Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City: 23 seconds was all the warning Maresca got

Enzo Maresca had been Manchester City manager for a matter of weeks when his first competitive game kicked off in Cardiff on Sunday. It took 23 seconds to go wrong.

Myles Lewis-Skelly found Riccardo Calafiori inside the area and the Italian slid the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma. A crowd of 58,056 at the Principality Stadium had barely taken their seats.

City never got back into it. Kai Havertz added a second before the half-hour and Martin Ødegaard a third just after the break.

It gave Arsenal the Community Shield for the eighteenth time in their history.

Arsenal look ready for the season. Maresca, who took over from Pep Guardiola after ten years, has plenty to think about.

How the goals came

The first goal was simple, and it came before City had organised themselves.

Lewis-Skelly passed straight through their defence and Calafiori finished it. It was his fifth goal for Arsenal, and the second of those against City.

Lewis-Skelly has been linked with a move away all week. This was a useful reminder of what Arsenal would be losing.

The second goal, just before the half-hour, showed a bigger problem.

Ødegaard was left with far too much space, and he crossed the ball into the middle. Christos Tzolis headed it back across goal.

Havertz got enough on it to push Donnarumma into spilling the ball over his own line.

City did create chances before half-time. David Raya saved from Erling Haaland, and Ben White blocked a shot from Jeremy Doku that looked certain to go in.

Raya was Arsenal's busiest player. He also saved well from Antoine Semenyo later on.

City's hopes ended soon after the restart. Tzolis set up another goal and Ødegaard finished past Donnarumma for his first goal of 2026.

Both managers made one change at the break. Mikel Arteta brought on Declan Rice in place of Bruno Guimarães, while Maresca sent on Jack Grealish for Jeremy Doku.

Tzolis and Guimarães answer an early question

Two assists on a first competitive start is a good afternoon for any new signing.

Tzolis cost around £34m from Club Brugge. Some people wondered why Arsenal spent that on a squad that had just won the league, and this was his answer.

Guimarães made his full debut in midfield after his £75m move from Newcastle. He did not come back out for the second half.

Reports in Brazil said he had a thigh problem. Arsenal will want that sorted before Friday.

The bigger point is who was not playing.

Arsenal won this without William Saliba and Jurrien Timber, who are both injured. Bukayo Saka, Rice and Martin Zubimendi all started on the bench.

That says more than the score does.

When we looked at which of last season's top eight had actually strengthened, Arsenal were the only club to add a proven first-team player without losing one.

We said City looked different rather than better. One game is not much to go on, but it is the first evidence we have.

The size of Maresca's task

None of this was ever going to be easy for him.

Maresca has taken over a squad that Guardiola built over ten years. He is expected to keep winning while changing how the team plays.

City have also lost Bernardo Silva and John Stones for nothing, along with Manuel Akanji and Nathan Aké.

Rodri's future is still not settled, with Barcelona continuing to push. Elliot Anderson, the £116m record signing from Nottingham Forest, made his debut in Cardiff.

City were poor, and their manager will know it.

Their defending was loose in a way Guardiola's teams rarely were. The energy that made them so hard to play against was missing.

There are reasons for that. Many of these players were away at a summer tournament and are only now getting back to full fitness.

The Community Shield also matters less than any other trophy game in England.

City drew with Inter and beat Atlético Madrid 3-1 on their pre-season tour. On that evidence, Sunday was well below what this squad can do, and Maresca will expect to show it before long.

How much should we read into it?

Arsenal are trying to win back-to-back league titles for the first time since the 1930s. A win like this will give them plenty of belief.

There is history between these two as well. City beat Arsenal 2-0 in the EFL Cup final in March, then won 2-1 at the Etihad in April.

After that game, Rice said the title race was not over. Arsenal went on to win the league by seven points.

Sunday in Cardiff was the first time the two sides had faced each other since that April meeting at the Etihad.

One warning, though. The Community Shield has never told us much about the season ahead.

It is played before most squads are ready, and often without key players. Arsenal beat City in this same game in 2023, then finished that season with nothing.

So this proves nothing yet.

What it does show, on day one, is the champions looking sharper than the team expected to push them, with two of their new signings involved in the goals.

The league starts this week. Arsenal host Coventry City on Friday, and City are at home to Bournemouth.

Both games will tell us more than Cardiff did. Arsenal will be looking to show that Sunday was the start of something rather than a one-off.

Maresca will be looking for the first competitive win of his time at City, and a much calmer afternoon than the one he has just had.