Jurgen Klopp made no attempt to hide his true feelings about the result after Sunday evening’s 2-1 defeat to Sevilla in Boston.

Friendly or not, the Liverpool manager does not like losing, and that was patently clear as he addressed the media in a post-match press conference.

He said: “I still hate that we lost; I want us to make this mistake and they don’t score, because I can work with this mistake, that’s cool.

“We are here, we want a good atmosphere and we had a wonderful atmosphere. The people are here, they don’t watch too many live games.

“I don’t like us to look like we looked then in these moments. I want us to show our best face, but it’s my problem, to be honest.”

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Klopp later offered some mitigation, citing the absence of ‘an offensive line’ as one reason the Reds had so far failed to hit the heights during their tour of the United States.

But the German will be acutely aware that there are no guarantees of instant improvement when his team’s headline forwards return from a much-needed break.

Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane had already had a busy year at Anfield before they headed off to represent their respective nations this summer.

Of the 4,770 minutes they could potentially have played across Liverpool’s 53 games last term, Salah clocked up 4,343, Mane 4,309, and Firmino 3,405.

Mane and Firmino then followed that up with draining runs to the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations and Copa America respectively - hardly ideal preparation for a renewed tilt at the Premier League title.

Of course, the obvious solution - according to social media, at least - would be to sign players who can ease that workload for the coming campaign.

Liverpool have made no secret of their desire to add a flexible forward to their ranks this summer, but they do not wish to spend eye-watering sums on a player whose opportunities would likely be limited.

And, with such a transfer seemingly far from imminent, it is unlikely any new addition will play a big part in the early stages of the season as they adapt to new surroundings anyway.

It seems, then, that Klopp will have to look to what he already has if he to ease the demands on Mane, Salah and Firmino when 2019-20 gets under way.

The trio’s game time did come at the expense of two men in particular in Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri.

Origi spent the first half of the campaign struggling to even make the squad and, despite cementing himself as a European hero late in the story, had managed a total of just 673 minutes by the season’s end.

Shaqiri, meanwhile, failed to make a single start between a 1-1 draw with Leicester in late January and that famous win over Barcelona, with a strong start to life at Anfield accounting for much of his 1,414 minutes.

Only Klopp will know the reasons why both men spent periods of last season having effectively been bombed out of the squad, or if those issues have been resolved since.

But if Liverpool wish to excel in multiple competitions this time around, getting more from the likes of Origi and Shaqiri is arguably a bigger priority than adding further bodies.

Should that duo play a similarly reduced role this term, then the manager’s faith in their abilities will justifiably come under question.

So too will the wisdom of retaining two players who aren’t trusted to help share out a workload that will reach new heights in the coming season.