Arne Slot’s Liverpool 2.0 got their grand unveiling at Wembley on Sunday, and the reviews are in. 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. The game finished 2-2, with the goals coming through Ekitike and Frimpong. 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. In Monday’s 3-2 friendly win against Athletic Bilbao, Liverpool conceded twice from set-pieces.
Palace arguably had only two big chances in this game – Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 13th-minute penalty and Ismaila Sarr bursting through with 12 minutes to go. They scored both.
As Slot pithily said: “We don’t concede chances, but we concede goals.”
New full-backs, new style of play?
Let’s start at the back. For years, especially under Jurgen Klopp, one of Liverpool’s defining traits was the attacking impetus brought by full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.
Frimpong and Kerkez are, in many ways, in a similar mould – much more attacking than traditional full-backs.
But, while Kerkez is nearly identical to Robertson in how he plays, Frimpong stays far wider than his predecessor. Don’t expect many Alexander-Arnold-like adventures into central midfield – but do expect some good, old-fashioned overlapping runs.
This attacking sense led directly to Liverpool’s second goal when Frimpong jinked into the area and chipped Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson. Whether he meant to score or not, the dash into the box was a spectacular and impudent piece of skill.
This graphic shows the average positions of Liverpool’s starting XI against Crystal Palace at Wembley, with Frimpong in particular clearly hugging the right touchline to provide added width, almost like a winger at times
This graphic shows Liverpool’s average positions against Tottenham in April – the last match Alexander-Arnold and Robertson started together. Alexander-Arnold, unlike Frimpong, played much more narrowly. More on the rest of the team shortly…
1 of 2Previous imageNext imageSlide 1 of 2, The average positions of Liverpool’s starting XI against Crystal Palace at Wembley. This graphic shows the average positions of Liverpool’s starting XI against Crystal Palace at Wembley, with Frimpong in particular clearly hugging the right touchline to provide added width, almost like a winger at times
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However, in defence, issues remain. Liverpool will have hoped that Frimpong would bring the defensive solidity they sometimes lacked with Alexander-Arnold, but the Dutchman played Sarr onside for the second equaliser.
And it was not only at full-back where Liverpool looked defensively suspect. They were opened too easily before the first-half penalty – Mateta was set free by a through ball, leading to the attack which ended in Virgil van Dijk fouling Sarr.
There was no recognised centre-back on Liverpool’s bench. Jarell Quansah has departed for Bayer Leverkusen, and Joe Gomez “has a minor injury”.
Slot expects him to be back soon, but Liverpool needs to sign at least one more central defender before the transfer deadline on 1 September.
The one they would like to sign captained the opposition at Wembley. Marc Guehi – subject of transfer speculation as he enters the last year of his contract – once again laid everything on the line for Palace before being subbed in the dying seconds because of cramp.
Is ‘dominant’ Wirtz missing piece?
Moving into midfield, Wirtz was the outstanding Liverpool player at Wembley. Slot has clearly tweaked the system to suit their record signing, and the early signs are positive.
Wirtz has been given a role freer and further forward than Liverpool had previously from an attacking midfielder – they had nobody to do that role last season.
He almost formed a strike partnership with Ekitike at times, so close together were they. 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. His influence all over the pitch for Liverpool is already clear.
At the point of his substitution, Wirtz led Liverpool in passes and entries in the final third, crosses and touches in the Palace box. He had the third most touches in total. Everything went through him.
“It has been a really impressive performance for Wirtz,” former Palace striker Glenn Murray told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Very dominant.
“He was tiring by the end of it, and that is something he will need to get used to. But he is looking like a very good signing.”
This does raise a question about Mohamed Salah’s role in the team. The Egyptian has now not scored in eight Wembley appearances, had only one shot on target and in the shootout blazed his penalty over. But that is a question for another article.
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
But this heat map graphic also shows he naturally gravitated towards the left, linking up with Ekitike and Kerkez
1 of 2Previous imageNext imageSlide 1 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
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How much of a difference did Ekitike make?
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. The Uruguayan scored, looked streets ahead of Erling Haaland, and never hit those heights again.
And there was a touch of Nunez about Ekitike spurning a header inside the six-yard box less than a minute into the second half, and another chance he blazed over from 12 yards. Take one of those, and Liverpool win.
“Always nice to score a goal, but it would have been even nicer to win a game,” Slot said of his new frontman.
“Ekitike had a good impact, but he came two weeks ago during the Asia tour. But he had a good game for sure.”
So, who will Liverpool add in the final three weeks of the transfer window? One name is on everyone’s lips – Alexander Isak.
At times on Sunday, it looked as if the last thing Liverpool needed was another first-choice striker. But as Palace celebrated in the sun, the appeal of the wantaway Newcastle forward became clearer.
“Liverpool want another striker,” former Reds goalkeeper Chris Kirkland told BBC Sport after the game. “We’re all greedy. Every team wants as many strikers as they can.
“Liverpool want Isak, they have bid for him, and he wants to go. Normally, when that is the case, a deal gets done. I’d want a centre-back and a forward because we are all greedy in this world!”
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Source: myjoyonline.com
