As we braced ourselves for the next instalment of this now infamous rivalry, it was easy to get carried away with the hope of being treated to another thriller. Unfortunately, it didn’t really live up to expectations.
Arsenal started with their typical approach of controlling the game with hundreds of passes back and forth that kept ending up back in their own box instead of in Man City’s. In fact, I’m sure David Raya touched the ball more than any of Arsenal’s front three in that first half. Anyway, once Man City realised Arsenal weren’t offering too much they decided to pounce with a sharp give and go between Haaland and Reijnders which resulted in the big Norwegian leaving Gabriel for dead as he bounded down the pitch and slotted it in the bottom corner for his 6th league goal of the season.
Towards the end of the first half, after another handful of passes back to Raya, Arsenal finally decided to be brave and push forward. Yep, with 5 mins left of the first half, the Gunners sprung into action and started laying siege to City’s defence for the first time but their late attempts were unsuccessful, meaning a huge second half was ahead for the home team.
After an abysmal first 45 mins, Arteta finally realised his best chance of winning the game was to bring on his best players. Fancy that, eh? Anyway, Eze and Saka came on to a warm reception and got straight amongst it. Pep, meanwhile, clearly conscious of the waves of attack that continued to bombard City’s backline, decided to reinforce it… Mourinho style! Yep, the Spaniard abandoned his normal principles of trying to play football and instead reverted to parking the bus with a solid back 8! Credit to Arsenal though, they continued to chip away and break down the blue wall of China and in the end it was a classic, old fashioned ball over the top from Eze that found Martinelli who produced a moment of magic as he lobbed Donnarumma on the half volley to secure a point for the Gunners.
Back to the future!
The main take away from this game though, was how different Pep’s side played. A man who’s always been so insistent on a pass-pass, possession based style yet completely ditched this approach and instead opted for sitting back, parking the bus and trying to play on the counter attack. Was it anti-football or just another sign of the times?
Well, although we’re only 5 game weeks into the season it’s felt like a rather refreshing trip down memory lane… we’ve been treated to the return of long throw ins that we’re now suddenly seeing on a weekly basis in the Prem. Long balls over the top are also seemingly back in fashion and have definitely proved effective so far this season, likewise with the old route one approach to the big striker up top. Set pieces these days are also more important than ever with the art of crossing becoming an in-demand trait once more. Never mind those adverts, it looks like Big Sam, Pardew and Pulis could well return to management after all!
However you look at it, it’s clear the football landscape is changing and I feel that Mikel Arteta needs to change with it. The boring tippy tappy passing back and forth between your back line is, thankfully, becoming a thing of the past. Hence why the newly promoted teams, for example, are doing much better already this season because they’re not trying to play out from the back, they’re being direct and just trying to win games. In that respect, Arteta needs to be much more direct too and take the handbrake off, especially in big games because the repetitive cautious approach we’ve seen already against Liverpool and Man City this season is the reason they didn’t win either of those games.
Ratings!
Arsenal Man City
Raya-⭐⭐ Donnarumma-⭐⭐
Timber-⭐⭐⭐ Khusanov-⭐
Saliba-⭐⭐ Dias - ⭐⭐⭐
Gabriel-⭐⭐ Gvardiol - ⭐⭐⭐
Calafiori-⭐⭐⭐ O’Reilly - ⭐⭐⭐
Zubimendi-⭐⭐ Rodri - ⭐⭐
Rice-⭐⭐⭐ Foden - ⭐
Merino-⭐ Bernardo - ⭐⭐
Madueke-⭐⭐ Doku - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Gyokeres-⭐ Reijnders -⭐⭐
Trossard-⭐⭐ Halaand- ⭐⭐⭐
Subs:
Saka - ⭐⭐ Nunes- ⭐⭐
Eze - ⭐⭐⭐ Ake - ⭐⭐
Martinelli-⭐⭐⭐ Gonzalez - ⭐
Nwaneri - ⭐ Stones - ⭐
Mosquera - ⭐ Savinho- ⭐
