There were plenty of issues with Manchester City's performance in their Community Shield defeat on Sunday. In isolation none of them were major, but their combined weight was enough to leave City looking undercooked against a well-oiled Liverpool side.
Pep Guardiola was right to praise the effort and commitment of his players after the 3-1 defeat. Having played just two pre-season friendlies before facing a side as good as Liverpool, it was always a big ask for City to go toe-to-toe with Jurgen Klopp's side.
Many of the issues will be ironed out over the coming weeks. But there was one that could take a little longer, and may even reoccur later on in the season.
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As the only two senior centre-backs who took part in City's pre-season tour in the US, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake were always likely to start in the traditional curtain-raiser at the King Power. John Stones missed out on a week's worth of preparation after failing to meet US entry requirements, while Aymeric Laporte will be out until at least September as he continues his recovery from knee surgery.
That means that Dias and Ake could well start the season as Guardiola's go-to centre-back pairing — something which could cause City an issue in certain games.
Make no mistake, Dias and Ake are both excellent defenders, but neither are particularly strong when it comes to playing the ball from the back, building attacks and retaining possession when pressed by attackers.
Against Liverpool, the latter showed. Both fared pretty well in the more traditional aspects of defending — although Dias was culpable for Liverpool's second and third goals — but neither looked comfortable or confident playing the ball when under intense pressure from Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino.
It's widely accepted that Stones and Laporte are two of the best ball-playing central defenders in the world, so facing the best pressing team in Europe without them is far from ideal.
Thankfully City don't come up against that calibre of opponent every week — they don't visit Anfield until October 16th — so, should Laporte and Stones remain out of the team for the next few weeks, then Dias and Ake should be able to cope without incident.
However, the issue of build-up play remains. City's inability to play out of Liverpool's press meant their attacking play was scrappy in the first-half on Saturday, but there could also be issues when facing deep-lying, compact defences.
Against sides that sit deep and challenge Guardiola's side to find a way through, City's centre-backs will have all the time in the world on the ball, but time isn't much good if you don't make incisive, line-breaking through balls. Dias and Ake can do that, but not as easily or reliably as Stones or Laporte.
Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest will all visit the Etihad Stadium before the end of August, and all are likely to sit deep. Should Dias and Ake be called upon again by Guardiola, then they will have to prove that their ball-playing abilities are better than what we saw at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
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