Neville: Manchester City are favourites now!

0:00Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Gary Neville podcast at the end of what has been, I guess, the central game of the season so far. And it ended in a win which may be absolutely critical for Manchester City over Arsenal by two goals to one. There was a lot to take in, Gary. Arsenal hit the post a couple of times in that second half. There was a crazy goal conceded by Donnarumma. There was a moment of absolute magnificence from Turkey. What's your big picture takeaway?

0:33Gary Neville:Bernardo Silva second half what a performance that is just a gripper game I think people sometimes become surprised when I've talked about Paul Scholes in the last 5-6 years of my Manchester United career gripping a football match by the scrub of the neck and controlling it and dominating the speed of it and honestly what we've just seen there from Bernardo Silva is absolutely above and beyond and that's my starting point because I think he just beat Xokeres on the header at the back post as well. He's then pressing the highest up the pitch five minutes later or two minutes later. And he epitomised what Manchester City are.

1:08Gary Neville:Just that experience, that know-how, that energy, that professionalism. And I thought he was absolutely sensational in the second half. And he just lifted it a gear. And I thought, you know, in some ways, Arsenal had some good chances. You mentioned the SA post. You mentioned the Havertz header at the end, which is what a moment that is. But City just edged it in the sense of edged it obviously with the victory, but also just edged it in performance levels in the second half. And look, my takeaway for Arsenal today actually is that's the best way they could have lost. Because they've not come here today.

1:43Gary Neville:And, you know, I know the big sort of talk before the match was the bottling, the freezing, the sort of anxiety, the nervous, the pressure. I actually thought they handled the occasion very well. And that's positive. they didn't come here today and not play they didn't come here today and sort of what would be I have no idea I thought they played a good game of football one of the best performances I've seen here from an away team to be fair so for Arsenal it's as good as it can get but you're up against a juggernaut and that juggernaut is Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have won title after title in this last seven or eight years and they've just stole ahead at the right time and they've got the momentum and they will go in front on Wednesday you know they'll beat Burnley at Burnley there's still a way to go but it's going to be difficult now for Arsenal but how they psychologically recover from this is really important I'm sure we'll go through the fixtures shortly but when City do go level on Wednesday and we're taking that for granted a little bit but I think it will happen Arsenal do then play two home games before City play again and City have got a very tough game away at Everton at a certain point I think in two or three weeks so look all's not lost and it still could come down to goal difference.

2:53Gary Neville:And Arsenal are good defensively and they've got to try and get the scoring boots going. But yeah, Manchester City will walk into that dressing room tonight and be able to smell it. You mentioned obviously Pep Guardiola fairly obviously and the fact that they've done it before. In fairness, the point's been made quite a lot recently that there are several in the City squad who haven't done it before. Is it the presence of those who have that make the difference? Is it that kind of almost muscle memory of winning in the clutch moments? I think when you've got Rodri and Bernardo Silva dropping into your back line and getting on the ball and taking the ball and dictating the pace of the play like they did in that second half, particularly Bernardo Silva, but Rodri did it as well.

3:36You're essentially just, I used to think of it as being,

3:40Gary Neville:you know, having Roy Keane in midfield or Peter Schmeichel in goal or Bruce at centre-back. It's almost like you're being cuddled and hugged all the time by people who are looking after you. And they're just looking after the ball. They're looking after the sort of rhythm of the game. And I felt Rodri and Bernardo Silva in that second half were absolutely incredible. But it is worth mentioning that there are four or five of those City players that are going for their first title who are playing exceptionally well right now. Start with the two centre-backs. The two centre-backs I thought were formidable today and they've been brilliant this last few weeks.

4:14and today I thought Kustanov and Gaye were excellent.

4:20Gary Neville:Not just excellent in terms of their defensive work, they were excellent in terms of their, you know, when they were on the ball, they just kept getting into really good positions to accept the ball, really good positions wide so that actually Rodri and Bernardo Silva could drop in. They were brave in terms of the way they were passing it through. So start with those two. The left back is as close to a Rolls Royce of a football player that you'll see at that age as I've ever seen. I mean, Trent Alexander-Arnold didn't have this impression on me when he first broke in. But his accepting of the ball on the half turn, his courage to take the ball and beat players in deep parts of his own sort of defensive third, is then positivity to go forward and stride for?

5:04Gary Neville:When he strides forward, it looks like Gareth Bale. He's got that run of smoothness and real good running style. And then he gets in the box and he's good in the air. And usually you see someone, he must be 6 '2", I don't know. He looks 6 '2 from here and I don't know what he is. But to have someone that good on the ball, to have someone who runs like that and to have someone who's got such maturity. And I wouldn't be so quick to throw a young player into the England squad in a World Cup and I won't be so quick to say get them, but this lad looks like he's made already for this type of sort of game.

5:38Gary Neville:He was outstanding today. Then you've got Shirky, who, I mean, that goal is just, we did stay clear of the Messi comparison, didn't we? We just thought, no, you just don't do that because it just puts pressure on him. He's not Messi, but it was the way in which he skipped and just moved his feet and just sort of drifted past people. I mean, it was a beautiful bit of play, so confident Semenyo I didn't think was at his actual best today you know so I mentioned Gaye Kuslanov Nico O 'Reilly and Cherki I thought were outstanding I would ordinarily be mentioning Semenyo in that sort of category but I don't think I can today of how he's played but he's been brilliant since he's come in he's been a real force and obviously lots of goals and assists so he would usually go into that sort of category as well and Donnarumma's the other one who's trying to win his first Premier League title but he's a serial winner elsewhere and he had a bit of a challenging start to the game.

6:32Gary Neville:But yeah, the one mistake I would say, I mean, look, we'll carry on talking about City and we'll come on to Arsenal shortly. But for City, yeah, it was a couple of incredible performances from senior players. And then lots of good young players around them who were in a good moment and confident. But them two really are like father figures. They're the guardians of quality and standards. And it's a model that works. Just three or four or five players that are in their 30s that you just trust, is the word, trust. And what they do, they raise the standard of everybody else. Do you think there's any interest or value in the observation that City's team is settled?

7:18In previous years, when they've been winning the title, one of the things we in our trade have always said, it's impossible to second-guess Pep's team. He did something different every week. And that, the goalkeeper apart, was the League Cup final team. It's been that team for the month since, essentially. Do you take anything from that, that settled nature? You know what the XI is and they all understand they're part of it and they're doing their jobs?

7:40Gary Neville:Yeah, and I think if City can stay... I mean, Rodri went off with a look like a groin at the end. That would be a problem, by the way. They'd lose a lot because Nico, I think, wouldn't be anywhere near the same level as Rodri. So if that is a two or three week injury, that might give Arsenal a little bit of something to take away from today other than the fact that they played quite well themselves in a good game. Sorry, I forgot your question, Peter. Settled team. Settled team. But you're right, that 4-2-4 when they're defending, the four standing up there almost like ominously looking at the defence and saying, give it away and we'll be on to you.

8:17Gary Neville:We don't mention Harland anymore. We just take him for granted, don't we? I mean, he was like a battering ram today and he scored a great goal. So I think there's no way that team will change. But obviously, Rodri looked like he picked up a groin. so that might be a point where they have to change but I don't think he'll change the team at all. He's no need to now Pep Guardiola, he hasn't got the Champions League, he hasn't got so many games, these players are used to playing them anyway so I think what he's got now is to try and keep a consistent team as possible he's got Savino and Foden that he can bring off the bench, he's got others as well just Rodri that's the one question you would ask but you're right he has got a very settled XI that I think that he would think will go and win them the league and go and win them the FA Cup.

8:55But Arsenal, by contrast, funnily enough, shook it up a bit today, partly because they had to. But made the call to play Havertz up top. Had Martin Odegaard back and obviously Zubimendi and Rice have done a lot of hard running kind of by themselves in those midfield positions. And it freshened up. And the impression I got from sitting next to you for two hours was that you enjoyed basically what they were doing.

9:17Gary Neville:Yeah. I mean, ordinarily, when you highlight sort of two Manchester City central midfield players in Rodri and Bernardo Silva, I'm just thinking, actually, in the second half, what Rice and Zubermendi, or Rice and Odegaard, didn't do as much was press onto them. If you remember an Arsenal having quite a bit of joy in that sort of area over there in the first half was when they really pressed high onto Rodri and Bernardo Silva and stopped them playing. In the second half, they started to get on top, obviously, Rodri and Bernardo Silva, and Rice and Zubermendi couldn't get up the pitch as much, and that's just a legs thing, I think, because City just wear you down.

9:51Gary Neville:One thing that couldn't happen here today from an Arsenal perspective is two, well, two things. One, they couldn't come here and freeze. They didn't. Secondly, they couldn't come here with a team that was glass half empty. And Mikel Arteta didn't. I think everything he did today was positive and with intent to win the game. So I don't think Arsenal fans can drive back to London tonight or get on the coach or however they get back to London on the train and think to myself, I'm a manager. He could have done that. He should have done this. He had Ezean Madweki out there from the start. He had Erdegaard on with Havertz.

10:20Gary Neville:I thought Havertz did a good job in the game. I mean, if he'd have scored that late on, it would have been the perfect away performance. They were hampered enormously, Arsenal today, by the full-backs. And I thought actually they did a good job in Capier and Mosquera. They really stuck to their task, but they're limited on the ball. So if you think about Nunes and Nico O 'Reilly for City, or how Timber and Calafuri or others are for Arsenal, you're just blocked off. You haven't got what would be that subtlety on the ball or that even ability, that safe, consistent and reliable ability to feed the ball in, you know, good touches and passes and getting it into your front players and into your midfield players because they're centre-backs, effectively.

11:01Gary Neville:They're centre-backs, they're not full-backs. So I thought they stuck the task really well with two full-backs for Arsenal. But you lose a lot when you lose Timber. You lose a lot. He's a bit of a powerhouse going forward. He links really well. I'm not mentioning Saka because every player can get an injury. So Madweke is there, Martinelli is there. You can't sort of whinge about Saka. but I think losing both their full-backs just would have cost them a little bit today in terms of on the ball and being able to get forward. But I thought Arsenal today lost the game because you can lose here. Because you can play well and do okay in the game and lose here.

11:35Gary Neville:And I'm sure Mikel Arteta will point towards the chances. Eze's one where he hits the post. The Havertz chance at the end. They had really good moments and they've not taken them. And the Havertz chance towards the end is a big moment. The one mistake, and I was going to mention it earlier, on the goal where Manchester City counter-attack, what Arsenal did brilliant in the first half was they all pushed up together when Manchester City had the ball deep with Donnarumma or the centre-backs. And then when they actually sort of countered, they all got back really quickly and sunk in. I don't know what went wrong because it happened quite quickly, but Donnarumma plays a ball for the goal, Peter.

12:12Gary Neville:I think he throws it, doesn't he? And it goes in between, I think, maybe Martinelli and Havertz on this side. And all of a sudden, there's like acres of space. Why? I'm sure Jamie Carragher will tell us tomorrow night on Monday Night Football, but that shouldn't happen. You know something's gone fundamentally wrong when you've basically got a goalkeeper that's playing the ball against Manchester City. So either the back four haven't pushed in and made it all compact high up the pitch with the forward players, or the four players have gone too high, I would say probably the midfield players and the back players haven't pushed in.

12:49Gary Neville:Because in the first half, if you remember, Gabriel was pressing on the edge of the 18-yard box at one point. So Arsenal's fatigue maybe and City wearing them out means that they've just probably just not done the full press like they were in the first half in that moment. So half of them have gone and half of them have stayed back and that's when you get big gaps from front to back. So that was the mistake I think they made on the goal where they counter-attack and obviously then Harlan gets that goal at the end. So just that was a disappointing one because they really did work that defensively well where they either went full press or they all came back and defended deep.

13:24Gary Neville:They got stuck in between half and half. I'm sure Jamie Carragher will look at that for tomorrow night. Yeah, I mean, you talk about cup half full, cup half empty and all of that sort of stuff. Talk to me about the man management job that Mikel Arteta's got now because a month ago there was talk of the quadruple. Now you wouldn't be human as an Arsenal fan or player if you thought, we might end up winning nothing here. And how do you get into the minds of the players? Because equally, they might be European champions and English champions in a month and a half from now. There really is a cup half full, or two cups full, or nothing.

14:05Gary Neville:I'm sure, I'm absolutely certain Mikel Arteta will be saying to them in there now, I'm proud of you. If you perform to that standard for the next seven games, you'll be in a European Cup final and you've got a great chance of winning the league because you'll score a lot of goals and you'll win a lot of games. If Manchester City drop one point, we're in. Two points, we're in if they draw. So I'm sure he'll be reiterating the message of that's the level I need you to be at. Now what Mikel Arteta is going to have to do in this next few weeks is make sure he picks that team and with that level of intent I think it's really important now that Arsenal play next Saturday night the game Arsenal v Newcastle you're doing it for NBC I'm doing it for Sky it's a huge game it's a huge game because that really is the game they cannot afford to drop anything they have to win next Saturday night I'm not saying they have to go and win 2-3-0 but that'll help with goal difference you have to think about that but they just have to come off that field with three points and that will then I think set them up nicely in terms of being able to go.

15:12Gary Neville:They can still look forward to this running and I think Mikel Arteta will be saying that. He's just doing his interview here now. We can look forward to this running. That was a good performance today and we could have got a point out of that game easily. Play like that and that standard in every game till the end of the season and we'll win a trophy. I think he'll be saying that. Before we come on to the rest of the season, just one or two issues within the game. the Gabrielle Harland head to head what's your reflections now I saw you talking to Mike Dean before he disappeared yeah Mike actually to be fair said that he thought I think he's discussed with a few of his colleagues and I think he said it was a red in the end it matters less because our still I mean look if Gabrielle scores late on City would be absolutely furious what ordinarily happens is and I got done I think it was actually Steve McManaman in the Manchester derby it was back in 2003 20 odd years ago you can put your head against each other that's fine you might get a yellow each the minute you do that the minute you do this it's a red it's just usually a red I mean that was the surprise from Anthony Taylor that he treated them both the same and I think he actually he puts his head down as well now Haaland does brilliantly well he doesn't react he could have gone like this and put his head to his face and I think he'd have been gone straight away Gabriel off the pitch within a second I don't want to see players sent off, but he's lucky there, Gabriel, I think.

16:38Gary Neville:It's not ended up counting for anything, but I think Pep Guardiola would have had a real noise-up and whinge and with some justification, I think, if obviously Gabriel had scored later on or City had conceded a goal, I think he'd have been annoyed. And I just want to ask you too, because I think we're all fascinated by this as fans, as neutrals, whatever. You were squirming when Ryan nearly got caught very early on around the goal kick. And Donoraba as well. You were going off on one. But then, well, that's what I was going to say. Ironically, it actually cost Donoraba a goal. Just explain, because I know it's a tough one for you, but to a football fan, if you can, flipping the coin, what is the value in what they're doing as passing short?

17:25Do you see that? Because there must be a reason they do it.

17:28Gary Neville:Yeah, look, the reason they do it is to actually, to be fair, try and play out from the back. and it's a passing combination that you're working from your six-yard box and a lot of teams do it. But there are a couple of things for Arsenal in the first part of this game. They have a habit sometimes of keeping the ball too deep and too far back and leaving the goalkeeper on the ball too much because he's good on the ball. And they rely upon him too much, so they pass it back to him quite a bit. That couldn't happen today because they did that in the second half of the Carabao Cup final. It wasn't with David Raya, it was obviously with Kepa.

18:00Gary Neville:And it cost them. Because what it does, if you pass back the way, the other team are then just pressing on to you. It's like the tide comes in on you a little bit. And the second reason for not doing it in the first part of the match, Peter in particular, was the fact that you just want to settle down in the game. You don't want your first touches to be in your own six-yard books. You want them to be up the pitch. And actually, Arsenal, I think, recovered really well from that moment. Donnarumma's not good on the ball. He's clumsy on it. I mean, he can be good, but he's erratic. He can be inconsistent.

18:29Gary Neville:but honestly I'm seeing I mean I'm seeing it less and less I'm seeing it less than I was last year Peter and the year before but honestly I have I've got no doubts that the the risks far outweigh the reward of this type of football and I'm not talking about basically sort of safe knock it long football but what are the benefits of playing out from your six yard box of course if a team drops off to the halfway line or a sort of mid-press, as they would call it. Of course, play out. Just play out of your own box. Do what you want. You know, I'd drop back into my box and get the ball if I could back in the day and go as deep as possible and, you know, get wide and get on it and play out.

19:10Gary Neville:If a team dropped off, there's no problem. But if they're high-pressing you, and then if you transfer it into an amazingly massive, monstrous game away from home for a title in the first five minutes, you're not even thinking about that. You're just thinking, no, let's make sure we settle into the game well. Play it forward. Test their defenders, make them run back to their own goal, try and get some set pieces, try and make them defend, play in their half. That still is a thing. I don't care. The game changes, of course it changes, but you have to play as much as you possibly can in the attacking half of the opponent's pitch.

19:46Gary Neville:Simple as that. You have to. That is football. That's how you win matches. And City do that so much. They don't pass it back anywhere near as much as Arsenal. Arsenal do pass it back. I didn't think Arsenal passed it back too badly today. Maybe a little bit in the second half. They got a little bit safe. I thought in the first 20, 25 minutes, they had some real intent of running forward and playing forward and pressing. But you can't do that against City for 90 minutes because your legs just go a little bit and you just become a little bit fatigued. OK, well, we're into the last month. We haven't got clever graphics here, so I'm just going to have to talk to you about the fixtures.

20:20Arsenal have left. Home to Newcastle, home to Fulham. at West Ham, home to Burnley, at Crystal Palace.

20:28Gary Neville:It couldn't be better. I mean, West Ham away is tough because of where West Ham are right now. That could not be, if you just said, let's pick five fixtures, you might change one. But honestly, you could not pick a better five games than that, really. You'd snap your hand off all day if you got offered those five as your last five games of the season going for a title. so they've got no complaints, no excuses. You know, the idea that they'd be playing Manchester United away, Liverpool at Anfield. I'm trying to think of an awkward team at home. You know what I mean? They've got none of that. Yeah, they've got a team that are in the relegation scrap, West Ham, who can be awkward and you can see that could be a little bit tricky.

21:12Gary Neville:But go and beat Newcastle and Fulham. They're the key games now to go and get those six points on the board, reset things. The Good Offers are going to have two semi-finals sort of interspersed between those games, aren't they? Yes, you're right. Yeah, I thought that's the tricky one. For Arsenal, that's the one. Look, if they drop points against Newcastle and Fulham, you're done, you don't deserve a title. So let's be clear, and that's not being disrespectful to Newcastle and Fulham, but you don't deserve a title if you drop points in those games. Going to West Ham after a second leg of a Champions League semi-final when you may have been knocked out, you might have got back late, you might have had a gruelly, you might have gone to extra time and penalties, it might be sapping.

21:50Gary Neville:That will be a game. That's a tough game. That's one game that you'd look at and think, oh, that needs a little bit of care and a bit of attention. So that's a game, but that's miles away for them. They've got four games before then, two in the Champions League and two in the Premier League, and they've got to go and do the job in those four matches. Yeah. Incidentally, the two teams who have them both still to play, funnily enough, coincidentally, are Burnley and Palace. And depending on how the fixtures are scheduled around the cup final, potentially for City and so on, And actually Crystal Palace could end up playing them both in the last week of the season, which would be interesting.

22:21And City's games are? City's games are? Well, Burnley away. Burnley away, Everton away, Brentford at home, Bournemouth away, which by the way will be Iriola's last home game. So there'll be a little bit of stuff around that. Last day of the season against Aston Villa and somewhere in there to be decided the home game against Crystal Palace, very possibly within the last week of the season. The Bournemouth game. Palace here, is it? The Palace game is here, yes.

22:48Gary Neville:They actually have got a decent record here, haven't they? Palace. Have I missed it? Yeah, no, they've had a couple of big wins. Just to say, there could be a cup final in there, obviously. And the Bournemouth game is on cup final weekend, so that's the one that might. Yeah, the Bournemouth away game. If it goes to the last game against Villa here, Arsenal can forget about it. They're done then. They're finished. Something has to happen against Everton away, Bournemouth away. I think they're the games that could be a little bit more tricky for City. But City, you fancy them to win every single match.

23:20Gary Neville:I mean, can Arsenal outscore City in the last few weeks of the season? That's difficult as well with where City score goals. Haaland, Cherokee, Semenyo, Foden, Savino, Doku. They're all capable, aren't they? But look, Arsenal have got to go and score goals and win games. And do their own job, most importantly. The main thing when you're in this position is be there if the other teams slip up. Make sure you're there. Don't not do your own job. So, look, I think both of them have got comfortable-ish run-ins. Yeah, let's see. City are definitely favourites now. I mean, that game today, that win today definitely puts them in that position.