Liverpool 4-2 Sunderland: Andoni Iraola makes winning start to life as Reds head coach

Andoni Iraola won his first match in charge of Liverpool as his new side produced an impressive display to beat Sunderland 4-2 in their opening game of their summer tour of the US.

Iraola, who replaced Arne Slot at Anfield in June, will have been delighted with some of the football Liverpool produced in the Nashville heat, especially a fine team move that led to the opening goal for young midfielder Kieran Morrison after 13 minutes.

The Basque, like his opposite number Regis le Bris, rung the changes after the first half, with Liverpool improving after the break to turn around a 2-1 deficit thanks to a characteristic Dominik Szoboszlai piledriver, followed by further strikes from fellow substitutes Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas.

However, there was one negative for Iraola, who saw stand-in captain and long-serving defender Joe Gomez forced off early on with what looked a muscle issue in an area of the team where Liverpool really could do without any injuries heading into the new campaign.

"I think it was different halves. Especially, they were a lot stronger in the first half. We kind of balanced both teams, and you could feel the difference. A lot of things to correct, obviously, it's the first day.

"You could feel the heavy legs, the players have been training. So, we lacked some freshness. But it will give us a good starting point to improve things.

"Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe [Gomez]. We were happy because we were kind of going through all the training without losing any player. Unluckily for us, straight away we've lost Joe."

Lots of positives for Iraola to take from his first match in charge of Liverpool, starting obviously with the win, although this being preseason in many ways it was the performance of his players and how well they gelled at times that will have most pleased the new Reds boss.

Liverpool scored some eye-catching goals, the team got better as the game wore on, despite the heat in Nashville, and all 22 players used with be better for this first competitive runout of preseason.

Iraola may have won his first match in charge of Liverpool, but there was some worrying injury news as Joe Gomez was forced off early on.

The long-serving defender appeared to suffer a muscle issue and was replaced in the centre of defence by youngster Ifeanyi Ndukwe just 10 minutes into the club's first preseason game of their summer tour of the US.

Gomez, 29, has a long history of injuries at Anfield, although Iraola will hope it is nothing too serious with Ibrahima Konate having left on a free transfer at the end of last season, while both Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet missed the game in Nashville also with injury.

Leoni, signed last year from Parma, will not be back to full fitness for at least a few months after suffering an ACL on his Reds debut last September, while Jacquet, who joined the club from Rennes this summer, missed the game with a minor knock having only just recovered from a shoulder issue.