, many, many minutes last season are not even in the building yet.

“It’s good to see that some young players again showed some good things and the ones we have, the ones we have who had many minutes last season, they stayed fit [and] showed some good things, and especially in the last two weeks.

“So that’s something to take into our USA tour.”