Can anyone stop Arsenal & how do City improve under Maresca?

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1:05This is the Football Daily Podcast with Aaron Paul.

1:09Aaron Paul:Hello and welcome to the Football Daily from the Principality Stadium here in Cardiff, where Arsenal have beaten Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield. Less than a week until the start of the Premier League season. We'll analyse what this result means in the company of Chris Coles, Izzy Christensen and Pat Nevin. You're listening to the Football Daily Podcast with Aaron Paul. An eighth trophy claimed here in Cardiff at the Principality Stadium as the City players just head over to what's left of their support. It didn't really turn up here and it would have been a chasing experience for Enzo Maresco.

1:46Aaron Paul:Whilst this isn't a barometer, Pat, for where a season's going to go from their perspective, it's a handy tool. I mean you've got to do something out of it I don't think Manchester City turned up today for a wee jog about I think they turned up today trying to win this this cup or the shield they're a distance away from it they were second best, they held the ball nicely but very very limited danger I think Arsenal kept them at arm's leg for most in the second half with some ease generally some ease now you've not got Haaland at his best yet and that makes a big difference when he's at his best it makes a difference Doko and Semenyo turned it on in bits now and again Elliot Anderson although trying hard it's not fitted brilliantly and perfectly well yet so look there's a whole big job to have done but Man City fans will tell you that this is a transition time they've done some of the transition but there's more to come Arsenal that's not a transition time this is a team that's winning and the question that a lot of Arsenal fans were wondering you've got them at last, you've won you've got to the Champions League final and nearly passed an amazing PSG but you won the Premier League have you made it there got up the top and it's really hard to stay there and you're just going to fall back down again no chance this is a team that want it and expect to keep on going what can we take away from it, I mean Pat summed it up well there they just did not turn up City Yeah, couldn't put it better really myself in terms of where we expected City to be at.

3:24I think Arsenal, with the players that they had at the World Cup and the players that Arteta's had available to train with over the last four or five weeks, I expected Arsenal to be a bit fresher and they definitely showed that in the first half. I think City matched them and like we said at half-time, Arsenal were the better team, but it could have been 2-2 at half-time, albeit some brilliant saves from Raya. so I think in terms of assessment I think the way that Pat summed up City looked like a team of individuals I think the challenge for Maresco is we know Manchester City are a team of 11 and that's the way they operate best from start to finishing the attack and they need to find a way to weld it together but I watched them, like I said, against Atletico Madrid last weekend in the friendly and they were much more welded together so I think in this moment here you have to hand credit to Arsenal I thought they were monsters again all over the pitch.

4:15They were aggressive. Udegaard run the show like we saw during the World Cup for Norway. So I think from Arsenal's perspective, a genuine case of pick up where they left off and they have built the foundations and that is why they look like a very well-welded team of 11 right now and obviously the changes they brought on. And City, as we know, huge transition, but I think there's been a few bits today where I think Marescu will go away and have to really dig deep, analyse, progress and find a new way forward. Not necessarily a new way, but he'll know he's got a lot of work to do and he will have known that before the game kicked off today anyway.

4:53But I think after that game, I think the gap between Arsenal and City at the moment is getting bigger. And do I think City can close it? Absolutely. But they're going to have to have a big shift and Marescu's going to have a big job, but an exciting one nonetheless.

5:08Aaron Paul:Pat, when you look at that second half, the word I've used to describe Arsenal's performance was professional and they knew what they were doing they decided okay we've got the third goal that's it, we're fine, we're cool we'll win this, you need to break us down, when you look at last season in the league, five defeats I think it was in the league for Arsenal last season, all by a single goal they don't lose many goals so they have said alright we'll shut up shop a little bit here and we'll play in the break, and look quite dangerous when we're playing in the break you say professional, I'd say mature really mature performance for that entire group of players and that's been drilled over year after year after year and if a new player that comes in such as Solis you look as if you've been playing there for six years he really did because he knows exactly what's expected of him did it well and then on top of that he created a couple of goals so there wasn't a failure maybe I don't see where Renaud Grimmaris absolutely fits in and makes it better but you never know, he'll be needed and there's a lot of games this season and a lot of games in Europe this season there are a lot of games this season but when you're adding you need to add quality and that's exactly what they've done I grant you, you've got quality but oddly enough, it's just I don't know if he looks like the rest of the players but maybe that's the point, maybe he's saying right I've got all the ones in the end of that style I'm going to add something different I'm going to add the guy who chases everywhere and will score some goals and he's got good goal scoring numbers as well when you turn up to a new team you don't expect everybody to go alright I'll give you the ball all the time I'm going to give it to the man, the main man and the main man is Odegaard or the main man might be Declan Rice so there's a wee bit of integration to go in there so certainly give him a few months to find out where he really fits within this group but other than that everything else looks tickety-boo can they go on to potentially lift the Premier League again?

7:06Aaron Paul:I wouldn't write them off that. No, you can't. I think more than that, you can say they are favourites. Yes, you know, Liverpool could come back and be very, very strong. Manchester City do not write them off at all because I think just one game here and, you know, they were stronger last year at Arsenal, but I think there's more to be added. You don't know what's going to happen. Rodri wasn't playing today, but they might have a replacement for Rodri. they might want to bring in if he doesn't stay. So you have to take that on board. I think Haaland, your best player, was fully 100 % himself. So there's a lot to take on board that.

7:43But I'm looking at Arsenal. And this isn't six months and years' worth of build. This is six years' worth of build. And it's built and it's improved every year. And I think it's better now than it was last year. So that, by definition, means, yeah, we've got a very good chance of winning. and don't write off the Champions League either, because the depth and score they've got, you look around Europe, there's not that many have got that depth and score.

8:11Aaron Paul:What's scary is that they want more, don't they? It is, and once you have a face in it, you want more and more, and I've seen Odegaard has said that already in his post-match interview, and he's spot on, and the hardest thing is winning and dislodging for the teams, but then even harder than that, is sustaining it and Arsenal are now the team, as we say a lot, with the target on their back. They're the team that are setting the level in the Premier League, they're the team that has shown an incredible amount of resilience and depth. You've got to remember, before last season they were trying so hard to dislodge Manchester City, Liverpool in terms of winning that Premier League title and they've finally done it and it just looks like the evolution that Arteta is after is coming in the form of a few little tweaks in terms of new signings but also evolving from within as well and I think that's what's really crucial that you know the depth that Arteta's added to his team over the years and the players that he's brought in you know making certain sort of signing loan signing permanent and in Capier which I thought was a brilliant bit of business around that left back area which is an area where Arteta has played around with a lot in his last four or five seasons and they've just created that resilience Califiori getting on the score sheet today early on it just goes to show that they've got so much quality and like we spoke about before the game if they can unleash you know the sort of reins a little bit and find that new level they've still got the capacity to revert back to type of last season which has been watertight at the back so they've got all the equipment to go on and do it again but of course the challenges are the teams and I also think Chelsea wants to watch as well next season for that Premier League title as well.

9:50Following on from that Aaron I think one of Arsenal's great strengths this season is actually the the difference in other teams and what the position they're in with their managers arsenal is alluded to as easy as alluded to they've been building over a year over a year over a year and look at their title rivals this year manchester city new manager chelsea new manager liverpool new manager where you put spurs in all of this new manager there's so much change that it feels arsenal have just gone from being very convincing premier league champions in the end I know Manchester City came back at them but a seven point gap at the top of the table reaching Champions League final reaching the League Cup final they've added to their team they will probably add more to this team and given how easily they've brushed aside Manchester City it does feel that because teams have changed so much in terms of their rivals that this Arsenal side will be even more dominant because other sides might take a bit of time to get up to speed

10:48Aaron Paul:as we've seen with Manchester City I think it's perfect time for us to hear from the Arsenal manager here is Mikel Arteta with Chris Sykes. How different does it feel this season? You're going into the season as winning champions, the team everyone kind of wants to shoot at almost. Does it feel different this summer? I think we need to be even more aggressive than last year and to show how much we want it and how daily we're going to behave to sustain the standards even higher than last year. The squad knows now how to do it so we know what it takes and we are very conscious of that and we want much more and just five days now until the start of the new season commentary at home you're really looking forward to that yes very much now the season is kicked on we have the first trophy and now the premier league starts and we know how difficult that is it's a testament to patience and longevity because they've had tough times under Miguel Arteta and there were moments where supporters may have thought is this going to work for us but he was brought into to spearhead project after the Unai Emery era came to a close and then you look how they've evolved not just the players they signed but the markets they're buying in the quality they're looking for Bradley Barker we talked about Vinicius Junior once upon a time and as recent as five six seven years ago Arsenal weren't shopping in those markets yeah yeah correct absolutely weren't shopping in those markets and those players may not consider Arsenal Football Club it's a shame because they have been a phenomenal club at various times in the past and under us and Wenger they were amazing for various periods of time but they are now considered a world world world class club you know and you just look at it now and you think what is it you're lamin for now with that sort of background with that sort of backup it kind of is charming league isn't it they came so close that last time there and they've got the capabilities of doing it again.

12:45Trying to run the two together is tough. Trying to win in a league and you actually had that conversation a year ago and people would laugh at you and I can tell you that because I did have that conversation thinking don't write often for the double and I remember writing it and getting a wee bit of strength for it. You say it now and people won't laugh at you for saying that. People will say yeah that's fair enough. They're a capable group and You do look around the rest of Europe and the rest of the Premier League. Izzy makes a good point about the likes of Chelsea. No European football. What a difference that makes.

13:22When you can put out your absolute strength every single week in the Premier League. Massive, massive difference that makes. Should make for them as well. But they've got a big, big way to go to reach the levels of this Arsenal team.

13:35Aaron Paul:Izzy, just on Arsenal, you know, the swagger, the confidence, the relentlessness, that the way they like to press, the way they attack City on the ball and gave them no space, it just feels psychologically, we mentioned, you know, the albatross off the net with the title win, it feels like they're just following on with momentum, like the summer didn't exist, and it's that team again, going again, recharged, re-energized, but with that same drive and hunger. Yeah, you can feel it, you know, you can tell you guys in the stadium could feel the intensity that particularly the first half presented the way that arsenal hunted everything they went on the front foot they passed forward so often in the first 20 minutes i don't know what the stats are but i just thought this is a new look arsenal this is an arsenal that's very concerned with going forward early and putting the opponent on the back foot and they did that they put their authority all over man city in the first 20 25 and the damage is arguably done picked up in the second half and i think the other thing that's so noticeable about this arsenal team is that in the game, the game presents so many problems to you.

14:41You know, every second the game is changing around you when you're on that pitch. Players make over 3 ,000 decisions in their head per game that they have to get right. And I look at those Arsenal players and I look at the decisions they make on the pitch and they have a solution for every single problem that every opponent presents to them because they've got players out there who are so equipped, so well coached and ultimately just students of the way that Arteta coaches them. And like Pat said, Chris said, it's taken them years, six, seven years to get up for this. They were eighth, then fifth, then second, three times in the Premier League before they get first.

15:18And it is a message in resilience. It is a message in, you know, keeping going and keeping at it and trusting the process. And I think that that I can only give huge credit, like I did last season, to Mikel Arteta, a disciple of Pep Guardiola, Aziz Mareska. and he's starting his own project now. But I think in terms of what Arteta has done to that team, he's absolutely transformed them. And the players out there have so much ownership on the pitch that often Arteta can just sit back, watch, and give them that support from the sideline when we do.

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17:06Aaron Paul:in terms of City and Ndomoresca again we're not going to use this as a barometer for where their season's going to go but this world what we're sort of rebuilding and building this is Manchester City this is a Manchester City who spent a huge sum of money in January to recruit heavily who have arguably the best forward in world football who have an abundance of riches in their squad why why are we focusing on that and not on he should be able to get a tune out of this group and a good tune hey he will get you out of this group and as you asked that question there i was absolutely i was substituting two names and i was substituting manchester city for liverpool and i was substituting pep guardiola for jurgen klopp see things can change things can change massively slot got you know after the year after that first season because they just kept it going to win the league and then after that massive massive difference it's hard it's really hard to keep it going teams get successful but there's a multitude of reasons why they're successful it's the players yeah it's the system yeah it's the management yeah it's all these things it's recruiting at the right time you have to keep all these things like a phenomenal juggler up in the air at the same time and you drop one of them you don't win leagues, you drop just one of them you don't win a league and that's maybe the thing that you do worry about your Manchester City fans, yeah but of course it's going to get a tune out of them, of course they're going to be top two or three, no doubt about that whatsoever, there are brilliant players playing in that team but that's not the story anymore the story's catching Arsenal and that's a very very different story and that's going to be a hard one, because I'm looking at that team and when's the last time somebody thumped Arsenal?

18:52When's the last time the other three now?

18:54Aaron Paul:But got to go because Enzo Mareska is with Chris Sykes. Enzo, what did you make of your team's performance this afternoon? I think the goal we conceded after 25 seconds, 30 seconds, unfortunately, affected the game in that moment. I think after the goal, the reaction was quite good. Before they scored the second one, we had three, four chances to score and to draw the game. and then unfortunately we conceded the second one and it became more complicated everything. Just tell us about that sort of opening 30 seconds as it were conceding that goal, I mean you must have been so frustrated at that.

19:31Absolutely, absolutely disappointing with that because in this kind of you know game the level is so similar that when you conceded a goal then become difficult but again I think the reaction after the goal we conceded was quite good, we 2-0 was even more complicated. With the nature of those goals, were you concerned with the team's performance after that or were you quite happy with how your team responded to the other team? After the goal we conceded, after the first one, I was quite happy because we didn't concede nothing. We created three or four chances to draw the game but unfortunately then we conceded the second one that there is a mistake there.

20:11But again, it's just the beginning and now we need to, you know, from next game, next Sunday we start the Premier League and the focus has to be about that. And just on that, one week to go until that first game, what more work needs to be done over the next seven days before that Bournemouth game? We have many things to work, the season just started, so there are many things that we need to work, we need to do better, but even when we're going to win games, there are things that we need to do better.

20:42Aaron Paul:Enzo, thank you very much. He talks about wanting to improve, Izzy, Enzo Maresca. That's such a broad, broad statement. What's going to be interesting to analyse is the moves they make in the window with two weeks to go. Where do they go? Where do they try and strengthen? What happens with Rodri? There's so much to contemplate for Manchester City before we're out of this month. Yeah, I think that watching today, you don't want to be too emotional, too rash. I think listening to Enzo there, it seems very calm, collected, which is the managerial style that he portrays that we've seen at Chelsea, Leicester.

21:23He knows what job he has. He knows he's in a transition year with Manchester City, but equally, if they can slide a transition into still qualifying for Europe and being title contenders, huge success. And eyes on it today, the game, I'm going, OK, whatever's happening with Rodri, that midfield is probably the most interesting section of the team. it finished with Nico Gonzalez Cherky and Rico Lewis in the midfield and to me that didn't look right obviously Anderson probably protected in terms of minutes Foden didn't see the game through Kovacic I thought was good but I think it's easy for me to say they miss Rodri but I'm going how is Maresca going to evolve that and I guess that is a question we can probably see evolve over the next few months within the Premier League, who is his best midfield.

22:16And of course, there'll be eyes on all activity over the next sort of, well, until the transfer window shuts in August, around what they do to, if it is Rodri departing, what they do to replace that and who they've got coming in, which I think will be key.

22:30Aaron Paul:With regards to City, the future, looking ahead to this season, is their biggest problem that they've had longevity, a decade of success with Pep Guardiola and yes they had that first season where things weren't amazing but they knew what they had with regards to Enzo Maresca it's different they need to be patient with him the supporters yeah they will have to be patient because when it was Pep Guardiola everybody knew it was all about what he'd done beforehand and you know what he was trying to build and there was no way in the world that they were going to get frustrated with him I mean he got some stick I remember at the time from some pundits certainly not from me because I knew what he was trying to build and he built it brilliantly do people believe that Maresca is capable of building something similar oh they hope, they don't know they hope, they knew that Pep Guardiola could do that so yeah there are some concerns there but it's far far too early to panic and once again last time I was going to say it today and I promise Navic to say it again, I agree completely with Izzy right, because she's nailed it, but delicately she's the interesting midfield well said I'll say it a wee bit harsher it didn't look right it looked weaker than the midfield they were playing against Eli Anderson still hasn't got into his stride yet and of course he hasn't it's going to take a little while but if you're going to add anything to it it looks like it's that central midfield particularly if Rodri goes I just wonder what Manchester City firstly need to do in this window they need to make a decision on Rodri.

24:08Aaron Paul:That's the key thing because they can either lose him on a free next summer or cash in now and hope that someone doesn't add a Man City tax onto a replacement. Yes, well quite. And you'd feel that the shrewd nature of Manchester City and the way they do their business he'll almost certainly you think leave this summer rather than go for a free next summer. But they have the spine of the team to replace. No John Stones, no Bernardo Silva, no Rodri. They've lost experience with Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake. as well. So there are lots of holes to plug for Enzo Mareska. Yes, he still has incredibly talented players in Haaland and in Foden, but there is work in the transfer window to do and it feels like and sounds like he will be backed and we will be seeing players come in.

24:52Aaron Paul:That's it for this episode of the Football Daily. My thanks to Chris, Pat Izzy and to you for listening. Next up on the feed will be the Monday Night Club.

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