Man City loss vs Liverpool has given Pep Guardiola an unexpected defensive headache

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