Arsenal Post Match Thread.

BluessinceHydeRoad said:
The press are peddling the line that Arsenal were firmly in control in the first half but wilted in the face of City's second half onslaught, when Gusrdiola realised pretty-pretty football had to give way to good old English physicality to overcome Arsenal's foreign softies. There followed analysis after analysis of how Arsenal were sabotaged by the ref as they threw the game away. This is not the game any of us watched.

Guardiola teams have never simply played pretty-pretty football and City don't. They didn't convert to physicality during halftime either. City play high energy, intense, possession-based pressing football. For 45 minutes yesterday the high energy, the intensity and the pressing were missing. Arsenal's goal was the best example- a full back allowed to run 60 yards, two other players move the ball into our area and Walcott puts it in without a City player getting within 5 yards of any of them! Bravo did what he always seems to do in a one-on-one - go down to his left far too early. It was the missing ingredients which had destroyed United, which had not given Messi & co a sniff for over an hour and which had tortured Chelsea for an hour which came back in the second half.

But Arsenal were beaten tactically as well. The MEN has failed to grasp this by asking what Pep has got against Iheanacho. The answer is - nothing at all. But in Barcelona he left Sergio out for greater solidity in midfield, and yesterday he left out Iheanacho to pack the midfield. I think the explanation is quite simple. Arsenal - like Barcelona- pass the ball well and play through midfield. Pep wanted numerical superiority there to deny Arsenal the ball and marginalise Sanchez and Walcott. Now, this clearly won't work without the intense press. In the second half City pressed in packs, isolated the Arsenal lad with the ball and the Gooners didn't launch an attack of note. But City also had two wide men of frightening pace, who, much of the time, did keep the chalk on their boots. This stretched Arsenal's back line across the pitch but also forced Arsenal to try and counter their pace by dropping ever deeper. Two lines of four in a decent defensive formation gave way to isolated front men unable to link with midfielders unable to keep the ball or shield a beleaguered back four. City's back four, so vulnerable early on, we're given excellent protection because Arsenal were denied time and good ball in midfield and couldn't move it forward, and so our lads could move forward to make interceptions or tackles. We were never turned and no-one was allowed to run at us with the ball.

I think the comeback was a triumph for Silva, KdB, Sané, Sterling and YaYa but most of all for Pep. He drew up the blue print for success but for 45 minutes the lads only put half of it into practice. In the second half we got nearly the whole package and it was impressive. That is Pep's mission - to get us playing Guardiola football for 90 minutes a game, 65 games a season.
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Great post.
 
Shaelumstash said:
If you actually watch the game without commentary and look at what actually happened, we dominated both halves, Arsenal scored off their only shot on goal, they forced 1 corner and had 39% of the ball. We absolutely battered them from beginning to end. The only difference in the second half is we had more of a cutting edge.
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^ .... this is exactly how I saw it mate ..... spot on.
 
I don't think either side played well in the first half. We dominated the ball but Arsenal looked much more dangerous when going forward. It was like LVG at United last season. Whilst they didn't create anything aside from their goal, the speed at which them moved the ball was impressive compared to our slow and laboured style. We also didn't create much either. The main difference was that they took their big chance and we missed ours.

Second half was a different story and we dominated from the 45th minute until the 95th. Arsenal aren't some relegation fodder either. They couldn't get near us and there was a 5 minute spell where we had the ball in their half and bossed them around. It was Barcaesque.

A lot has been made about what changed at half time and the common theme seems to be the intensity and aggression. However, the key thing for me was the roles of Sterling and Sane.

Usually our wide men have to do a strict defensive job as well which means they play slightly deeper whilst Silva and KDB roam forward. The problem with that is there is very little movement in the final third. Silva and KDB both like to dictate the ball rather than make the defence penetrating runs and we have little options up front. However, with Silva being slightly deeper it allowed Sterling and Sane to have a free reign. Both of them never stop running and moving and Arsenal couldn't cope with their movement and runs. Silva and KDB both picked the run of Sane for his goal and Cech made a good save. Then there is the vision and movement for Sterlings goal.

Hopefully our wide men can add more goals to their game because in Sterling and Sane we have two of the most exciting young players in the world. Add Jesus to the mix and it's a brilliant time to be a City fan.
 
Blue Pete said:
Better team over 90 mins, better team in first half (just) much better for most of second half.
However,as I saw it, the last 10mins were mostly Arsenal and although we did well on the counter I thought that was by far their best period and they were better than us I that 10min spell. But can't see anyone (I'll be honest I've not read every post) mentioning this.
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No question, but Arsenal must surely have DESERVERED the three points more than us, Arsene intimated as much, just as the Dippers DESERVED their win on Monday!! How many times do we hear such shite as 'deserved the win'! One of the biggest loads of talkshite about football going!
 
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader said:
No question, but Arsenal must surely have DESERVERED the three points more than us, Arsene intimated as much, just as the Dippers DESERVED their win on Monday!! How many times do we hear such shite as 'deserved the win'! One of the biggest loads of talkshite about football going!
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The word 'deserve' in football is one of the most annoying
 
Has Wenger stopped crying yet?

Anyone else hear Matterazzi claim Watford deserved to win the game on Wed night? I ****stop laughing at that blinkered twat either.
 
A lot of irrelevant concepts are coming into this discussion thanks to the pundits. Football matches are decided by goals not by slo-mo replays of goals, not by dessert and not even by domination (domination of possession is a means to an end for Pep). The excellent article cited by Domalino explains how we created the context which produced our victory. We used various tactical means to create chances which resulted in two goals. The fact is that Arsenal managed to produce only one shot on target in all 94 minutes. This was clearly never enough to win the game especially as the officials saw no reason to question the validity of City's goals - and neither did Arsenal until the game was over. The other statistics show clearly that City had the better of the match by far - but then they showed us that Leicester had the worst of most matches last season. In the end City won; I think they won well but that, like all the pundits' hot air is irrelevant.
 
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