Enzo Maresca experienced his first official match as Man City head coach in an undesirable way when his team lost to Arsenal 0-3 in the English Super Cup match.
Entrusted with the task of inheriting the legacy that Pep Guardiola built over a decade, Maresca immediately faced a big challenge. Man City entered the game erratically and were punished by Arsenal after only 24 seconds, when Riccardo Calafiori rushed in to score the opening goal.
Maresca's team could not create a strong enough response. Kai Havertz doubled the gap before halftime, then Martin Odegaard scored the third goal right at the beginning of the second half, closing a forgettable day for Man City.
This is Man City's heaviest defeat since losing to Tottenham 0-4 in November 2024, and also their heaviest defeat to Arsenal since losing 0-3 at the Community Shield in 2014.
Notably, The Citizens once let Liverpool score 3 goals in the 2022 English Super Cup match and then won the treble. Therefore, the result at Cardiff cannot be considered a prediction for Maresca's season.
However, this performance still raises many questions. Man City has only won 2 of their last 9 encounters with Arsenal in all competitions, besides 4 draws and 3 defeats. Last season, they were also 7 points behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
After the first goal conceded, I was quite satisfied because we didn't concede any more goals in a while and created three or four chances to equalize. Unfortunately, we conceded the second goal, stemming from a mistake. But that was just the beginning.
From next Sunday, we will start the Premier League campaign and then, the focus must be on this league. We still have a lot of work to do. The new season has just begun and there are still many things to improve. Even if we win, we still have to continue to improve many aspects" - Maresca said after the match.
This is also the second time Maresca has suffered a defeat with a difference of 3 goals or more in his coaching career in England. Previously, he and Chelsea lost to Brighton 0-3 at home in February 2025.
More notably, this is the heaviest defeat that a new Man City coach has suffered in the first match of the season. In 1906, Harry Newbould and Man City lost to Arsenal 1-4.
Maresca certainly has time to fix the problems. But when the Premier League is only a few days away from kicking off, the 0-3 defeat to Arsenal sent him a clear warning. Man City needs to quickly regain stability if they want to compete with the defending champion.
We knew what we needed to do before the match. It's not because we lost this match that we thought differently. There will definitely be more moves before the transfer window closes" - Maresca said.
