Manchester City vs Liverpool: 3 takeaways from the match

Manchester City beat Liverpool 5-4 on penalties yesterday at the Wembley stadium to clinch their second successive Community Shield trophy. City have now not lost any match against Liverpool since their resounding defeat in the UEFA Champions League semifinal in 2018.

Liverpool, on the other hand, would consider themselves a tad unlucky to lose the match, as they were probably the better team over the course of the 90 minutes. City scored first in the first half through Raheem Sterling. However, the Reds fought back well in the second half, and equalized through Joel Matip in the 77th minute.

Giorgino Wijnaldaum missed his penalty kick in the shootout, while everyone else scored from theirs. Claudio Bravo, the City goalkeeper was one of the better players of the match and made some spectacular saves in the second half to keep City in the game.

Let us now take a look at the top 3 takeaways from the match:

#3 City had a better first half and succeeded in scoring too

City started to dominate the proceedings from the beginning with their swift and slick passing game. Their midfielders, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne kept troubling the Liverpool defence in the first half and the Liverpool defenders had a tough time dealing with them.

The Sky Blues adopted a 4-3-3 formation with both Silva and De Bruyne starting in midfield. De Bruyne was dangerous for Liverpool because of his movements in the final third, whereas Silva’s passes kept making inroads into the Reds’ defence.

Bernardo Silva also enjoyed a decent first half and Sterling remained his usual dependable self. The latter scored the opening goal in the 12th minute of the match and on the back of their performance in the opening 45 minutes, it looked likely that City would increase their lead in the second half.

While the Sky Blues deserve credit for imposing themselves on the game, the Reds were a little too defensive and allowed the former to get into their stride.

#2 Liverpool started playing a high line in the second half

Liverpool came back strongly after the break and took the attack to City’s defence. The Champions League winners started playing with a high defensive line and broke the shackles to give City’s defence a torrid time.

Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool’s star centre-back, played some penetrating passes to Mohamed Salah on the right flank and the Egyptian kept troubling the City defenders with his diagonal runs and swift dribbling skills.

He also took quite a few shots at the City goal and even hit the woodwork. However, Divock Origi and Roberto Firmino were ordinary yesterday and could not have much of an impact.

Therefore, the onus was firmly on Salah to deliver. He failed to score, but came pretty close to doing so a few times. Jordan Henderson moved to the right wing from midfield several times to assist Salah, but somehow Liverpool were not able to score till the 77th minute, despite their dominance.

#1 Liverpool’s substitutions proved to be effective

Juergen Klopp made three effective substitutions in the second half. He took off Fabinho, Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold and introduced Naby Keita, Adam Lallana and Matip. Lallana’s introduction meant that Liverpool now had more creativity in their midfield. Also, Matip’s aerial prowess helped Liverpool, as he headed home Van Dijk’s cross from inside the City penalty box.

Keita also came close to scoring, as his shot from the edge of the penalty box forced Bravo into a brilliant reflex save. And, Liverpool would yet have won the match had Kyle Walker not made an acrobatic goalline clearance in the dying minutes of the match.

The Premier League champions played counter-attacking football in the second half and some through balls were played to their forwards from their own half. Sterling got hold of one such pass and hit the woodwork. That was possibly City’s only notable attacking move in the second half. And that summed up the difference Liverpool's substitutes made in the second period.