Man City's best and worst players in Community Shield defeat

  • Cole Palmer impressed for Man City
  • Erling Haaland underperformed
  • City lost to Arsenal on penalties at Wembley Stadium
A defeat for City
A defeat for City / Marc Atkins/GettyImages
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Last season's treble-winners kickstarted their 2023/24 campaign with a defeat in the Community Shield.

The game at Wembley Stadium, which Arsenal edged in a penalty shootout, wasn't a complete disaster for Manchester City however as there were plenty of positives to take from some players' performances on the day.

Here's who 90min picked as City's best and worst players on the day:


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Man City's best player vs Arsenal

Cole Palmer - 8/10

Cole Palmer
Great goal / Mike Hewitt/GettyImages

Subbed on in the 64th minute, youngster Cole Palmer ensured he made the most of his minutes at Wembley Stadium on Sunday by putting in an electric performances on the right flank.

Palmer injected some much needed drive and quality into the Man City attack and even bagged a stunning goal in the 77th minute.

He's a potential breakout star this season.


Honourable mention

Phil Foden - 8/10

Introduced on the opposite flank, Foden made a case to Pep Guardiola that he should be starting ahead of Jack Grealish in the Premier League next week.

The England international made things happen when he was subbed on.


Man City's worst player vs Arsenal

Erling Haaland - 5/10

Erling Haaland
Not at the races / Marc Atkins/GettyImages

Amazingly, Sunday's game was Haaland's sixth consecutive game without scoring for Man City. And, to be honest, he didn't even come remotely close to ending his dry spell during the game.

Haaland was outfought and outthought by William Saliba, and left the pitch with an xG of 0 when he was subbed off on the hour mark.

Not a great outing.


Dishonourable mention

Jack Grealish - 5/10

A real 2021/22 season Jack Grealish performance. The England star failed to do much of anything for City in what was a very tepid showing.