LONDON :Liverpool have conceded too many goals in pre-season and need to adapt defensively when they begin their Premier League title defence, manager Arne Slot said on Sunday after his side lost the Community Shield to Crystal Palace.
The Reds have splashed the cash this summer, signing playmaker Florian Wirtz, plus forward Hugo Ekitike and attacking full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, though key players have also departed.
After winning the league in Slot’s first term with only Federico Chiesa added to the squad left by former boss Juergen Klopp, Liverpool fans’ expectations for the coming season have been buoyed by the uncharacteristic transfer spree.
The new-look side has started brightly, with Liverpool scoring 20 goals in six pre-season friendlies and looking fluent at times against Palace, with Slot saying his side “are able to create more and we are more comfortable on the ball”.
But after conceding two goals to Palace, having shipped eight in their last four warm-up games, Slot expressed concern that Liverpool’s improved attack may have come at a price.
“Last season we had a lot of ball possession but that didn’t always lead to promising situations,” Slot said after they were beaten 3-2 on penalties following a 2-2 draw with Palace.
“Now we are better in creating and getting promising situations than we were, in my opinion, throughout the whole last season.
“But the other side is also true … and what made us really strong last season was we only won mostly (by) a margin of one goal and that had mostly to do with us keeping a clean sheet or as a maximum conceding one goal.”
He added: “It needs maybe a little bit of adjustment defensively at the moment because we don’t concede a lot of chances, but we do concede goals at the moment.”
Slot was nonetheless confident Liverpool could integrate their new signings, adding that “sometimes you need some time either to adapt offensively (or) to adapt defensively”.
Liverpool start their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday.
