Five things to take from Arsenal’s 3-0 victory at Wembley.
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The Community Shield has always been the traditional curtain raiser to the new season and Arsenal fans will barely be able to wait to take centre stage next week after an emphatic victory over Manchester City at Wembley.
Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud were all on the scoresheet as the FA Cup winners swept aside the Premier League champions – with these five points being what we took from the match:
Manchester City should be concerned about their squad depth
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini will rightly point to the face that he was missing a number of key players – but this does raise concerns about the depth of the squad at Eastlands and the quality of the players that City have in reserve.
Reserve centre back pairing Dedryck Boyata and Matija Nastasic struggled up against the industrious Yaya Sanogo and intelligent Olivier Giroud, new signing Fernando largely toiled in the centre of the park and Stevan Jovetic failed to show the form that he has had so far this pre-season.
Yaya Sanogo is good enough to cover Olivier Giroud
Young Arsenal striker Yaya Sanogo was widely criticised for his displays when given a chance last season, but the former Auxerre man has returned looking stronger and sharper this time around.
He was given the first half to impressed and caused plenty of problems for City’s centre backs, holding the ball up well and making intelligent runs. Also provided a superb assist for Aaron Ramsey’s goal.
City desperately need Sergio Aguero fit and firing
With Stevan Jovetic having impressed in City’s pre-season tour of the USA, the Montengran was given the chance to show what he can do alongside Edin Dzeko in attack for Manuel Pellegrini.
They had no understanding, however, and failed to create anything meaningful for each other. City clearly missed the energy and industry of Sergio Aguero, with Dzeko noticeably missing his strike partner’s presence.
Arsenal have made a clear effort to change how they start games
A big problem for Arsenal last season was how they approached the start of games against their title rivals, having been blown away in the first 15 minutes against both Liverpool and Chelsea.
Where they were passive and crumbly last season, however, they stood up to the test in this one, getting in amongst City, disrupting their rhythm and taking control of the game from the outset.
Willy Caballero may not push Joe Hart all that hard
A lot has been made of Pellegrini’s decision to spend money on bringing Willy Caballero to the club to push Joe Hart for his first team place this season, but the Argentine struggled here.
He looked nervous from the off and will certainly feel that he should’ve done better with the third goal, Olivier Giroud’s strike from outside the area. Expect Hart to return when the real stuff starts next weekend.