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Liverpool certainly brought the excitement and entertainment on the opening weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League season. The defending champions were involved in a six-goal thriller against Bournemouth, edging the contest 4-2 in a showcase of everything that makes Arne Slot's team great, but also vulnerable.
Bournemouth fought back from 2-0 down to level up the match through two goals from Antoine Semenyo with Liverpool extremely open to the counter-attack. This came after the Reds conceded twice against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield, raising doubts about Liverpool's defensive solidity.
"Of course that has something to do with the bar we've set, and I agree we were at some moments too open," said Slot. "The first goal [conceded against Bournemouth] was, I think, mainly unlucky that we lost the ball in a position we shouldn't lose it and then we were three against three, which is normally not a problem but we had a disadvantage to our opponent.
"Second goal is definitely being too open, If all your three midfielders are inside the box, that's too open. But also the reason why we scored [to make it]
This summer in the transfer market was a blockbuster one for the Premier League champions. Liverpool broke the English transfer record to land Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen when the German playmaker had the biggest clubs in Europe chasing him. Wirtz has been quickly installed as a key figure in Slot's side.
Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have also arrived at Anfield over the summer to fill the full back positions while Hugo Ekitike joined from Eintracht Frankfurt. Alexander Isak is believed to be a target and could be another signing that breaks the Premier League transfer record. Liverpool might not be done in the transfer window.
Defensively, though, there are concerns over the balance of Slot's team which has evolved since the end of last season. Ibrahima Konate struggled to cover so much open space in defensive transition against both Bournemouth and Crystal Palace with Virgil van Dijk also showing signs of ageing.
It's certainly true that Ryan Gravenberch's absence has made an impact on Liverpool to start the season. Alexis Mac Allister has also only been in training for two weeks and so it stands to reason that he will need more time to get up to speed. Otherwise, Liverpool might not have the foundation to retain its title.