Arne Slot delivers Liverpool warning as Hugo Ekitike comments speak volumes

Liverpool’s Dutch coach Arne Slot wants to see his team improve in defence after the Reds’ defeat to Crystal Palace via a penalty shootout in the Community Shield at Wembley

Arne Slot warned Liverpool need to be better defensively if they’re to reign as kings of England again this season. The Reds lost a penalty shootout to Crystal Palace yesterday after the Eagles came from behind twice to peg back Slot’s Premier League champions in the season’s curtain-raiser.

Liverpool have splashed the cash this summer with £295m spent on new recruits with more to come – and could even move for Palace defender Marc Guehi. But Slot was not happy with how they’ve defended during pre-season ahead of their campaign kicking off next Friday.

He said: “We have conceded four against Milan, one against the Japanese team, two against Bilbao and two again today. What made us really strong last season was we mostly won by a goal or a margin of one goal. That had mostly to do with us keeping a clean sheet or at a maximum conceding one goal.”

Liverpool are likely to sign a centre-back with Guehi one target while they’re also prepared to smash the British transfer record to land Alexander Isak up front. Summer signing Hugo Ekitike did score but after selling Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz, Slot feels they’re short of options up front.

READ MORE: Liverpool boss Arne Slot responds after Diogo Jota tribute ended early at WembleyREAD MORE: Liverpool players fail to follow Arne Slot’s instructions in Community Shield failure

He said: “There is not a lot to replace him [Ekitike] with, so if he gets an injury there would not be much to replace him with for Bournemouth, Newcastle and Arsenal so that’s why I took him off but he had a good game, that’s for sure.”

Liverpool and Palace paid tribute to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva after they were killed in a car crash last month before the game. But the minute’s silence was cut short after a small number of Palace fans made noise and then their fellow supporters and the Liverpool crowd tried to shush them.

Reds captain Virgil van Dijk said: “I’m disappointed. There was plenty trying to sushhh it down, but obviously that doesn’t help them. It is what it is. You can’t control all those fans.

“80,000 people, so yeah, it’s disappointing to hear that. But if those persons can go home and be happy with themselves, then..”

Slot had a more considered view of the incident. He added: “I don’t think this was planned or it was the idea of the fan that made some noise. Maybe he wasn’t aware that it was a minute of silence. He was just still happy and tried to cheer for his team.

“Then the fans of Palace were trying to calm that person or those persons down. I don’t think he had a bad intention of the guy or people that made noise.”

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