Man City humbled by Spurs | Ruben Amorim exclusive interview | Arsenal back to winning ways as Saka shines
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Hi there and welcome along to the Sunday Settlement podcast with me, Vicky Gommersall, and the assistant editor of The Mirror, Darren Lewis. Joining us this week is our chief reporter, Kaveh Solikol. Welcome to you both. We are going to start with the Saturday night football from the Etihad. Defending champions Manchester City were humiliated by Tottenham, who won it 4-0. It's the first time in Pep Guardiola's career that he's lost five games in a row. So, Kaveh, it was a shock.

Look, we know City have been in this poor run of form. It's the first time that the champions of England have lost five games in a row in any competition since way back in 1956. And not even I can remember that far back. Gary Neville has said this. He said City are in decline. Do you agree? How serious is this?

I still think it's too early to write Manchester City off. I think there are lots of reasons why they are in the position that they're in. But I still think they've got a very strong squad. They've got one of the best managers we've ever seen. And I think Pep Guardiola can turn this around.

I think it's going to be very difficult for them to win the title, but I still think they can win trophies this season. Obviously, Rodri is a massive miss. They've had lots of other injury problems as well. I think maybe looking back, it was a mistake not to spend more money in the summer. Birmingham City in League One spent more money than Manchester City did. I think the transfer window in January is going to be very important for them. But...

It's too early to write City off. The fact that Ilkay Gundogan came back, you know, that kind of like also stopped them potentially from spending too much money as well and getting another player. And that kind of is working out or is he looking a little bit tired as well in terms of his age? Well, I think, you know, he didn't play that well yesterday. You know, he didn't seem to be as mobile as you'd want a midfielder to be. You know, they didn't defend properly.

midfield was all over the place. I still think that Pep can sort this out. I think Pep

It'd be interesting to see if Manchester City seem to be one of these clubs who have a lot of documentaries made about them. And I think maybe this is the sort of low point of the documentary. If one of these things comes out on one of these streaming services, this will be where the great fight back starts. Actually, if that were to be the case, you're going to get clipped up in the documentary. You haven't said that. LAUGHTER

Just to say, we are going to talk about how brilliant Tottenham were. So Tottenham fans, if you're watching at home thinking, hang on a minute, this is all about us. We're going to get to you in a moment. But we are just talking about City at the moment because it's the first defeat at home since November 2022 for City. They are, of course, without the best player in the world. We saw him, Rodri, yesterday with the Ballon d'Or holding it aloft prior to this game.

Is he the biggest reason? Is he one of the reasons? Is he a number of reasons as to why they're not a top four? Well, statistically, he is the main reason because they've only lost two of their 78 games when he's played, which is some stat.

I mean, it's quite ironic that Pep Guardiola used to refer to Spurs as the Harry Kane team, when actually City are the Rodri team. Without him, they're shapeless, they're rudderless, they're leaderless, and they don't have anybody to protect that back four. But there are other issues as well. Haaland, if he doesn't score, who is scoring the goals at the moment?

Kovacic isn't available either. The players for that goal, who was tracking that run for James Madison for his first goal? He gives it, he makes the run around Son, he finds himself in a position to tuck it away. Who is alert enough to pick that up? And they are all basics. We've seen

shots from the All or Nothing documentary, haven't we, about the way that Pep is able to identify things, specific things in a dressing room and hold his players to account for those things. I don't think you'll be allowing them to cling to the Rodri excuse. I think you'll be asking them to look at what they could have done in specific situations to address the problems that he has seen.

Yes, it is mostly robbery that you can hang your hat on in terms of an excuse, but I think it's much more than that. OK, he admitted he said they are fragile defensively. There are people already writing them off, actually. If you read some of the papers, there are already people saying, do you know what? This is it. It's not going to be their season. We know they go on these sublime runs, certainly in the new year. They're still capable of that, aren't they?

Certainly. I think they were, what was it, in 2020, I think they were 13th at this point in the season. And then they went on and won 15 games in a row. So they're certainly capable of doing that. But I think this is the biggest challenge that Pep Guardiola has faced during his time at City. There's so much been going on off the pitch as well. Maybe that's had an effect, distracted some of the players. But he needs to really...

Get them in today or tomorrow, you know, speak to them, sort this out, tell them a few home truths about what's been going wrong, about the fact that they're not working as hard as they used to. You'd think that he wouldn't know how to do that, though, because he's never had to do this, right? He's never had to call a team in and go, hang on a minute.

that this is not what he does? Well, no, that's not quite true. I mean, as Carvey was saying, the 2020 season, they only had 20 points from 12 games. So 20 points out of 36.

and they managed to turn it around and they managed to put that run together. Historically, in the first half of the season, we've said this before, they're hunting around. It's almost like the Grand National. There's so long to go, so many competitions to play in, so much form, so much jeopardy in terms of injury and all sorts of things that could take place to affect any team, let alone City.

I remember the season where Leicester beat them 5-2. He hadn't signed a contract yet. On this very show, we were talking about, is this the end of the cycle? Can he rebuild a team? And he did it back then.

So, obviously, we would be crazy to write things off. But when you say people are looking at this and thinking it's perilous, it's our job to do that. It's our job to assess whether or not a team can get to where they normally are by the end of the season. And we base that on what we've seen before. We base it on the state of the team, as you've been summing up, Carvey. And for the first time, I worry because I look at...

what Rodri gives that side. I look at the fact that Liverpool are doing so well. It's overall City self-destructing, but it's whether the other teams around them can take advantage. And we all expected the team to take advantage, to be Arsenal. Nobody factored Liverpool into that. And if they were to win today against Southampton and beat City next weekend, they'll be 11 points clear. And with the way that Arnaud Slot has them playing,

Like a well-oiled machine, top of the league, top of their Champions League group, four wins out of four in the Champions League, the only team so to do. Defensively, they look so strong, they're scoring goals for fun. That's why City should worry because obviously, as you say, they do have that capability to put that run together in the second half of the season.

but could they leave themselves with too much to do? Well, even Pep says that himself. He says, lose to Liverpool next week and the gap's too big. Do you agree with that? Because Liverpool are doing so brilliantly...

Are they going to be impossible to beat? So if Liverpool won today and they win next weekend, it'll be 11 points. If we lose to Liverpool next week, he said the gap will be too big. I think definitely at the moment, Liverpool are the favourites to win the title. They've been in incredible form under Arne Slott. I think he's been in charge for 17 games. They've won 15 of them.

only lost one against Nottingham Forest, drawn one against Arsenal. They are sort of performing the way Manchester City used to. You know, they are on course to have a season where they get something like between 90 and 100 points.

This Manchester City side doesn't look like it's the kind of side who can amass that kind of points tally. I think what Pep Guardiola has to do is just look at yesterday's game and work out why are these players not running as much as they used to? Why are they not tracking back? For instance, for the fourth goal, why is Timo Werner just...

sliding past Karl Walker, who's one of the fastest defenders in world football. Why is Ilkay Gundogan in midfield not tracking James Madison? You know, he needs to work out because the talent is there. I think it's just a question of confidence,

application, maybe. And I think Pep Guardiola can sort it out. But obviously, time is running out and he needs to sort it out if they want to win five in a row. There are specific reasons as well why the concern is growing because the previous four defeats, they'd all been away from home. They'd all been in different positions.

competitions and obviously there were players that were not available so you could understand why it would be the case that you could give them a pass here, you could give them a pass here. This is the first time they've been beaten in front of their own fans in 52 matches in two years and when that aura of invincibility starts to be lost at home

then you can see other teams saying, "Actually, they are mortal. We can go at them. We can take advantage of that hole in the middle of the park and maybe one or two ageing legs in certain positions." It might be based even on what we're saying here, but that's the grist to the mill that Guardiola needs to create that siege mentality that he uses so well. And we saw another manager in Manchester United, in Manchester, use so well over a couple of decades.

But certainly from what we're seeing,

both there and also at Anfield, there was a huge, huge crisis. I think we can use that word now around the club. Well, not so at Spurs. I mean, that was a brilliant performance from them. I know I say this mildly, but I don't dare say that not many of their fans would have expected that coming into the Etihad yesterday. How does Ange Postakoglu kind of solve this inconsistency?

Because that was an immense performance and then we've seen not so immense performances from them this season as well. How does he get that consistency out of his players? Because they've clearly got it in them. Yeah, I thought James Madison spoke really well after the game yesterday when he was asked that question. And he said, look, that performance there, that is the real Spurs. That's what we need to see every week. And that is the big issue for Spurs.

Ange Postakoglou, is he's got a brilliant team, brilliant squad of players, but he needs to get that kind of performance out of them every week. And you have to say, when Spurs are good, they are very, very good. They're a brilliant side to watch as well. And they've been to Manchester twice this season already, beat United 3-0, beat City 4-0. That's two clean sheets away in Manchester, aggregate score of 7-0 against Manchester.

you know, two of the biggest sides in world football. But the challenge is to do that week in, week out, because they definitely have the talent in their squad to be able to do that. Yeah, they were fantastic yesterday for sure. Obviously, before the game, all the talk was about Pep's contract, wasn't it? You know, he signed a two-year deal this week. Did that surprise you that it was a two-year? Because everyone was talking about a one-year deal.

Not really. I mean, I think two years gives him time to reshape that squad and it does need rebuilding. The chaps, Micah, David, Jamie, they were talking yesterday about the fact that nine of the 14 players used yesterday were 29 and over. So, yeah,

And I think they are one of the, if not the oldest squad in the Premier League at the moment. So from that point of view, there does need to be a rebuild. There does need to be maybe the promotion of some players from the younger ranks or the acquisition of some players to supplement what they have. If Haaland isn't available,

They've won a title without him, but that's when they had Alvarez, who scores the goals when Haaland isn't available, who can do the job that Rodri does. We know Zubi Mendy did it at the European Championship final for Spain against England, but they don't have him. And Liverpool want him as well. Giocares, the scoring sensation at Sporting. Man United want him, and you would imagine he'd want to go and play for the guy who made him a superstar,

But if City need to get more goals, maybe he is the man to go for. So there are lots of different potential players

We also know the recruitment at City is fantastic. Not just because they've got the financial power to be able to go out and blow someone out of the water, but they can identify players that other clubs possibly don't look at, bring to the club. Alvarez, who else was looking at Alvarez? Akanji, lots of clubs rejected the opportunity to sign Akanji before Manchester City did. So the recruitment's first class. And I think...

Right now, today, the instinct is to really be down on City. But they've shown us... How many times do they need to show us that they can come back from this for us to actually grasp that this is still November? There is still a long way to go. They do have that blazingly capable knack of being able to go out and get the players, harness the...

the intensity necessary to come back and defy all the odds. I feel like they might be just toying with the rest of the Premier League, maybe. Maybe. Look, what do the papers say? I guess there's a lot to be said today. Yeah, let's spin you through quite a few of them, actually, because it dominates the front pages of Sunday's papers. Very straightforward headline on the front page of the Sunday Times pullout. Pep Guardiola thinking to himself, I've got to go and speak to Sky now. LAUGHTER

New contract, new loan, days after signing. Look at the subject down there.

Only days after signing a new deal, they crashed to a fifth straight loss as Champions City thrashed at home by Spurs. I'll show you a couple more as well. Just inside the Sunday Times before I move on, Martin Samuel, we're going to come to this twice. He's always the man for the right words and the right occasion, the authority in a situation like this. And he says we can now call this a crisis.

He says there's been a lot of presumption. I'll read you a little bit of this. A lot of presumption around City this season. A lot of assumption. A lot of rather lazy assumption too. We've seen it before, so we'll see it again. It's a blip, a bump, a pothole in the road. No more. Always happens this time of year. They get over it. They go again and again. Not this time. It didn't look like a team that knows where its next win is coming from. Really good column. We'll come back to this in a bit.

Also, front page of the Observer, driven to despair. And that is the goal celebration from James Madison and Pedro Poetur. The goal scorers, wonderful way to celebrate his 28th birthday for James Madison. As Carvey was saying, spoke superbly well afterwards. And Poetur as well, a wonderful third goal from him. And then finally, Telegraph. Sam Wallace's match report is excellent and correctly sums up

the position that Manchester City find themselves in with a first defeat in two years. Again, Sam, one of the big beasts in our fraternity describing this as a crisis. We cannot now say that this is a bump in the road for City. They've got to find a way to come back. And of course, their next assignment is at Anfield, the only ground where Haaland hasn't scored. Ooh.

Down a little gauntlet there, maybe. Never scored there. Didn't know that. Done something new every day on this show. Right, let's get more on this now on Manchester City as well. We can go live to the Etihad and join our reporter, Peter Stevenson. Good to see you, Peter, as always. What's the reaction then to a fifth successive defeat for the defending champions? What's the reaction like there?

I would imagine amongst supporters, amongst the players, it's probably a bit of bewilderment. I mean, strange times at Manchester City. The formidable have become the vulnerable, if you like, in the space of just a few games. We're just not used to seeing this from Manchester City.

It's been one of those weeks, hasn't it, with a lot being made of Pep signing his contract extension, injured players coming back, even Rodri being paraded on the pitch. Logic suggested last night that City would then seize the moment and return to winning ways, but it didn't happen. Even at half-time, I saw they were losing 2-0. I thought they'll come back, they'll have one of those great second-half recoveries and they'll do the business.

But it didn't happen. And now people are asking why it's not happened. What's going wrong? Why have they lost their mojo? And there's an awful lot to chew over. I thought Pep Guardiola in his news conference after the game just very calmly dissected everything. And clearly there'll be a lot of thoughts going into what happened throughout today and tomorrow. It'll be interesting to know whether it's time for one of those chest-thumping speeches to the squad or whether he's trying to cajole individuals to get back.

back to winning ways. A really, really significant test of his man management because this is not something that he's used to. Let's hear a little bit about what he said after the game. After eight years here, I knew in the last one or two, three years that sooner or later we will drop. Of course, never expect to win, to lose three Premier Leagues in a row.

But in that time, always we expect to drop it. But we are incredibly consistent again and again and again. And now we cannot deny that the reality that sometimes in football, sometimes in life is here. So we are not used to lose so many games in a row. Pep, were you to lose at Anfield next weekend, that could be an 11-point gap to Liverpool. Would that be too much? Yeah. In the terms of Liverpool is winning, winning, winning, it's true. So that would be the title gone already? I don't know.

But I will say before, it's not thinking about you're going to win or going to lose. To think to win the next game.

I think we're in lieu for Manchester City, yet Spurs have shown the rest of the Premier League just how to take City on. And maybe that will be of some concern in the weeks to come. Spurs just seem to catch City out so many times with their quick counter-attack. As for City now, well, they've got to get back to winning ways. They've got into a losing habit. Now it's got to be a winning habit that they've got to try and get back.

used to coming up with week in, week out. They've been used to it for so many months, so many seasons here. There's the big banner behind me proudly saying four in a row. At the moment, five in a row looks a distinctly distant prospect. Feyenoord here on Tuesday in the Champions League and then what looks like a colossal game against Liverpool at Anfield next week. There's been a lot of talk about an 11-point gap. I mean, that is...

Four wins. I mean, it's going to take some pulling back for Manchester City. But as we all, as we already said so many times this morning, write them off at your peril. Absolutely right you do. Thank you very much indeed, Peter.

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorin, he spoke to the media for the first time since taking over and is adamant United isn't the impossible job after becoming the sixth permanent boss since Alex Ferguson. Now, we sent Gary Neville to visit the Portuguese coach in Manchester earlier this week and you can watch the full interview on Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel. Here's just a taste of it.

So Ruben, welcome to Manchester. Are you enjoying the city? Yeah, it's quite lovely. Sunny for four days. It's really cold, but without wind, without rain, you can work very well and people are very nice, very polite and that's different in some parts in Portugal. But I'm enjoying a lot.

What have you made of the club? Obviously, you've been to the stadium, you've been to the stadium before, but you've been to the training ground now. What's your first impression? The first impression is that it's so big, with a lot of departments. I came from a small country, of course, a big club in a small country. Here is a different world. You have a lot to do. You are not just a coach, you have to be something more. So it's a little bit different, but I think I'm prepared for that.

and this Manchester United. It doesn't matter the last years. You feel the weight of the history and you want to be part of that. You feel that

If you win here, it will be different than in every club in England. You can feel that, but you also understand that the responsibility is big. It's going to be tough. We will have really hard moments, but in the end, I truly believe that we are going to succeed. I have to ask you this because I've made a comment this week about Casemiro and Marcus Rashford travelling to America.

in their few days off. I did get it wrong, I think. I think they went to New York rather than Portland, so I apologise for that. There's still a five, six hour time difference. They're on planes. Are you comfortable with that?

I think the main question here is, as a club, have to set the standards and have to manage that. It's my decision if they can have five days as a coach or three days, or is three days to rest you cannot fly? This is something that I...

as a club has to decide. So you think you would have set a different structure maybe for that period? For me? Yes, for sure. But we cannot put this on the players. They told them they have five days off so they can fly anywhere because nobody in the club says you cannot fly. What are your non-negotiables? It's easy to see. You can say the pretty things like hard work, be professional.

It should be. This is Manchester United in every club. But here, of course, you cannot run from that. Then it's to think first in the team.

So I know that some guys will sometimes play in a different position, but they have to understand the position and they have to fight for the team. This is something that I can, as a former player, I know every trick. I can understand the players. I can understand what they are doing, why they are doing. If they are doing for the team, I will defend them until the end. I can lose my job before I put one player...

in front of the bus, as you can say like that. But if he doesn't put the team in first place, I will be the first one to talk with the player. Yeah, really good interview actually. As we said, plenty more of that one on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel. Let's focus on United then. Kaveh Amirine, what's your first impressions of him? Do you think he's a good fit for United?

I think he's made a very good first impression. I think he did really well in his final three games at Sporting as well, because he was in a difficult position where he was going to be the United manager, but he still had to manage Sporting and he handled that and all the media interest really, really well. And ever since he's landed in England, you know, he looks...

the deal, the way he talks as well. You can imagine the way he communicates with his players will maybe inspire them a little bit more than the way Eric ten Hag used to speak to them. I think it'll be really interesting to see how United are going to play because obviously they're going to change formation, play

three four two one i think they're going to be more attacking more on the front foot the whole time they're going to be a more exciting side to watch so

First impressions, very, very good. But of course, the proof is going to be in how they perform and how the players react to him. Yeah, and that's what he says in that interview. I'm going to be judged on that, not really about everything else. But I think there is that sort of charm to him that everyone's kind of lured into a little bit in the moment. You know, we saw a really nice interview in terms of when he was still at Sporting and the joking around. He sat in the press conference watching one of his players get interviewed. There was

There's a lot of, you know, joie de vivre going on here. Get me on a Sunday morning. I know. We've discussed, though, haven't we, at length on this programme, managers needing presence. And is that something that, you know, comes across in abundance here? And that's actually quite...

what United need right now? Well, I've got my phone out right because I'll be real. When we were looking at this footage on Friday, I was texting you all the way through and I was saying to you all the different things that really jumped out about him.

He's a fantastic communicator, but he has a way about him. He has charisma. And you can see that in the way that he relates to Gary. I mean, Gary has done some terrific interviews already. And you can see why people open up to Gary because of the standing he has in the game, in the sport.

But there is something very different. I am the most excited about Amrim that I've been than I've been about any manager since Alex Ferguson. And that's quite a big thing to say. That's a huge statement, Darren. He's 39 years of age, has a connection with the dressing room already. No, no, no, United manager. You mean at United? United manager.

Sorry. But even when Mourinho came... Yeah, even though, including Mourinho, I think Mourinho should have gone after Sir Alex. Not that at the point. I think they missed an opportunity to get him at a time when he could really have done something with the club. And I think by the time Mourinho went in,

There was already this obsession with big names without enough of an emphasis on the team and building. And we know that he's a fantastic team builder. And I think now they understand that you've got to have somebody who has everything, who can build a culture. And that's what he did at Sporting. And that's quite key in terms of some of the things he was saying, you know, because when he answered that question about...

Marcus and Casemiro going away, he was saying the club is really the issue, not the individual players, because they worked within the culture that was set for them. And he is all about building a culture. When you refer to those last three games at Sporting, the reason they did so well in those last three games is because the culture was right. Even though he was leaving, the players still knew what their jobs were and they still knew what the standard was. And that's what I mean about...

being excited about him, but also about the way that he has it in his interviews because he's a young manager, but you don't mess with him. You know what you get from him. In the fuller edit of that, he says, the club came to me because they know what I stand for. They know what I'm about. And...

He appreciates the fact that he is now in charge of a superpower in world football, but he has to... Not but, and he has to be able to restore them, as he did with Sporting, to where...

they once were. And he can only do that by repairing that culture. And that's why I'm so excited about him. It's interesting. You talk about the situation with Casemiro and Marcus Rashford as well, going away to New York for Marcus Rashford, certainly. And he defended, actually, both his players, didn't he? And like you say, he talked about the club, the fact that the club had let them have five days off. There was no restrictions. It wasn't don't fly during those five days. So he defended that. Well, just before Carvey answers, I just want to say this.

I also like something else he said in there where he said, I would rather get the sack before I throw any of my players under the bus.

Again, it's in the fuller Reddit, 25 minutes, but it seems like 10, the way you're just captivated by what he's saying. And I love that because I don't think it's either player's fault. I'm jumping in a little bit here before you, Carver, but I'm putting my cards on the table. I don't think it's either player's fault. And I think he doesn't think it's either player's fault. He says, I've been following the whole thing all the way through. And what the players have been doing is what they have been allowed to do.

to do. And just one final thing on this. I remember when, before I ever got into journalism, I'd see some of the older guard talking about if a team lost a match, a player's, almost as if a player's got to go in and sit in a darkened room and not smile for the subsequent match.

week or whatever until the next game. And this is that conversation in the modern era. Players are human. We bang on about mental health and perspective and looking after yourselves and actually realising that there are bigger things in the game. And then we're upset that Marcus is doing what works for Marcus. And the wonderful thing about Amram is that he's very different to Ten Hag, is that Ten Hag was very good tactically. Amram is very good tactically.

in terms of man management. And I don't think he's going to go in and crack the whip. I think those days for the big players, you've talked to all of the big managers as part of this show, those days are over. It's about having to understand players and treat them like men. And I think he'll do that with Marcus Rashford. Bruno talks about not wanting to upset the rules, but where do you stand on this situation with Rashford?

Kasimir and Rashford. What's your thoughts? I think it was a storm in a teacup. And I think it's time we smash the teacup. Because I do not, for the life of me, see what Marcus Rashford has done wrong. He had time off, he flew to New York and he went to a basketball game.

What's wrong with that? I mean, is there an issue with the way he dresses or the fact that he was wearing jewellery or the fact that he went to a basketball game?

If he'd been wearing a button-down shirt from Marks & Spencer's and he went to a soccer game, would we be having this kind of conversation? It seems to be something that follows Marcus Rashford around. It also follows Raheem Sterling around. They sort of focus on everything he does and trying to turn him just living his life into a negative. And as for Casemiro, I mean...

He went on holiday with his family to, what was it, Disney World? I mean, they had five days off. If Manchester United had said to them, you are not allowed to leave this country, you're not allowed to get on a plane, I'm sure they would have stayed in Manchester. If they'd been told, you need to come in for training, I'm sure that's what they would have done. But this is a club in transition. They were moving from one manager to another. Ruben Amorim was flying in. The players had been told, you've got five days off.

And I think it's time we just drew a line under this and let Marcus Rashford and also Raheem Sterling just live their lives. If they do something really, really wrong that warrants it being, you know, on the back pages or on the front pages, fine, they'll deal with it. But if they're just leading their lives, leave them alone.

Well said. Right, what are the papers saying? Well, I'll spin through this because we've been talking a lot, so I'll be very quick. Robbie Fowler, big match day, obviously, against Ipswich. Everyone is expecting, as we all do, for his Midas touch to really be instant. But as he's been saying in this piece, and you can see from the headline down the right-hand side, he will need time if he's going to be on that wall of fame. I'm going to spin through quite quickly. I love the way he's looking at that picture of David Moyes. LAUGHTER

Yes, he is. He happens to be great. And Ryan Giggs as well. In the sun as well. I'll be ruthless. Basically, with that charming smile that he has, but he won't take any prisoners. And he says so in the press conference on. He said so or other in the Sunday section of the press conference on Friday. And finally, this piece in The Telegraph.

It's from Mike McGrath and Marcus Alves. And it's the master of the wise is the headline. And he talks about the fact that too few players question things. And he says he questioned everything as a player. And he wants to instill a culture of players understanding why. Why am I being asked to do this? What's going to be the benefit to me? He wants to get inside the heads of players rather than just coming in and saying, I've got a set of principles now that I want to understand.

instilling you and you're going to do exactly what I say. He wants to change that culture psychologically as well as around the place on a day-to-day basis. He explains the one idea, doesn't he? It's that one idea when they all know, it's like they're working almost like as a one mind. Yeah, when one person gets the ball, everybody knows what their job is instantly in that moment and they start to function as a team rather than, as we've been saying and as the boys have been saying in the match coverage, as a moments team as United have been so far.

Welcome back to Super Sunday Matchday. Arsenal have got their title challenge back on track by beating Nottingham Forest 3-0. It's a first win in five Premier League matches for Mikel Arteta's side. Look, it moves them six points behind Liverpool, doesn't it, Calve? Did this send a little bit of a message, do you think, to the title rivals, yesterday's performance? I think on paper this could have been a tricky game for Arsenal because Nottingham Forest went to Anfield and won earlier this season. They're the only side to have beaten...

Liverpool this season. So on paper, it was a tricky game. And also Declan Rice wasn't playing. There were some concerns about how Jorginho would fit in. There was the issues with Ben White's injury as well. But I thought Arsenal were fantastic. They sent out the message that we are here to win this title. And I think it's something they can do. And I also have to say Martin Odegaard

What an incredibly talented player. I think even this early in the season, you have to say that he has to be a real contender to be winning the sort of Player of the Year awards at the end of the season. Yeah, he was impressive. So too was Bukayo Saka and the goal from him as well. I mean, just...

I mean, I know you've talked about it in terms of the carry in the team sometimes with Saka, but I mean, it was a good performance from both those players yesterday. Yeah, I mean, so much is expected of Saka. And I would imagine for opposition defenders, he is in the Salah category in terms of, you know what he's going to do, as all of these defenders do here. That's ridiculous. But you just can't stop him. He's got a hammer of a left foot, but he's got craft, ingenuity, ability.

the ability to draw the players into the play as Odegaard does as well. And then he just is somebody who embraces the pressure and delivers despite it. I think Thomas Partey obviously adding that second goal to show that

Much to the contrary, you know, people feel there's not the depth there at Arsenal, but there is, there is the depth, there is the quality and they'd lost their way as Carvey was saying, but they've rediscovered it now, the sat-nav's back on. You just wonder again whether they've given themselves now too much to do because of where Liverpool are. And I really like the physicality of this Arsenal side as well. And that defence, when you look at it yesterday, just the

the strength, the power they've got at the back, the amount of clean sheets they keep. You know, when you play Arsenal, you really know you've been in a game. Sometimes that's been missing from Arsenal's sides, especially towards the end of Arsene Wenger's time. People thought they were a little bit flaky. They were a little bit soft. But I think physically, they're now one of the toughest sides in the Premier League. And that's

a great testament to the work that Mikel Arteta has done. Carvey referring to the clean sheet, really important because they had been renowned for their defensive stability. Yesterday's clean sheet was their first in eight games and that was because of, yeah, and that was because, no, no, no, but that's why that clean sheet was so important because they're back to that defensive strength that they had had

They'd been very unfortunate to lose players. They obviously had Saliba suspended as well after sending off against Bournemouth. So they had lots of issues that had affected them and destabilised their momentum. But as you were saying, because of the recruitment, because of the ethos within the squad that defend first, we can scrap it out if we need to, something that the latter day Wenger sides didn't.

weren't able to do, this artistic side can do it. And I think now they're back to, it's almost like they've been through a little bit of turbulence, but they're back in the blue skies. Yeah, it's a nice little analogy. Just a word on the teenager, Ethan Lewary. I mean, what a performance from him, 17 years of age. Impressive, right? Getting his first Premier League goal. I mean, we've heard a lot about him. Every time he's sort of come on and played for Arsenal this season, he's made a

a real impact. Brilliant to see him scoring. Obviously, that must mean so much to him and his family. I think he's a player who's got a big, big future in the game and it's great to see him doing so well. Yeah, and it must have been nice because this was Arteta's 250th game in charge of Arsenal at all competitions. They're still very much in this title race, aren't they? Um, oh, it's a question and a half. LAUGHTER

Well, I just think that Liverpool show no signs of stopping. And I do wonder if they're going to maybe go in a transfer window and bring in a striker because Liverpool have so many attacking options. And yeah, if Saka...

doesn't score, you do wonder who's going to come up with those goals. I mean, winning, title winning sides, okay, you might say the City side that didn't have Haaland apart was maybe an outlier, but title winning sides tend to have someone who gets around 20, 25 goals.

And who's going to do that this season? Because they've not looked... I know last season they scored lots of goals, but everything, as we've seen, changes so markedly. Liverpool are scoring goals for fun without Diogo Jota, who was their best finisher. So, sorry, best striker, because obviously Salah's a superb finisher. But I just think, are they in the title race?

I think Liverpool are leading everyone. A merry dance at the moment. All right. Just very briefly, what are the papers saying? Well, I raved about Saka. I'll rave about him again. Here he is in the Mail on Sunday. Sammy Mockbell's terrific match report talking about the Gunners being slick and Saka being even slicker and paying tribute to Ethan Wanwiri at the bottom there. They're back in the title race. I might have my doubts, Matt.

Mail on Sunday don't, nor does Sammy. What do you know anyway? Sammy loves much more than you do. Much more than I do. Absolutely. All right, stay with us because next on Super Sunday Match Day we're going to have our extended interview with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes. He discusses the first week and a new head coach, Ruben Amaran, and what he's brought to the club. And we've got plenty more for you to stay with us here on Sky Sports News.

Welcome back to Super Sunday Matchday. Ruben Amarin is ready to begin a new era at Manchester United. His first match in charge is at Ipswich and live on Sky Sports from 4pm. And as he prepared for that game, the United captain Bruno Fernandes spoke to Natalie Gedra about the first week under the new head coach.

Bruno, different week around here. I want to start with your first impressions on Ruben, the way he works, his training methods, his coaching staff. How were the first impressions? Obviously good. It's still the beginning. We didn't have many training sessions yet. But obviously you can see already what it's about, how much intensity he wants to put in every training session. He does want to have...

the same intensity in every exercise as a game day. So it's something that everyone has to be aware of and he doesn't want anyone to break down and just slow it down. But then him and his staff are really, really open, really strict, but at the same time really, really open and

and everyone feels that can talk with them and have a word with them. So now it's about getting into the game and winning games. In his first interview to the club, he said that against Ipswich we will have an idea of what he wants to implement here. From the practices you've had these first few days, how much change can fans expect in this first match against Ipswich? I know it's early days, but...

No, obviously he's a new manager with different ideas, with different methods, so he's going to change things. But at the end of the day it's about winning the game and I think obviously he wants to implement the way he wants to play and the way he was doing his things.

As a player you always have to be aware of that because even sometimes having the same manager you want to change and improve things. At this time we changed manager when we knew that different things will happen because no manager in the world works in the same way.

And of course there's a lot of excitement as well with Rubens arrival. To these fans who are very excited and waiting for changes, how much management do they have to do in terms of expectations and especially patience? Expectations are really high at this club every time and patience is something that

doesn't work in football. So not only me, but I think also the staff is aware that they came to one of the biggest clubs in the world. They know the expectation is going to be high. Some people will doubt

others will think that he will come and do everything straight away and be brilliant. So he knows what people are expecting from him. We as players know what it's about playing for Man United, the expectations, the pressure and everything. We just have to deal with that.

You know both clubs really well, of course, Sporting and Man United. How do you feel the challenges that Ruben faced at Sporting prepared him to take over Man United? Because it's one of the biggest clubs in the world, the levels of pressure is just different.

Obviously, Sporting is a big club in Portugal but at the same time it doesn't have the same attention as Man United worldwide. I think the manager is aware of that. He knows that he had a lot of pressure at Sporting because Sporting was many years without winning a trophy. Then he got that trophy back to the club. Then it was two years where he didn't

we didn't won so pressure came on again and and you won the league again so i think uh pressure obviously is always there then it changed by the dimension of the club or the dimension of the the size of the club or how far everything you do goes and you know at united it goes it goes very far so he's pretty aware that um the job is pretty the same he's winning games winning trophies so uh

with a little bit more attention sometimes. From what you're saying, it seems like communication has been very good with him since he arrived in these first few days. Even if not all players were here, he is the type of manager who really speaks a lot to the players. Yeah, I think communication was one of the key

key things for him at Sporting. Obviously now he needs to change, he's going to be the barrier of the language even if he speaks perfectly English. Obviously it's easier for us to explain ourselves in Portuguese than in another language but I think communication was

part of his success and I think he's really good at that. And I think he's going to be a big part for us here at the club too because he's aware that communication because media-wise the club is massive, he's going to have to communicate a lot also with the media but

with the players has been really good in these first few days. He's really direct with what he wants, what he demands and we just have to follow the rules. And of course there's a lot of talk about the possibility of playing with a back three. We don't know for sure, it's still early days, still first trainings,

How much do you feel this could impact, especially the midfield? Because there's been so much talk around the midfield and everything that's been happening in this area of the pitch.

I don't know, that depends on the way the manager wants to play, if he wants to play with a back three or not. It's his ideas, we just have to get into his ideas and do the best we can. Obviously, I think in the past we did it also like building up with a back three most of the time, so it was not a clear back three but also was not a static one.

Sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. Then the new manager comes in, different ideas. It could be that he has different tactics for us, so we have to expect it on Sunday. What is the captain's role when a new manager arrives?

always the same as when it was another manager year, you know, like I have to do exactly the same I was doing. Obviously trying to help the staff if they feel that any needed of that. But it's to push everyone to get on board with the coaching staff, with the new ideas to make everyone understand that we're gonna go in a different way now.

It doesn't mean that it's not a good way. So everyone is expecting to be the good one and we have to be the ones more excited for that. Good luck on Sunday. Thank you. Okay, really nice interview there. He's got obviously the sporting and the Portuguese connections, hasn't he? How vital could those connections be for Ruben Almarin right now?

I think it will help Amarim that he's got Bruno Fernandes there. And I thought it was interesting, Amarim on Friday when he was speaking, he was asked about what had gone wrong at United. And he was pretty blunt. He said, we've been giving the ball away too much and the players haven't been running enough. So he's done his homework. Let's hope he can fix that. Giving the ball away too much, that should be quite easy to sort out.

running back as well. That should be easy to sort out as well because far too many times under Eric Ten Hag, the players weren't tracking back. They weren't working hard enough. I think what will be really interesting today is how these players adapt to playing in this 3-4-2-1 formation. But whatever the result is, I don't think we should get

Who was sitting next to him?

which is really interesting, which I would say to our viewers, get on your phones or whatever and look up this really, really famous picture. Because on the bench that day, sitting next to Sir Alex Ferguson in his first game, was the Manchester United coach driver. Oh, not somebody you'd expect to be on the bench. A man called Derek Sutton. And apparently Sir Alex said to him, what the hell are you doing here? Who are you?

And he said, you know, I'm the coach driver and the previous manager, Ron Atkinson, always used to let me sit on the bench if there was room. And that was the first and last time he sat on the bench for Sir Alex. Very interestingly, he was also the bus driver for Manchester City because he used to work for a coach firm in Manchester. And they had the contract to drive the United and the City coach.

coaches to away games. So what a great job he had. Yeah, that wouldn't happen. He was driving, you know, driving United and City all around the country and also being able to sit on the bench next to Ron Atkinson and for one time only next to Alex Furson.

Manchester City continue to miss Rodri, didn't they, as they lost 4-0 to Tottenham this weekend before kick-off last night. The Ballon d'Or winner paraded his trophy as he continues his rehab on that serious knee injury. He sat down with Lindsay Hooper earlier this week to discuss being regarded the best player in the world and his target of returning before the end of the season. Rodri, it's the first time in person we've got to say congratulations on the Ballon d'Or win. Thank you very much. Has it all sunk in, the magnitude of it?

No, not yet. I think I said it before, I think until let's say a few years or maybe when I retire I think I will really know what I've done to be honest and I'm kind of in a cloud you know trying to

assimilate this. But yeah, it's a great feeling for me, for my family, my country and now here in England. I'm excited to share it with the fans. And thank you for bringing it in to show it to us. I do hear a little bird tells me that you sleep with the trophy. Can you confirm or deny? Yeah, just a few hours after that I had to put it away because it's so heavy. You cannot sleep. But yeah, the first night was inseparable.

For you following some of the players that have won this award, did you feel that that has sent you a message that you are as good as everyone has told you all your life?

Well, to be honest, I don't need to win a Ballon d'Or to know my value. Sometimes it's a mistake, because for example we have lots of unbelievable players in my generation that they didn't want and they deserve it. So it's a matter of, you know, I always say this, an opinion of one hand of journalists, so glad to receive it, but in the other hand, you know, there are great players all around the world and

most of them depends on what they deserve also. But yeah, it's a great feeling. Getting to that top, top level, how much credit do you give Pep Guardiola in part of this journey? Because you played the same position, I imagine the development that you've had under him has helped for you to get this. Well, it helped me to grow as a player, you know, in terms of...

In all the sense, I never expected to become the player I am today. When I joined City, he managed to make a huge development in my game. I will always be glad for him to show me that there are more things you can improve and show football has many other ways.

And he gave me a gap of growing that I couldn't expect. So, yeah, I'm very glad for the people that I crossed in my life that has helped me to reach the level. And after that, there is a consequence of many things, you know.

the team, the success of the team, of the national team, of course individual performance, but football is a sport, a collective sport and this talks about importance. I tell the lads when I join them, this is also because of them, you know, if I'm not in the best team in the world I couldn't be here to win it.

You mentioned about the couple of months that you've had out and I wanted to ask you how the surgery went, how you're feeling. Yeah, good. I mean, good, I know, is something that you never want to happen. In the last months, I've lived the best and the worst of football, you know. But I'm always a positive guy, you know, always trying to...

go forward and always with positive feeling. And yeah, I think it's going much better than I expect in terms of the head. I don't want to run to come back. I just want to come back when I'm fit and

It's already been two months and it's been quite fast. But it's good to have something in mind. Six, seven months to stay there and I want to be involved in the last part of the season if it's possible. That would be good for me in terms of don't throw a year

to the bin in this sense. And then mentally, you know, to come back and prove myself that I can go back again. Yeah, really nice to hear from the Ballon d'Or winner. But Kaveh, is it unfair to say that City have become too reliant on their Ballon d'Or winner? I don't think that's unfair at all. I think any side would become over-reliant on the best player in the world.

I thought, though, that the problem yesterday wasn't just that City were missing Rodri. I thought it was because they were missing Kovacic as well. I think when Kovacic is playing, OK, he may not be as good a player as Rodri. He doesn't give you everything that Rodri gives you. But he is still a very, very good midfielder. And I think the problem yesterday was that they were without both of them. OK.

Darren, where do you stand on being too reliant on Rodri? I mean, I say he is the best in the world, so why wouldn't you? Well, I'm in two minds because the numbers suggest that they are too reliant on him. But then set against that, there are lots of examples in the Premier League era of teams really being reliant on one player. Harry Kane carried birds for years. Liverpool's title challenge a few years back collapsed when Virgil van Dijk was injured in the Merseyside derby.

If you were to take Bukayo Saka out of Arsenal, they're in trouble. Without Martin Odegaard, they've struggled over the past, what, two months. So there are other examples of...

clubs that are enthralled to one player. But that said, I want to take you to two quick newspapers, if I can. Well, one newspaper and another link. The first one is the Sunday Times. It's Martin Samuel's piece. And Martin makes a really good piece here. He says, no great team should fall apart minus a single component. And that set me thinking because it

he's right there are so many good players in the team and he says that this team right now this City team is no nearer to solving its issues than it was when everyone thought Pep Guardiola was putting his house on the market which is a nice line but at the same time he's right when you think about the number of good players that are still in the City team and the squad and he said City to

says for Tottenham fans still smarting at once being described as a Harry Kane team by a certain coach this win must have felt particularly delicious at least Kane was among the greatest goal scorers in the modern game who wouldn't miss Kane City have collapsed deprived of one defensive midfielder they've made Rodri look like Diego Maradona who didn't think they were better than that Guardiola certainly did

And he must have been staggered, says Martin, at what he saw yesterday. Now, I'm going to show you, go straight to another one.

Because Nick Wright on the Sky Sports website is talking about the statistics and the numbers around this. And he says, look, if the five point gap between City and Liverpool at the moment is easily surmountable. City were 10 points behind Liverpool in 18-19 when they came back to win the title. But where he does say that there's an issue is in the fact that

He says that the numbers suggest the idea that this is not surmountable without Rodri. He says City have conceded 17 goals in 12 games this season. It is the same number as 18th placed Crystal Palace and equates to an average nearly 40% higher than even that first trophy-less season under Guardiola.

And he gives a raft of reasons, that obviously among them, as to why the numbers suggest that even though we know there are good players in that team and that squad, and that no team should be reliant on one player, without him, it's not possible, in his opinion, to turn it around. All right. Let's turn our attentions to Saturday's results again. Chelsea gave Enzo Maresca a winning return to the King Power Stadium. They beat Leicester 2-1. We've got to be talking about Chelsea in the title race, haven't we, Carvey? Um...

I don't think so. I'm really impressed with the job that Enzo Maresca has done. I love watching this Chelsea side. They were brilliant to watch again yesterday. They're really good to watch away from home as well. Some of the formations they used yesterday were very gung-ho. I think at one point they were sort of attacking with six or seven players away.

He's doing a very good job. I think the target for Chelsea is to finish in the top four, to get back in the Champions League. And I think they're on track to do that.

And I think Enzo Maresca has just got that sort of connection back between the side and the fans. You know, for a long time, the fans just couldn't understand what was happening at Stamford Bridge. What were the owners trying to achieve? But we can see what they're trying to achieve by the way they're playing and by the job that Enzo Maresca has done. The only thing I didn't like about yesterday's game was that challenge on Cole Palmer. Yeah.

by Ndidi, how he didn't get a red card for that, I just don't understand. It will be interesting to see what Dermot Gallagher has to say about that on Ref Watch tomorrow. Not a good answer, if found him, Adly. We don't like to be, you know, harder referees on this show, but I think not only that challenge, but the penalty denied Leicester. Had that been a more high-profile team, I think we would have been talking about it far more, and I can understand why Steve Cooper was unhappy about...

after the match because had he correctly articulated that Andy Medley had made a mistake it would have been Cooper who would have been sanctioned by the FA because in this era we're not allowed to say what we see but the fact is that they were denied a legitimate penalty in that game and it could easily have ended up 2-2 I'm not sure it was a penalty I thought it was he took his knee away

Shall we watch? No, we haven't got time. Yeah, let's say. Ref watch. Yeah, exactly. It's 11am on Monday mornings. Look, did you expect them, you know, because all the talk in the off-season was all about the inflated squad. Did you expect them to be in this position given the rebuild that Maresca has had to do over the summer? No, I didn't. I could dance around it, but I didn't. The squad was big. They had a manager who had an excellent manager in the championship, but...

in the hot seat on his own for the first time in the Premier League. There were so many components that suggested that it was going to be a bridge too far for them this season, but the only teams to beat them so far in 2024 are Arsenal City and Liverpool. They're doing great guns. The only thing that worries me about them at the moment is no clean sheet now in eight games. It was going to be one in seven before that late goal yesterday. They've got to find a way to stop conceding goals

If they can do that, then yeah, they can be in the race for the top four. I don't think you can continue conceding goals at the rate they are and be in the race for the title. That's it for this week's Sunday Supplement podcast. We'll be back next Sunday, Sky Sports News from 10am with the podcast dropping as soon as we come off air. And if you don't already, please give Sunday Supplement a like, a follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.