Three things we learned from the Community Shield defeat

Liverpool lost to Arsenal in the Community Shield.

The defeat was quite similar to last year against Manchester City- conceding first, equalising through a substitute in the final 20  minutes and losing 5-4 on penalties.

Arsenal opened the scoring thanks to a spectacular goal from their talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Reds managed an equaliser through Takumi Minamino, who scored his first goal for the club. The scored remained 1-1 and the match went to a penalty shootout.

Rhian Brewster hit the crossbar and this miss proved decisive as all the other nine spot-kicks were converted, giving Arsenal their 16th Community Shield title.

Now, we will take a look at three talking points from the match.

3. Minamino impresses

The Japanese international came on as a substitute for James Milner in the second half and put in a pretty good performance. Minamino netted Liverpool’s equaliser which was also his first goal for the club.

The 25-year-old seemed energetic all throughout his time on the pitch and it seems like he’s finally settling in well at Liverpool. Last season, Minamino featured in 15 matches for the Reds but couldn’t manage a goal or an assist.

While it’ll definitely be difficult for him to be a frequent starter, we could well see the Japanese international doing well in the amount of game time he receives. Us fans would obviously love to see Minamino produce better performances throughout the season and bag more goals and assists.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was missed

The 21-year-old was close to being fully fit but Jurgen Klopp omitted him from his matchday squad and started Neco Williams instead.

Of course, the teenager wasn’t expected to have the kind of impact as Alexander-Arnold – who’s perhaps the best right-back in the world at present. Williams played for nearly an hour before being replaced by Naby Keita.

The 19-year-old could’ve done better than he did yesterday. He wasn’t too good defensively and gave a bit too much space to Aubameyang when he scored Arsenal’s opening goal. Williams was decent going forward and his crosses were fairly good.

The Welshman still has a lot to learn but he has the potential to do well for the first-team.

Needless to say, Alexander-Arnold’s absence was felt and we’d love to see him back in action. The 21-year-old has been included in England’s squad for their Nations League fixtures against Iceland and Denmark.

Forwards had an off-day

Liverpool has one of the finest attacks in Europe in Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. Since the start of the 2017/18 season, they’ve scored nearly 60% of the Reds’ goals (217 out of 368).

However, the trio didn’t have their best day. Firmino didn’t seem too effective, especially in the first half. Things improved in the second when Liverpool played in a 4231 formation but still not the finest performance for someone of his stature.

Salah didn’t seem as influential as he generally is to Liverpool and he couldn’t make the most out of the crosses he received from Andy Robertson. Alexander-Arnold’s absence on the right flank also didn’t help him.

Mane seemed the better out of the three attackers and he often troubled Arsenal’s defence. However, the Senegalese took a little too much time to take a shot on goal and by the time he did, Emi Martinez was close enough to block him.

There’s little doubt that the Liverpool attackers will improve and they need to put in better performances if the club is to win silverware this season.