Gonzalez Embraces Maresca's Demands Ahead of Community Shield

There is a new rhythm on the training pitches, and Gonzalez can feel it.

Days out from the Community Shield and the official start of a new era under Enzo Maresca, the midfielder says the squad is still very much in learning mode – and will be for a long time yet.

“We won't know everything that we could learn during the year before the first week of the season,” he told the club’s official channel, laying bare the scale of the change. “But even when one year has passed, we will always keep learning.”

That line could easily double as a mission statement for Maresca’s project. The work is intense, the detail relentless, and the clock is ticking. Some players are not even in the building yet.

“It's not easy because some players will come the same week as the Community Shield,” Gonzalez admitted. The schedule is unforgiving, the adaptation window brutally short. “But for us that have been here since day one it's going to be easier to be ready for that match.”

Those early weeks with a new coach often define a season’s tone. Gonzalez sounds like a player who has already bought in.

“I've been enjoying our sessions with Enzo,” he said, without hesitation. The comparison with last season is inevitable, and he did not shy away from it. “Obviously there are differences to last year with Pep but there are a lot of similarities in the way we are playing.”

The core principles remain. High pressing. Aggression without the ball. Relentless passing when they have it.

“It's the same whole idea of high pressure and getting the ball as quick as possible and doing a lot of passes,” Gonzalez explained, sketching out a style that will feel familiar to supporters even with a new voice on the touchline.

That continuity matters. This is a squad built on dominance, on setting the tempo rather than reacting to it.

“It's important that we keep the same level as we've been playing the last years and with that ambition,” he said. “I think those are the ideas of Enzo and I am loving it.”

Enjoyment is one thing. Sustaining it from August to May is another. Gonzalez knows the demands will only grow as Maresca layers more detail onto the framework.

“The season is so long so we have keep being ready to adapt to new things that Enzo asks us.”

The message is clear: the learning will not stop. The only question now is how quickly this group can turn those sessions into silverware, starting with that first statement test at the Community Shield.