Club captain says winning the league last year took “a lot of hard work and determination”
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has described their Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace as “disappointing” and warned that they need to be more focused if they are to defend their Premier League title.
Palace came from behind twice to force the match at Wembley to penalties, and then won the shootout 3-2 after heroics from goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
Van Dijk said: “Obviously today we lost so that is not a good start, but we will have to take it game by game.
“That is the mindset and has always been the mindset for us. It is going to be a very intense season in all competitions, and we have to 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.”
Liverpool were fluid and impressive in the first half, playing with a familiarity that belied the addition of four new players to the core of the squad. The new signings had a great debut, with Florian Wirtz setting up Hugo Ekitike for the opener, while full-back Jeremie Frimpong scored the second.
Van Dijk said: “All the new boys in my opinion have settled in quite nicely. Obviously it is important when you come to a new club to be able to show yourself immediately and you have to feel like you are welcome and I think the boys are feeling just that.
“I think we have very good players. We have quality players. That is obviously a reason we won the Premier League last year but not only because of quality but a lot of hard work and determination.
“There were many good things in this game, but there was a lot of work to do still and we have five more days to get ready for the start of the Premier League and that is what we have to do.”
