Liverpool go into their friendly with Wrexham at Yankee Stadium at 12:30am on Thursday UK time with the back line under more pressure than the fixture itself. The visitors arrive unbeaten in pre-season, after beating Manchester United 1-0 on July 18 and then edging Leeds United 3-2, and they have kept two clean sheets in their last three outings. Liverpool's problem is less about the opponent's name and more about who can actually play in defence.

Liverpool's defensive shortage

The centre-back picture is thin enough that improvised options are already part of the conversation. Mark Jones of the Liverpool Echo put it bluntly: "Centre-back is obviously the area in which Liverpool are desperately short, and so someone is going to have to be pressed into service there who might not want to be."

Sports Mole expects youngsters Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndiaye to start in the middle, with Liverpool also without long-term absentees Hugo Ekitike, Wataru Endo, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni, while Joe Gomez is unlikely to feature in midweek. The Echo says Ryan Gravenberch could even be used as an emergency defender alongside Mor Talla Ndiaye, with Trey Nyoni and Dominik Szoboszlai in midfield and Alexander Isak back in attack.

That is a lot of moving parts for a friendly, and it is why the line-up feels more revealing than the result. Kieran Morrison has already been used twice in senior matches, which fits the wider sense that Liverpool are leaning on youth and positional switches to get through this spell.

Wrexham's summer momentum

Wrexham are not just coming along for the ride. Richard Garnett of the Liverpool Echo said, "There is plenty of interest in the Red Dragons of course, but I'm not having it that they will be a bigger draw than the 20 times English league champions!" That sounds about right on the branding side, but on the pitch Phil Parkinson's side have earned attention with actual results.

Two clean sheets in their last three outings make them awkward enough already. If Liverpool end up with a patched-up centre-back pairing again, Wrexham's recent edge in the final third gives this friendly a sharper feel than most July fixtures.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →