Liverpool have now suffered back-to-back defeats at Wembley following their loss to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.

The Reds’ pre-season is now officially over and it has ended in a far from ideal way after losing on penalties to Palace just five days before their Premier League opener.

Some may count the Community Shield as ‘just’ a friendly, but of course every team goes into it with the desire of winning, something that will leave Arne Slot a little disappointed.

The overall performance is what is really analysed, however, and there were certain areas that the Reds struggled, mainly in defence.

Fabhino says something happened behind the scenes with Jurgen Klopp which led to him leaving Liverpool in 2023	'Doesn't help': Arne Slot attempts to pinpoint the 'main issue' which saw Liverpool lose against Crystal Palace	'Part of the problem': Steve Nicol claims 'struggling' Liverpool player made Milos Kerkez look bad yesterday

As well as this, though, there were other details that Slot will want to change before they play Bournemouth, with Alan Pardew believing that the Dutchman will have one big worry heading into that game.

Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images

Reds fans have had a hugely exciting summer so far and the new additions to their team have brought something a little different that they have not had before,

However, as this is technically the last game of pre-season, supporters will have been hoping for the players to be close to full fitness and hit the level they could expect at the beginning of the new campaign.

Liverpool, though, showed a slight bit of fatigue and were overrun in the midfield on far too many occasions, something Pardew believes will be a worry for Slot with the season fast-approaching.

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“Obviously today was not their day and Palace definitely had more energy than them, which will be a worry for Liverpool,” Pardew told talkSPORT after the game.

READ MORE: Steve Nicol points finger at ‘struggling’ Liverpool player for making Milos Kerkez look bad at Wembley

“The motivation and energy is something that will be very, very important for them in the next 38 games in the league.

You only have to slip up three times and you probably won’t win the title, so you must start the season with energy and see the whole season through.”

Slot is clearly still finding out his best XI but the good sign is that he is not too far off, with their performance showing signs that if it clicks, they could absolutely dominate teams next season.

As well as integrating the new players and working out his preferred starting lineup, Slot is still banking on some new arrivals to come through the door at Anfield, suggesting big tweaks are still yet to come.

A striker appears towards the top of the priority list, with Newcastle’s Alexander Isak still being a strong target, with this story expected to gain traction over the coming days.

A centre-back could also arrive, something that is probably needed as well, meaning Slot could have a disrupted start to Liverpool’s title-defending season.

Performance wise, however, it was not the worst, work is just needed to regain fitness levels back to what they used to be, with the Reds having under a week to try and resolve this issue.


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