Premier League champions Manchester City looked like they hadn’t even been away as they comfortably beat Chelsea at Wembley to lift the first piece of silverware this season, a comprehensive 2-0 win earning them a fifth Community Shield.
Sergio Aguero’s brace saw the Blues blitzed although it could so easily have been more.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Is Aguero’s City’s best-ever player?
Who’s better than me?
He’s the club’s all-time record goalscorer, but there’s an argument to be had that Sergio Aguero still does not receive the full credit he deserves.
A well-taken brace at Wembley earned City a convincing win in the Community Shield and showed the Argentine’s enduring class.
Yet while he’s lit up England during his time with the club, there’s been a few dark times for the goalscoring phenomenon during his days under Pep Guardiola.
Struggling to cope with Guardiola’s exhaustive list of expectations and with emerging talent Gabriel Jesus snapping at his heels, Aguero has had to handle a lot of pressure in recent seasons and questions about how much of a future he has in sky blue.
Yet, witnessing Aguero’s performance in the traditional curtain-raiser to the English top flight season, it seems strange to think that for much of Guardiola’s early reign at the Etihad, the curtain has appeared close to coming down on Aguero’s sublime stint in Manchester.
Amid testing times, however, Aguero has continued to do what Aguero does best, mercilessly plunder goals.
That brace made it 201 for City, in just 293 games. That is incredible.
To put it in perspective, Eric Brook, the man he surpassed last November, scored 179 in 499 games in a sky blue shirt.
Brook’s goals were scored during a 13-year spell. Aguero has only completed seven seasons. Yet he must be in the conversation concerning the club’s greatest-ever player, along with Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, Franny Lee and Yaya Toure.
Jorg on, son
Jorginho started but was poor for Chelsea.
Welcome to English football, Jorginho. The Italian well and truly had his eyes opened to just what will be expected of him this season.
Following impressive outings in pre-season, the Brazil-born midfielder will have been left bamboozled by a blistering performance from the champions of England as the weak and woeful Blues were well beaten.
He gave the ball away in the opening minute and that essentially told the tale of his competitive debut in England as he never seemed to recover.
This is a player who lit up Serie A and the Stadio San Paolo last season.
No other player in the nation averaged more passes per game than his 96.9.
His 49 key passes was 31st overall and his 1.5 per game fifth-most for his club, while only Allan and Mario Rui posted better figures than his 1.9 tackles per game.
But Serie A is played at a far more sedate speed compared to the Premier League, and the all-action midfielder has some work to do.
Of course the Community Shield remains a glorified friendly and Jorginho will have the rampant N’Golo Kante alongside him in the Chelsea engine room this season.
But the new arrival is no doe-eyed kid. He is 26 and much more will be expected in the harsh climate of the Premier League where you either sink or swim.
Sarri not yet on the money
Everyone knew Antonio Conte was going. Chelsea fans knew it, opposition fans knew it. Conte even knew it. So why did Roman Abramovich wait until two days before the World Cup ended to pull the trigger?
By the time Maurizio Sarri was appointed Conte’s successor on July 14, 56 days had been chalked off the calendar since the Blues put some gloss on an otherwise lacklustre 2017/18 campaign with victory over Manchester United in May’s FA Cup final.
Sarri has only had 23 days with his players and will have only added five more by the time they kick off their Premier League campaign against Huddersfield on Saturday.
Not to mention, the likes of Kante and Eden Hazard are yet to return following their exploits in Russia, so require further work from both themselves and renowned strategist Sarri in order to get off to a good start.
Of course, any new manager needs time and Sarri should prove to eventually be a shrewd appointment by the Blues.
But being a former banker, Sarri has a sharp mind. And as was proved in defeat to City, Chelsea’s sums do not quite add up at the moment.
