As Manchester City succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the FA Community Shield on Saturday, there was a sense of 'you don't know what you had until it's gone.'
Around 100 miles south-east of Leicester at the Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, Gabriel Jesus was busy scoring a hat-trick on his first outing at his new home. The former City man has flown out of the blocks for his new side, giving every indication that he can be the first-choice centre-forward he never was at the Etihad.
However, it was not the Brazilian's goals that City missed against Jurgen Klopp's side on Saturday but rather his energy and work-rate off the ball.
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Pep Guardiola picked Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez as the two wingers in his starting line-up, a logical decision given that both looked sharp during the pre-season tour of the US. Both are great attackers capable of embarrassing even the best of full-backs, but against opposition like Liverpool, a little more than that is required.
In the first half, Mohamed Salah ran Joao Cancelo ragged at the other end. Perhaps that isn't surprising given that Salah is one of the best dribblers in the world and Cancelo is not the most defensive of full-backs, but the Portuguese international really didn't receive much help from his left-sided winger.
That was particularly apparent when Liverpool started to overload the flanks, with Trent Alexander-Arnold overlapping on the right and Andrew Roberton on the left. And Mahrez offered little back-up for Kyle Walker on the right, meaning that the FA Cup holders looked like scoring every time they neared City's box.
There were other things wrong with City's performance — understandably so given the stage of pre-season they are at — but it felt like a Jesus-type winger would have helped. There is a reason why more often than not, Guardiola turned to the Brazilian when City came up against Liverpool or other high-pressing, elite-level sides.
Jesus was City's best presser last season, something that Liverpool's defence looked vulnerable to in both league meetings. He was also City's best attacker in terms of tracking back and helping out the full-back, making it harder to teams to create dangerous overload situations.
Jesus may have joined Arsenal in a £45m move, but new arrival Julian Alvarez can help to solve the problem created by his exit. The 22-year-old Argentine attacker prefers to play centrally, as Jesus did, but in his three appearances in a sky blue shirt he's shown himself to be good presser, a hard-worker and a selfless member of the team.
When he came off the bench on Saturday he changed the game, immediately offering City more energy and drive as well as a bit more protection on the flank. His poacher's finish drew City level, but in the end it wasn't enough.
City's shape pretty much changed to 4-2-4 with Alvarez playing in the middle of the attack alongside Haaland, but there is no reason why he can't start on the right flank of a 4-3-3 the next time City face Liverpool. If Guardiola does give him that chance, then the Blues may be able to cope better with Liverpool's unrelenting attacks from wide.
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