Brendan Rodgers was delighted with his side’s performance in beating Borussia Dortmund 4-0 at Anfield on Sunday, and singled out new signing Dejan Lovren as having the “perfect” game.
Liverpool rounded off their summer of pre-season preparations in style with goals from Daniel Sturridge, Lovren, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson leading them to victory at a soggy Anfield.
Whilst the biggest applause of the afternoon was saved for a standing ovation of Philippe Coutinho after another sensational performance by the Brazilian, Rodgers was delighted by Croatian intentional Lovren and the clean sheet.
“I’ve been really pleased with all of the signings because they have all come in as part of our strategy and the types of profile of players that we want,” the Northern Irishman told press after the game.
“Of the two boys that played today, Dejan was perfect – he’s what we’ve been looking for since Jamie Carragher left. He’s a very dominant centre-half.
“He’ll go and attack the ball, reads the game incredibly well and you can see his leadership qualities with his talking and guidance of the back four.
“You also saw his range of pass on both sides, left foot and right foot. His pass into [Philippe] Coutinho for the first goal was wrapped in with his left foot and that creates the nick around the corner to get us the goal.
“Like he showed us last year, he is dominant in the air in the other box, attacking it. I thought he was excellent.”
Rodgers handed Anfield debuts to Lovren, Emre Can and new loan signing Javier Manquillo, whilst Rickie Lambert’s boyhood dream came true in the second-half when he came on to finish the game in front of the Kop.
“Manquillo was outstanding,” Rodgers added. “Just 20 and playing his first game at Anfield having only joined this week. His fitness level was very good.
“He’s the type of full-back I like – he can get tight to people, stop crosses and defend well, but also then has the energy to attack and get forward. He was very, very good.”
Rodgers also told BT Sport that he still expected some more work to be done in the transfer window before the end of August, but refused to be drawn into speculation that a deal for Sevilla left-back Alberto Moreno is close.
Liverpool now have a week until the Premier League gets underway with the visit of Southampton to Anfield on Sunday, 17th August.
petikan dari Liverpool FC, This is Anfield, Teamtalk
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