Wembley was supposed to be a case of the men who weren’t there. It ended up asking questions of the team asked to defend the Premier League title.
Alexander Isak may soon become a Liverpool player. That will be decided soon enough by the transfer market; a game of charades is being played before money eventually dictates its conclusion.
Modern football’s eternal melodramas fade into significance when considering the player Isak could replace as a Liverpool centre-forward. The club plays under the shadow of the loss of Diogo Jota, his death alongside his brother André Silva on a Spanish highway, its shattering of family and friends a reminder football is played by real people with real lives. Liverpool’s pre-match lineup did not feature a No 20, Jota’s number retired.
The season ahead will be played in the memory of a popular, skilled yet understated professional, 12 months ago at Ipswich the scorer of the first Premier League goal of Arne Slot’s reign. Jota died a champion, a beloved teammate. Before kick-off, Wembley was supposed to drop to a minute’s silence, only for an idiot fringe of Crystal Palace’s fans to shame themselves by chanting. A tiny minority though enough for a booed response from Liverpool fans, referee Chris Kavanagh blowing his whistle quickly. What should have been a moment of perspective was sullied. Football’s ability to crack on blithely in the face of tragedy is one of its worst qualities.
The Palace contingent, 99% of whom had been observant, wanted to get their own message across. “Uefa mafia” declared a banner, highlighted by burning pyro. Palace’s summer of FA Cup celebration is still overshadowed by the legal wrangle over their European participation – the outcome of the club’s appeal due to be announced on Monday – while Uefa and Nottingham Forest principal Evangelos Marinakis had names taken in vain in a lengthy chorus of disdain.
The show rolled inexorably on, Wembley offering a snapshot of a new Liverpool. Whether Jota would have been part of the sporting director Richard Hughes’ plans to overhaul the squad Jürgen Klopp left last year for Slot is for the birds but it was Hugo Ekitiké, part of the overhaul, who scored first.
As a central striker, Ekitiké looked much like the real deal should Isak not arrive. A player denied a chance to shine as Paris Saint-Germain turned to galacticos laid his marker, though rued a couple of misses. Florian Wirtz added grace and magic, all drops of the shoulder and accelerations, sometimes strolling, sometimes darting, carrying the haughty, aristocratic air of the very best German footballers.
Liverpool became champions last season by their consistency, patiently taking the steam from opponents. Pre-season and Wembley suggest a more open-house approach, with attendant vulnerabilities. Amid the sound and fury of an occasion played at near-full pelt by both teams, the problems of Liverpool turning the dial up to 11 on attack were soon apparent. Jeremie Frimpong is not Trent Alexander-Arnold as an attacking full-back breaking behind the lines rather than passing beyond them. His goal was almost certainly inadvertent, but showed the dimensions he might add. That he scored on the 20 minutes and 20 seconds mark, as Liverpool fans remembered Jota, showed off perfect timing, too.
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That Eberechi Eze, drifting inside left, had Frimpong’s defensive measure was just one problem. Liverpool’s other Dutch defender, Virgil van Dijk, was unusually clumsy in bringing down Ismaïla Sarr for a penalty, flat-footed on other occasions. The return of another Dutchman, Ryan Gravenberch, on paternity leave, or Alexis Mac Allister, short of fitness to start, may solve such issues but there was top-heaviness, imbalance. Opposing scouts will have noticed the lack of cover Mohamed Salah provided to Frimpong, as often the case for Alexander-Arnold. The Egyptian king’s creative partnership with Wirtz needs working on, too. There was a fault on the line between them, Salah reduced to one effort on goal, sometimes enough but not here, and dragged into Dean Henderson’s hands. The less said about his shootout penalty the better.
If Milos Kerkez was ever keen to overlap, Sarr’s running showed he can be exposed defensively, and the out-of-position Hungarian was at fault as his tormentor scored Palace’s second equaliser. Perhaps a £150m forward is not the answer Slot is looking for. Marc Guéhi, a central defender Liverpool are linked with but maybe beyond their spending limits should Isak actually arrive, showed typical cool as Palace assumed control in the second half. Adam Wharton, a midfielder the elite should covet, found his forwards with his passing range. Oliver Glasner has barely been able to add to his squad during the summer’s limbo but the Austrian’s golden touch continued as Palace edged a nerve-filled shootout to celebrate another trophy win.
For Liverpool, losing the Community Shield cannot come remotely close to the genuine, human loss of the friend and teammate their squad must play on without. Wembley suggested reclaiming the glory enjoyed when Jota was among them may not be as easy as a summer of transfer fantasy had made it seem.