The annual curtain raiser. For many people, it’s the jump-off point for the new season. Pre-season has concluded, your team is back home and prepping for the long season ahead, and the teams competing for the Community Shield have the honor of kicking things off.
The Community Shield pits the winners of the Premier League vs the winner of the FA Cup from the previous season, so this year, we’re looking at Liverpool vs Crystal Palace on Sunday at Wembley.
Reds History of Success
Liverpool have picked up this trophy a total of 16 times throughout their illustrious history, so in anticipation of Sunday’s match, I thought we’d take a little trip down memory lane and exhibit some of our best performances in this fixture.
It wouldn’t be a retrospective article without the mention of arguably our greatest manager of all time, Bob Paisley. His almost decade-long reign saw exciting football and our fair share of trophies.
But what many forget is that Paisley’s first match as manager was the Community Shield tie against Leeds in 1974. Even more interestingly, that was also Brian Clough’s first game in charge of Leeds.
Liverpool ended up coming out on top on penalties, and that began Paisley’s dominance in the Community Shield.
Over the next 9 years, Liverpool would take 4 Community Shields back to Anfield and share one with bitter rivals Manchester United in 1977 (before they altered to sharing rule in 1992).
King Kenny had his fair share of success in the tournament as well. During his first spell as manager, he carried Liverpool to Wembley on 4 separate occasions, winning 2 and drawing 2.
Liverpool at the time were still seen as one of the biggest threats in English football and were still dominating in Europe.
A New Era
The 80's came and went and the 90's were a struggle. The emergence of teams like Man United and Arsenal, and the regression of Liverpool, saw a dip in fortunes, and dust began to gather on our trophy cabinet.
That was until Gerard Houllier, with the help of Michael Owen, won our first FA Cup in almost a decade.
Liverpool v Manchester United, Millennium Stadium, 2021. What better way to re-emerge into this fixture than against the team we’ll never tire of getting one over on.
Manchester has won this fixture more than anyone else in history and it was right in the middle of their era of dominance.
Whilst we couldn’t match up with their squad player for player, we’d shown under Houllier that we were capable of big performances in finals after our treble the season before.
We were looking to pick up our 4th trophy in 6 months, and with goals from Gary McAllister and Michael Owen, Liverpool secured a 2-1 victory.
What looked like a turning point for the Reds led to more disappointment in the trophy department, and we’d have to wait a little bit longer before we found ourselves in this fixture again.
Lampard, Terry, Drogba, Essien, and a Jose Mourinho in his prime. That is who stood in the way of Liverpool picking up their 15th Community Shield.
Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea had absolutely dominated the Premier League in 2005, losing only once only conceding 15 goals all season.
They had the resources that Liverpool dreamt of having, but for 90 minutes, anything could happen.
With Gerrard starting on the bench, it was up to other players to prove themselves. Players like Mark Gonzalez and Bolo Senden would need to step up if Liverpool were to stand any chance of walking away victorious.
But, like many times before, it would be John Arne Riise’s wondrous left foot that would get things started for Liverpool.
Chelsea fought back with a debut goal from Ukrainian powerhouse, Andriy Shevchenko, but a vintage Peter Crouch header 10 minutes from the end sealed the deal for the Redmen.
The New Age
The mid-2000s were a strange time at Liverpool. The Istanbul and West Ham finals were some of the most magical days this club has ever produced, but that 19th Premier League title was still so elusive.
The 2019/2020 season. It was the season football, and the world, stood still. What began like any other season quickly became extremely memorable for both the wrong and right reasons.
Pre-COVID, we found ourselves at Wembley facing a City team fresh off a domestic treble and in search of their first trophy of the new season.
Raheem Sterling would prove to be the thorn in Liverpool’s side that day as City ended up getting the better of Liverpool on penalties. What followed next couldn’t have been predicted.
We were dominant, effective, and ruthless all season long. There was a time when the entire campaign was under threat due to social distancing and quarantine, but we battled through.
The league continued, and we found ourselves one step closer to being back on our perch again. Title number 19 in the bag, and it wasn’t long before we had our hands on our 20th.
So that leads us into Sunday. The Liverpool side that will start on the weekend will be almost unrecognizable from the team that ended last season's campaign. New fullbacks, a new striker and a German wunderkind pulling the strings in the centre of the park, means we could be in for a treat.
Crystal Palace will be looking to make it as difficult as possible for the Reds, and with Oliver Glasner in charge, they’ve shown they can go toe to toe with the big boys in the league on their day.
Here’s hoping that day doesn’t fall on this weekend and we end up walking away with our 17th Community Shield, and may that be a sign of things to come from this special-looking team.