Club friendly wrap: Liverpool humbled, Spurs and Arsenal win

Liverpool suffered a surprise 3-0 defeat at the hands of Championship outfit Hull City in their friendly clash on Saturday.

Kenny Dalglish fielded a total of 22 players at the KC Stadium but his side were humbled by lower league opposition on a day when English Premier League rivals Arsenal and Tottenham both record victories.

Midfielder Robbie Brady put Hull ahead on 21 minutes when he cut inside from the left, hitting a right-footed strike into the corner.

Slovenia international Robert Koren doubled their advantage when he smashed home a second following a neat exchange of passes with Aaron McLean.

Jay Simpson completed the scoring in the second half when he beat substitute goalkeeper Brad Jones.

Elsewhere, Arsenal signing Gervinho struck a brace as they beat Cologne 2-1 in Germany.

Ivory Coast international Gervinho, starting his first match for the north London club, grabbed two goals before making an exit after half an hour with Arsene Wenger having seemingly seen enough of his new attacker.

After enjoying such domination, Arsenal offered a way back into the match for the hosts in bizarre fashion on the stroke of half time.

Young defender Carl Jenkinson swung wildly at the ball in an attempt to clear only to see it slice violently in the air and sail all of 20 yards to lob Wojciech Szczesny in the Arsenal goal.

Throughout the second half, the Germans pressed forward for the equaliser, and continuously exploited gaps behind the full-backs but a combination of last-ditch tackling, wasteful finishing and a couple of sublime stops from Szczesny denied the hosts a second goal.

Tottenham secured the first victory of their pre-season tour of South Africa with a 3-0 win against Orlando Pirates, as want-away midfielder Luka Modric was again named captain.

Rafael van der Vaart put Spurs ahead after half an hour and added a second eight minutes into the second half.

Gareth Bale’s superb cross was then converted by Jermain Defoe to make it 3-0 with four minutes remaining.