Liverpool frailtiies offer title rivals encouragment and show Reds must return to transfer market | OneFootball

Scoring goals is not going to be a problem after £300m spend on attacking talent but Arne Slot’s side need a solution to defensive woes

'Tis the season for bold predictions and Joe Cole has got firmly involved in the festivities.

It might have come as a surprise to him, then, that Arne Slot and his players watched from the pitch as Crystal Palace climbed the Wembley stairs to lift the Community Shield.

Twice Liverpool took the lead, first through Hugo Ekitike and then Jeremie Frimpong, but on both occasions could not press home the advantage. Palace took it to penalties and held their nerve.

After a summer spend of almost £300million, it was not a shock that Liverpool, at times, looked electric in attack. Ekitike needed only four minutes to score on his competitive debut, while Florian Wirtz also caught the eye.

Virgil van Dijk struggled against Palace but the Liverpool issues ran deeper than just his individual display

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Football, though, is played at two ends of the pitch. As thrilling as the Reds were, and will evidently be this season, up front, their title rivals will have been encouraged by what was happening behind that.

Both Palace goals came in alarmingly simple fashion. For the opener, Jean-Philippe Mateta made a run straight through the middle of the defence and was picked out. He did not convert that one-one-one chance, but Ismaila Sarr was brought down by Virgil van Dijk in the box seconds later.

Van Dijk was at fault for the second, too, stepping up to allow Adam Wharton a gaping hole to play Sarr in to slot past Alisson.

The Liverpool captain will not have as many poor afternoons as this all season, but the issues ran deeper than just his individual display.

The midfield lacked balance in the absence of Ryan Gravenberch, who missed the game after his partner gave birth on Saturday. Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai did not provide the necessary cover and Palace were allowed space and time to run at the defence and break the offside trap.

Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have instincts to attack at every opportunity and for all the threat they carry in the final third, teams will feel that can be exploited.

Liverpool are targeting a move for Marc Guehi who impressed for Palace at Wembley

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It all means Slot has plenty of thinking to do before Bournemouth visit Anfield for the Premier League opener on Friday night.

“It needs maybe a little bit of adjustment defensively at the moment because we don’t concede a lot of chances but we do concede goals at the moment,” Slot admitted after the match.

The return of Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister to the midfield would certainly help things, but a return to the transfer market also feels necessary.

Liverpool did not have a centre-back on the bench at Wembley, with Wataru Endu the closest thing to cover for Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate. Joe Gomez is currently injured and Rhys Williams is the only other senior central defender at the club.

Palace captain Marc Guehi is therefore an obvious target and his name was cheered by the Liverpool fans when read out ahead of kick-off at Wembley.

A top level signing of that ilk would provide the necessary squad depth but there are still problems for Slot to solve.

The Liverpool boss has a freshly-stocked artillery in attack that he will feel can rack up the goals against any side. The problem is they might have to.