Maresca’s Manchester City beaten 3-0 by Arsenal in Community Shield opener
Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City were beaten 3-0 by Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday, a result that prompted questions about City’s defending and squad balance.
There are caveats: it was only the Community Shield, Arsenal were the league champions and no side has gone on to win the league after lifting the Community Shield since 2018; Arsenal’s pre-season involved less arduous travel than City’s. Maresca succeeded Pep Guardiola — a manager whose evolving, idiosyncratic style complicates any handover — and although Maresca was Guardiola’s assistant at City in 2022-23 his approach is not identical.
Arsenal produced a sharper, slicker passing performance than City and capitalised on defensive lapses; the second goal exemplified the problems as Martin Ødegaard measured a cross while Christos Tzolis drifted away from Abdukodir Khusanov and Kai Havertz pulled beyond Rúben Dias. Khusanov, who does not usually play at right-back but has occupied the role before, was implicated in that sequence.
City’s right-hand flank and midfield balance also looked fragile: Antoine Semenyo was barely involved and Elliot Anderson, positioned on the right of the midfield two, could not contain Riccardo Calafiori, whose run created the third goal and who scored the first. The report noted that an attacking left-back with license to drift infield should not have caused that level of trouble.
The midfield situation remains unresolved: Rodri was an unused substitute as talks about his move to Barcelona go on and City accepted a bid for him on Sunday night. Enzo Fernández, who worked with Maresca at Chelsea, appeared to have been lined up as a replacement but City did not submit a bid before the Friday 5pm deadline Chelsea had set; Mateo Kovacic, who spent much of last season deputising for Rodri, is 32 now.
City’s squad composition attracted criticism: Dias and Marc Guéhi are the only defenders over 25, there are many attacking midfielders but Omar Marmoush has not really convinced as a back-up to Erling Haaland, and the January 2025 £200m spending spree that helped steady the club now looks less transformative because arrivals such as Marmoush, Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico González “would not be badly missed now.”
Questions were raised over recruitment and recent transfers: Tijjani Reijnders, bought last summer for £50m, is reported to be about to be shipped on, and Rayan Aït-Nouri’s signing was described as baffling. The assessment added that City, once disciplined in their spending, have begun to make mistakes.
The evidence from Sunday’s match prompted the conclusion that this may be a very bad time for Maresca to have replaced Guardiola, and the Premier League returns this weekend with champions Arsenal kicking off the season on Friday against newly promoted Coventry at 3pm ET on USA and Telemundo.
