It was only the Community Shield – and no side has gone on to win the league after lifting the Community Shield since 2018. It was against the league champions, whose pre-season has involved far less strenuous travel than their own. By the time the season really gets going, there will be greater clarity in central midfield, with Rodri set to complete his move to Barcelona imminently.
But this was a startlingly bad opening for Enzo Maresca at Manchester City. Succeeding a manager of Pep Guardiola’s stature is never easy, as numerous clubs have found. But it’s not just Guardiola’s stature, the sense that whoever follows him stands in his shadow.
It’s that his style of play is so idiosyncratic that the transition process inevitably becomes more difficult. Even though Maresca was Guardiola’s assistant at City in 2022-23, and his football is Guardiola-inspired, it is not identical, not least because Guardiola was always evolving. Even allowing for all that, though, it was remarkable how poorly City defended in their 3-0 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday.
There was a sharpness to them and a slickness to their passing that wasn’t always present last season. Fears that they may have lost their appetite having ended their 22-year wait for the title may have been overstated (although much, much tougher tests await). But City were a rabble, limited going forward and a shambles at the back.
It was the second goal that will really have worried them, because Arsenal had to do so little to score. Martin Ødegaard was given time to measure his cross. Christos Tzolis wandered off the back of Abdukodir Khusanov.
Then Kai Havertz, slightly more explicably, pulled away from Rúben Dias. In Khusanov’s defence, it probably should be acknowledged that he does not usually play at right-back, but he has occupied the role before. A wide player drifting off your back should not come as a shock; perhaps it’s just pre-season and he was not as alert as he will be, but it was a baffling error.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
