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

Episode Date: August 16, 2026

Aaron Paul, Pat Nevin, Izzy Christiansen and, Chris Coles are in Cardiff to look ahead to what Manchester City and Arsenal can achieve this season following the Gunner’s 3-0 win over City in the Community Shield.What can be taken away from Enzo Maresca’s first competitive game as Manchester City boss as he fills the boots of Pep Guardiola. And are Arsenal the team to beat off winning the Premier League and bolstering their squad with the likes of Bruno Guimarães and Christos Tzolis. Will City lose Rodri and if so, are they expected to be more active in the transfer market?TIME CODES00:00 Community Shield reaction 06:00 Can Arsenal win the Premier League again? 09:45 Mikel Arteta 15:30 City and Enzo Maresca 19:10 How do City improve? 21:10 Filling Pep Guardiola’s boots 22:20 Manchester City, Rodri and, transfers

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, Greg Jenner here. I'm the host of You're Dead to Me, the BBC comedy show that takes history seriously. Every episode, I pair up a top historian with a fantastic comedian and we have a lovely, funny, fascinating chat about a different subject from world history. And in this new series, we're beginning with an epic voyage through the story of Homer, the Iliad and The Odyssey. And that's with Kyle Smith Bino joining us. And then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist discontal. accredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch. We'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Parrott.

So if that sounds like your sort of thing, listen to You're dead to me wherever you get your podcast. Thank you. Bye. This is the Football Daily podcast with Aaron Paul. Hello and welcome to the Football Daily from the Principality Stadium here in Cardiff, where Arsenal beat a 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 and the company of Chris Coles, Izzy Christensen and Pat Nevin.

You're listening to the Football Daily podcast with Aaron Paul. And 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 Moresco. 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 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 arms left for most of them. with the second half with some ease, generally some ease. Now, you've not got Harland at his best yet, and that makes a big difference. When he's at his best, it makes a difference. Doko and Semenio 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 Mancite fans are telling 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 of were wondering,

you've got there, at last, you've won. You've got to the Champions League final, nearly past an amazing PSGC, but you win 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 won't 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, Citi. Yeah, I'm going to put it better really myself in terms of where we expected Citi to be at. I think Arsenal, 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 Citi matched them and like we said at half-time, Arsenal were the better team, but it could have been two-two 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 Moresco 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 Athletico 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.

all over the pitch, they're aggressive. Udegarde run the show, like we saw during the World Cup for Norway. So I think from Arsenal's perspective, a genuine case of picked 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 bought on. And City, as we know, huge transition,

but I think there's been a few bits today where I think Moresco will go away and have to really dig deep, analyze, progress and find a new way for one, 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. But 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 Moreska's going to have a big job, but an exciting one nonetheless. Pat, when you look at that second half, the word I'd used to describe Arsenal's performance as

professional. Yeah, 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 the last season in the league, five defeats, I think it was in the league for Manchester last season, all by a single goal.

They don't lose many goals. So they have said, all right, we shut out, we'll shut off a little bit here, and we'll play in the break, and look quite dangerous when they're playing the break. You say professional, I say mature. really mature performance for that entire group of players and that's been drilled over and year after year after year and if a new player that comes in such as source

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 Brunegriamirish 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 this season there are a lot of games a 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 only enough it's just I don't know if it 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 any of that style I'm going to add something different I'm going to add the guy who chases everywhere and you know and we'll 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,

all right, 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 Oregard. 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-y-boo.

Can they go on to potentially lift the Premier League again? 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, Arsenal, but I think there's more to be added. You don't know what's going to happen. Rodry wasn't playing today. But they might have a replacement for Roder they might want to bring in if he doesn't stay. So you have to see that on board. I think Hallin, your best player,

was fully 100% himself. so there's a lot to take on board that but 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 still 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 right good chance of winning this season and don't write off the Champions League either because the depth of squad they've got you look around Europe there's not their many I've got that depth of score

What's scary is that they want more, don't they? It is, and once you have the face of it, we have more and more. I've seen Odegaard has said that already in his post-match interview, and he's spot on, and, you know, the hardest thing is winning and dislodging for the teams, but then even harder than that is sustaining it. And Arsenal and 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 incredible. resilience and depth. You've got to remember before last season, they were trying so hard to this lodge, 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 Artetta 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 Artetta's added

to his team over the years and the players that he's brought in you know, making certain sort of signing, in loan signings permanent and in Capier, which I thought was a brilliant bit of business, around that left back area, which is an area where our Tessa was 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 the sort of rains 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 bat.

So they've got all the equipment to go on and do it again. But of course, the challenges other teams. And I also think Chelsea wants to watch as well next season for that coming with a league title as well. Following on from that, Aaron, I think one of Arsenal's great strengths this season is actually the difference in other teams and the position they're in with their managers.

Arsenal, as Pat alluded to, as Izzy is alluded to. They've been building over year, over year, over 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 as we've seen with Manchester City. I think it's perfect time for us to hear from the Arsenal manager. Here is Mikkel Artetta with Chris Sykes. How different do you 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 won 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 won much more. And just five days now until the start of the new season

commentary at home, you'll be really looking forward to that. Yes, very much. Now the decisions kick down. 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 Artetta Pat.

And there were moments where supporters may have thought, is this going to work for us? But he was brought into spearhead a project after the Una Emery era came to a close. And then you look how they've evolved, not just the players they're buying, but the markets they're buying in, the quality they're looking for, Bradley Barclay.

We talked about Venetius Jr. Once upon a time. And as recent as five, six, seven years ago, Arsenal weren't shopping in those markets. Yeah, correct, absolutely. They weren't shopping those markets, and those players may not have considered Arsenal Football Club. It's a shame, though,

because they have been a phenomenal club at various times in the past, and under Asson Vega, they were amazing for various periods of time. But they are now considered a world, world, world-class club. You know, and you're just looking at it now, and you think, what is it you're aiming for now? with that sort of background, with that sort of backup. It kind of is Charming's League, isn't it? They came so close that last time there.

And they've got the capabilities of doing it again. Try to run the two together. It's tough. You know, try and winning 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 about conversation thinking,

don't write often for the double. and I remember writing it and getting a wee bit of a stack for it. You say it now and it's not, 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. As he makes a good point about the likes of Chelsea, no European football.

What a difference that makes. When 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. that they've got a big, big way to go to reach the levels of this Arsenal team. Is he just on Arsenal, you know, the swagger, the confidence, the relentlessness, 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 neck 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,

go in again, recharge, re-energize, but with that same drive and hunger. Yeah, you can feel it. What's in the game? You know, you're sure 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 damage is arguably done, fixed 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. You 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 me. because they've got players out there who are so equipped, so well coached, and ultimately just students of the way that Artetta coaches them and like Pat said, Chris said it, it's taking them years, six, seven years

to get up for this. They were eight, then fifth, then second, three times in the Premier League before they get first. And it is a message in resilience. It is a message in, you know, keeping going and keeping at it and trust in the process.

And I think that that I can only give huge credit, like I did last season, Mikhail Arteta, a disciple of Pep Guardiola, as is Moreska, and he's starting his own project now. But I think in terms of what Artetta has done to that team, he's absolutely transformed them. And the players out there have so much ownership on the pitch that often Artetta can just sit back, watch and give them that support from the sideline when we did. Hello, Greg Jenner here. I'm the host of You're Dead to Me, the BBC comedy show that takes history seriously. Every episode, I pair up a top historian with a fantastic comedian, and we have a lovely, funny, fascinating chat

about a different subject from world history. And in this new series, we're beginning with an epic voyage through the story of Homer, the Iliad and The Odyssey. And that's with Kyle Smith Bino joining us. And then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist discredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch.

We'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Parrott. So if that sounds like your sort of thing, listen to You're Dead to Me wherever you get your podcast. Thank you. Bye. Anand Omariska, again, we're not going to use this as a barometer for where their season's going to go. But this world was sort of rebuilding and building.

This is Manchester City. This is a Manchester City who spent a huge summer 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 are we focusing on that and not on he should be able to get a tune-out, this group and a good tune. Hey, he will get a tune out of this group. As you asked that question there,

I was substituting two names. And I was substituting Manchester City for Liverpool and I was substituting Pep Guardiola for Yurgen Klopp. See, things can change. Things can change massively. Slot, go out of them after the year, after that first season, because it just kept it going to win the league.

And then after that, massive, massive difference. It's harmed. 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 if your mind is the set if I'm. 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 is 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's dumped Arsenal? Where's the last time they lost three now?

Park got to go because Enzo Moreska is with Chris Sykes. Enzo, what did you make of your team's performance this afternoon? I think the goal we consider after 25 seconds, Just 30 seconds unfortunately affect 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 consider the second one and it become 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. Absolutely, absolutely. Disappointing with that because in this kind of, you know, games, the level is so similar that when you consider the goal and then become difficult. But again, I think the reaction after the goal we concede was quite good, we create chances. And then again, with 2-0, it was even more complicated. With the sort of 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 team?

After the goal we concede, after the first one, I was quite happy because we didn't concede nothing. We created three four chances to draw the game. But unfortunately, then we consider the second one that there is a mistake there. But 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, as you say, until that first game, what more work needs to be done over the next seven days before that Bournemouth game?

Well, we have many things to work. It's just, you know, the season just start. 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. Anzo, thank you very much. He talks about wanting to improve, Izzy, Enzo Moreska. That's such a broad, broad statement. What's going to be interesting to analyze 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 Rodry? 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. And he 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, okay, whatever's happening with Roderie,

that midfield is probably the most interesting section of the team. It finished with Nico Gonzalez, Cherokee 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. Kovitchich, I thought, was good. But I think it's easy for me to say, miss Rodry but I'm going

how is Moreska 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 and 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 Roderie departing what they do to replace that and who they've got coming in which I think will be key with regards to the city the future looking ahead this season is their biggest problem that they've had longevity, a decade of success of Pep Guardiola, and yes, they had that first season where things weren't amazing, but they knew what they had. With regards to Enzomeriska, it's different. They need to be patient with him,

the supporters. They will have to be patient because when it was Pep Guardula, everybody knew with Pet Guaduala was all about what had done beforehand and, you know, what it was trying to build. there was no way in the world that they were going to get frustrated with them. I mean, he got some stick, I remember at a time. From, you know, some pundits, certainly not from me, because I knew what he was trying to build, and he built it brilliantly. Do people believe that Moreska is capable of building something similar? Oh, they hope.

They don't know. They hope. They knew that Pep Guardula could do that. So, yeah, there are some concerns there, but it's far, far too early to panic. And once I do again, last time we were going to say it today, and I promise to have to say again, I agree completely with this. right? Because she's

nailed it but delicately she's the interesting midfield, well said I'll say it a little bit harsher it didn't look right it looked weaker than the midfield they were playing against Ellie 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 Roder goes I just wonder what Manchester City firstly need to do in this window. They need to make a decision on Rodry.

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 in 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 Silver, no Rodry.

They've lost experience with Manuel Akangy and Nathan Ake as well. So there are lots of holes to plug for For Enzo Moreska. Yes, he still has incredibly talented players in Harland and in Foden, but that 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. That's it for this episode of The Football Daily. My thanks to Chris, Pat, is it and to you for listening.

Next up on the feed will be the Monday Nightclub. This goes beyond what the KGB did back in the days. Conspiracy theories and the Football World Cup, is there ever one without the other? Well, I've been digging into one of the very best back in 1994. Guy from Iraq gets a red card for a dubious tackle. I'm James Montague and from BBC 5 Live, this is Sports Strangers Crimes Presents. Shadows on the pitch. Listen on BBC Sounds.

Hello, Greg Jenner here. I'm the host of You're Dead to Me, the BBC Comment. show that takes history seriously. Every episode I pair up a top historian with a fantastic comedian and we have a lovely, funny, fascinating chat about a different subject from world history. And in this new series, we're beginning with an epic voyage through the story of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. And that's with Kyle Smith Bino joining us. And then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist discredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch. We'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Parrott.

So if that sounds like your sort of thing, listen to You're Dead to Me wherever you get your podcast. Thank you. Bye.