Julian Alvarez can solve Man City problem that exposed them vs Liverpool FC

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 —