Community Shield preview: Manchester City vs Liverpool

After about six weeks of summer break, the European football season is back. Unlike previous seasons, the 2022/2023 season resumes much earlier in a bid to accommodate the congested multitude of football games to be played, which includes a full month of the FIFA World Cup, the flagship football tournament in the world.

In England, the season’s traditional curtain-raiser is the Community Shield. The Community Shield is an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season’s Premier League and the winners of the previous season’s FA Cup. This season, the combatants of the competition are Manchester City – the champions of last season’s Premier League – and Liverpool – the winners of last season’s FA Cup.

This game is a repeat of the 2019/2020 Community Shield in which City prevailed 5-4 on penalties after the match ended 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

Table of Content hide 1Date, time, and venue of 2022/2023 Community Shield 2Road to the 2022/2023 Community Shield 2.1Manchester City 2.2Liverpool 3Preparation for the match 4Tactical expectations

Date, time, and venue of 2022/2023 Community Shield

The 2022/2023 Community Shield will hold on Saturday, 30 July 2022, by 5 pm (British and Nigerian time). The match will be played at the King Power Stadium, the home of Leicester City, the current defending champions of the Community Shield.

The game will be held at the King Power Stadium instead of the traditional Wembley Stadium, which will host the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Final on 31 July.

Road to the 2022/2023 Community Shield

Manchester City

Manchester City got to the 2022/2023 Community Shield after being crowned the champions of the 2021/2022 Premier League season. City, who were the defending champions, retained their title on a dramatic, pulsating final day of the season after they won against Aston Villa.

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City came back from two goals down to beat Villa 3-2 in front of their cheering fans at The Ethiad to finish the season with 93 points and win their sixth Premier League title.

Liverpool

Liverpool are in the 2022/2023 Community Shield after defeating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties in the 2021/2022 FA Cup final. The match, played at the Wembley Stadium, ended goalless after extra time, and the match was subsequently decided on penalties.

Konstantinos Tsimikas, the Greek left-back, scored the decisive penalty to send Liverpool fans into delirium and give the club their eighth title.

Preparation for the match

The Community Shield allows English clubs to get some silverware for the new season. The match also gives clubs a chance to test their mettle ahead of the new season. It is, therefore, not a surprise that some coaches take the match as a continuation of their pre-season preparation, even though it is a competitive fixture.

It is a chance for the participating clubs and their coaches to showcase and deploy their new signings for their first competitive game. Both City and Liverpool have been quite busy in the transfer market this summer.

After nearly two seasons of playing without a striker, City have brought the 22-year-old Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland, to The Ethiad. Haaland has been prolific in both club and international competitions, having netted 86 goals in 89 games for his former club, Borrusia Dortmund, and 20 goals in 21 games for Norway.

Also in for the Premier League champions are the 22-year-old striker Julián Álvarez from River Plate (who was signed in January but returned to the Argentine club on loan), the 26-year-old midfield enforcer Kavin Phillips from Leeds United, and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, who came on a free from Arminia Bielefeld.

The champions will, however, miss Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who left the club for Chelsea and Arsenal, respectively.

On the other hand, Liverpool broke their transfer record, signing Uruguayan forward, Darwin Nunez, from Benfica for a record £85 million. The striker netted 34 goals in 41 matches for Benfica last season, making the 23-year-old a hot prospect in Europe. Other new signings for the Merseyside club include the Portuguese forward, Fabio Carvalho from Fulham, and Scottish right-back Fabio Carvalho from Fulham.

The FA Cup winners will be without Sadio Mane, Takumi Minamino, and Divock Origi, who have gone to Bayern Munich, Monaco, and AC Milan, respectively, at the end of last season.

Tactical expectations

Well, the playing philosophies of both sides are well-known to each other and football fans across the world, therefore, as the biblical phrase says: “there is nothing new under the sun.” More importantly, both teams are still trying to find their rhythm after about three to four weeks of pre-season, so it may not be a surprise if some players are still off the pace.

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However, the first competitive game of the season will afford managers Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool, respectively, to ramp up and implement new tactical instructions and formations introduced during pre-season training and matches.

City are an attacking powerhouse, as evidenced by their performances in the various competitions last season as they ended up as one of the highest-scoring sides. They have been reinforced with the signing of Haaland, who seemed to have settled down properly in his new club and teammates.

With the Norweigan striker now in their books, City may vary their style from their possession-based playing style and will now likely be more direct in their gameplay. This will enable their striker to perform more efficiently and feed him with the ball to bang in goals.

Therefore, with the presence of a focal point man, City’s attacking quintet (when you add the two attacking midfielders) is expected to be more coordinated and ruthless in front of goal. The wingers such as Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, and Jack Grealish now have two options: either to get to the byeline and cut in to shoot or aim a cross for the monstrous striker of Haaland or the slick bulldozer of Álvarez.

City had the better of the two teams in pre-season preparation. They beat Club America 2-1 and Bayern Munich 1-0, with Haaland scoring on his debut.

Furthermore, with everyone fit for the beginning of the season, it is not a misconception to state that City have the stronger defence of the two teams playing on Saturday. Whichever of Rúben Dias, John Stones or Aymeric Laporte that starts is expected to marshall their defence, and they will be supported by any of the defensive lynchpins of Rodri, İlkay Gündoğan, or Phillps who will anchor the midfield and partner alongside the excellent Kevin De Bruyne.

For Liverpool, it will be interesting to see how they cope with the departure of Mane, who was a mainstay in their attack last season and powered them on in difficult games in their unsuccessful quest for a quadruple. He may not have been around for long, but Nunez is struggling to adapt, which is not good news for The Kop.

Recalling what happened in the major finals they played last season – the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League – in which they failed to score, Klopp will realise that their attractive, high-tempo style of football is not just enough; and instead hope that Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota will be able to gel and click quickly.

One fundamental feature of the club’s gameplay has been the performance of Thiago Alcântara in midfield. The Spanish international dictated the tempo in most games he played for the club. his creative maestro play, with his range of passes and movements in between the lines, leaves opponents confused and will be heavily relied upon by his team to kickstart the feast of goals for the front three. But Thiago and whoever is picked alongside him – Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, Fabinho, or James Milner – will have to work off their buts defensively to stop a rampaging City side.

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The undoing of Liverpool is mainly their defence. They nearly imploded in certain games last season but were only saved by their magnificent forward line, which scored more goals. The concentration span of the defence is not fully at 100 per cent as they tend to lose focus at certain periods.

They seem to lose their guard while keeping the high offside line and, most times, are beaten by well-delivered diagonal long balls and quick one-two passes. Also, just a little reminder also for full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson not to leave too much space at the back while booming forward. City have pacy wingers and will capitalise on any lacuna created by the full-backs and the entire defensive line.

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