Crystal Palace came from behind to beat Liverpool on penalties in a lively Community Shield at Wembley.
Summer signing Hugo Etikike opened the scoring after just four minutes with a low-driven strike from the edge of the box, firmly announcing his arrival in English football. However, it was once again Liverpool’s defensive fragility that Reds’ fans and Arne Slot will be pondering about.
The Liverpool defence were left chasing when Jean-Philippe Mateta broke behind before an excellent Alisson intervention. But when Virgil van Dijk brought down Ismaïla Sarr as the ball immediately came back into the box, Mateta stepped up and casually dispatched the resulting penalty.
Jeremie Frimpong restored the Reds’ lead a few minutes latter with a freak cross-come-shot effort, capping off a frantic first 20 minutes.
Palace pushed for the equaliser in the second half, with the best chance falling to Sarr when stretching for a header he couldn’t quite connect with. But, once again, it was another poor decision from captain van Dijk, stepping up in defence to leave a gap behind for Sarr to collect the ball and place it past the Alisson to level the score.
Ultimately, it was the lottery of penalties that decided it and missed spot kicks from Mo Salah, Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliot gave Justin Devenny the chance to win it for Palace, which he took emphatically.
Now, two former Liverpool players have reacted to the loss, pointing fingers in the same direction — defence.
Posting on X, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher labeled the Reds “susceptible defensively”.
“LFC looking great going forward but susceptible defensively, as we’ve seen all pre season.
A lot of the goals conceded by LFC have come from going man to man really aggressively & leaving space in behind. Today Kerkez is getting dragged inside with Sarr leaving Gakpo chasing WB.”
Similarly, speaking on BBC Sport live, former keeper Chris Kirkland looked at the defensive unit, calling for a new centre-back alongside than an additional attacker.
“We want Isak, we have bid for him, and he wants to come to us. Normally, when that is the case, a deal gets done.
But I want a centre-back and a forward because we are all greedy in this world!”
That very notion is shared by many around the club, but former right-back Steve Nicol has lambasted Liverpool’s focus on Isak, describing it as “really weird” and again urged the club to look at defensive reinforcements.
Having lost Joe Gomez to injury and Joel Matip to retirement, many were surprised to see Jarell Quansah sold without a replacement, leaving head coach Slot with just two recognised senior centre-backs — Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté.
Whether today’s loss will force the club into action remains to be seen, but Liverpool fans will be hoping the defensive unit comes together ahead of the new Premier League season in five days time.
