Virgil van Dijk called Liverpool's Community Shield -Dutch Defeat against Crystal Palace a “disappointing” start of their Premier League defense.
Liverpool drew 2-2 with Palace in Wembley, despite the fact that twice took the lead through new signing sessions Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong, and were then defeated on penalties with a 3-2 margin.
Mohamed Salah missed his penalty before Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott saw the efforts saved by Dean Henderson.
Liverpool wants to defend their title for the first time since 1984 and Captain Van Dijk was not happy with how his side the season started.
“It is clear that we have lost today, so that is not a good start, but we will have to take the game per game,” he said ESPN. “That is the mentality and has always been the mentality for us. It will be a very intense season in all competitions, and we must 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's a final, it's a trophy we play for, and that is a disappointing part of it.”
Arne Slot selected his four new signing sessions to start with Wembley, and within 20 minutes three of them had already had a direct hand in a goal.
Florian Wirtz, who signed from Bayern Leverkusen in a £ 100 million deal ($ 134 million), assisted Ekitike, who after just four minutes became a member of Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frimpong, who also came to Leverkusen, then let the Dean Henderson broken off from a tight corner to give Liverpool a 2-1 lead after Jean-Philippe Mateta had rared from the penalty spot, according to Dijk's fault on Ismaïla Sarr.
The Dutch defender was satisfied with the contributions of his new teammates and how they settled in the club.
“The players who come in bring quality to the team, players who leave, we wish them the best in their next adventure and that is how football sometimes works,” he said. “In my opinion, all new boys are very nicely located, it is clearly important if you come to a new club to be able to show yourself immediately and you must feel that you are welcome, and I think the boys feel exactly.
“I think we have very good players, we have quality players; that is clearly a reason why we won the Premier League last year, but not only because of quality, but also a lot of hard work and determination.”
Liverpool opens the Premier League season on Friday in Anfield against Bournemouth, and Van Dijk gave his teammates a strict warning that they should play better.
“There were many good things in this game, but there was still a lot of work to do and we still have five days to get ready for the start of the Premier League, and that's what we have to do,” he said.