00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel and welcome also to the 2026-2027 football season.
00:09Where are our lives going?
00:12Now Arsenal have just smashed Man City in the traditional English football curtain twitcher
00:16and while that is absolutely a pre-season game and tells you next to nothing,
00:21that doesn't mean there aren't still things that you can see within it.
00:25And I understand that sentence sounds contradictory, but it does just about make sense.
00:31So let us look at why this moment is bad and this moment is good,
00:36but together they form the same rich tapestry that may allow us to predict the forthcoming season.
00:43Hmm.
00:46Now just a reminder before we start, me doing big runs all over Europe right now to raise money for
00:53charity.
00:54I've literally just got back from Stockholm, hence the coffee is, I'm in the middle of all of that somewhere.
00:59I'll explain at the end, but that's why the link is in the description.
01:03Now, the football.
01:05This was the Arsenal 11 that lined up to start this game.
01:08And is this the team that you're going to see throughout the season?
01:12Is this going to be the backbone of their title defence?
01:16No, probably not.
01:17It's just basically who was available.
01:20But if you will humour me, we are going to talk today primarily about one player,
01:26and that is Martin Odegaard.
01:29Now I'm never going to stand here and tell Arsenal fans how they should feel,
01:32but as an impartial observer, I feel that he sometimes, not always, sometimes, gets unfairly criticised.
01:42Don't get me wrong, I get that as a team's captain, as their most creative player,
01:46as the tactical heartbeat of Arteta's system, you should expect more from him in terms of output.
01:52Like, one goal and six assists, the year you go and win the league, is just not good enough at
01:59this level.
02:00I agree with that.
02:01But nonetheless, I think you saw in this game specifically, what he is when he's at his best,
02:08and why that is so important for Arsenal.
02:11Now you may have seen this Sky graphic this morning, and I've checked it, it's all absolutely true.
02:17He did have the most accurate passes in the game, despite Arsenal having way less of the ball.
02:21He had the most touches out of any player in a red shirt.
02:25He also had the most shots on target of any player on the pitch.
02:29He was creatively, and going forward, pretty good.
02:33But here is where he gets justifiably slated, right?
02:36Arsenal have a 4v3, running at City's defence, and you should either score from this,
02:42or at the very least, just create a really good chance.
02:47You have to make something here.
02:49And this is even, I would say, the optimal arrangement of your players,
02:52because Erdegaard's the one you want to release the ball,
02:55you've got your wide players able to get slipped in either side,
02:58and Havertz is making a run across the front of a defender.
03:02You can manufacture a tap-in for him.
03:05But instead, and I get if you're an Arsenal fan, you'll say you've seen this quite a lot,
03:11nothing happens.
03:12He gets the pass all wrong, and the move breaks down.
03:15And I get it.
03:15I absolutely do.
03:16If you see that happening more often than not with a particular player,
03:21which a section of Arsenal fans will tell you that you do with Martin Erdegaard,
03:26that will absolutely do your head in, and you will arrive at the conclusion
03:31that that player simply does not have it at this level.
03:35But just...
03:37Let me show you something.
03:39From this bad pass by Erdegaard, Man City recover, and they get a counter-attack of their own.
03:45And just as Phil Foden sets off here,
03:48mentally note how far behind the play Martin Erdegaard is.
03:53Now, Arsenal get back as best as they can.
03:56They're defending this central space.
03:58Doku sizes up White 1v1,
04:00and when he can't get around him and has to go back,
04:03look who has recovered all the way up the pitch to nick the ball off Kovacic,
04:09then nutmeg Elliot Anderson,
04:11and get Arsenal back up the pitch themselves again.
04:14Martin Erdegaard from this moment here to this moment here to this moment here in 25 seconds.
04:26That is, if you've never run a full-size football pitch,
04:29that is a quite extraordinary amount of ground to recover.
04:33And yes, like I say, moments like this will do your bun in,
04:37but Arsenal are not Arsenal without this level of graft and responsibility out of possession.
04:44And if we just look at his heat map from this game,
04:47like all the lineups had them as a 4-2-3-1 with him as the 10,
04:50so he'd be here.
04:51But you can see that's not it in reality,
04:53because he's still trying to do everything for them.
04:57He's picking the ball up at the back.
04:58He's trying to get them up the field.
05:00He's trying to set the tempo, make those first-line breaking passes,
05:02and then arrive in this right-hand half space where he does his best work
05:08to be their main creative outlet.
05:10Now, of course, this is against Man City, who had loads of the ball,
05:13so most of it is back here.
05:15But against a team where they'll dominate,
05:18that'll flip around.
05:19There'll be a little bit here and more of it there.
05:21And if you're looking at that going,
05:23hang on, is that not a bit of a problem
05:25if you've got Bruno Guimaraes in the same side?
05:28And yes, well observed, it might actually be that.
05:31But I'm going to do a proper video on that later on.
05:35And not in a bitter way or anything like that.
05:37Obviously, I'm very sad that my favourite player from my club has moved on.
05:42But more in a can Arsenal realistically retain the title way.
05:46You'll see what I mean.
05:47It'll be later in the week.
05:48Anyway, though, Martin Odegaard, right?
05:49This is the most important bit.
05:52Even without Rodri and Bernardo Silva and, Christ, Pep Guardiola,
05:56Man City were really dominant in possession in this game.
05:58And as you can see, Arsenal were content to sit in and deny them central spaces.
06:03And that's, like, it's nothing new, is it?
06:06Arsenal have always been very comfortable sitting deep
06:09when they haven't got the ball.
06:10But if you look at this specific moment here,
06:13it is just so tailored to Manchester City.
06:16It's effectively like a hit piece.
06:19Instead, and I've just obviously mocked it up here,
06:21of keeping the lines very narrow
06:23and the gaps between the players very small.
06:26You can see when you look at it here
06:28that both Gabriel and Mosquera are sitting on Erling Haaland.
06:33And what that should do is it should bring the full-backs,
06:36White and Calafiore, in nice and tight
06:38because you don't want to leave big gaps to the centre-backs.
06:41But if you actually look at it, no.
06:43Like, White just goes and stands on Doku,
06:46Calafiore pushes out to Semenyo,
06:47and Man City just don't really take advantage of these gaps here.
06:52And then, instead of a line of four in front of them,
06:55which is what you would usually expect from this defensive shape,
06:59you've got Madueke and Zalas pushing out to stop Man City,
07:03circulating the ball.
07:05Like, here, they've just jumped onto Anderson and Vardial,
07:07and would you presume track them back into these spaces
07:11if they went there?
07:13But again, just like we saw with the centre-backs,
07:16Luis Skelly and Bruno are not worried
07:19about maintaining short distances to the players either side of them.
07:24They are likewise just defending this area
07:27immediately in front of the goal.
07:30But why, I hear you ask,
07:32why does it not look like this and instead look like this?
07:36And the reason's very simple.
07:38Arsenal, first and foremost, want to defend this part of the pitch
07:43because if they're high up,
07:44that's where Man City will try to find Haaland,
07:47and if they're deep, that is where they will try and supply Haaland.
07:51Plus, obviously, if they do then decide to play around
07:54and get either Doku or Semenyo isolated out wide,
07:58one of the midfielders will go out there to help.
08:00But that still leaves you with three players in proximity to him
08:04and this central area for any low or high crosses
08:07that make their way into the box.
08:10Basically, Arsenal have been hurt before from this zone,
08:14so by limiting Man City's access to that
08:18and also jumping on them whenever they do get into it,
08:21it gives them the best possible chance of winning the game of football.
08:25It's that easy.
08:26So then, yes, your follow-up question would be,
08:29what's that got to do with Martin Erdegaard?
08:32I thought you said the video was about him, Adam, you idiot.
08:35Well, first off, wow, rude.
08:38And second, it is, because one element of Erdegaard's game
08:42that I think gets correctly criticised is physically.
08:47To play in this position in this league, you have to fight,
08:50and as the league has got tougher and stronger,
08:52he has found himself getting bullied out of games too regularly.
08:57Because these are his physical stats in the Premier League,
09:01and while he absolutely works really hard off the ball,
09:05these are simply not good enough in this position.
09:09Like, bottom 10% for duels won.
09:12Bottom 10% for success off the dribble.
09:15He can't win you fouls.
09:16He can't head the ball.
09:17And then you compare them to Bruno,
09:21and you see what the difference is.
09:23Like, he is number one in the Premier League for duel winning.
09:28He is number one in the Premier League for winning fouls.
09:31That is what you have to do to compete in the Premier League.
09:35And just to circle back, this is only one game,
09:38and it's not even really a proper one,
09:40but I thought Erdegaard here looked physically levels above
09:44where he was last season.
09:46And he actually had the best ground duel numbers in this game
09:50for any Arsenal player,
09:51and the second best on the pitch behind Kushinov.
09:55And to me, he looked physically stronger.
09:58He looked less afraid of the contact.
10:00He looked like he was aware of this deficiency in his game,
10:03and at 27 years old,
10:05is starting to address that with his own body.
10:09He looks like he knows he has to change this way
10:12to play in the Premier League.
10:14And I do, I realise I've not really talked about the goals
10:18or even the game that much in this video,
10:20but I do just think Martin Erdegaard's role in it
10:22is slightly more interesting.
10:25However, he must have some action.
10:27Look at the second goal.
10:28He is at the very top of the press
10:30when this move starts for Manchester City,
10:33and look at the ground he covers again
10:35to get back in,
10:37before then finding the gap in the counterpress
10:39to release the pressure
10:41and get them back up the field for the second goal.
10:44And yes, I do, I hear you.
10:46Moments like this are still annoying and not good enough,
10:50but if all of a sudden he is adding moments like this
10:53to moments like this,
10:56he is almost certainly going to be
10:57Arsenal's most important player
11:00when it comes to maybe retaining the Premier League this season.
11:05I thought this might be,
11:06even though it's definitely still a friendly,
11:08the Community Shield, right?
11:10They carried away with it,
11:11but it felt like a watershed moment for him.
11:15It felt like a really big game
11:16and a very encouraging performance,
11:18which for someone who's supposed to be
11:19one of the best players in the division
11:22was arguably long overdue,
11:24I would say.
11:25So yes,
11:26our Arsenal definitely 100%
11:28going to retain the Premier League.
11:31I've got no idea.
11:32We're going to look at that later in the week,
11:34but you probably can't infer it
11:36from the Community Shield.
11:37Maybe, though,
11:38you'll see the conclusions I draw
11:41in that video.
11:43Promise.
11:43So yes,
11:44that is it.
11:45Please subscribe to us here
11:46at the Adam Cleary Football Channel.
11:47Get me across all the social medias
11:48at Adam Cleary,
11:49C-L-E-R-Y.
11:50And the running!
11:51I am running all over Europe
11:53and the UK
11:54between now and the end of the year
11:55to raise money for Mind,
11:57who are a mental health charity
11:58here in the UK.
12:00And if you've ever relied on mental health services
12:01in this country,
12:02or I suspect any other,
12:03you will know they are so badly
12:05undersupplied,
12:07underappreciated,
12:07and underfunded.
12:08So charities like Mind
12:09have to do so much
12:12of the work
12:13that actual services
12:14are unable to.
12:15Anything you've got,
12:16it goes to a brilliant cause
12:17and it goes so much further
12:18than you think.
12:19The link is in the description.
12:20I've just come back from Stockholm,
12:22which was amazing.
12:23Look,
12:23you can see some of that here.
12:24I've got the Great North Run
12:26in like 27 days,
12:28then the Rome Half Marathon
12:29a couple of weeks
12:31after that.
12:31And I may be going to San Sebastian.
12:33I may be going to New York.
12:34I'm doing the Vitality 10K
12:35in London
12:36and probably one other 10K as well.
12:39So,
12:39yeah,
12:40you're right.
12:40That is going to suck,
12:41but it is for a good cause.
12:43And of course,
12:44gets,
12:45you know,
12:46gets me out of the house,
12:47doesn't it?
12:48So the link's down there for that.
12:49And I will see you
12:50next time.
12:51Will Arsenal win the league?
12:53Who knows?
12:53But they definitely won
12:55the Community Shield.
12:56And that's not nothing.
12:57Bye.
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