Liverpool are flying in pre-season with Mohamed Salah starring... so is Jurgen Klopp eyeing Premier League title bid?

• e-mail

Liverpool powered into the Audi Cup final with a ruthless display of counter-attacking that stunned hosts Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena.

Three unanswered goals have set up a showdown with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday that will give Jurgen Klopp a firm idea of where Liverpool stand with the new Premier League campaign 11 days away.

After facing Diego Simeone’s side, Liverpool have one more fixture - against Athletic Bilbao in Dublin on Saturday - before they head to Watford on August 12. Here Sportsmail casts an eye over what the past four weeks have told us about Klopp and his men.

Liverpool celebrated an impressive pre-season win over Bayern Munich on Tuesday

How has Liverpool’s pre-season gone so far?

In terms of results, it’s impossible to pick holes in what they have done. They are unbeaten, having won five of their six matches; Liverpool have scored 15 times, kept four clean sheets and conceded two goals.

They have covered plenty of ground in terms of travel, having spent a week in Hong Kong before going on to a training camp in Germany. It is here where preparations have really stepped up.

Klopp wasn’t thrilled about having to go to South East Asia for part of the summer but he has been able to get the work into his squad that he deems necessary in the tranquil town of Rottach-Egern. Liverpool have trained three times most days in Bavaria and are improving all the time.

The squad have been training hard in camp at the Bavarian town of Rottach-Egern

Is Klopp confident ahead of the new season?

He is content but isn’t going overboard. Pre-season is dangerous as expectations can start to run away on the back of results that come in games which mean nothing but Klopp is no dreamer.

After every match he has picked holes in the performance and tempered praise for individuals who have caught the eye. If he is confident about Liverpool making a flying start, he is not showing it by making bold claims.

Manager Jurgen Klopp is refusing to let his players get carried away with their fine form

Which players look like being their most dangerous assets?

Sadio Mane (left) and Mohamed Salah appear to have struck up an immediate rapport 

If it all clicks in the way Klopp envisages, it would be wrong to pigeonhole one or two players as Liverpool’s main threat. The easy thing to do would be to pick Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah but, really, it is much more complex.

Mane and Salah have blistering pace that will be capable of eviscerating opponents and their team-mates are rubbing the hands about the mayhem they will be capable of causing on the counter-attack.

But then you have to factor in Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho, the side’s Brazilian heartbeat. Players won’t be Liverpool’s most potent weapons: it will be the employment of devastating speed.

And what sort of formation are we likely to see?

You won’t see Klopp following the trend of deploying three central defenders any time soon. He has a firm idea of how he wants his team to play and the foundations are provided with a flat back four.

Liverpool usually start with a 4-3-3 formation but as soon as the whistle blows, it can become 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1 or even 4-1-1-1-3, with the engine room of Jordan Henderson, Emre Can or Adam Lallana and Coutinho staggered; there have also been times when he has used a midfield diamond and two up front. Flexibility is the key to Klopp’s masterplan.

How have new boys Salah and Dominic Solanke started?

Salah has scored four goals in five games and if that is a sign of what is to come in the Premier League then Liverpool will have struck gold. Klopp has wanted to work with Salah since he saw him playing for Basle against Borussia Dortmund and he is expecting big things from the Egyptian.

Solanke was an unheralded signing but the impression he has made has been overwhelmingly positive. He is quiet around the camp, someone who doesn’t give a lot away, but he is aggressive and strong on the pitch and makes his statements there. He will get games this season.

It would be wrong, also, to overlook Andrew Robertson, the left back who arrived from Hull. He got his first taste of life at Liverpool against Hertha Berlin and showed some qualities. He will feature at some point against Atletico too.

Dominic Solanke has been quietly making an impact since his arrival from Chelsea

The elephant in the room is Coutinho and Barcelona… what’s the latest?

From Liverpool’s point of view, it is simple: he is not for sale, they will not welcome a second bid and he will start the season at Anfield. There are only so many different ways Klopp can say the same thing without sounding like a broken record.

And will we see any more signings?

The pursuit of RB Leipzig’s Naby Keita is over for this summer but Liverpool still want another midfielder and are looking at other targets. The Virgil van Dijk situation, however, continues to bubble away in the background. To repeat something which has been said before, nothing has changed since Liverpool issued a statement in June withdrawing their interest. Klopp wants Van Dijk, Van Dijk wants to play for Klopp, Southampton won’t sell. How long they can keep that stance, though, remains to be seen.

Daniel Sturridge scored against Bayern, but immediately went off injured. What’s going on?

We await an update on Sturridge’s fitness. He was optimistic when leaving the Allianz Arena, others were less so. All will become clear after he has had a scan.

It was such a shame that this injury has befallen him. Lallana had given a glowing appraisal of how good his work had been on Saturday in Berlin and big things are expected from the England international. It would now be something of a surprise if he left before the transfer window closed.

Daniel Sturridge scored a sublime goal against Bayern but his fitness is again in doubt

Finally, what are the expectations for this season, domestically and in Europe?

The first objective will be to qualify for the Champions League group stage. The play-off is crucial to everything Liverpool are setting out to achieve in the coming 12 months; put simply they need to be back in those big games.

In terms of domestic aspirations, Klopp is not fooled in terms of how difficult it will be to combat the threat from Manchester and west London but one thing he has in abundance is belief in his team. If it comes together as he hopes, Liverpool will be a threat to all.