LONDON, England — The fact that Pep Guardiola turned up at Wembley on Saturday wearing a T-shirt and trainers showed exactly what he thinks of the Community Shield.
You could imagine the Manchester City manager wearing something similar to watch a practice match on one of the outdoor pitches at the Etihad campus.
Having lost the traditional opening game of the English season in each of the past three years, he will not put too much emphasis on finally winning one with a penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United following a 1-1 draw. But what will matter to him is the state of his squad ahead of the start of the Premier League campaign next weekend. The Community Shield is nice, but what he really wants is an unprecedented fifth successive title.
Although Erling Haaland did not score at Wembley, Guardiola can be pleased with the form of his main striker, who scored five goals in four games on the tour of America, while the continued emergence of youngster Oscar Bobb is another positive. But there will also be concerns about the loss of Julian Alvarez, who will leave for Atletico Madrid for £81m, and the over-reliance on Rodri in midfield.
There are still three weeks to go in the transfer window and, having made more than £150m in outgoing signings this summer, there is money to spend. But as rivals such as Arsenal and Liverpool take a very early look at the title race, managers Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot may be encouraged by what they see. City, as ever, are the team to beat. But for the first time in a long time, they do not feel invincible. At least, not now.
“We could have lost today,” Guardiola said after the match. “I saw a lot of things today that I like. The first 35 minutes were excellent and unexpected for the time we're together. Some of the players are still on holiday, so we're far from our best.”
“It's normal, but it's better to start with a title won. It's nicer, but the reality is that nothing has changed after winning this title.”
According to sources who spoke to ESPN, it is not yet clear whether City will try to replace Alvarez and sign a backup for Rodri. The Spaniard is still on holiday after winning the European Championship and will need as much rest as possible ahead of a season that will not end until July due to the renewal of the FIFA Club World Cup.
In his absence, the player who was supposed to share the load in midfield, Kalvin Phillips, did not play a single minute against United, despite having completed pre-season. In his place, Guardiola handed 19-year-old England youth international Nico O'Reilly his senior debut. Phillips was used as a makeshift centre-back in the United States and is likely to leave City, probably on loan, towards the end of the transfer window.
Guardiola has hinted that he sees Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis as Rodri replacements, but neither of them are recognised as holding midfielders. If Rodri remains injury-free, there will be no problem, but if he is taken off City, some of his aura of invincibility will disappear.
O'Reilly, Kovacic and James McAtee played well against United's back four of Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount, but the pace and intensity of a Premier League match is a million miles away from the glorified training exercise of the Community Shield.
“He will do better,” Guardiola said when asked about O'Reilly. “It's normal. He has to play against Casemiro, a Champions League winner. It's his first official game with us. He will do better next time he plays, but he helped us a lot. He missed a few balls, but it's completely understandable.”
If finding someone to fill the void left by Rodri is difficult, replacing Alvarez's goals will be just as difficult. The Argentina international scored 36 goals in his two years at the Etihad, and was particularly important last season when Haaland was out for two months.
City have plenty of options in attacking positions, including Bernardo Silva (who scored a late equaliser against United to cancel out Alejandro Garnacho's opener and send the game to penalties), summer signing Savinho, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Jérémy Doku and Bobb, but only Foden can match Alvarez's numbers in terms of goalscoring contributions.
United, who are playing in the Community Shield for the first time since 2016, are pressing ahead with their own transfer business and the biggest positive from their day at Wembley was the news that they have agreed deals with Bayern Munich for Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt.
The result against City could have been different had Marcus Rashford been able to take advantage of either of the two golden opportunities that came his way, but Erik ten Hag, like Guardiola, will be focusing on the start of the league season. Rashford's form is just one of the issues the Dutchman still has to deal with before Fulham visit Old Trafford next week, along with determining Mount's place in his team.
Mount started in an advanced midfield role against City but failed to make much of an impact before being withdrawn early in the second half. Ten Hag said afterwards that he was “disappointed” to lose, particularly after coming within a minute of winning, but decided to take the positives.
“We played well,” he said. “We could have won this game, we were winning twice.” [in the game and in the shootout] but we lost.”
Ten Hag has declined to comment on the possible arrivals of Mazraoui and De Ligt, saying only that “it's clear that we have problems” in defence. As the club continues to restructure its squad, their big challenge will be to get through the first three league games against Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool unscathed.
Guardiola's task is different, as he knows that dropping too many points in the early part of the season could prove costly when the trophy is handed out in May. He will rely on himself to get the best out of the players he has, but he might also need one or two more.
