It is a glorified friendly, but it is the one you would most like to win. A Community Shield victory can kickstart a season of success, or be a precursor to a torrid campaign.
Your season is what you make of it after the curtain-raiser, but you’d prefer to take home the big 50P.
Liverpool will be disappointed that they couldn’t get over the line, so here are three things we learnt from the Reds’ penalty defeat.
Hugo Ekitike is very good
With the departure of Darwin Nunez being announced last night, Liverpool’s forward line is now in a completely different era.
While he had some great moments in a Liverpool shirt and leaves a Premier League champion, Nunez burnt a lot of heads out on Merseyside, including mine.
Hugo Ekitike has been compared in some quarters to Nunez, particularly in relation to his conversion rate in front of goal.
It is then with some trepidation that I greet the signing of Ekitike. The first half though, couldn’t have been much different from what I was expecting.
The great chemistry between him and guaranteed hit Florian Wirtz lit up the first half, before Wirtz provided the Frenchman with a great pass, and Ekitike’s finish was composed and precise. The inverse of Darwin Nunez.
It was a fabulous introduction to English football and provides Liverpool, and almost as importantly the fanbase, with much reassurance of the future of the number nine position, should Liverpool not pull off the purchase of Alexander Isak.
Virgil van Dijk needs to chill out
Arguably at fault for both goals, van Dijk came charging out of the defence twice when it wasn’t wholly necessary.
His performance was pretty untypical for the usually so poised Dutchman.
It might well have come about due to the lack of understanding with his new teammates, particularly Milos Kerkez, and that is only magnified at the centre-back position.
Van Dijk gave away the penalty that subsequently gave Palace their first goal, when he ran out of defence and bundled over Ismaila Sarr in the penalty area.
He later came running out of defence, before Sarr ran in behind him and his shot hit the post and went in.
Van Dijk also seemed to struggle with Jean-Philippe Mateta, something that has been seen in previous games between the sides.
Liverpool need to work on penalties
For the second consecutive shootout, Liverpool’s penalties were meek and sometimes erratic, and resulted in losing the game.
Like Liverpool’s shootout against Paris Saint-Germain, the Reds just weren’t as good once the game had gone the distance.
On Sunday, Mo Salah’s skied penalty raised questions about whether he is truly Liverpool’s best penalty-taker, he arguably seems better from the spot when the pressure is highest.
Alexis Mac Allister’s attempt was feeble and it was easily apparent which way he was going.
Great penalties from Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai ensued, while Harvey Elliott’s spot kick was at an easily saveable height and no power.
With tight games potentially on the line in the Champions League, good penalty-taking could well be worth an extra goal. It is definitely worth noting.