Charity shield: What did we learn?

Yesterday’s game at Wembley gave many of us a first glimpse at our new signings and I think it’s safe to say it was something of a mixed bag. We got off to a flyer, some threaded passing from Wirtz teeing up Ekitike to finish expertly in the opening minutes of the game and I found the link up play between these two to be encouraging already. Wirtz passing, touch and vision are there to see, even in these early days and Ekitike showed some great touches as well, although was also guilty of missing a couple of gilt edged chances.

Our lead didn’t last long though, as a sloppy penalty conceded by Virgil was enough to bring Palace level before a freakish goal from Frimpong on the 20th minute, that seemed like Jota may have played a part in. Good for Frimpong to get off the mark and he was lively throughout, although Salah was completely isolated and couldn’t get in the game at all, so those two need to get used to each others game’s.

Going forward then, we had reasons for optimism but defensively we were a shambles. Far too easy to counter and create chances against and I don’t think anyone was too surprised when Palace found the equaliser, with Virgil again the main culprit. I also think Robbo should be starting the season as first choice, with a gradual passing of the torch to Kerkez.

Once Ekitike went off, we looked quite toothless up top and for me, what we learned from yesterday is that we need another forward and another CB. In Jota, Diaz and Darwin, we’ve lost three forwards who you’d expect double figures from in all comps over the course of a season. That’s a lot of goals to lose, not to mention an injury to any of our starting front three from yesterday, we’re already looking light up top and CB is even worse! I just pray we don’t make the same mistakes we’ve made previously, knowingly going into seasons short in key positions and it ultimately costing us.

To that end, I expect we’ll see movement on the transfer front again this week. Oh… and is there any chance we could practice penalties? Our last two shootouts have been diabolical. Lots to sort out then, ahead of the curtain opener against Bournemouth on Friday. Walk on!