It was the Community Shield, and that should not be forgotten. There isn’t anybody who has been watching English football for any period of time who hasn’t made the mistake of taking too seriously a conclusion drawn in the midst of the traditional curtain-raiser, giddy on the sight of Wembley in its pomp and the return of competitive club football from the summer wilderness.
Any analysis has to be tempered. Teams are always works in progress, evolving and developing, but that is never truer than in early August with new signings adapting to their teammates and surroundings, and others shaking the summer from their legs. Things will change. But after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace and subsequent defeat on penalties in the Community Shield, it can be said with a degree of certainty that their new signings have gelled better at the front of the pitch than the back.
Hugo Ekitiké, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt, and Florian Wirtz, signed from Bayer Leverkusen, had hugely encouraging debuts. Ekitiké and the attacking right-back Jeremie Frimpong, another from Leverkusen, both scored. But Liverpool were shockingly, startlingly open at times, as they have been throughout pre-season – and it cost them the game.
They are learning a new system, the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 hybrid of last season yielding to a 4-2-3-1. It’s not a huge shift but Wirtz, as the most advanced of the triangle of central players between the centre-backs and the centre-forward, is very much a forward, whereas Dominik Szoboszlai, who tended to be the most advanced of the central midfield triangle last season, is an attacking midfielder. It’s not that Wirtz does not perform his defensive duties – he does, and is notably assiduous in doing so, a highly effective presser of the ball – it’s that he does so in slightly different positions.
The expectation is that the midfield two in most games going forward, at least when Liverpool are not going to monopolise possession, will be Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister. Gravenberch was unavailable for the Community Shield after becoming a father on Saturday night, while Mac Allister is still regaining fitness and was restricted to the final 20 minutes. That led to Szoboszlai occupying a deeper role than usual alongside Curtis Jones, who made a convincing case for occupying the role more frequently with a controlled performance in which he completed all 53 of the passes he attempted. It was after he and Ekitiké were withdrawn that Palace began to mount concerted pressure.
Coming to terms with an unfamiliar system without the two key cogs at the back of midfield, the area that was always likely to come under pressure with the change of formation, was far from ideal for Liverpool. They had looked entirely comfortable for the first 15 minutes but then a simple straight through-ball opened them up, Jean-Philippe Mateta played onside by at least one and possibly both full-backs as Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté stepped up in the centre. Although Alisson made the initial save, Liverpool were still resetting as the ball was returned to the middle, leading to Van Dijk’s clumsy lunge on Mateta and the penalty that brought the first equaliser.
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Van Dijk looked unsettled by what was happening immediately in front of him all afternoon, often stepping into the space Gravenberch might usually have been expected to be occupying, which in turn disrupted the back four. That was what led to the second equaliser: Van Dijk being drawn forward, leaving the gap into which Ismaïla Sarr burst to score. Clearly Gravenberch’s absence made a difference but nobody should think that his return will immediately solve the problems. The new shape means a different approach, with Liverpool adopting an aggressive man-to-man press that left space behind the defensive line. Sarr caused problems all game, repeatedly dragging Milos Kerkez, the fourth of the new signings in the starting lineup, infield, which meant Cody Gakpo had to do a lot of work tracking Palace’s right wing-back, Daniel Muñoz.
None of this is unsolvable, but it does mean that Liverpool may be more defensively vulnerable, at least in the early part of the campaign, than they were in winning the league last season. Ekitiké had an excellent game, his movement and his touch, his awareness, all excellent. Wirtz impressed as well with his energy and invention; the penultimate pass he played in the buildup to the first goal demonstrating his capacity to see opportunities others would not, crafting a service to Ekitiké that took three Palace players out of the game.
But for any side making as many changes as Liverpool have this summer, with four big new signings and a fifth perhaps to arrive in Alexander Isak, there will be a degree of uncertainty, a period of bedding in. The possibilities are exciting but, as Slot reshapes the squad to his own specifications, some teething troubles are only to be expected.
On this day…
Paris Saint-Germain are by some margin the youngest of Europe’s giants, having come into being on 11 August 1970, a day after the birth of the former Manchester United and Ireland midfielder Roy Keane. The French capital had no major club which, as European competition became established through the 1960s, came to seem increasingly bizarre. So, in 1969, the French Football Federation, the mayor of Paris, the editor of French sports newspaper l’Équipe and Guy Crescent, who ran the Calberson truck company and was prepared to provide financing, got together to decide the best way of setting up a team for Paris. A referendum confirmed the scheme had overwhelming popularity, voting for the name Paris FC, and, in February 1970, a telethon attracted 10,000 people to sign up as members, each paying 20 francs.
But Paris FC had no stadium, players, coach or licence, so a merger was arranged with the second-flight side Stade Saint-Germain, creating Paris Saint-Germain (Paris FC broke away in 1972 and, after promotion this past May, will compete again in the French top flight this season). After the fashion designer Daniel Hechter took over in 1973, redesigning the kit and providing investment, the club gained promotion to the top-flight, moving in to the Parc des Princes in 1974 as Paris FC were relegated.
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This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.
