Wembley was supposed to be a case of the men who weren\u2019t there. It ended up posing questions of the team asked to defend the Premier League title.<\/p>\n
Alexander Isak may become<\/a> a Liverpool player. That will be decided soon enough by the transfer market; a game of charades is being played before money eventually dictates its conclusion.<\/p>\n Modern football\u2019s eternal melodramas fade into insignificance when considering the player Isak could replace as a Liverpool centre\u2011forward. The club plays under the shadow of the loss of Diogo Jota<\/a>, his death alongside his brother Andr\u00e9 Silva on a Spanish highway\u2013 its shattering of family and friends \u2013 a reminder that football\u00a0is played by real people with real lives. Liverpool\u2019s pre\u2011match lineup did not feature a No\u00a020, Jota\u2019s number retired.<\/p>\n The season ahead will be played in memory of a popular, skilled yet understated professional \u2013 12\u00a0months ago at Ipswich he was the scorer of the first Premier League goal of Arne Slot\u2019s reign. Jota died a champion, a beloved teammate. Before kick-off, Wembley was supposed to observe a minute\u2019s silence, only for an idiot fringe of Crystal Palace\u2019s fans to shame themselves by chanting<\/a> \u2013 a tiny number, though enough for a booed response from Liverpool fans\u00a0with the referee, Chris Kavanagh, blowing his whistle quickly. What should have been a moment of perspective was sullied. Football\u2019s ability to crack on\u00a0blithely in the face of tragedy is one of its worst qualities.<\/p>\n The Palace contingent, 99% of whom had been observant, wanted to get their own message across. \u201cUefa mafia\u201d declared a banner, highlighted by burning pyro. Palace\u2019s summer of FA\u00a0Cup celebration is still overshadowed by the legal wrangle over their European participation \u2013 the outcome of the club\u2019s appeal due to be announced on Monday \u2013 while Uefa and the Nottingham Forest principal Evangelos Marinakis had their names taken in vain in a lengthy chorus of disdain.<\/p>\n The show rolled inexorably on, Wembley offering a snapshot of a new Liverpool<\/a>. Whether Jota would have been part of the sporting director Richard Hughes\u2019s plans to overhaul the squad J\u00fcrgen Klopp left last year for Slot is for the birds but it was Hugo Ekitik\u00e9, part of the overhaul, who scored first.<\/p>\n Mohamed Salah performed below the high standard which has come to be expected of him. Photograph: Tolga Akmen\/EPA<\/p>\n As a central striker, Ekitik\u00e9 looked much like the real deal should Isak not arrive. A player denied a chance to shine at Paris Saint-Germain \u2013 who turned to galacticos \u2013 put his mark down, though rued a couple of misses. Florian Wirtz added grace and magic, all drops of the shoulder and acceleration, sometimes strolling, sometimes darting, carrying the haughty, aristocratic air of the very best German footballers.<\/p>\n Liverpool became champions last season by their consistency, patiently taking the steam from opponents. Pre-season and Wembley suggest a more open\u2011house approach, with attendant vulnerabilities. Amid the sound and fury of an occasion played at near full pelt by both teams, the problems of Liverpool turning the dial up to 11 on attack were soon apparent.<\/p>\n Jeremie Frimpong is not Trent Alexander\u2011Arnold as an attacking full-back, breaking behind the lines rather than passing beyond them. His goal was almost certainly inadvertent, but showed the dimensions he might add. That he scored on 20min 20sec, as Liverpool fans remembered Jota, showed perfect timing, too.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n That Eberechi Eze, drifting inside left, had Frimpong\u2019s defensive measure was just one problem. Liverpool\u2019s other Dutch defender, Virgil van Dijk, was unusually clumsy in bringing down Isma\u00efla Sarr for a penalty, flat-footed on other occasions. The return of another Dutchman, Ryan Gravenberch, who was on paternity leave, or Alexis Mac Allister, short of fitness to start, may solve such issues but there was top-heaviness and imbalance. Opposing scouts will have noticed the lack of cover Mohamed Salah provided to Frimpong, as was often the case for Alexander-Arnold. The Egyptian king\u2019s creative partnership with Wirtz needs working on, too. There was a fault on the line between them, Salah reduced to one effort on goal \u2013 sometimes enough but not here, and dragged into Dean Henderson\u2019s hands. The less said about his shootout penalty the better.<\/p>\n If Milos Kerkez was ever keen to overlap, Sarr\u2019s running showed he can be exposed defensively, and the out-of-position Hungarian was at fault as his tormentor scored Palace\u2019s second equaliser. Perhaps a \u00a3150m forward is not the answer Slot is looking for. Marc Gu\u00e9hi, a central defender Liverpool are linked with but may be beyond their spending limits should Isak actually arrive, showed typical cool as Palace assumed control in the second half. Adam Wharton, a midfielder the elite should covet, found his forwards with his passing range. Oliver Glasner has barely been able to add<\/a> to his squad during the summer\u2019s limbo but the Austrian\u2019s golden touch continued as Palace edged a nerve-filled shootout to celebrate another trophy win.<\/p>\n