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Well, going forward at least.

With five new signings lining up for the primary friendly of the evening’s double-header against Athletic Bilbao, Liverpool are a very different beast to the one that romped to the Premier League title last season.

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The showpiece arrival – thus far – is £116million man Florian Wirtz, snatched from under the noses of Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid in an early indication of the Reds’ transfer intent this summer.

While still only 22, Wirtz is already very much the real deal.

The only question is how long it will take for him to integrate, and the continued evidence of pre-season suggests he will be ready to hit the ground running when the real stuff begins in less than a fortnight.

His ability to ghost into goalscoring positions from attacking midfield was highlighted twice in the first half, grazing the bar with a header from Cody Gakpo’s cross and later forcing a save from Unai Simon after being fed by Salah.

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The applause afforded Wirtz when he lined up a corner early in the second half indicated the Kop are already convinced, with the stadium as a whole giving the Germany international a strong ovation on his substitution.

If Wirtz has benefited from a full pre-season with his new team-mates, Hugo Ekitike hasn’t been afforded quite the same luxury, snapped up from Eintracht Frankfurt less than a fortnight ago.

Ekitike was evidently keen to impress here, bounding into challenges, always looking for possession and at one point geeing up the Anfield crowd.

And such application paid off in the 14th minute when, racing on to a pass from the again impressive Dominik Szoboszlai, he held off one defender, forced his way into the area and pulled the ball back into the danger zone for Mohamed Salah to score.

Of the other new arrivals, Jeremie Frimpong, starting for the first time at right-back, remained more prominent going forward but was caught upfield more than Slot would ideally like.

And teenage striker Will Wright, signed from Salford City last week, was denied a memorable goal by Simon during his late cameo.

With Virgil van Dijk ill, Conor Bradley nursing a minor injury and Alisson Becker still absent, Liverpool were without three of their likely rearguard starters for the Premier League opener on Friday week at home to Bournemouth.

And the nagging suspicion is the Reds remain undercooked defensively.

A failure to clear a deep free-kick allowed Oihan Sancet the opportunity to equalise first half, and although Gakpo couldn’t do much about heading in the second leveller into his own net, Liverpool were beaten to the first ball from the corner that prompted the goal.

With Joe Gomez still injured, Ibrahima Konate was the only available senior centre-back on Monday.

Not ideal.

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The Dutchman reacted quickest for Liverpool’s second after Ryan Gravenberch’s shot from range was too hot for Simon to handle 10 minutes into the second half, and then twisted and turned his way into a shooting position with 20 minutes remaining for an angled effort the Bilbao keeper should really have repelled.

Earlier on in the evening, if the line-up suggested the opening friendly was very much second fiddle to the main event, the entertainment level was more than a match during a lively 4-1 triumph that underlined Liverpool’s strength in depth.

And key to that was Rio Ngumoha, the 16-year-old who has proven the breakout star of pre-season.

The left winger was at it again after less than 90 seconds, picking up the ball on the halfway line in a central position then bursting forward before curling in from the edge of the area with his right foot.

He turned provider a few minutes later when heading down a cross from Ben Doak for Darwin Nunez to score.

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Doak made it three before the interval with a shot goalkeeper Alez Padilla effectively helped in, before Kostas Tsimikas and Darwin Nunez combined to tee up Harvey Elliott for a fourth in the second half.
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