In the new Wembley Stadium, the starting players of the two teams, Liverpool and Manchester City, appeared on the field with their heads held high.
Comain and Mancini shook hands on the sidelines before the game. Mancini was ambitious, while Comain was calm. The Red Army and Blue Moon's positions and roles in England and even European football determined that the two sides had completely different mentalities at the moment.
"I believe everyone has been looking forward to the new season of the Premier League for a long time. Before the start of the new season, the first thing will be the continuation of last season's championship battle.
Liverpool, who has won the Premier League twice in a row, will face last season's FA Cup winner, Manchester City!
Liverpool and Manchester City's summer transfer moves were relatively big. Liverpool brought in the top Brazilian center back, Thiago Silva, and the French midfielder, Cabaye, while Manchester City recruited the top Argentinian striker, Aguero, and Arsenal's full back, Clichy, and other generals in the transfer market. Now Manchester City is still working on the transfer of Nasri and De Rossi, while Liverpool has already retreated in the transfer market.
Neutral fans who like the Premier League must be very interested in the blockbuster signings of the Premier League powerhouses, as well as the large investments of other teams, which will make the competition in the new Premier League more intense in the new season, and the viewing of the game is bound to improve.
Let's take a look at today's starting list.
Liverpool's starting lineup: 433.
Goalkeeper: Reina.
Defenders: Flanagan, Thiago Silva, Skrtel, Baines.
Midfielders: Tiote, Alonso, Gerard.
Forwards: Kuyt, Suárez, Qin Xiong.
Liverpool's side, Johnson felt unwell during the warm-up before the game and temporarily withdrew from the starting list for the game. The youth player, Flanagan, became the starting right back. As an 18-year-old young player, being able to represent Liverpool in the starting lineup today was a test for him. Hopefully, he could withstand the pressure and play well.
Mascherano was shelved by Comain today. According to the local Liverpool Echo, Comain was very dissatisfied with Mascherano's physical condition. Today may be a punishment, but it may also be to give Mascherano more time to rest so that he could make a greater contribution to the Red Army in the opening game of the Premier League.
Let's take a look at Manchester City's starting lineup.
Manchester City debut: 433.
Goalkeeper: Hart
Defenders: Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy.
Midfielders: De Jong, Barry, Yaya, Toure.
Forwards: Adam Johnson, Dzeko, David Silva.
The summer transfer, Aguero, was not in the starting lineup. Mancini was still giving the Argentine time to integrate into the team. But we have to say that Manchester City's current forward line is really full of talent. There are too many of them.
Tevez, who made a fuss about the transfer, has not left, Balotelli, Dzeko, Aguero, and so on. Manchester City has so many center forwards, but there is only one starting position. At least under the 4-3-3 system, only one player is needed for the center forward. Unless Mancini can change the formation and play style, he may be able to add a striker.
Well, the game is about to start. Let's see how the Red Army and Blue Moon are playing on the eve of the new season. "
After the game started, neither team accelerated the pace of the game.
The Community Shield was just a warm-up game.
Instead, the two teams paid more attention to the run-in of their own technical and tactical systems. After all, both teams had new players. Plus, with a summer of rest, they were now in the stage of recovering their competitive state and getting back into the game.
In the sixth minute of the game, Liverpool took the lead to blow the horn to attack.
Alonso passed the ball diagonally from the backfield to the flank. Baines took the lead and rushed up from the flank. After the ball crossed the half of the field, Baines crossed the ball to the middle in the face of De Jong's interception.
Gerard grabbed the ball before Yaya Touré could interfere and poked the ball to the left position in front of the penalty area.
Qin Xiong ran in the moment when he stopped the ball and dribbled the ball back one step. After dodging Barry's pressing, he took another diagonal step to create a gap for the pass.
Suarez ran diagonally to the left side of the penalty area in the middle, driving Kompany and Lescott. Qin Xiong passed the ball behind Lescott.
When the football flew lightly over Lescott's head, Manchester City's rear defensive line saw Kuyt cut inside the penalty area. He diagonally faced Manchester City's goal to get a chance to shoot.
Facing the falling football, Kuyt was full of confidence. He did not stop the ball and directly volleyed the ball.
Joe Hart was shocked and did not make a save at all. But the football that Kuyt shot also deviated from the goal and flew straight into the stands.
"Kuyt wasted a great opportunity! Qin Xiong's pass was impeccable. Kuyt was too hasty. He could have stopped the ball and adjusted to shoot. The difficult volley is very entertaining. Unfortunately, he did not do it perfectly. The football flew into the stands. Liverpool at least played with the momentum of being champions. "
Manchester City's side seemed to have not found a suitable system in terms of offense.
In other words, Mancini had a lot of fierce players under his command. But they had not yet figured out how to mix the current lineup into a whole that could generate positive team chemistry and create a suitable tactical system.
For example, Silva played as a winger and Yaya Touré as a midfielder. This was destined to make Yaya Touré's organizational task more important than Silva's!
Unless Silva could become a stunningly talented attacking midfielder like Ronaldinho many years ago!
Or he could have the ability that Qin Xiong now had to cut across the front field like he was walking on flat ground.
Silva's organizational ability was excellent, but unfortunately, he could not reach the heights of Ronaldinho and Qin Xiong.
As a winger, he could not play to the limit of his ability.
Adam Johnson's performance as a right winger had never been able to play at the amazing level he had before his transfer to Manchester City. Instead, he became more and more mediocre after a season.
How to adjust Manchester City's technical and tactical system was now the most important problem for Mancini to solve. Mancini already had the good ingredients. How to cook delicious delicacies would be a test of his professional ability.
It was difficult for Manchester City to play an unfathomable offense that would make the opponent dizzy. They were often straightforward and could see the end of the offense at a glance.
They would either pass from the side or find an opportunity to do a long shot in front of the penalty area after advancing in the middle.
But that did not mean that they could not create a threat. It was just that Liverpool often needed a contest of hard strength to contain their opponents!
It was like how most opponents could predict Qin Xiong's next move. But if they could not keep up with the speed, they would be broken through in a one-on-one offensive and defensive confrontation. So what if they could predict it?
Being crushed in terms of raw strength was something that made people feel helpless.
Manchester City was now like that. They looked for Liverpool's weak points to create opportunities, which made them targeted in their offense.
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