Liverpool rounded off their pre-season with a superb 4-0 victory over Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund at Anfield.
The Reds went in 2-0 up at the interval, after goals from Daniel Sturridge and debutant Dejan Lovren, whilst Phillipe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson got their names on the scoresheet in the second half.
Brendan Rodgers gave Anfield debuts to Lovren, Javer Manquillo and Emre Can, and despite the new faces the Reds went about playing the sort of football Kopites had enjoyed so often during the 2013-14 campaign.
And it didn’t take long for the Reds to give them something to cheer, as Daniel Sturridge latched onto a sublime first time flick from Phillipe Coutinho, to casually finish across the goalkeeper into the bottom corner with the outside of his foot.
Sturridge fired 25 goals in all competitions for the Reds last season, and his link up play with both Coutinho and Raheem Sterling throughout the game suggested he can better that tally this season.
Just five minutes later the Reds doubled their lead, and whilst the goal scorer was unfamiliar, the manner in which it came about was not.
No team scored more goals from set pieces than Liverpool last season, and in Steven Gerrard you could argue the Reds still boast the best set piece specialist in the country.
The skippers pinpoint corner found Dejan Lovren on 15 minutes, and the Croatian made no mistake with his header from eight yards.
It was a goal the new man’s first half display warranted, with Simon Mignolet untroubled as the Reds controlled the game and defended strongly.
Phillipe Coutinho had an opportunity to make it three just ten minutes before half time, but sliced his shot from the edge of the box wide, having been set up by Raheem Sterling.
The Brazilian did not have to wait long for his goal however, when Sterling latched onto a loose ball from Dortmund centre back Mathias Ginter just five minutes after the restart.
The 19-year-old showed excellent vision to pick out Coutinho in the box, and the little magician did the rest, beating the last defender before firing his shot into the bottom corner from an acute angle.
And the Reds saved the best for last, as a free-flowing team move ended in the fourth goal.
Sterling, Gerrard, Henderson and Coutinho were all involved as the Reds cut the Dortmund defence open once more, with Coutinho’s final ball just too far ahead of Daniel Sturridge.
But Sturridge somehow kept the move alive, retrieving the ball, beating a defender inside the box and picking out Jordan Henderson for a tap in, in front of the Kop.
Henderson has been asked by Brendan Rodgers to double his goal tally over the course of the season, and the 23-year-old’s driving runs into the box were a constant feature of this contest.
He was not far away from latching onto a pass from Raheem Sterling to make it five, although by this point the Reds were simply going through the motions.
Brendan Rodgers was able to give an Anfield debut to Rickie Lambert 15 minutes from time, taking off the excellent Daniel Sturridge, whilst new signing Javier Manquillo was also given a standing ovation after an impressive debut at right back.
All in all this was the perfect way to round off pre-season for Brendan Rodgers, but the Reds boss knows better than anyone the real work starts when Southampton arrive at Anfield in one weeks time.
Player Ratings: Mignolet 6, Manquillo 7 (Kelly N/A), Skrtel 7, Lovren 8, Johnson 7, (Enrique 6) Gerrard 7, Can 6 (Lucas 6), Henderson 7, Sterling 8, Coutinho 8 (Ibe N/A) Sturridge 8 (Lambert 6)
