After Cole Palmer had fired City into a second half lead, the Gunners equalised 11 minutes into stoppage time with a deflected strike from Leandro Trossard before winning the penalty shootout 4-1.
Stefan Ortega Moreno made two good saves to deny Kai Havertz in the first half, but the boss felt his team were much better in the second half with substitutes Palmer, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne, playing his first minutes since the Champions League final, making an impact.
“My first words, congratulations to Arsenal for winning the Community Shield trophy,” Guardiola said.
“We were close. We were good for 25-30 minutes, in the last 15 or 20 minutes of the first half they were better. They had two chances and Stefan did well.
“But second half we were much, much better. We played a really good second half. Our energy from the new players especially players in one- on-one situations, players like Phil, Kevin and Cole.
“We were close but at the end, we couldn’t do it and their penalty takers were better than us.”
It was the first game back in England for the supporters to see the Treble winners since our Champions League victory on June 10.
With much of the squad heading to play in UEFA European Championship qualifiers for their countries following our celebratory parade through Manchester, it’s been a short break for many.
But Guardiola praised the energy of the City team, with the new Premier League season kicking off in just five days, as we went close to securing a fourth trophy in just three months.
“The team behaved unbelievably,” he added. “In the second half, the last minutes, attacking players were there and they pushed a lot and it’s normal.
“We are not the NBA that when you finish you have three months off to recover. Not here, especially here. In good seasons or bad seasons it didn’t happen.
“You have to adapt and that’s why I’m surprised how good we behaved. We faced an extraordinary team. It happened last season and it happened again.
“We were close and we are a little bit disappointed for the final result but it’s football.
“If you can’t win you can bring minutes to the players and I’m thinking of Friday, when we are going to Burnley to play.”
