With Gomez and Jeremy Jacquet absent from the squad – and [**Virgil van Dijk beginning pre-season training back in Liverpool this week**](https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/inside-training-pre-season-day-one-cody-gakpo-and-virgil-van-dijk) following World Cup commitments – Liverpool started Wednesday’s clash with Wrexham in New York with a centre-back pairing of Luke Chambers and Ifeanyi Ndukwe.
Mor Talla Ndiaye was also utilised in the position during the second half of the 1-0 win at Yankee Stadium – and while Iraola acknowledges the squad is ‘pretty thin’ in that area at the moment, he was keen to highlight the positive performances of the youngsters.
“You have seen these games, we are pretty thin in the centre-back position,” he said. “We still don’t have Virgil. The only real centre-backs we have right now are Mor and Ify, that are 18 years old, just arrived to the club and they are doing incredibly well.
“Yesterday Luke Chambers played there, he is not a centre-back but he played really, really well. We have to until we recover some bodies.
“I think Jeremy is ready to go and we will recover Virgil, but I’m happy that playing against Sunderland, against Wrexham, good teams with 18-year-old centre-backs, the team has showed composure and solidity at the back and \[that\] speaks very well about them.”