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With just a week left for the Premier League to begin, Manchester City and Liverpool battled it out for the Community Shield at Wembley yesterday. Before the start of the match, everybody had their eyes on what starting lineup both clubs would opt for.
Manchester City didn't have Fernandinho, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo with them, while Liverpool were missing Sadio Mane. Pep Guardiola surprised everyone with his starting XI as Raheem Sterling started as a striker alongside Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva, while their midfield featured new signing Rodri.
Jurgen Klopp on the other hand went with his tried and trusted midfield three of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum. Divock Origi, meanwhile, started out of position on the left.
The match was played with a lot of intensity, and both teams had their chances. Sterling opened the scoring for City before Joel Matip equalized, and City eventually won 5-4 on penalties.
However, Liverpool would rue their missed opportunity to grab silverware so early in the season. Here, we take a look at the three tactics from Klopp that cost Liverpool the game:
#3 Lack of cohesive pressing early on in the game
At the start of the game Liverpool were affording City a lot of time on the ball, who made full use of that. Rodri was dictating the play from the middle and so were David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne.
Klopp's team is known for its direct pressing but for some reason, in the first 30 minutes of the game, the Reds weren't pressing as a unit and City were cutting them open at will.
If not for some good saves from Alisson Becker and the lack of potency shown by City in front of goal, the Premier League defending champions would have run away with the game.
The pressing improved drastically in the second half, but the damage was done early on.
#2 Team selection
While Liverpool didn't play badly, one can say that Klopp was a little too pragmatic with his team selection. Starting Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, two defensive midfielders, together in a midfield three was slightly conservative.
Also, for some reason, Jordan Henderson occupied the left side of the midfield while Georginio Wijnaldum occupied the right, despite the fact that the Dutch international loves to operate from the left side of the midfield as a number 8.
The correction did happen in the second half, and the effect could be seen instantly, but again the damage was done early on.
Also, as soon as Henderson and Fabinho were sacrificed for two more attacking midfielders in Naby Keita and Adam Lallana, Liverpool started creating more chances than they did in the whole match. If only Klopp had started with another attacking option in the midfield, maybe Liverpool could have had much more control of the game in the first half.
#1 High line of defense in the first half
Anyone who watched the match would have seen how easily Manchester City were cutting Liverpool open in the first half and the number of times City attackers and midfielders found themselves in open spaces. If Raheem Sterling had shown some more calmness in front of goal, City could have run away with the game.
Those chances were all down to the offside trap that Liverpool were trying to implement in the first half. Both Liverpool full-backs, especially Trent Alexander-Arnold, were struggling to keep up with Silva's clever runs in behind from the midfield.
De Bruyne also found himself in crossing positions at the right side with no pressure on him, but the Belgian's final ball wasn't good enough.
In the second half though, Liverpool were pushing back City attacks rather than holding their ground, and the change could be seen instantly as both Sterling and Jesus' pace was completely neutralized. If only Liverpool had done this earlier in the game, the result might have been different.
