5 things spotted during Liverpool's 0-0 draw against Las Palmas

Liverpool brought their pre-season to an end with a somewhat underwhelming 0-0 draw against Las Palmas at Anfield on Sunday.

This was the second of two games played at Anfield on the day, but the clash against the Canary Islanders couldn't match the high bar set by the 4-1 win over Sevilla just hours earlier.

The game, played behind closed doors, was the final chance head coach Arne Slot had to assess his squad ahead of the Premier League opener against Ipswich next Saturday.

Here are five things we learned from the game...

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1) A throwback to 2021

Playing in front of an empty Anfield will have brought back some strange memories for Liverpool fans.

Seeing Nat Phillips getting his head bandaged up certainly conjured up a feeling of déjà vu!

The lack of crowd undoubtedly played a role on the day, with Slot's team playing with a marked lower intensity compared to previous games.

2) Darwin doing Darwin things

As you might expect, Darwin Nunez was at the centre of much of the Reds' attacking play.

The Uruguayan was a nuisance for the Las Palmas defenders in the first half, interchanging intelligently with Cody Gakpo. In fact, he had the ball in the net in the 18th minute — only for it to be chalked off for offside (surprise, surprise!).

Not long after, his pace helped lead a blistering counter-attack. However, he held onto the ball for far too long and his eventual pass to Gakpo saw the move break down.

Not his best 66 minutes in a Liverpool shirt.

3) Inverted full-backs are here to stay

As we saw in the first game, particularly in the second half, Trent Alexander-Arnold played as much more of an inverted full-back.

Against Las Palmas, Conor Bradley played in the same position and combined to good effect with Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott in the first half.

In fact, the Northern Irishman was unlucky with a few attempted through passes.

In the second half, it was Andrew Robertson's turn to play the role, and the Scotland captain almost scored a worldy when his curling shot came back out off the post.

4) Doak's final audition?

With reported interest from several clubs, it was perhaps a surprise to see Ben Doak in the starting line-up.

That said, the young Scot seemed to be on a mission to prove his worth, and in the first half, he had two good chances to break the deadlock.

The first came after a mazy run when he was perhaps guilty of holding onto the ball for too long; the second saw him try to latch onto a flick but lacked a little bit of conviction.

In the second half, having switched to the left, Doak seemed more comfortable with more time on the ball. However, again, he seemed to release the ball a smidge too late.

Whether he did enough to prove to Arne Slot that he can contribute to the first team this year—or, rather, that he needs to develop a more clinical streak elsewhere—remains to be seen.

5) Van den Berg on his way out?

Having started almost every pre-season game so far, it's perhaps telling that Sepp van den Berg didn't start either of the games at Anfield on Sunday.

Jarell Quansah partnered captain Virgil van Dijk against Sevilla, while Nat Phillips took the spot alongside Ibrahima Konate in the second game against the La Liga strugglers.

Perhaps tellingly, when Phillips was withdrawn it was Amara Nallo who entered the fold.

Does this mean Van den Berg is about to seal a move away? Or was he just carrying a knock?