City v Arsenal friendly post match thread

[badge]

"Arsenal ended their pre-season campaign in fine style with a comprehensive 3-1 win over Manchester City in Helsinki."

"Although Alvaro Negredo would fire a consolation for Manchester City with ten minutes remaining, Arsenal deservedly held on as they had shown the greater invention in front of a capacity crowd at the Olympic Stadium."

arsenal's website appear to suggest this was a trouncing.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Some of you posting (many with A LOT of posts) that we 'got battered' today, and will be 'lucky to get top 4' etc just need to get a grip for a second.
Pre season friendly?
I agree the sharpness wasn't there on the left side of the defence but FFS, rather they ship the goals now and are tighter for next week?
But the Rest of the game, we dominated - and the understanding is starting to show with the new players being integrated. And Dave Silva was sublime, Fernandinho and Negredo workhorses, and contributions from everyone else. Fitness first.
Anyone who thinks we won't turn up next Monday, is in for a shock.

Bish will soon learn that high posting numbers on BM mean fuck all.

It's the quieter ones you need to watch mate.

 

[gmckennasell]

I know its only a friendly but those that think were suddenly going to get loads better for our first game are wide of the mark. It was a friendly for Arsenal too dont forget and they battered us today fairly easily. Very disappointing display today.

Obviously you were watching a different game , but a good wind up , you should get plenty of comments.

 

[hgblue]

That was a bit shit.

Plenty of possession but like last season - toothless.

Playing a higher defensive line against teams like Arsenal will cause us untold grief this season - especially if the defensive midfield don't close down the opposition quickly enough in front of the defensive line. Yaya was mostly at fault in this respect but Fernandiniho wasn't great either.

As to the teams attacking play we looked unbalanced with far too much going down the right. And upfront Negredo misses far too many opportunities. He scored 1 from 6 today and was similarly wasteful against Byern and Sunderland. He needs to score 1 in 3 to be a good striker.

Early days but its not looking good.

Negredo has been like that his whole career, he ain't going to change now. We should have signed Suarez instead. The guys a top quality striker and I fancy Arsenal to have a great season if they get him. We need Aguero back asap, and we need him to stay fit.

 

[sam-caddick]

Silva, Navas and Negredo are off to Ecuador..

I didn't think Negredo was in Spanish squad, similarly Fernandhino won't be in Brazil squad.

Negredo is in the Spain squad, Torres got dropped.

 

[Tricky Dickys Right Foot Shot]

I know its only a friendly but those that think were suddenly going to get loads better for our first game are wide of the mark. It was a friendly for Arsenal too dont forget and they battered us today fairly easily. Very disappointing display today.

They didn't 'batter' us.

In all fairness we outplayed Arsenal both in chances and possession but the old saying is that goals are what count!

Apart from 2 defensive mistakes which lead to 2 goals I thought we looked a far better team to that of last season we look a danger going forward and look like we'll score or at least cause problems! At 3-0 Arsenal could afford to have everyone sat in their own half and just park the bus but at 0-0 they were all over the show struggling to keep up with our play.

You can argue about the defense sure but a game against and English Prem side who are a top 4 club will give Pellegrini a good insight on what you can and can't do against these sides in a English competitive game!

Last season we dominated most of our pre-season friendlies against decent oppositions and looked hoe shit we played throughout the course of the season, I know it's an old cliché but it is only a pre-season friendly and they count for nothing, now if this same situation as today's game occurs a week on Monday then I'll be annoyed!

 

[herrock]

I am just hoping that we aren't going to be the same as last year in missing loads of chances and paying the price for it. Negredo looks better on his own up front and not with Dzeko, his attitude looks good too. A strange game though, and i'm not too concerned about the performance, teams don't go into tackles so hard and don't bust a gut to get back and defend in friendlies. We played some nice stuff at times, Silva is looking good and Fernandinho is looking like a good buy. In defence I am more worried about the full backs than the centre halves, we seem to get caught out of position a lot at the moment. We will be ready on Monday night, have no fear chaps.

 

[kevodevo]

And what did that win us again?

Second in the league actually but then again you may be spoilt.

Brilliant! I'd happily have the best defense in the world then if it means us winning second place but then again I'm spoilt right?

Haha!

Ha Ha - you cannot multi task can you? ie. read AND understand- just read the whole thing again then try, really try and understand - it might be hard for you but you will learn quite a lot about football

 

[rastus]

Having had the best defnce in the prem last season there is some work to be done.
Barry may be the slowest on the pitch now but FFS his brain is one of the fastest.
City would do well to keep him for many prem. Matches
Left side of defence is a worry .For me Lescott is not working well and Boyata would be better until Nasty is back.
Get Willian too we will need another tricky player cos a lot of prem teams will park the bus against us and it'll be hard to open teams up despite Navas ' s speed down the line.
AGuero is crucial for a good start too

And what did that win us again?

It helps though

 

[Tricky Dickys Right Foot Shot]

Second in the league actually but then again you may be spoilt.

Brilliant! I'd happily have the best defense in the world then if it means us winning second place but then again I'm spoilt right?

Haha!

Ha Ha - you cannot multi task can you? ie. read AND understand- just read the whole thing again then try, really try and understand - it might be hard for you but you will learn quite a lot about football

I read the whole thing and agree with some points you make apart from Barry and Willian but the point I was making was having the best defense doesn't count for tiddly squat!