Reds unlucky in Community Shield loss

It is the Community Shield. Both sides were very obviously rusty. Both sides were slack in ways one would not expect them to be. Even the spray of shiny streamers to greet the winners felt understated, a little half-hearted. It is probably unwise to draw too many conclusions from a sultry August afternoon at Wembley but, if there is a lesson to be drawn, it is that last season may not be a blip, that there really may not be much between Manchester City and Liverpool.

This has the potential to be one of the great rivalries, what Sunderland v Aston Villa was in the 1890s or Liverpool v Leeds in the late 1960s and early 70s or what Manchester United v Arsenal was around the turn of the millennium. These are two excellent sides – even if there was much that was not excellent here – and the jostling for honours is beginning to build an antipathy. There was even a brief spark in the buildup of the sort of mind games that were almost entirely absent last season as Jürgen Klopp chuntered about City’s spending. But if that rivalry is properly to develop, there is a need for Liverpool to win, to beat City either to the title or in a major final. Or even a minor final – or whatever the Community Shield is.

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