The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2S PaGe:8 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 17:10 cYanmaGentaYellowblac

• The Observer
  8 04.08.19 Football

Community Shield

Shield can arm Klopp against

slow start in pursuit of City

The Community Shield is an octa-

gon 58cm across, spun from 4.2kg

of sterling silver. It is also whatever

you want it to be. It is, as the clich e

has it, the traditional curtain-raiser

to the English season , a chance to

experiment with new formats of

penalty shootout. It’s a fun day out

at Wembley (although presumably

increasingly less fun given how often

the teams who habitually play in it

have to get themselves to HA9 these

days). If you’re José Mourinho or Pep

Guardiola, it’s defi nitely a trophy. And

if you’re Jürgen Klopp, it’s a very obvi-

ous waste of time. The Community

Shield is highly polished and, as such,

tends to refl ect the person viewing it.

Much of what the Liverpool man-

ager said about the Community

Shield, of course, was true. If you win

it, nobody really cares. That David

Moyes led Manchester United to

Shield glory did little to mitigate the

disappointment of his reign at Old

Trafford. That Arsenal won it in three

of Arsène Wenger’s fi nal four seasons

at the club could not dispel the sense

of stagnation.

What is remembered is what goes

wrong. Few recall that Liverpool

beat Leeds in Wembley’s fi rst pen-

alty shootout in 1974, but the images

of Kevin Keegan scrapping with Billy

Bremner remain familiar to those of

a certain vintage. David Seaman’s

missed penalty in 1993 is far more

memorable than Manchester United’s

success. The 2015 Shield has its place

in football history far less for Arsenal’s

win than for the early warning it pro-

vided of a sloppily dressed, unshaven

Mourinho’s imminent implosion.

Lose the Community Shield and

doubts can begin to assemble.

In one sense, it is vaguely absurd

that Liverpool should seem vul-

nerable. They are the European

champions , in a better position now,

in terms of ownership, management

and squad, than at any point since

they last won the title. But this has

been a diffi cult summer.

In the wider scheme of things

it does not matter at all that

Wednesday’s victory over Lyon was

their fi rst in seven pre-season games.

Nobody thinks that last weekend’s

3-0 defeat against Napoli is any gauge

of where Liverpool will be at the heart

of the season. But they are indicative

of where Liverpool are now and the

indications are that they are some

way off peaking.

To an extent, that is to be expected.

Moham ed Salah, Sadio Mané, Naby

Keïta, Roberto Firmino and Alisson

were all involved in international

tournaments this summer. So, if

you count the Nations League, were

Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-

Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk,

Georginio Wijnaldum and Xherdan

Shaqiri. Inevitably that has an impact

on preparation. Many of th em also

Jürgen Klopp looks on

as Liverpool prepare in

Évian-les-Bains in France

for today’s Community Shield

Liverpool may be

kings of Europe

but after a diffi cult

summer are some

way off peaking

and could struggle

at Wembley, writes

Jonathan Wilson

Liverpool v

Manchester City

3pm

BT Sport 1; Radio 5 Live;

theguardian.com/sport

minute by minute from

2.30pm

Liverpool

v Man City

Wembley 3pm

Alisson

Matip

A-Arnold

Van Dijk

Robertson

D Silva

Henderson

Laporte

Sané

Milner

Stones

Fabinho

Rodri

Sterling

Salah

Zinchenko

Firmino

Bravo

Referee Martin Atkinson Probable

Origi

Walker

B Silva

De Bruyne

ANDREW POWELL/GETTY IMAGES

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