Virgil van Dijk called Liverpool’s Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace a “disappointing” start to their Premier League title defence.
Liverpool drew 2-2 with Palace at Wembley, despite twice taking the lead through new signings Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong, and were then defeated on penalties by a 3-2 margin.
Mohamed Salah missed his penalty, before Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott saw efforts 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 side began the season.
“Obviously today we lost so that is not a good start, but we will have to take it game by game,” he told ESPN. “That is the mindset and has always been the mindset for us. It is going to be a very intense season in all competitions, and we have to be ready to show our quality in that sense.
“There were good things, but there are also plenty of things that we have to improve, and we have to work on and that is our plan now. You want to win this game, it is a final, it is a trophy that we play for, and that is a disappointing part of it.”
Arne Slot selected his four new signings to start at Wembley, and within 20 minutes, three of them had already had a direct hand in a goal.
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Florian Wirtz, who signed from Bayern Leverkusen in a £100 million ($134m) 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 make give Liverpool a 2-1 lead, after Jean-Philippe Mateta had equalized from the penalty spot, following Van Dijk’s foul on Ismaïla Sarr.
The Netherlands defender was pleased with his new teammates’ contributions and how they have settled into the club.
“The players that come in bring quality to the team, players that are leaving, we wish them well in their next adventure and that is how football sometimes works,” he said. “All the new boys in my opinion have settled in quite nicely, obviously it is important when you come to a new club to be able to show yourself immediately and you have to feel like you are welcome, and I think the boys are feeling just that.
“I think we have very good players, we have quality players; that is obviously a reason we won the Premier League last year, but not only because of quality but a lot of hard work and determination.”
Liverpool open the Premier League season at Anfield on Friday against Bournemouth, and Van Dijk gave his teammates a stern warning that they must play better.
“There were many good things in this game, but there was a lot of work to do still and we have five more days to get ready for the start of the Premier League, and that is what we have to do,” he said.