Liverpool continued its pre-season preparations with an impressive victory over Arsenal in the United States as goals from Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho secured a 2-1 win.
Both finishes certainly had Reds fans on their feet and the build-up play beforehand wasn't bad either, particularly for the first, with a 30 second clip showcasing the perfect way in which Liverpool passed out from the back for Salah's opener.
Yet despite the impressive piece of play, one thing in particular stood out. As the ball was passed back to Jarell Quansah in the heart of the defence, the young center-back opted to play a quick one-two with Dominik Szoboszlai before passing it back to Caoimhin Kelleher in goal.
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Kelleher's eventual long ball found its way up to Diogo Jota , who expertly nodded it into the path of Harvey Elliott to set up Salah with an even better through ball, where the Egyptian promptly found the back of the net.
While the 30 second transition from defence to attack was certainly something to be applauded, you couldn't help but feel that Salah could have received that ball a lot sooner had a certain Dutch defender been playing at the back.
While Quansah has hardly put a foot wrong in his early Liverpool career, Virgil van Dijk would have spotted Salah with a long ball over the top way before the 21-year-old had begun exchanging passes with Szoboszlai and Kelleher.
While Arne Slot is focused on integrating his way of play into the current squad and offering young players a chance, the primary focus surely has to be on getting Van Dijk tied down to a new long-term contract ahead of the new campaign.
The Dutchman has entered the final 12 months of his deal at Anfield and if he isn't poached by another side this summer, he will most likely leave at the end of his current contract next year. While Liverpool's defense held its own against the Gunners, Van Dijk's absence was telling.
Van Dijk has already revealed he has taken on a very serious mentoring role for Quansah. Speaking to Ben Foster for Amazon Prime , he said: "A hundred per cent [I act as mentor]. But that isn’t only because he’s young."
He added: "In this case with Jarell, I’m definitely in his ear all the time. Even outside the pitch and before training; if we have a tactical session of a game and we play against players he has never played against – he’s seen them on TV – I will definitely speak about what they’re good at, what they normally do, what they do in the game, how they approach you maybe, what they try to do to get in your head."
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