Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp praises Neil Critchley and his Blackpool side for first-half display at Anfield

The Seasiders squandered a two-goal lead to eventually lose 7-2 to the Premier League champions at Anfield in their sixth and final pre-season outing.

Goals from CJ Hamilton and Jerry Yates gave Critchley’s side a surprise first-half lead before Joel Matip pulled one back just before the interval.

However, following a raft of changes, Liverpool’s superior quality finally told as they added six unanswered goals during a dominant second period, with the likes of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Divock Origi all getting on the scoresheet.

Discussing Blackpool’s impressive first-half display, Klopp said: “It was because of a lack of aggression from our side, a lack of desire a little bit for this game – that’s how it is, playing around.

“The goals we conceded, that’s mistakes – it’s typical for pre-season games. But so far I think we conceded pretty much all the goals in similar situations; losing the ball in the build-up, then it’s a counter-attack, it’s a free chance pretty much.

We know that and it’s clear we cannot do it like this. We have to improve that.

“But we have another week to get the legs fresher, again an intense week. We have to use the weeks, we cannot change that.

“I would love to have always fresh boys with super fresh legs in the games, but that only can work over the year when you do the hard work in the pre-season. That’s what we are doing.

“We scored a good goal after a nice set-piece in the first half, then all the rest was pretty much like it should be [in the second half] – much more aggressive and we could bring in other fresh legs. That helped obviously.

“The opponent changed as well. I think Critch has a really good team there; the first XI was really, really good, had a good, nice plan.

“We played a little bit into their cards. But in the end it’s a pre-season game, important that we have it. Some of the boys could have 90 minutes, which helps as well. Now another week until Leeds.”