Liverpool warned of major problem just days from Premier League season

Liverpool have been warned they need more motivation and energy following their Community Shield defeat.

The Premier League champions were beaten on penalties by Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

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Arne Slot’s side twice took the lead through summer signings Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong.

However, they were unable to stay in front as Palace pegged them back on both occasions.

The FA Cup winners then went on to seal victory from 12 yards following the 2-2 draw.

Former Eagles boss Alan Pardew feels Liverpool remain the favourites for the title this term.

He admitted, though, that there are concerns following their loss in the season curtain-raiser.

Reacting to the result on The Final Word, Pardew explained: “When you look at them as a unit, you’ve still got to say that they’re the team to beat. Obviously today wasn’t their day.

“Palace definitely had more energy and that would be where I would worry if I was Liverpool.

“The motivation, the energy is something that’s going to be very, very important for them in the next 38 games in the league.

“You’ve only got to slip up three times and you’re probably not going to win the title. So you must start the season with energy and see the whole season through.”

Liverpool were beaten just four times in the Premier League last season alongside nine draws in their 38 matches.

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Pardew maintains Liverpool are title favourites despite his concerns[/caption]

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As a result, they ended the campaign 10 points clear of nearest challengers Arsenal.

The Reds have not successfully defended a league title for 41 years dating back to their third in a row in 1983/84.

Slot handed debuts to his four marquee summer signings at Wembley having spent over £250million bolstering his squad.

Goalscorers Ekitike and Frimpong were joined in the starting line-up by Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez.

Slot on Liverpool’s defeat

The Liverpool boss has not ruled out making more additions but admitted he was not concerned by the display.

He had been responding to Virgil van Dijk’s claim their attack still needs reinforcements following Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz’s exits.

Slot told talkSPORT’s Alex Crook: “I think we have more than more than enough options to be good enough to win the Community Shield.

“This is where I focus on myself. With the players we have we should be able to to win, to score.

“That’s actually what we did as well. We scored twice and last season we only scored one against Crystal Palace, away and at home. We could only score one against them.

“So my last concern at the moment is our offensive quality.

“It’s more. It’s not a concern, but if I look at the amount of goals we’ve conceded in pre-season that’s not of our standard.”

Liverpool begin their title defence at home to Bournemouth on Friday night.