City off to a flying start but Gunners haunted by old failings

Amid all the talk of a new era at Arsenal, it looks like that best describes Manchester City. The champions just so effervescently offered even more evidence that they are going to really dominate and repeatedly win this league in a way no one has done since Sir Alex Ferguson.

An ultimately disappointing Arsenal still looked somewhere between his old rival Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery, as they were so often caught between two approaches and positions, and just so often caught out by a truly exceptional side.

This completely commanding 2-0 win away to one of the top six was some way to begin a title defence.

Kevin De Bruyne could even sit on the bench and Sergio Aguero could still miss a sitter, because City just had too much, and could have had more than the two goals scored by the relentless Raheem Sterling and delightful Bernardo Silva.

It was, however, no way to begin Emery’s reconstruction of this Arsenal defence.

Given that this was a first game against the champions, and champions as sensational as this Manchester City, Emery can be given a pass for a lot of this… but not all of it.

There were still frustrations. The Basque is renowned as a particularly brilliant defensive coach above anything else, and one big change expected to come at the Emirates is that the back line is properly drilled; that they don’t give up easy goals. About that… Sterling’s opener should not have been easy given the position he was running from, but it was made so. The forward was allowed to just cruise past Hector Bellerin and Matteo Guendouzi with barely a challenge and, once he got what was a strong but still fairly central shot off, there was barely an attempt at a stop from Petr Cech.

Unsighted, the goalkeeper didn’t even stick his arms out as the ball flew in.

It wasn’t Cech’s only error and that pointed to another question about Emery’s approach here: the personnel. Only two of Arsenal’s new signings started the game, and that was understanda- ARSENAL: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Papastathopoulos, Maitland-Niles (Lichtsteiner, 35 mins), Guendouzi, Xhaka (Torreira, 70 mins), Ozil, Ramsey (Lacazette, 54 mins), Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang. Unused subs: Elneny, Holding, Iwobi, Leno. MAN CITY: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy, Gundogan, Fernandinho,

ble given Emery (right) probably didn’t want to overload the side with new faces, but what was less understandable was who he picked.

If Bernd Leno is inevitably going to usurp Cech in goal, why Mahrez (De Bruyne, 60 mins), Bernardo Silva, Sterling (Sane, 87 mins), Aguero (Gabriel Jesus, 79 mins). Unused subs: Bravo, Kompany, Otamendi, Foden. Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) Man of the match: Raheem Sterling Match rating: 7/10

delay the decision, especially if it makes the Czech himself seem so indecisive?

To his left, Ainsley Maitland-Niles over the experience of Stephan Lichtseiner, who eventually came on? Ahead of Cech, Sokratis was probably always going to start but ahead of him? Was this really the match to start a 19-year-old brought in from Ligue 2 in France in Matteo Guendouzi? In this midfield… against that midfield? And with someone like Lucas Torreira on the bench?

The game did seem to get to Guendouzi early on as his first major contribution was a 10-yard miscontrol to put the ball out for a throw-in and his second was ushering Sterling through for the opening goal.

The teenager did show character by persevering and it was telling that, within minutes of that, and right in the midst of that