Liverpool were beaten in the Community Shield by Crystal Palace as the Reds' defensive frailties were laid bare by the Eagles' attack, something that Jamie Carragher admits he is concerned by
09:39, 11 Aug 2025
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has labelled the Reds as "susceptible defensively" following their Community Shield defeat against Crystal Palace.
The Anfield legend expressed concern about the team's involvement in high-scoring games ahead of their Premier League title defence. Liverpool were twice pegged back by Palace at Wembley, as Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr levelled debut goals from Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong.
Liverpool ultimately lost on penalties, with Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, and Harvey Elliott missing their spot-kicks.
This defensive vulnerability has been a recurring theme in Liverpool's pre-season preparations, and their performance against Premier League opposition has raised concerns for the former defender.
Taking to X, Carragher wrote: "LFC looking great going forward but susceptible defensively, as we've seen all pre season.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 2: Jamie Carragher during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at Etihad Stadium on May 2, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Jamie Carragher is 'nervous' about Arne Slot's Liverpool record(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA, Getty Images)
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"A lot of the goals conceded by LFC have come from going man to man really aggressively and leaving space in behind. Today Kerkez is getting dragged inside with Sarr leaving Gakpo chasing WB."
Responding to a tweet about Liverpool's involvement in high-scoring matches, Carragher added: "That makes me nervous!!".
Arne Slot discussed Liverpool's defensive frailties, stressing the need for improvement before Sunday's match against Palace, following the back-to-back friendlies against Athletic Bilbao, he warned: "The other games in pre-season, I think we've conceded a few chances too much.
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"Today we hardly conceded anything at all, so that pleased me as well.
"But then to concede, especially in the second game, two set-piece goals, that's not what you want – especially if you play Crystal Palace [on Sunday] who are a team that are very strong on set-pieces.
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"That's then another thing to work on – we've worked on that already but to work on that even more in the upcoming week. But players are fit, worked really hard, played some good football, defended really strong and good – apart from the two set-pieces."