Gomez injury overshadows winning start for Iraola

Liverpool started life under Andoni Iraola with a 4-2 win over Sunderland thanks to goals from Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas.

But the Iraola era had initially got off to the worst possible start when Joe Gomez, who started the game as centre-back and captain, went down injured and was taken off in the eighth minute.

"Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe. We were happy because we were going through training without losing any players and unluckily for us we've lost Joe straight away," said Iraola, who was also without new signing Jeremy Jacquet - who plays centre-half - for the opening friendly of Liverpool's tour of the USA.

"With Jeremy we decided to take it easy with him. He's had a lot of months without playing and he's been training very well but we're going to take it easy with him," Iraola added. "He will play probably in the last game of this tour and he will have time to have minutes."

With Virgil van Dijk given extra time off following the Netherlands' World Cup campaign, it meant that two teenage centre-backs held the line until the 68th minute.

Mor Talla N'diaye, 18, and Ifeanyi Ndukwe, 18, made their debuts and both performed admirably given the situation but neither can be expected to feature regularly yet. Meanwhile, Giovanni Leoni, 19, is still undergoing individual training as he works his way back from a severe ACL tear.

Iraola said earlier in the week that his squad was "very thin" defensively. Liverpool's sporting director, Richard Hughes, was in Nashville for the game and if he wasn't aware already, seeing Gomez trudge off must have underlined how they are desperately short when it comes to experience in the centre-back department.

Goals galore in Music City as Liverpool entertain

On Friday evening, some of the Liverpool squad took the short walk from their hotel in downtown Nashville to Broadway - the famous entertainment district here in the state of Tennessee.

Szoboszlai, who was among that group, certainly took some inspiration. Wearing the armband after coming on at half-time and picking up from exactly where he left off last season, the Hungarian scored a belter from outside the box to level the game at 2-2 after Sunderland had gone ahead through Timur Tutierov, having initially levelled through Enzo le Fee.

Seeing Harvey Elliott make a surging run on his first game back at the club, after his spell at Aston Villa, to assist Morrison for Liverpool's opener was another positive. Morrison, 19, showed his quality with a lovely left-footed finish after cutting in from the right.

The 19-year-old Northern Ireland international was brilliant all evening and asked plenty of questions of the Sunderland backline. Liverpool still need a quality winger after losing Mohamed Salah but Morrison showed why he could be an option off the bench if he doesn't go out on loan this summer.

Iraola was constantly out of his seat in the dugout and his side pressed well in phases but the manner in which they conceded both goals shows there is still plenty to be done. Le Fee was given the freedom of Nashville to fire his strike past Giorgi Mamardashvili and Liverpool were opened up far too easy for Tutierov's goal.

For the 24,897 fans inside, who were primarily following Liverpool, it provided great joy to see fan favourite Chiesa make it 3-2, with a brilliant finish after a good ball from Calvin Ramsay, before Koumas capped off an impressive display with a goal to wrap up the game.

Earlier on in that move, Josh Abe played an important role carrying the ball up the pitch down the right flank. Abe only turned 16 last week and came on for his Liverpool debut in the second half. The England youth international is a highly rated prospect and there were glimpses here of why.

Iraola and co head back to their base in Chicago with a win under their belt but well aware that this is just the start. Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch have already arrived in the Windy City and start training on Sunday.

"It doesn't matter the result but keep pushing, don't relax, get used to not playing too comfortable. We still have a lot of things to improve," the Liverpool head coach said.

His side are next in action against Wrexham in New York on Thursday (00.30 BST). Sunderland face Leeds at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey at the same time.

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