Rodri gave his views on how he felt Manchester City and Arsenal were being perceived respectively during the first half of last season.
Mikel Arteta’s side were rightly being hailed by fans and pundits alike as they had stunned the world by emerging as surprise challengers for the Premier League title.
However, despite not being at their breathtaking best, Pep Guardiola’s men managed to keep pace with them.
What Rodri said about Arsenal halfway into last season
Like this season as well in a sense while Arsenal have rightly been lauded and many have noticed that City have not been firing on all cylinders, there is only a one-point gap between the two sides.
Ultimately, the fact that this is the case also goes to show how high City have raised the bar as unless they are sitting pretty in first place and playing the best possible brand of football, question marks start to emerge about them.
Eventually, Pep Guardiola and Co. burst the Gunners’ bubble, as their experience seemingly proved paramount in the title fight between both sides.
In the third episode of Netflix’s Together: Treble Winners documentary, Rodri gave a team talk in front of his Manchester City teammates halfway into last season about how he feels many have already crowned Arsenal as the Premier League champions.
“The first part of the season was great but it’s not enough guys, it’s not enough. Now we start again with the rhythm, I watched the Arsenal game two days ago and they were talking about it was almost done, Arsenal win again. I was like…it seems they don’t respect you guys. We have won four of the last Premier Leagues, and we’re going to do it again”, he said.
Rodri might have a point as perhaps some fans and pundits alike were caught up in how well Arsenal were performing, forgetting how dangerous this Manchester City side can be.
Rodri is a leader of men
Instead of being intimidated by the rise of Arsenal, Rodri took the onus to remind his Manchester City teammates why they remain the team to beat in the title race.
It would be human nature for the City players to perhaps be bogged down by how Arteta’s side were winning game after game while perhaps doing so in a fearless manner that many associate with their team.
But that is where a leader of men like the Spanish international’s team talk was a reminder that the players at the Etihad Stadium should back themselves due to their recent dominance.
It takes such figures in the dressing room to galvanise the team and take responsibility instead of buckling under the pressure and Rodri certainly did, which is why he is a part of the club’s leadership group.