Forward-thinking Slot risks losing his team's cohesion

Big-spending Liverpool boss faces a difficult balancing act

- RICHARD JOLLY

Spending can bring its own problems. Some footballers can be weighed down by their price tags, though there were precious few signs of that when the £100m signing Florian Wirtz found the £69m buy Hugo Ekitike to score just four minutes into their Liverpool bows. But some teams can be unbalanced by expenditure.

Arne Slot assessed a first meaningful match after Liverpool gave their defence a £75m makeover and concluded: “We need to be better defensively.” It wasn’t an attempt to make the Community Shield an indictment of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, his deluxe pair of new fullbacks. Rather, it was a broader view.

It may be a temporary glitch, and Slot is determined to ensure it is, but he nevertheless considered the evidence of preseason friendlies as well. It was not merely the two goals Crystal Palace scored at Wembley, their 14 shots, their xG of 2.12 or some fine saves by Alisson.

Slot ran through the goals Liverpool had conceded: four to AC Milan, one to Yokohama F. Marinos, two to Athletic Bilbao. It amounts to nine in four games; indeed, it was nine in the last four Premier League matches after winning the title. Yet, in a curious way, they may matter less than three friendlies and the Community Shield now.