Man City now in the driving seat as Gunners given a footballing lesson at the Etihad

Manchester City 4 Arsenal 1    
Premier League   
Wednesday 26th April 2023 8pm    

Ah well. Arsenal are still top of the table after last night’s chastening defeat at Manchester City, but their rivals for the title have two matches in hand and are playing like a runaway train that could feasibly win the treble. The season isn’t over, and football is unpredictable, but for Arsenal to end the season top of the pile, they will surely have to win all of their remaining five matches and then see if City lose and draw one of the seven they still have to play. 

 

The injury to William Saliba in the Europa League second leg against Sporting Lisbon looks to have cost Arsenal dear. The team managed the absence of Jesus fairly well, but that has not been the case with the young French centre back. The team is less balanced for his absence. This isn’t a criticism of Rob Holding, it’s just that he’s a different type of player who isn’t at the same level when we look at his all-round game. 

 

Last night, we were watching two coaches who derived their tactics from Johan Cruyff (and by extension Rinus Michels). Cruyff once explained that in a pressing game, where a team  won’t have the sheer amount of energy required to contain all the opposition players for 90 minutes, you let the weakest technical outfield player have time and space on the ball, and put the yards in denying the more dangerous threats. So it was last night – Holding was rarely pressured in possession. City were happy for Arsenal to try and play the ball forward because they felt they could contain the likes of Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard and Jesus once the ball came into their own half. They used their energy in the right places to deny service down the flanks and prevent the triangle pass moves that might lead to danger. Holding might play the odd speculative ball over the top but was justifiably not considered a threat. Saliba, in the same position, would have brought the ball forward more himself, played more incisive passes and added pace to the team both in and out of possession. 

 

In attack, City used the strength of Haaland to launch attacks rather than try and play their way through Arsenal’s press. In fairness, there is nothing to say the Saliba could have dealt any better with Haaland than Gabriel and Holding did, even with his extra pace. The man is a footballing monster and could easily have scored a hatful last night. He and Kevin De Bruyne were the standout players and it’s difficult to imagine any defence coping with the form they showed in this game. 

 

So Arsenal were handed a lesson, but it was a lesson given by a more experienced team, with a much stronger bench, at their home stadium. Maybe Ramsdale might have saved the opening goal on another day, but let’s give credit to Haaland and De Bruyne for its creation and execution. 

 

City were running rampant, but a combination of fortune (Partey might have conceded a penalty – it was marginal) and last ditch saves and interceptions meant that Arsenal held out until first half injury time was in progress. You felt going in just one down they’d have a chance to regroup and do better in the second half. It was not to be. There might have been centimetres in it, but a free kick that was headed in by John Stones was given offside by the linesman, only to be overturned by VAR. 

 

Before this, I’d received some gallows humour from Doktor Schneide – “Could be worse - we could be 2-0 up.” I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry, remembering those dropped points at Anfield and West Ham. 

 

If two goals down felt like a mountain to climb, Odegaard giving the ball away ten minutes after the interval led to a third goal, and game over. Such a cheap goal to concede. Arteta brought on Jorginho for Xhaka and Trossard for Martinelli, and later even Smith Rowe had a run out in place of Odegaard. Nketiah and Nelson had ten minutes for the other two forwards, and at least injected a bit of life into the team, leading to Rob Holding scoring a consolation goal after Trossard got the ball into a danger area. It was way too late but made the scoreline a little more respectable for a few minutes, before near the end of injury time, Arsenal failed to get the ball out of their corner, penned in by City and Erling Haaland did what he had been threatening to all game and put the ball past Ramsdale. So 4-1 and a miserable trip home for the traveling support – and credit to them for their backing of the team throughout the duration of a difficult match. 

 

As stated earlier, it’s not over, but it would be a huge surprise if City did not retain the title from this point, going by the form and experience of the two sides. Arsenal would have to suffer a major collapse not to finish in second place, and there are lessons that they can take from the recent matches to lessen the chances of a repeat.

 

In isolation, if the title is to be lost, the three games before the visit to the Etihad will be where it was sacrificed. And the lessons from those matches are about game management, focus, doing the right things at the right time, making intelligent decisions. There is a combination in the team of inexperience and a lack of cool headedness. And marvellous as the tactics are, if they are not working, there really doesn’t seem too much by way of alternatives. Arteta has taken the team a long way since the disappointing end to last season, but at the business end of things, he’s overseen another poor run. And he is learning too – very much still the apprentice to Guardiola. And you’d expect that. I am not having a go at Arteta here after a remarkable campaign, but it must also be acknowledged that there is improvement to be made on his side. It’s frustrating to see him take the team so far only for us to witness a run of four matches which could so easily have garnered nine points instead of three. 

 

Looking ahead, whatever happens between now and the end of May, we look forward to a summer where there will doubtless be work done to improve the depth of the squad, which is an area that was always likely to become a problem at some stage this season, even if the fully fit first eleven has sometimes proved a thing of wonder. The club has progressed, no question, and there is real potential going forward. But going toe to toe with Manchester City has proved a fruitless task for several seasons now, and last night didn’t really look very different.

 

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