Premier League champions Liverpool will compete against FA Cup winners Crystal Palace in the FA Community Shield on Sunday afternoon, with many intriguing talk points around both parties on their way to the curtain increase of the season at Wembley …
Can lock get the balance of the champions anyway?
One thing that jumped out on the pre-season tour of Liverpool through Asia and will worry that head coach Arne Slot was how vulnerable the Premier League champions were for Pacy-Pauzes by their opponents.
AC Milan destroyed the Reds and their side line with three incompatible goals in a 4-2 victory in Hong Kong, while even Yokohama F. Marinos caused the side issues of Slot on the counter.
Slot still uses the same 4-3-3 formation in which Liverpool crowned Champions last season, but the newly signed full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong Look for more attacking roles than Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arinold in the Dutchman's Debut Campaign in Anfield.
Given the German playmaker Florian Wirtz is also in line to get a license to roam like the No. 10, Ryan Gravenberch's position as the midfielder of the Reds becomes even more important, with the young player of the year of last season that is probably needed to bring many fires for the back.
On Sunday, even the perfect test should prove whether the end of the balance of his team was good, considering how often and easily Palace was able to harm Man City in this way in the FA Cup final of May.
Guehi in the shop window?
Liverpool will travel south this weekend with questions about whether, despite the fact that they have already splashed almost £ 300 million on new players this summer, they still have to enter the transfer market again to bring in a defender.
The Reds have injuries about defenders Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley, who are both in a race by the time to appear on Sunday, while Jarell Quansah has joined Bayer Leverkusen in a £ 35 million deal.
That meant that the Liverpool boss was forced to use left-wing back-back Robertson and even midfielders Trey Nyoni and Wataru Endo as improvised centerbacks during the pre-season, which can explain why in their second friendly meeting on Monday, both athletic club goals came from Set-playing.
“Two set-piece goals is not what you want, especially if you come across next week,” Slot admitted after the Bilbao victory. “It's something to work on.”
However, the Dutchman believes that, although the club still needs to have a replacement for the recently issued quansah in the heart of the defense, they still have enough coverage in the back for a successful title defense.
“We have enough options,” said Slot. “But it is true that Jarell Quansah has left and we have not replaced it yet.”
Incanding, however, it is said that one player slot is aware of filling that gap at the back, is Marc Guehi, who is in the central defense for Palace on Sunday, giving Liverpool sports director Richard Hughes the perfect opportunity to get his eye on the English international.
Will Ngumoha set up a claim from the first team at Wembley?
In contrast to the central defense, Slot has a series of exciting options to fill the void on the left, made by Luis Diaz's departure to Bayern Munich.
Or Cody Gakpo or Wirtz could get the nod at football, while the versatile Hugo Ekitike can also play in that position. Although the young wing player Rio Ngumoha does not exclude that is involved in a certain capacity.
Ngumoha has so far shouted in the preseason, scored twice and offers two assists in his four performances, including stunning solo efforts in victories against Yokohama F Marinos and Athletic Club showing why Chelsea was so cautious to see him leave their academy last summer.
Although the England U17 International is not eligible to sign a professional contract until he turns 17 at the end of this month, Slot has already shown that he is not afraid to give the youth a chance since taking over from Anfield, with the club that wants to leave a path for him in the first team team.
And if Liverpool needs a goal this weekend, then it would be no surprise to first turn the Pacy -wide man to make an impact of the bank, especially seeing how dangerous he has run in tiring defenses this summer, while the enormous open spaces of Wembley would also be happy.
Eagles in Limbo – but can they win another trophy?
It has been a dramatic few months for Crystal Palace after winning their first FA Cup in May.
They were eventually relegated to the conference League of the Europa League because of the rules of UEFA's Multi-Club ownership and the Community Shield comes in the middle of a few days.
With their hearing from Cas on Friday and the opinion that on Monday was expected, the European future of the Eagles will remain in the dark when they enter the game on Sunday.
And that uncertainty may have had a domino effect on transfers. There have only been two income – Walter Benitz and Bora Sosa – but for the same time few large editions.
Ebereechi Eze and Guehi are still subject to transfer speculation, but there have been few concrete movements. Palace kept the vast majority of their FA Cup-winning team intact from last season.
So, at least on the field, not much has changed, in stark contrast with their free spending opponents.
Although some may point to continuity – never a bad thing – there is currently a shadow over the palace. A victory for the community shield would certainly be a boost for the season and hopefully encourage a successful rest of the month.
Palace to be thorn again in the side of Liverpool?
Palace has history when it comes to making Liverpool upset at the great opportunity, to date back to their shock FA Cup Semi-final victory over the then holders in a seven-purpose thriller in Villa Park in 1990, just a few months after he was beaten 9-0 by his champions in Anfield soon.
Almost a quarter of a century later the Eagles were working on it again and scored three times in the last 11 minutes to pull Liverpool in Selhurst Park 3-3 and the sides of Brendan Rodgers will go out to win the Premier League of that season.
Palace also brought the first defeat of Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager when Scott Dann scored a late winner in Anfield in November 2015, before Oliver Glasner's side ended the title of the Reds with another surprise 1-0 win over Merseyside in April 2024.
And the Austrian was just a few minutes from reproducing that road Masterclass in the last match of last season, while the Reds wanted to end their title-winning campaign on a high for their own fans, only for the last-gas gasp-equal maker of Mohamed Salah to the visitors a fifth League triumph in the last deconium.
So this weekend no other uppery Eagles -victory in the house of football will close …