news-engine

Manchester City were not good defensively, their midfield was indifferent and up front there was plenty of room for improvement. Other than that, their Community Shield performance against Arsenal went well. Enzo Maresca's team were on the back foot from the opening minute when Riccardo Calafiori eased the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma from close range, and they never really recovered. Kai Havertz added a second after half an hour when taking advantage of more abject defending and Martin Odegaard poked in a third just after half-time. The Arsenal fans who had come to Cardiff were still on the high of winning the league and could not believe what they were seeing. Having tasted defeat in their last two meetings with City, there were Poznans before half-time as Mikel Arteta's side crushed City. That shouldn't matter to City, and nor should rustiness from Erling Haaland, Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki; these are players that have been back at the club for less than a week and only Haaland has any previous experience of working with Maresca. Clearly, the Blues are going to look much better as everyone settles. What they should leave Cardiff with, however, is what they saw from Arsenal. As Jeremy Doku raced through on goal in the first half with City 1-0 down, Gabriel cleared the ball for a corner and then celebrated as if he'd just stopped a goal in a Premier League decider; you could certainly make the same point when Gabriel and Calafiori separately tried to buy penalties at the other end with theatrical falls. City may well find it hard after Pep Guardiola but there is arguably more pressure on Arsenal given how much harder it is to retain the league after winning it. Every single team wants to dethrone the champions every week of the season, and they will have to be even better physically and mentally to stand a chance of being the best team again. A 3-0 victory will please Gunners but more beneficial for them on Sunday afternoon was to see the hunger and the fight in the players that looked as much a cut above anything City showed as anything that happened with the ball. City don't just need a squad with the ability to win the league, they need a squad filled with players who are desperate to go to war for Maresca in every minute of every game. The fact that wasn't seen in Cardiff isn't a catastrophe for Maresca and sporting director Hugo Viana but it should certainly sharpen minds with just a few weeks left of the transfer window and much still to do. Those that will remain in the squad need to show that fight and more arrivals are needed who already have it. City fans are proud that their team fights to the end. This one has to show they can fight from the start.