Football is back and, apparently, better than ever. Liverpool and Arsenal played out a seven goal thriller in London, the Merseyside club racing to a 4-1 lead before surrendering two late goals and giving Arsene Wenger’s men a brief moment of joy.
People always try to learn something from pre-season, even though there really isn't anything to learn. Gauging how successful a team will be in the regular season based on pre-season results is like determining how good a steak will be based on how the cow interacts with other cows. You can guess all you want and say things that sound smart and write articles with titles like "5 Takeaways From Liverpool's Win Against AC Milan" or "5 Things We Learned From Watchng Bossie The Cow Chew Her Cud For 90 Minutes", but in the end you'll probably be wrong.
Most Liverpool fans were either bracing themselves or saying "whatever it's just a friendly" over and over when the Reds took on Barcelona at Wembley on Saturday. When the 90 minutes were up, though, fans were left with a 4-0 scoreline in favor of the scousers and the kind of performance that blows season expectations way out of proportion.
So let's do that.
We'll start with Sadio Mane, who for my money was the best player on a field that had Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi on it. Mane scored Liverpool's first goal, in the 15th minute.
Jurgen Klopp is one of the greatest personalities in the world of soccer, and a lucky group of American youngsters had the chance to sit face to face with the Liverpool manager and get some of their burning questions answered.
The first and arguably most important question of the event was: “Who is your favorite footballer of all time?”
Liverpool left back Alberto Moreno and attacker Roberto Firmino both showed up for the new season having changed their haircuts to be in line with a curious trend: the top knot.
The top knot, for the uninitiated, is a knot of hair on the top of one's head that makes the wearer look like they have a paint brush sticking out of their head.
As much as the people in charge would like for it to be a competitive tournament, the International Champions Cup is a collection of friendlies between big teams trying to grow their fan-bases in new, previously untapped markets. The players will run around a little, the coaches will evaluate some youth academy players and everyone will be nice before heading home. They're just friendlies. No one is taking them seriously. Except for Cesc Fabregas.
Look what happened when Cesc and Liverpool center back Ragnar Klavan go after the same ball.
It's over and done. Kolo Toure has left Liverpool, and he isn't coming back. He's gone to Celtic, where he will presumably get way more playing time and become the most entertaining player in green and white since Thomas Gravesen left.
I'm trying to not be sad, because Kolo wouldn't want me to be sad.
What would you do if Mario Balotelli showed up at your wedding?
This question is more serious than it may sound at first, because this weekend, while his LFC teammates were training in America, Mario Balotelli showed up at someone's wedding. Or, at least, he showed up in their wedding photos.
Comedian John Oliver, host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, is a huge Liverpool fan. He wants you to be one too. Oliver appeared in a video for LFC championing the Reds before their USA tour officially kicks off.
In his @LastWeekTonight style, @iamjohnoliver explains why you should watch #LFCtour!
Shamal George is 18 years old. He plays in Liverpool's youth academy. He is a goalkeeper. He was put into the squad for Liverpool's friendly against Huddersfield Town on Wednesday to back up Loris Karius after Adam Bogdan got sent on loan to Wigan. He got to make his debut in the second half. At striker.