Jamie Carragher points finger at new Liverpool signing over error in Crystal Palace loss - The Mirror

Liverpool's defence showed obvious signs of weakness as they were beaten on penalties by Crystal Palace in the Community Shield - and one player was singled out for criticism

Milos Kerkez has found himself under the spotlight after Liverpool twice surrendered a lead to lose to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield. The Reds were beaten on penalties at Wembley in the season-opener after a 2-2 draw against the FA Cup winners.

There were positives in the form of goals from new signings Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong and a good performance from Florian Wirtz. But Arne Slot’s defence looked vulnerable, with Virgil van Dijk giving away a penalty which Jean-Philippe Mateta converted, while Ismaila Sarr took advantage of lots of space to beat Alisson.

Van Dijk’s trip on Sarr came after Alisson saved one-on-one from Mateta, who raced clear of the defence. And the balance of the new-look back line, with £40million signing Kerkez at left-back and £34m Frimpong at right-back was questioned by Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher.

He noted at half-time on X: "LFC looking great going forward but susceptible defensively, as we’ve seen all pre-season. A lot of the goals conceded by LFC have come from going man to man really aggressively & leaving space in behind. Today Kerkez is getting dragged inside with Sarr leaving Gakpo chasing WB.”

Former Liverpool winger Steve McManaman also pointed the finger at Kerkez. “It was Kerkez playing everybody onside,” he said on TNT Sports about the first Palace goal. “Everybody stepped forward and the left-back was stepping backwards.

“That gave Palace the opportunity – and Palace were exploiting it a lot of the time. They were putting balls into that area, especially in the second half, almost doing it blind.”

Kerkez was signed from Bournemouth over the summer and started ahead of Andy Robertson at left-back. While he did make a crucial block in the second half, his attacking mentality frequently allowed space for Daniel Munoz and Sarr to attack and McManaman thinks Slot has work to do.

“I think the two goals today – not taking anything away from Crystal Palace – but if we’re talking about Liverpool’s defensive issues, they were defensive mistakes,” he added.

“There are things to work on and they will get better the more they get used to playing with each other as they are new players in a new system. But there are causes for concern because they are a bit vulnerable defensively.”

Speaking after the loss, Slot admitted concerns over his defence. “We conceded two goals [today] which we [also] did against [Athletic Bilbao in pre-season],” he told TNT Sports. “We conceded a couple more against AC Milan. That is something we need to do better.

“Last season, it was about keeping a clean sheet and attack as much as we could, and then create a few chances. Now we are able to create more.

“But we are conceding more at the moment as well. And if you want to compete to win the league, one of the main things is not conceding chances, let alone goals. I don’t think we conceded a lot today but too much to win the game.”

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