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Andoni Iraola‘s final pre-season game against Como offered an indication of how Liverpool could line up against Newcastle, with only a couple of positions under question. With the squad split across two games for the pre-season finale, Iraola’s selection choices gave a strong hint at who he is planning to lean on for Sunday’s Premier League opener. There are exceptions, with Alexis Mac Allister utilising the first game for fitness, but Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa being left out of the evening match was telling. Equally, the players Iraola pushed to complete 90 minutes at Anfield was a strong indicator of at least six players who will start against Newcastle. Alisson, Jeremie Frimpong, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Ryan Gravenberch all completed the full 90 minutes, pencilling their names on the team sheet. Iraola specifically singled out Frimpong after the match, saying: “It was also a very good performance of Jeremie Frimpong. “Playing 90 minutes as a right-back, helping us offensively but closing very well his side also.” The Dutchman finished with the third-most minutes in pre-season (338), behind Giorgi Mamardashvili – who will act as Alisson‘s deputy – and Szoboszlai (355), who has been an ever-present for Iraola this summer. Alexander Isak, who played 84 minutes at Anfield, is also expected to start against his former club, as long as no issues emerge during the week; likewise Florian Wirtz. It leaves only a few positions for Iraola to settle on for his first competitive match, including who starts next to Van Dijk, and whether Victor Munoz can force his way into the side over Cody Gakpo or Rio Ngumoha. Liverpool will not be the finished article on opening day With his full senior squad having only fully assembled last week, plus the wait for further signings, Iraola knows his side’s pre-season will extend into the campaign. “Even [before the trip to] Ipswich, but it’s a Friday, we have two or three full weeks where we can train,” Iraola told LFCTV on his continued squad preparations. “At the end, we need training, we need to train together. “Some of the players who started playing today, we need to build relationships, the players to have this option to solve problems by themselves on the pitch, analyse what we can improve, especially the second half today. “This needs time. So, I think we can use these two, three weeks – we have full weeks – so we are ready for the league.”