Peter Crouch says Arsenal look ‘way ahead’ of Manchester City and more than ‘ready’ for the season ahead on the basis of their Community Shield performance.
Arsenal swept City aside in an utterly dominant display in Cardiff, with Enzo Maresca given a rude awakening in his first official match in the dugout.
Riccardo Calafiori fired the Gunners in front inside 24 seconds to ensure City were up against it from minute one and Kai Havertz increased the deficit with a close-range header on the half-hour mark.
The Premier League champions flew out of the blocks after the restart and within three minutes they were duly rewarded for their efforts as Martin Odegaard kept his composure to put the contest to bed.
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It proved an unforgettable day for Arsenal’s summer signing from Club Brugge, Christos Tzolis, who provided the assists for both Havertz and Odegaard on his full debut for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Myles Lewis-Skelly also shone amid incessant rumours over his future, setting up Calafiori’s opener with an exquisite shimmy and through ball directly into the Italian’s path to get Arsenal up and running.
The north Londoners will be looking to carry that same form into Friday night when kick off their Premier League title defence at home to Frank Lampard’s newly promoted Coventry.
Reflecting on Sunday’s one-sided Community Shield on That Peter Crouch Podcast, Crouch hailed Arsenal as far and away the better team at the Principality Stadium, before picking out Tzolis and Lewis-Skelly for special praise.
‘I think City will improve but Arsenal were ahead of them, way ahead of them. They look so ready,’ the ex-England, Liverpool and Tottenham striker said.
‘Tzolis on the left-hand side there, he looks like a player, Riccardo Calafiori looked good… the calibre of the goals.
‘Myles Lewis-Skelly, he’s let that ball run and it’s unbelievable. It’s a beautiful pass. If that was Martin Odegaard or someone you’d expect like a Michael Olise… I thought that was a beautiful bit of play. Class!
‘He was flourishing in midfield and you consider they’ve got Bruno Guimaraes in there as well, Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino.
‘F***inghell, that’s an unbelievable squad.’
City have been left with a Rodri-shaped hole in their midfield after the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner agreed a deal to join Barcelona prior to Sunday’s clash in the Welsh capital.
And while Crouch is a ‘huge fan’ of club-record signing Elliot Anderson, he has no doubts that City will miss their Spanish talisman over the coming weeks and months.
‘Do I think they missed Rodri? I thought Elliot Anderson still played fantastically well,’ he said.
‘I’m a huge fan of Anderson but they are going to miss Rodri, there’s no denying it.’
On the daunting task that awaits Maresca, Crouch continued: ‘I like the manager, Pep Guardiola is just a different level to anyone.
‘You wouldn’t want to follow him would you?’
Crouch was, though, pleased to see Jack Grealish get game-time in Cardiff, with the midfielder coming on in place of Jeremy Doku at the halfway stage.
Whatever the future holds for Grealish, whether that be at City or elsewhere, Crouch just wants to see the England international get his stuttering career ‘back on track’.
‘Anyone who has won a treble in the manner that he did is always going to be appreciated,’ he added.
‘Those players are legends forever at the club. No matter what goes on from now on, he’ll always be revered at Manchester City for that season they had because it was incredible.
‘He needs to get his career back on track and I’m sure he’ll be hoping it’s with City. The manager hasn’t ruled it out.’
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