Preston North End 0-2 Liverpool
By James Nalton
at Deepdale

LIVERPOOL were eventually able to overcome Preston North End on Wednesday night thanks to goals from Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi.

A positional switch from Reds manager Jurgen Klopp saw right-back Neco Williams moved to the right wing in the second half, and the Welshman went on to play a key role in both goals.

Preston had some big chances themselves in the first half, forcing Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian into a couple of excellent stops.

Brad Potts felt he should have done better when put through on goal by Sean Maguire, while Maguire himself had a shot saved from close range with Williams blocking Potts’s follow-up on the line.

Liverpool’s introduction of another right-back, Conor Bradley, who replaced 18-year-old debutant Harvey Blair just before the hour mark, saw Williams pushed into the front line.

A little over five minutes later he managed to beat Greg Cunningham in the area to cross for Minamino who finished well.

The move was started by an excellent long ball from impressive teenage midfielder Tyler Morton, who was one of Liverpool’s best players on the night along with Williams and Adrian.

“He can play,” Klopp said of Morton after the game. “The football understanding is outstanding and the technique is there as well, so we are quite positive about that.”

Divock Origi added the second with an inventive finish after more good work from Williams, but Klopp admitted after the game it wasn’t the smoothest of victories for his side.

“We made it hard for ourselves, but on top of that Preston gave us some problems as well,” he said.

“I told the boys one thing that is really important today is that you are prepared to struggle.

“You cannot fly through games like this with the team which has made 11 changes [from the last game], that doesn’t work, so we had to fight through these moments.

“We could have done better, we know that these boys can play so much better, but they fought through.”