Szoboszlai starts, Alexander-Arnold in midfield and Henderson axed in pre-season opener

Liverpool supporters always look forward to seeing our line-up for any game but the opening match for pre-season brings some extra excitement and Dominik Szoboszlai is amongst the headline makers in our maiden squad.

As confirmed by the club, the starting 11 is: ‘Kelleher, Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Clark, Szoboszlai, Diaz, Salah, Nunez.

‘Subs: Jaros, Mrozek, Gomez, Mac Allister, Gakpo, Jota, Tsimikas, Matip, Scanlon, Doak, McConnell, Koumas, Quansah’.

READ MORE: Romano provides exclusive Henderson update; set to miss pre-season opener

There’s some big news in the squad, namely seeing our No.8 for the first time and that Alexis Mac Allister will likely be taking his position in the second-half of the match.

The next big update will be the position of Trent Alexander-Arnold, as he holds down the midfield role for Jurgen Klopp for the first time and Conor Bradley is given a chance to start at right-back after a brilliant loan spell with Bolton Wanderers.

To see Luis Diaz would also suggest that his links with Saudi Arabia are not serious, given that Fabinho and Jordan Henderson are not in the squad.

Our skipper’s absence was already confirmed by Fabrizio Romano and so it’s not a huge shock but does strongly suggest his future is going to be spent away from Merseyside.

An interesting line-up ahead of a hectic season, let’s hope it ends with silverware!

You can view the confirmation of the first team of pre-season via @LFC on Twitter:

Szoboszlai from the start, Trent in the middle and a strong front three… THE REDS ARE BACK! #LFC pic.twitter.com/8S3kotBA8X

— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) July 19, 2023

#Ep80 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: Fabinho & Jordan Henderson… going, going, gone?

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