Liverpool are continuing to push to sign Alexander Isak but despite their Community Shield failure against Crystal Palace, Arne Slot was keen to say how happy he is with the shape of his attack, although his skipper is calling for more
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk insisted the Reds are still a forward short after their Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace… but found disagreement from Kop boss Arne Slot.
The Premier League champions were beaten on penalties in the traditional season curtain-raiser at Wembley. New £79million striker Hugo Ekitike impressed, scoring after just four minutes on his competitive debut following his summer switch from Eintracht Frankfurt, while some of his link play with record signing Florian Wirtz was excellent.
But the Reds were caught out defensively by Oliver Glasner’s men – a somewhat reckless Van Dijk twice at fault, once giving away a penalty and then charging out and leaving space in behind – as they drew 2-2 at the end of normal time before being defeated on penalties.
READ MORE: Liverpool players fail to follow Arne Slot’s instructions in Community Shield failureREAD MORE: Diogo Jota tribute spoiled and forced to end early before Liverpool vs Crystal Palace
Liverpool this weekend sold Darwin Nunez to Saudi side Al Hilal, having already sold Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich and gone through the tragic loss of Diogo Jota, with all three having played their part in last season’s title triumph.
It’s no secret that Alexander Isak is the top target for Anfield bosses, with the Newcastle United striker having already been the subject of a £110m bid, rejected by the Toon. Isak, currently banished from first-team training on Tyneside and out of Eddie Howe’s first-team reckoning, is rated at £150m by the Magpies’ top brass.
And while Ekitike and Wirtz both looked the part, with Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo remaining in situ and starting at Wembley, Van Dijk came away from Wembley insisting that they are still short in attack, in a somewhat subtle transfer plea to club chiefs.
“Well, we just lost Darwin, he went to Saudi and we lost Lucho, obviously he went to Bayern,” he told talkSPORT. “I think there’s always room for an attacker in order to strengthen us so let’s see what the window brings in terms of the balance of the team.”
But speaking post-match, Slot responded to Van Dijk’s claims – and DISAGREED with his skipper.
The Dutchman said: “I think we have more than more than enough options to be good enough to win again.
“This is where I focus on myself. With the players we have we should be able to win, to score. That’s actually what we did as well. We scored twice and last season we only scored one against them, away and at home. We could only score one against them. So my last concern at the moment is our offensive quality.”
There was then a somewhat pointed reminder from the Liverpool head coach to his captain, something akin to a ‘stay in your lane’ from one Dutchman to another.
“It’s more – it’s not a concern – but if I look at the amount of goals we’ve conceded in pre-season, that’s not of our standard.”
Slot also played down the interruption that saw the pre-match minute’s silence in tribute to Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, ended early by the match official.
“I don’t think this was planned, or that this was the idea of the fan that made some noise. Maybe he wasn’t aware of the fact that it was the minute of silence,” he said. “He was just still happy and tried to cheer for his team. And I think then the fans of Palace were trying to calm that person or those persons down, so I don’t think he had a bad intention, the guy or people that made noise.
“They tried to calm him down, but that was a bit noisy as well. And then our fans reacted, ‘Hey, what’s happening here?’ So I don’t think there’s a bad intention to it, because the fans of Crystal Palace and everywhere around the world have paid huge respect to Diogo and Andre and this was I think unlucky or, I can’t find the right words, but I don’t think there was a bad intention in it.
“We will see Friday, when Bournemouth come to our stadium, how respectful that is going to happen.
“It’s also five weeks ago, so that’s why maybe this fan who was just so happy for them to be in the Community Shield that he forgot in a second.”
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