Arsenal (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[BillyShears]

For me the spine looks really good now
dona, Dias, Rodri, foden, haaland
We seem more solid and less likely to concede
Once we start getting the confidence back and get a run of results teams will be scared
Only problem is we cannot control games or press like we used to

I'd add Josko to that spine, for me he's more important than Dias because of his pace.

I think we're getting cuter with regards to pressing/control. Having 80% possession is fine, but you also want to be able to exploit the obvious strengths we have in attacking transitions, and to do that you need to let the opposition have a little more of the ball. Obviously, I'm not talking about yesterday specifically, because I think that was just more about general fatigue and the fact the early goal we scored meant we could sit in a lot more.

You can see and feel the momentum and the mentality of the team growing game on game in the week gone. It's helped that Pep has stuck to an XI.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I'd add Josko to that spine, for me he's more important than Dias because of his pace.

I think we're getting cuter with regards to pressing/control. Having 80% possession is fine, but you also want to be able to exploit the obvious strengths we have in attacking transitions, and to do that you need to let the opposition have a little more of the ball. Obviously, I'm not talking about yesterday specifically, because I think that was just more about general fatigue and the fact the early goal we scored meant we could sit in a lot more.

You can see and feel the momentum and the mentality of the team growing game on game in the week gone. It's helped that Pep has stuck to an XI.

First time in 4 years he’s started the same team 3 times in a row.

 

[ancoats]

Where in my post do I say I feel down?

Not you, me matey.
The draw felt painful after such a great performance from all the hard work the City players put in

Today, it feels better; there is a great future in this squad and maybe we can be champions again

 

[Eaststander1]

If only went hadn't pushed so far up in the 93rd minute.
Apart from that loved the performance, turned the tables and play like 99% of teams play against us.
Gooners had nothing really.

Spot on, we had absolutely no need to maintain playing such a high line with only four minutes of injury time left, it's not as if we were even doing anything positive upfield at that late point anyway .... all it did was leave a huge gap for Martinelli to exploit.

 

[blue by birth]

Yesterday was a sad indictment on the club, that we had to employ such agricultural methods to get a draw
I'm sure Mourinho has a wry smile after yesterday

What a load of bollocks..
We played really well..defended fantastically for most of the game.
We played Thursday night so players were probably not 100% but still gave everything.
Agricultural methods my arse..all teams clear the ball away as far as possible under pressure..
We created some good chances and if we need to play like that again I'm more than happy.
Would you rather we defend much higher and lose possession then get countered as happened so many times last season.

 

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

We would have taken a point at the Emirates on the back of having to play Thursday whilst they had two days recovery time on City with their earlier game in the week. They were able to control the game against us but encountered a strong rear guard, the new keeper wasn’t falling for any of their tricks on corners and nullified them with his height and ability to punch them to safety. Doku was very good yesterday as an outlet.

Like others have mentioned, we fell to pieces in this fixture last season but frustrated and nullified Arsenal into not letting them do it this time round. Not many teams will come away with anything from their place, fatigue and maybe tired thinking after a full game of defending offered that split second for them to equalise at the death which was frustrating but we didn’t lose. A good 7 days for the team and lots to build on going forward.

 

[TonyBookEnd]

We were very pragmatic in tough away games in Europe when we won the treble. A point at Arsenal is a great result. It was great to see how resilient we were. Brighton was a car crash and we have learned our lessons,

Happy with pragmatism, no problem with controlled possession and satisfied with certain elements of yesterday's performance and certainly pleased with the point.
But not happy with the aimless punting the ball up the field in the 2nd half, we aren't Stoke

 

[Blueknows]

O'Reilly & Khusanov played really well. I liked how well the team defended for most of the game. Erling took his goal well, but if he had passed it to Foden when we had the other chance then we might have put the game to bed. Doku had a not bad chance too and played well.

Today was the most unlike Pep preformance I've seen since he's been here. It was really weird to watch.

I'm all for being pragmatic but it was worrying that we couldn't string more than 3 passes together or keep the ball for large parts of the game, just hoofing it away to let Arsenal attack again. It would have helped if we could have kept the ball a bit better.

It was like a training game for most of today where you play defence against attack and just let the other team keep coming forward. For all the possession we allowed Arsenal to have they didn't really create that much. They are like a Tony Pulis team, they even had a towel at the side of the pitch to dry the ball for the long throws today.

Overall not a bad result but a very different type of City performance under Pep.

Also not sure what's going on with our throw ins, need to work on them in training, we seem to give it away nearly every time at the moment.

Dont think Ive ever seen a throw in thrown out not once but twice

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Happy with pragmatism, no problem with controlled possession and satisfied with certain elements of yesterday's performance and certainly pleased with the point.
But not happy with the aimless punting the ball up the field in the 2nd half, we aren't Stoke

Arsenal are Stoke though. Long punts, long throws, cheating, corners. It was sweet to annoy them yesterday.

 

[The Blue]

I was definitely heartened by that performance yesterday. The lads battled hard and I think it will put us in good stead for the rest of the year.

Shame about their goal, Savinho didn't press Eze when he should have, Ake caught napping and Donna should have stayed on his line longer.

Would have took a point before the game though so well done blues.

 

[SuttonColdfieldBlue]

Simply cannot understand the hand-wringing and moaning over a disciplined, solid, effective park-the-bus performance yesterday. You cannot go to Arsenal and go all guns blazing and expect to blow them off the park. Those days are gone.

We have been crying out for years to have the ability to do that when required, it’s nice to see now that we have it in us. The current back 4 is arguably the best we have had for a couple of seasons and we used it to great effect yesterday (or the back 5 it became.) Frustrating to concede the goal but lapses of concentration after that run of games and defending so intensely for so long are going to happen.

We’ve got a bit of fire back and it’s great to see.

 

[Nicholas van Whatsisface]

Yesterday was a sad indictment on the club, that we had to employ such agricultural methods to get a draw
I'm sure Mourinho has a wry smile after yesterday

There’s been a lot of pompous, deeply pretentious, precious nonsense posted on here since the end of the game yesterday, which does no-one any favours.

We’re in the middle of a complete rebuild of the squad, and trying the repair our confidence off the back of a season in which we looked fragile and beatable at every turn.

Pep is absolutely right to be targeting building our confidence and team spirit back up as the foundation and the first step on the journey to creating the next great City side.

Without that, we’re nothing.

And I’d challenge anyone to watch yesterday’s game - or any of the three tough games we’ve faced this week - and say they can’t see a team spirit and belief returning to the team.

The time for beautiful, flowing football will come again, but right now the desire to fight for each other and to refuse to be beaten is more important than anything.

That strength of spirit and refusal to be beaten took time to build with our last great team, and it will again with this one.

It’s easy to get hung up on a single result or performance, to catastrophise on the detail - and to completely lose sight of the bigger picture in the process,

Something we’d all do well to remember at the moment.

It’s also easy to retreat into a self-indulgent, entrenched, pseudo-philosophical dead end in which secondary considerations become the primary focus.

 

[cheddar404]

I can understand and have to accept the reasons why we played this way, but why has it come to a situation where we felt we had to do it.
We have been so critical of teams who have parked the bus against us (including Arsenal) and now it's become acceptable for us. But to some, its being lauded as some sort of tactical awakening from Pep. Even Steve Nicol was singing Peps praises and that confirms how far we have fallen

I couldn't agree more. I always think it's a poor show when teams with resources like United and Arsenal come to our place and just defend, offering very little to the spectacle so I'm not happy when we do it. There's no real tactics involved in just putting everyone behind the ball either. Hopefully it's just a step in the direction of turning things around from last season and we definitely dug in and stuck to it so deserve credit for that. However, we just did what Burnley will do when they come to the Etihad so if they come away with a point after putting everyone behind the ball and killing the game, we can't have any complaints.

 

[Matt Diablo]

Margins. Ake came on at LB and kept Martinelli just onside by cm's. Harsh but a reality of keeping switched on until 97th minute. Think we looked quite comfortable. Lots to look forward to . . .

 

[HoneyMonster89]

Yeh just the 33 games to go……

I can't see anyone stopping Liverpool, unfortunately. 15 points while playing poorly half of the time. Wait until they actually click.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Yep, you're right about Liverpool .... City know it, and Arsenal's desperation and celebration at their equaliser showed that they know it too .... Liverpool have five wins from five games already, and even though it's early season yet, that IS definitely title winning form in anyone's book!

Interesting though that despite Liverpool being eight points ahead of us, they have conceded the same amount of goals as City, and only scored two goals more !

For all their quality on paper, Liverpool have lived a charmed life this season so far. If they get a few key injuries or have a bad couple of games in a row (2 draws is worse than a win and a loss), that’s a 4 point swing at a minimum, so it’s far too early yet.

For those feeling desperation, you should review City’s start to last season and where we ended up after Rodri’s injury and others.

The reason we play the game is because almost every pre-season opinion committed to paper is wrong!

 

[Blueknows]

Simply cannot understand the hand-wringing and moaning over a disciplined, solid, effective park-the-bus performance yesterday. You cannot go to Arsenal and go all guns blazing and expect to blow them off the park. Those days are gone.

We have been crying out for years to have the ability to do that when required, it’s nice to see now that we have it in us. The current back 4 is arguably the best we have had for a couple of seasons and we used it to great effect yesterday (or the back 5 it became.) Frustrating to concede the goal but lapses of concentration after that run of games and defending so intensely for so long are going to happen.

We’ve got a bit of fire back and it’s great to see.

I loved that performance yesterday , considering the ongoing rhetoric about how our defence is vulnerable , can be got at , shaky and our 3rd game in 7 days it was a fantastic effort

 

[HoneyMonster89]

O'Reilly and Khusanov were definitely positives from the past week. They deserve to be the regular FB starters.

Gvardiol isn't entirely to blame for the equaliser. It's a world class finish, to be fair. But he has 1-2 moments per game where he loses concentration. It's the only thing preventing him from becoming a top defender. At 23, he'll hopefully mature over the next 12 months or so.

Doku looks a lot more confident in himself now. That was a huge week from him.

Haaland has been back to his best this season. A lot more determined.

I actually think Reijnders is slowly getting up to speed with the pace and physicality of the league. He shows glimpses of his ability in every game. After about 20 games, he should be fully up to speed.

The squad depth is currently lacking without Cherki and Marmoush.

 

[TonyBookEnd]

What a load of bollocks..
We played really well..defended fantastically for most of the game.
We played Thursday night so players were probably not 100% but still gave everything.
Agricultural methods my arse..all teams clear the ball away as far as possible under pressure..
We created some good chances and if we need to play like that again I'm more than happy.
Would you rather we defend much higher and lose possession then get countered as happened so many times last season.

But did we play really well? Really?
Did we defend fantastically or did we just defend deep and with numbers?
Listen if you're happy with that, then I respect that. I just believe that we should be better than that. I'm just asking myself, would Real Madrid or Barcelona or Liverpool do that?

It just seems odd to me that Pep would pick this moment to dramatically change his philosophy. For someone who believes, to his very core, that to cede possession so easily is almost a sin. Why now? Why not last year when it probably warranted it more.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

On reflection the most frustrating part was that after defending so deep and so intelligently, especially for their set pieces (Rodri deliberately standing in front of our keeper to stop any attempt at blocking etc) we then effectively get caught on the counter attack for their equaliser.
Yes,. there was a potential foul, but there were no team mates close enough to take one for the team.

However I'd have taken 1-1 before the game and I thought our defenders were brilliant

One other slightly cynical observation

Our nearest defender should have borrowed an old Camelgob trick and pulled Martinelli down outside the area.

Red Card and automatic suspension for the Huddersfield game (when he would probably have been rested regardless)