Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta trains at the Arsenal training ground in London, England on November 28, 2023.
Mikel Arteta has ridiculed Pep Guardiola’s comments about him and Liverpool trying to topple Manchester City.
This looks to be the best Premier League title race in years.
Things can change in the blink of an eye, but for now Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City look like real contenders.
It is important to know the difference between “best” and “highest quality”.
One thing is clear: the 2023/24 champions will have fewer points than any winner in recent seasons and every team in the squad will show vulnerabilities.
But it is a welcome change considering who has come close to perfection in recent years when it comes to facing Pep Guardiola’s giants.
There has been a slight dip since Manchester City’s Tier 3 opened, but their performance has improved.
Mikel Arteta will be hoping to learn from last season to stop Arsenal this season, while Jurgen Klopp knows better than anyone what it takes to challenge Guardiola and win.
For now, both will be encouraged by the latest signs from Manchester City’s managers. When Guardiola is at his best with team play, he is almost done with football.
As coach of one of the greatest sets of players in history (an independent panel will decide how Manchester City got to this point), the former Barcelona manager has created a veritable juggernaut.
But Liverpool are one of the few teams who can claim to have found chinks in Guardiola’s armor over the years.
Arteta knows them all too well, having seen it all firsthand as the Catalan’s assistant at Manchester City. Arteta respects Liverpool’s game. Infamous quote from All or Nothing:
In the build-up to the trip to Anfield, the Arsenal manager blared “You Won’t Walk Alone” over the loudspeakers during training.
He’s seen Manchester City wither enough to know it was worth it.”Liverpool” was often called “Manchester City”.
All of this comes from (for lack of a better word) managers who are prone to anger.
It all stems from Guardiola’s reputation for “thinking” certain plays. To be honest, it’s always been difficult.
A label used only when his experiment failed and other experiments went according to plan.
But there’s no denying that it sometimes works. His blatant slamming of Arteta after Tottenham’s win showed he was nervous again.
“I have no comment on Mikel Arteta,” Guardiola said of his controversial late decision to deny Jack Grealish the opportunity to meet him in person. . ‘.
This was a reference to a recent rant by his former assistant, which was surprisingly confirmed by Arsenal’s club statement.
But when asked about Guardiola’s comments via The Mirror, Arteta laughed and said he had “quite a lot” on his plate.
Arteta will have a good laugh and so will Klopp. Last season, Manchester City always seemed to be waiting for things to click and confirm, but this time Guardiola seems to be searching for an answer again.
If he takes a cheap shot, he might not be short.
To predict a long-term economic downturn for Manchester City would be recklessly bold. All past evidence suggests that if there are problems, Guardiola will eventually solve them.
But now a missed point could be decisive and Arteta and Klopp will be willing to accept any criticism that comes their way.
