LONDON, England — 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 outer pitches at the Etihad campus.
Having lost in the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season in each of the last three years, he won’t put too much emphasis on finally winning one with a victory over Manchester United via a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw. But what he will care about is the state of his squad ahead of the start of the Premier League campaign next weekend. The Community Shield is nice, but an unprecedented fifth title in a row is what he really wants.
Although Erling Haaland didn’t score at Wembley, Guardiola can be pleased with the form of his main striker, who scored five goals in four matches on the tour of the U.S., while the continuing emergence of youngster Oscar Bobb is another positive. But there will be worry, too, at the loss of Julián Álvarez, set for an £81 million move to Atlético Madrid, and the over-reliance on Rodri in midfield.
There are still three weeks to go in the transfer window and, having earned more than £150m through outgoing transfers this summer, there’s money to spend. But as challengers like Arsenal and Liverpool make a very early assessment of the title race, it’s possible that managers Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot will take heart from what they see. City, as always, are the team to beat. But for the first time in a while they don’t feel unbeatable. At least not right now.
“We could have lost today,” said Guardiola afterward. “I saw many things today that I like. The first 35 minutes were beyond excellent and unexpected for the time we are together. Some of the players are still on holidays so we are far from our best.
“It’s normal but it’s better starting with one trophy won. It’s nicer, but the reality is nothing changed for the fact we won this title.”
Sources have told ESPN that it’s still up in the air whether City will try to replace Álvarez and sign an understudy to Rodri. The Spaniard is still on holiday after winning the Euros, and he will need as much rest as possible ahead of a season which won’t end until July because of the revamped FIFA Club World Cup.
In his absence, the player meant to share the load in midfield, Kalvin Phillips, didn’t play a minute against United, despite having a full preseason. Instead, Guardiola handed 19-year-old England youth international Nico O’Reilly his senior debut. Phillips was used as a makeshift centre-back in the U.S. and is likely to leave City, probably on loan, toward the end of the window.
Guardiola has hinted that he sees Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis as Rodri’s replacements, but neither are recognised holding midfielders. If Rodri stays free of injury then it isn’t a problem, but take him out of this City team and part of their aura of invincibility is removed.
O’Reilly, Kovacic and James McAtee did well against United’s four of Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount but the pace and intensity of a Premier League fixture is a million miles away from the glorified training exercise of the Community Shield.
“He will do better,” said Guardiola 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 some balls but it’s completely understandable.”
If finding someone to fill a potential Rodri-shaped hole is hard, replacing Álvarez’s goals will be just as difficult. The Argentina international scored 36 in his two years at the Etihad, and he was particularly important last season when Haaland was ruled out for two months.
City have plenty of options in forward positions including Bernardo Silva — who scored a late equaliser against United to cancel out Alejandro Garnacho‘s opener to send the match to penalties — summer signing Savinho, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Jérémy Doku and Bobb, but only Foden can match Álvarez’s numbers for goal contributions.
United, playing in the Community Shield for the first time since 2016, are pushing ahead with their own transfer business and the big positive from their day at Wembley was news that they’ve reached an agreement with Bayern Munich for Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt.
The result against City might have been different had Marcus Rashford been able to take either of the two golden chances laid on for him but Erik ten Hag’s focus, like Guardiola’s, will be the start of the league season. Rashford’s form is just one of the issues still on the Dutchman’s to-do list before Fulham visit Old Trafford next week alongside working out where Mount fits into his team.
Mount started as an advanced midfielder against City, but struggled to have much of an impact before being withdrawn early in the second half. Ten Hag said afterward he was “disappointed” to lose — particularly after being a minute away from winning — but chose to take the positives.
“We performed well,” he said. “We could’ve won this game, we were twice leading [in the game and in the shootout] but we lost.”
Ten Hag refused to comment on the potential arrivals of Mazraoui and De Ligt saying only that “it’s clear we have problems” in defence. As the club continue to reshape his squad, his big challenge will be getting through the first three league games against Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool unscathed.
Guardiola’s task is different in that he will know that too many dropped points during the early part of the season could be costly when the trophy is handed out in May. He will back himself to get the best out of the players he has, but he could also do with one or two more.