Arne Slot says Liverpool “are better at creating and getting promising situations than last season” following Community Shield defeat | OneFootball

Premier League champions Liverpool were beaten by FA Cup winners Crystal Palace in a penalty shootout in Sunday afternoon’s Community Shield at Wembley Stadium.

Despite his side losing their advantage twice in the fixture and being unsuccessful on the day, Arne Slot is still full of belief for the season ahead.

“I don’t think there was a main issue unless you mention the penalties, of course that doesn’t help but I think in general it was a game where twice we went 1-0 up and in my opinion we controlled the game until it was 2-2,” he said.

“I think all pre-season we saw how we were able to create more and we were more comfortable on the ball. We created more opportunities, more chances, we donated more. We are better in creating and getting promising situations than we were last season, in my opinion. An important thing about last season is we won by one goal, today we scored twice against Palace – so that’s a positive.”

Prior to kick off, both teams paid respects to Diogo Jota and André Silva with a minutes silence. Unfortunately a minority of Crystal Palace fans did not adhere to the silence, but Slot was hesitant to make a quick judgement on the incident.

“I’m a positive person and I try to have faith in the world, I don’t think there was any bad intent with the fan,” he said. “He could have been excited about his team and not realised the minutes silence.”

Hugo Ekitite found the net for the first time in a Liverpool shirt, and earned some praise from his boss.

“It’s always nice to score a goal, not just for him but also for Germany football when you start your career in a new club,” Slot said. “It would’ve been nicer to win the game of football, I think that’s more important than scoring but he had a good impact.

“He had a good game today, that’s for sure.”

Liverpool will return to action when they host the Premier League curtain-raiser against Bournemouth on Friday August 15th.