City Watch: Blues blown away by rampant Arsenal

The new season is finally here, although unfortunately for Manchester City, the opening weekend couldn’t have come quickly enough.

Sunday’s Community Shield defeat to Arsenal was not a performance I think any City fan will look back on particularly fondly, losing to the Gunners by three goals was a bitter pill to swallow. Of course, it’s only the Community Shield and the real season starts this weekend, but there were some worrying signs that cannot simply be dismissed because it was a glorified pre-season game.

The biggest concern for me was the attitude as City looked miles behind Arsenal, who go into the new campaign as reigning Premier League champions, and there were too many occasions where players appeared to be getting away with things that simply wouldn’t have been tolerated under Pep Guardiola.

There wasn’t enough desire, urgency or passion and at times, there was even a level of laziness which was frustrating to watch. The pressing wasn’t as aggressive, the movement wasn’t good enough and there were moments where players seemed happy to switch off rather than maintain the ridiculously high standards we’ve become accustomed to over the last decade.

Under Pep, you knew that if you dropped your standards, you wouldn’t get away with it. That relentless demand for perfection was one of the reasons his teams were so successful. Maresca isn’t Pep, and nobody expects him to immediately recreate the greatest City side we’ve ever seen and he’s inherited a team that is going through a huge transition and is trying to establish his own methods and authority. But that doesn’t mean the players can lower their standards.

If anything, this is exactly what we should have expected after Pep’s departure. The man who set those standards for a decade is gone, and now somebody else has to rebuild them.

The positive is that we have a full season to do it and Arsenal won’t get three points for beating us in Cardiff, and City won’t lose the Premier League because of one poor performance. This weekend against Bournemouth is where it actually matters, and there is plenty of time for Maresca to get this squad playing the way he wants.

Unfortunately, though, the Community Shield also marked the beginning of the end of one of the greatest players in the club’s history. In the hours after the game, it was revealed that Rodri would be leaving City for Barcelona, with the move now officially confirmed.

I’ve probably written about Rodri more than anyone else in this column over the last few months, so I won’t spend another 500 words telling you how good he is… we all know.

Instead, I just want to say thank you, thank you for the outrageous goals, the ridiculous performances and the countless moments that helped make the most successful period in Manchester City’s history possible. The goal against Aston Villa in 2022 that helped us complete that incredible comeback and win the Premier League will always be one of my favourites and then, of course, there was Istanbul.

The Champions League final where ninety minutes of frustration which felt like multiple heart attacks, followed by that moment when Rodri stepped up and scored the goal that completed the treble.

He could have left City immediately after that night in Istanbul and nobody could have complained, he would have gone down as a club legend regardless. Instead, he stayed, continued to dominate midfield and added even more trophies to his collection.

There will always be a part of me that wishes he’d stayed, particularly after watching him captain Spain to World Cup glory and win the tournament’s Player of the Tournament award just weeks ago, it felt like we were getting the best version of Rodri back after his ACL injury.

Ultimately, he’s earned the right to decide what comes next after giving City seven incredible years, 14 major trophies and countless memories, and he’s gone about his departure in the right way.

His farewell message summed it up perfectly, “My heart will forever be blue.” and I think that’s exactly how City fans should remember him.

Now, though, it’s time to move on with Rodri gone, Pep gone, and City entering a completely new chapter. There will inevitably be bumps along the way, and Sunday showed that perhaps the gap between where we are and where we want to be is bigger than we hoped.

The Premier League is back this weekend, with Bournemouth coming up at the Etihad and Enzo Maresca finally gets his first proper opportunity to show us what this new Manchester City can become. The Community Shield wasn’t good enough and there’s a lot of work to do, lets see what’s in store.