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Occasionally brilliant, occasionally shambolic, with improvements needed.

Four of Liverpool's summer signings made their first competitive starts for the club in the Community Shield, which they lost on penalties to Crystal Palace.

Record £116m acquisition Florian Wirtz started in attacking midfield, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez formed a new-look full-back pairing, while Hugo Ekitike led the line as the central striker.

The only new face not in the starting XI was goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who was on the bench as Alisson kept his place.

And there were some clear signs the revamp may lead to spectacular results.

It is the first time Liverpool have had two players score on their competitive debuts since August 2006, when Craig Bellamy and Mark Gonzalez netted against Maccabi Haifa.

But Liverpool 2.0 have bugs.

They twice had leads pegged back, were often sloppy in defence, and were on the ropes towards the end.

"We have four new players - we need time to adapt," Slot said at his post-match media conference at Wembley.

In this regard, the Community Shield was not an isolated incident.

Indeed by the time he was substituted, Wirtz was playing as a false nine with Ekitike already taken off.

This freedom allowed the German to float wide left after four minutes, to pick up the ball and play in Ekitike for the opener.

There were 22 passes in the build-up to Liverpool's first goal, a move that lasted 66 seconds and involved nine players.

Until being taken off in the 84th minute, Wirtz looked perfectly balanced, always in control, never flustered.

But that is a question for another article.

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Slide1 of 2,Florian Wirtz's passing map,This graphic showing Wirtz's range of passing illustrates just how influential he was - from just about everywhere across Palace's half of the pitch

In front of Wirtz, Ekitike has the makings of a genuine, out-and-out centre forward Liverpool simply did not have before because of Darwin Nunez's shortcomings.

His goal was well taken, and his cross with the outside of his boot in the first half that found Cody Gakpo in an offside position was sumptuous.

But one should remember that Nunez's debut also came in the Community Shield - the 2023 win over Manchester City.

I'd want a centre-back and a forward because we are all greedy in this world!"

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There were also weaknesses deeper in midfield for Liverpool, but they are a cheaper fix.

Ryan Gravenberch was absent because his partner was giving birth, while Alexis Mac Allister was only fit enough for a cameo off the bench.

Curtis Jones lined up alongside Dominik Szoboszlai in holding midfield, and completed all 53 of his passes.

"Gravenberch was a massive miss today - he was my player of the season last year," said Kirkland.

There can be no question Liverpool will be disappointed to miss out on a trophy, especially against the side who finished 12th last season and have several injury issues, with Eddie Nketiah and Cheick Doucoure among those set to miss the start of the season.

But Reds fans should not take it too harshly.
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