Arsenal (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[lasereyes]

To put in perspective for some of you yappers complaining about them hoofing the ball and letting Arsenal attack. Two years ago, same fixture, Arsenal also had almost 70% possession in that game as well.

Now this same team, did not have a pre season, added new pieces all over the team, including some really young players playing out of position for all intents and purposes. This is also Gvardiol’s first year playing CB for us. It’s gonna take time for them to gel and for these new players to get adjusted to Peps system.

Couple this with the fact that most teams unless they are in the Europa League aren’t playing Thursday and then Sunday. They played two tough matches back to back, and a potentially title deciding match on two days rest, unheard of. Game should’ve been rescheduled for a Monday night. This team hasn’t had a proper break for years. Considering Marmoush and Cherki are both out, Rodri is still getting his legs under him, which is why I said in my previous comment come talk to me in Feb, March after the reverse fixture at the Etihad and we will see who’s hoofing.

Very well said. All the dice were loaded in Arsenal's favour including the whacks in black. We could have easily folded like last year in the 2H but the boys dug very deep. Very proud of the effort and so easily could have won it.

 

[coolcity]

Some times the opposition is just better than us. Your first point about its not how we have won titles is correct, but them other City sides were a lot better than this one, and this current Arsenal side are also better than a lot of the Arsenal sides City have played in the past too. We all want to play free flowing attacking football, but this team is in transition and is finding its feet. A point away at any top side is always good a point. To say you would have rather us attacked and got beat trying Iike you said in your original post, too me is frankly ridiculous.

I said I would rather we attacked even IF we got beat. They might have had a few more half chances but so would we, and I would back up to score more than them. They had nothing special upfront and were limited to as many shots on target as we had, we were handing them fine. To go a goal up with the world's best striker on the park in the form of his life, having scored already within 10 minutes then to try to hang on for 90 is ridiculous for me.

If its about still finding their feet I expect the same XI will play at Huddersfield. I know we're not the finished article yet but we'll never get there playing like that.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

If you go to Burnley there will only be you and the club groundsman there ..... the game is a 3pm kick off at the Etihad!

Love it.....

 

[coolcity]

You have absolutely no idea if Doku staying on would have saved us. Any different action by Pep might have, as it is a different game but it is all just speculation.

That's why I said "probably".

 

[coolcity]

That's garbage. He didn't ask to go off, if he had he would have done so straight away so everybody could see he was injured. You have no idea how much damage there was.

Man up? When we the last time we had anybody have a go and put a tackle in, in the way he does? We were letting in goals for fun last season because players were just standing off their opponents and watching them put it in the back of the net.

 

[coolcity]

Looong week, 3 great results but honestly what the fuck was that, I’d seriously take the the two results and of gone out pointless today showing this league what we’re about and some thing more than park the bus. Again a great week just felt like I’d had a romantic weekend away and shot my load after 20 seconds then watched emmerdale on catch up

My point exactly. As I've said, we have the best striker in the world in the form in the form of his life, he scores in the first 9 minutes and we decide not to attack again but defend it for an hour and a half.

That's how teams play who are trying to avoid relegation. How many times do you see a backs to the wall performance that comes off? One in ten? It was suicide, they were always going to score and we just got lucky they didn't get one back earlier.

 

[Blue_Lightsaber]

My point exactly. As I've said, we have the best striker in the world in the form in the form of his life, he scores in the first 9 minutes and we decide not to attack again but defend it for an hour and a half.

That's how teams play who are trying to avoid relegation. How many times do you see a backs to the wall performance that comes off? One in ten? It was suicide, they were always going to score and we just got lucky they didn't get one back earlier.

Umm it's not rocket science to realize this..

We are just not the team of 2017-24 anymore!

Who's technically awesome on the ball?

Haaland?? Nope.
Doku?? Nope.
Khusanov?? Nope.
Donnarumma?? Nope.
Dias?? Nope.

Gvardiol?? maybe.
Reijnders?? maybe.

Rodri?? Yes
Foden?? Yes
Nico O'Reilly?? Yes
Bernardo?? Yes

From the subs:
Nunes: Nope.
Ake: Nope
Savinho: Nope LOL
Nico Gonzales: maybe
Stones: Yes

If there's only 4 technically proficient players.. WE CANNOT KEEP THE FUCKING BALL!

Pep realized it and adapted it to fit the players we have.. you may not like it but it is what it is.

That's why we ended up with a draw.. (almost a win) instead of losing 5-1 like last season.

 

[Goater101]

If we had Marmoush and Cherki back they would have been subbed on at 1-0 and probs kill the game for us. Need our injured players back.

 

[citymad]

All the fanny wipers watch this.

This sounds like a man who wants to rebuild and win everything again.

Love Pep's little dig at the question on parking the bus "1 time in 10 years is not bad right?
That twat Sutton kept going on about it on 606 as if we're doing it every week.

 

[citymad]

O’Reilly is a absolute warrior , alt nouri must be behind him now

Played with a lot of maturity and discipline. Such a talent!

 

[citymad]

the spine of our team - GG, Gvardiol, Rodri, Haaland is class

the rest of them though arent half a mixed bag.

why the hell cant we keep the ball anymore? moving away from tiki taka just isnt man city sorry. today we were bossed by arsenal, even before the goal they had more of the ball and its not a plan thats gonna work long term.

Reijnders, Dias, Doku, Savinho, Gonzales, Marmoush, Nunes, Lewis, Ake and tbh Bernie if you put them under pressure they will lose the ball.

So you reckon if we'd had gone for it we would've come out on top? I was thrilled to see that we can dig deep and be resilient under pressure. Besides it'll be good practice for when we go to the likes of Newcastle and the dippers where we might have to defend a bit.

 

[The perfect fumble]

So you reckon if we'd had gone for it we would've come out on top? I was thrilled to see that we can dig deep and be resilient under pressure. Besides it'll be good practice for when we go to the likes of Newcastle and the dippers where we might have to defend a bit.

Now the dust has settled, I reckon we'll probably not win the Premier league. But with a performance like that, I wouldn't put it past us to win the Champions League.

 

[Pedestrian]

The Referee did not want to give City anything, Doku should report the referee to the Premier League because it was criminal towards him,

Why do you feel down, City played very well against Arsenal and the match officials and got something from the game

Where in my post do I say I feel down?

 

[Father Paul]

Having had a few hours to reflect on the goal that was conceded I have come to the following conclusions:

A) a free kick should have been awarded fir the foul on Gonzalez - symptomatic of the refereeing of Attwell

B) Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol were uncharacteristically slow to respond to Martinelli's run - forgivable mistakes

C) Josko should have pushed up in line with Nathan but again, forgivable

D) Savinho who had plenty of energy, however, had one job to do, but he didn't do it. He didn't make any effort to close Eze down. Given that he has done the sum of bugger all when called upon this season, and he spent the immediate aftermath moaning to his team mates on the pitch after the Derby thrashing says it all. He has a bad attitude. If he doesn't improve we should get rid. That's not knee jerk that's based on observations last season and this - he does it when he feels like it which won't do. I'm done with him.

I am fairly certain at this stage he is out the door in January. I don't think he will be missed either.

 

[Nightmare Walking]

No but we didn’t win either.

We needed a win and another high line defensive shit show saw us undone.

We played a 5-5-0 formation and still conceded with a high line to a ball over the top!

If that were the rags (who were level on pints with btw) we’d be pissing ourselves.

It was a shocking performance wrapped up as a grind it out, gritty defensive display…. Which we didn’t even grind out.

You're utterly fucking clueless.

 

[Nightmare Walking]

No they’ll kick on into gear at some point. We’re not at their level and unlikely to be but that the performance has given me confidence we can win something this year.

I don't see anything that suggests they will kick into gear. They look more like we did at the start of last year. It won't be long till the media get on Wirtz's back. An injury or two in their defence and they are in big trouble.

 

[kupest]

We have too many players out. Marmoush would have been extremely crucial yesterday on the counter. Ait Nouri would have been important as well. The subs arnt in rhythm yet (Savinho specially) and will hopefully get into it soon. It's looking a lot better than last Saturday now atleast.

 

[Bewar3them00n]

Hardly any preseason,
new players bedding in,
players coming back from injury,
players out injured,
players injured during the game,
3 games on the bounce with the same starting line up,
Thursday- Sunday turnaround away from home against a side that thumped us last season who have strengthened significantly,
I was expecting another mauling.
The onus is on the home side to be on the attack, not the away side, & with City’s well discussed frailties, Pep has embraced a more pragmatic game plan that aligns with our current strengths.
Maybe we should’ve held on for a win, maybe Haaland should’ve squared it to Foden to make it 2-0?
We didn’t capitulate, Pep has adapted & become flexible with his tactics, something many have been calling out for, & it almost worked perfectly.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Having watched the game, and City for over 50 years, I feel like I have never seen such a ridiculous media narrative against what happened yesterday.

As someone who has begged Pep to have an attacking Plan B and learn how to defend, I’m in awe of the way the players executed a defensive masterclass against a 70% possession Arsenal that was full strength with a full strength bench.

We made a great start by getting our nose ahead, and continued to try to counter with prejudice when able. However, I saw a defensive discipline I haven’t seen in years, possibly even the days of Doyle, Watson and Booth, or perhaps Kompany & Lescott, but even that had a clanger in it!

To see the media ALL baying about “parking the bus,” especially given THEIR narrative about us being so porous at the back for years (1 shot, 1 goal!), is such hypocrisy.

I’m ecstatic to know that City now have this in their locker, and while it’s not going to get deployed on a regular basis, there are times when it might be invaluable.

As I said earlier, and has been repeated by many, a WIN-WIN-DRAW this week is an excellent week of hard work, especially given our injury list, combined with our “lack of match fitness” list.

Yes, gutted to lose 2 points to them in the 93rd minute, but ecstatic with the week’s results in total AND the combined effort and attitude of the team.

BRING IT ON!

 

[Eaststander1]

Rags, Napoli and arse all in a week. Some players still coming back and new injuries picked up.

We won’t play like that many times this season.

Arse are a top side but you can still see the weak mentality. Dips league again unless we go on a run out of nowhere.

I appreciate the hard graft put in today. The fight is in this team. We look so much better over the last two games and have shown 2 sides to our game.

Gonna be a decent season. Injuries tho, fuck off.

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 !