Liverpool undo Adelaide in pre-season

Adelaide Oval has pumped to the tune of 53,008 fans as Liverpool FC’s Australian tour made its way to the Festival State on Monday Night where they beat Adelaide United 2-0.

But while the crowd might have been pumping the football was not and after a hearty [and typically out of tune] rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone both teams did all they could to ensure the party didn’t get too out of hand.

The game was a stagnant affair as both sides approached the friendly with trepidation; Liverpool keen to ensure its pre-season isn’t hampered with unnecessary hurt and Adelaide happy to sit back and play the counter-attacking game against their superior opponents.

The result was a rather dull experience for the jam-packed Adelaide Oval attendees with the few shots Liverpool had fired either wide or straight at Eugene Galekovic in Adelaide’s goal. On one occasion Jordon Ibe had the goal at his mercy following a Joe Gomez cross but he somehow managed to miss the ball entirely. By half time the best bit of team work on display was from the crowd, which managed to get 50,000 people involved in a Mexican Wave.

On the resumption James Milner eventually opened the scoring after collecting Jordon Ibe’s well-timed cross after 67 minutes. Running towards the penalty spot from the centre of the pitch, the ball was played into his path and found a sliding boot. The touch was enough to get around the ever reliable Eugene Galekovic and give Liverpool the decisive lead.

In the 88th minute Danny Ings put the game to bed after running around Eugene Galekovic having collected Nathaniel Clyne’s through ball with just the keeper the beat. Beat the keeper he did and the friendly was all but over after the tapped in to the open goal.

Credit must be given where it is due and despite the obvious gulf between the two clubs Adelaide United put up a brave performance. Its defending - whilst not always pretty - was relatively effective and although Liverpool was wasteful in the final third a good number of its attempts were thwarted by strong resolution in the Adelaide backline.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rogers said his team is playing good pre-season football and that Australia had been a perfect place to build up to the English Premier League season.

“I’m worried about us working well and working on our tactical areas of the game, so I think the objectives tonight we achieved,” Rogers said.

“I thought our performance was very good tonight against another very well organised team that play excellent football and play with a good notion of the game.

“Adelaide played very well, their movement was good, we had to play tactically a good game to stop them playing out.

“Would be want to come back? It’s been an absolute pleasure to be in Australia... I’d come back here for sure as soon as we possibly could,” he said.

Meanwhile Adelaide boss Josep Gombau was proud of his squad, saying they came up against a much stronger opponent and left with their heads held high.

“I am happy with the way that we played, the opposition is one of the best teams in the world and I think that we played our game. I am happy with the work that the boys did,” Gombau said.

“It is difficult because the ball speed is different. We played our way but normally we have more time to think and to play, and you play against this time of team is less and it’s more difficult.

“Even like this we tried to play from the back, we tried to have our own style and I think we did well until Liverpool had the first go and that’s okay,” he said.

Liverpool’s preseason tour moves to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow before the Premier League season begins next month.

Liverpool FC: 2. Nathaniel Clyne, 6. Dejan Lovren, 7. James Milnerm 12. Joe Gomez (Alberty Moreno 45’), 14. Jordan Henderson (C), 20. Adam Lallana, 22. Simon Mignolet (GK), 24. Jay Allen (Lazar Markovic 95’), 27. Divock Origi (Danny Ings 69’), 33. Jordan Ibe, 37. Martin Skrtel

Adelaide United FC: 1. Eugene Galekovic (C) (GK), 2. Michael Marrone, 4. Dylan McGowan, 5. Osama Malik, 8. Isaias, 9. Sergio Cirio, 10. Marcelo Carrusca (Dylan Smith 90’), 11. Bruce Djite (Pablo Sanchez 67’), 16. Craig Goodwin (Iacopo La Rocca 79’), 18. Jimmy Jeggo (George Mells 72’), 21. Tarek Elrich