After a very poor 3-0 defeat against Napoli on Sunday, Liverpool were out for revenge in their last preseason match of the season (in many ways the Community Shield against Manchester City on Sunday can also be considered a preseason game). Alisson, Shaqiri, Salah and Firmino were back in action after an extended leave.

1st half:

As a whole the first half was very good, with Liverpool being dominant in possession, not allowing Lyon to play out from the back and moving very well off the ball. However, the team could not have gotten off to a worse start. After just 2 minutes the returning Alisson in goal made a mess of a Lyon cross, dropping it at the feet of Moussa Dembele before committing (a somewhat soft, but arguably correct) penalty, which Memphis Depay tucked away. The keeper could not have gotten a worse to his preseason, but he wasn’t challenged any more in the first half.

Xherdan Shaqiri and Roberto Firmino were both substituted after 30 minutes. Firmino looked rusty in general, missing a several first touches and simple passes, but he did score the equalizer with his only chance of the half. Shaqiris cross was deflected into the feet of Firmino who finished well with his left foot. Shaqiri was eager to get on the ball and looked lively in his position in midfield (something we very rarely saw last year, but I think it will be his easiest way to playing time this season).

Naby Keita played very well in the first half, pressing high and aggressively which paved the way for the equalizing goal, when he cut out a pass deep in Lyons half. Joe Gomez got off to a bad start defensively, being caught out of position a few times but used his speed to recover and prevent big chances for Lyon. His range of passing was really good and he was the starting point of many promising attacks.

Most of the attacking play came on the right side with Ki-Jana Hoever and Mohammed Salah, who looked the sharpest of the returning players. I liked Hoevers first half performance, he covered a lot of ground, was not afraid to counter-press and showed good vision with his passes inside. His cross also led to Joachim Andersens own-goal, which gave The Reds the lead at half-time.

2nd half:

A few of the youngsters came on to start the second half and it was obvious that they had been told to go all out with the pressing. Most of the time the pressing was too much for Lyon, who couldn’t play their way out. This lead to a big chance for Bobby Duncan who saw his shot saved.

A lot has been made of the left foot of Harry Wilson, but I think he has failed to show why this preseason – until today that is. His 3-1 strike will no doubt be the best of the teams preseason. He received the ball 25-30 yards out, made a turn and blasted it into the top corner. He could be in line to start the season opener against Norwich at Anfield if Sadio Mane does not return in time.

After exactly 60 minutes the whole team was substituted, and from this point on Liverpool was in total control. The last half our was pretty uneventful and the match ended 3-1.

In the end it was a very convincing end to a far from convincing preseason and this did not look like a team looking for form – it looked like a team ready to challenge for the Premier League title once again.

LFC Man of the Match: Virgil van Dijk.