4 months ago
118 
Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The Reds are set to travel to the USA this week to kick off their 2024-25 pre-season tour.
Liverpool head to the United States today for their 2024-25 pre-season tour, which kicks off on Friday with a date against Real Sociedad in Pittsburgh before they head to Philadelphia to take on Arsenal and then finish up with Manchester United in South Carolina.
The prioritization of big name opponents, particularly the games against domestic rivals, seems one driven more by financial concerns than footballing ones, giving new manager Arne Slot difficult early opponents at a time when ideally his priority would be fitness and instilling his tactical ideas in the squad.
Even if it ends up a case of terminal short-term thinking—prioritizing money from a pre-season tour and damaging the club’s chances this season in a way that would very much hurt revenues—there’s nothing to do but get on with it. Not that Slot is complaining.
“The resistance of the teams we play is strong,” Slot said ahead of their departure when asked about facing Premier League opposition early in his first pre-season. “We are trying to implement the ideas and keep doing what we have done so well. Keeping the boys fit, that’s the first aim.
“Those things are the first aim and then with all the players coming back I think the quality will definitely go up a lot as well and these two things—training sessions and boys coming back in—will help us. It’s only two weeks in so [it isn’t] that easy to bring and to implement all your ideas in two weeks.”
After they complete their USA tour, the Reds return to England for a pair of final tune-up friendlies against Sevilla and Ipswich before kicking off their Premier League season against Brentford on Sunday, August 25th, a later than usual opener due to the Euros.
“The [players] who came in from the start, they are fit now,” Slot added. “They have had two weeks of training sessions so are getting fitter and fitter. But yeah, there are definitely more than a few areas where we have to improve, but that will come with more sessions and when all the boys are in.”
