Virgil van Dijk described Liverpool’s defeat to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield as a “disappointing” start to their Premier League title defense.
Liverpool drew 2-2 with Palace at Wembley, despite taking the lead twice thanks to new signings Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong, and was then defeated in the penalty shootout.
Mohamed Salah missed his penalty, before Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott saw their attempts saved by Dean Henderson.
Liverpool are looking to defend their title for the first time since 1984, and captain Van Dijk was not happy with how his team started the season.Van Dijk stated: “Obviously, we lost today, so it’s not a good start, but we’ll have to take it one game at a time.”
That is the mentality and always has been the mentality for us, it’s going to be a very intense season in all competitions, and we have to be ready to demonstrate our quality in that sense.
Virgil van Dijk
“There were good things, but there are also many things we need to improve and work on, and that is our plan now.”
“You want to win this match, it’s a final, it’s a trophy we’re playing for and that’s the disappointing part.”
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Florian Wirtz, who signed from Bayern Leverkusen in a £100 million ($134 million) deal, assisted Ekitike, who joined from Eintracht Frankfurt, after just four minutes.
Frimpong, who also joined from Leverkusen, then chipped Dean Henderson from a tight angle to put Liverpool 2-1 ahead, after Jean-Phillipe Mateta equalized from the penalty spot, following Van Dijk’s foul on Ismaïla Sarr.
The Netherlands defender was happy with the contributions of his new teammates and how they have adapted to the club.
“The players who arrive bring quality to the team, the players who leave, we wish them the best in their next adventure and that’s how football sometimes works,” he said.“In my opinion, all the new guys have adapted quite well, obviously it’s important when you come to a new club to be able to prove yourself immediately and you have to feel that you are welcome and I think the guys feel that way.”
“I think we have very good players, we have quality players, that’s obviously a reason why we won the Premier League last year, but not just because of the quality, but because of a lot of hard work and determination.”
Liverpool begins the defense of its title at Anfield on August 15 against Bournemouth and Van Dijk warned his teammates that they must improve before the start of the Premier League.
“There were many good things in this match, but there was still a lot of work to do and we have five more days to prepare for the start of the Premier League and that’s what we have to do,” he added.
