Arsenal have Manchester City ‘scared’ as fans like ‘intoxicating taste’ of Mourinho ‘potion’

Arsenal fans are embracing their new role as the baddies, having ‘rattled’ and ‘scared’ Manchester City with a performance Jose Mourinho would be proud of.

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Proud of the Gunners
Over the pandemic, Arsenal went to City, went down to ten men and lost 3-0. That was just over four years ago.

Yesterday, Arsenal went to City, went down to ten men and felt aggrieved at losing the game in the dying seconds.

Some fans will bemoan the inconsistency of the officiating. Some will tell Arsenal fans to stop moaning. All I feel is a tremendous amount of pride in what Arteta has done in turning this club around.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

Is this really what you want?
Now, as a City fan I’ve obviously enjoyed the majority of Pep’s tenure.

However, I can quite understand that the neutral fan would quite like someone else to win the PL (our superheroics of being able to turn around pretty much any situation / defecit may even be growing tired for some of US).

But if Arsenal is what you want, then – frankly – you’re welcome to it.

Their histrionics, kicking the opposition, time-wasting, kicking the ball away, fake injuries etc. is no better than José’s Chelsea at their most malevolent.

And, like José, the manager then comes out and defends it (make no mistake, Trossard deserved both yellows).

At least Liverpool wipe us out by playing football and running us into the ground.
Calv (Mancunian exile in Paris)

P.S. I’m not moaning about Michael Oliver for their first goal as that clearly wasn’t Arsenal’s fault, but what. the. f**k ???!!!

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I’ve got a few musings on the Man City – Arsenal game, as a fairly neutral observer. The mail in this mornings mailbox questioning the length of the game and how far in to extra time certain moments came. The reason for this is because Arsenal were timewasting at every opportunity and dragging the game out. John Stones said in an interview about game management and disrupting the flow of the play and it is absolutely a tactic that has come from Arteta.

Look at the amount of players that went down with “cramp” in the second half, Raya having to receive treatment for no obvious reason other than to relieve some of the pressure and force Man City to build up again. Timber going down injured, getting back up and hobbling before play restarted and then went down again which incidentally added to my favourite moment of the game where Raya boots the ball out for a throw (as far as possible by the way, not just to the side where the unspoken rule of the other team sportingly returns it) but it doesn’t actually go out leading to some confusion where Man City attack but Arsenal’s physios have already run on to the pitch. I’d be interested to see if there is any sort of consequence to that as it might be another tactic to go into the books of the dark arts/game management.

It was even said on commentary that VAR had said that play would go on until the 99th minute due to Arsenal’s time wasting and it ultimately cost them. I am glad to see that extra time is leaning towards being properly used but I think this gives more credence to having a running/stopped clock for when the ball is in play rather. Arsenal defended well, largely restricting City to speculative shots from Dias and Akanji for most of the 2nd half, broke up the play and disrupted the flow with time wasting and would have had a well earned 3 points but the risk/reward of time wasting caught them out here.

And this is not new for Arsenal, they were timewasting in the 3rd minute at Spurs last weekend. So I’m glad it’s come back to bite them, mostly because Arteta has the demeanor of a man who likes the smell of his own farts.

An interesting game but not necessarily an entertaining one.
Ethan (Martinez’s jump tackle on Saturday was ridiculous. Reckless and dangerous in every sense and he should’ve been sent off)

Like Arteta, not getting too involved in Trossard yellow, think the referee should try to keep 11 on pitch generally and clearly this kicking ball away is terribly consistently applied, but this was at least a clear daft one from Trossard, whereas Rice’s is just ridiculous decision making from the referee.

Saying the referee was left with no choice according to laws remains a sh*te argument, all fouls can be/are yellow cards by law by referee’s discretion.

What I really want to say though is hoo boy do we have City rattled. Yes lads, none of this Queensbury rules, shadow of a rivalry sh*te with Liverpool – we’re gonna nut ya.

I now get a taste of this dark intoxicating potion Mourinho once brought to the league with Chelsea and…. I like it.

So whine more that we didn’t lean into the Corinthian spirit down to 10 men whilst defending a lead Bernardo. City have benefitted from cheating for going on a decade now off the pitch and should get the boot and then maybe we’ll break out the pretty passing for you on your way down eh?
Tom, Leyton

READ NEXT: Arsenal ‘fighting against more than 11 men’ v Man City as referee conspiracies abound

Same old Arsenal
After (quite rightly) being praised in most quarters for the well executed smash and grab at Spurs last week, the Man City game once again reminded us why this Arsenal side is destined to be a “nearly but not quite” team for posterity.

Once again, they’ve gone into a big away match, got themselves in front, and they just cannot see the job through. Trossard was guilty of rank stupidity, and for all the fuss made about their rearguard action in the second half, great, but as Roy Keane pointed out, once again, they couldn’t get it done. They don’t get it done.

At Anfield the previous two seasons as well, they were 2-0 and 1-0 up, but managed to just about escape with a draw on both occasions.

And are we meant to just pretend that their mauling by Bayern in Germany in the CL last season didn’t happen?

This Arsenal side look, to this observer, destined to be the modern equivalent of David O’Leary’s Leeds – capable of mixing it with the big boys, but ultimately without that extra something you need to put pots and pans in the cupboard.

Arsenal need a big away result in one of these crunch games if they’re going to convince people fully. Until then…..
Andy H, Swansea.

Why always Arsenal?
I am utterly confused by Dave Tickner’s 10th conclusion.

“If it ruined the game for you and you want someone to blame, we would suggest you blame the player who did something so arse-wittedly stupid in the first place.”

No Dave. The point is not that Arsenal are punished for things like this. The point is ONLY Arsenal are punished for things like this. This is the same referee who booked Martinelli twice is one phase of play. Have you seen a red card like this since then? No.

When Tomiyasu was red carded against Palace for 8 seconds of time wasting, who else since then had been red carded for it in the league? Who else in this league apart from Rice and Trossard have been sent off for delaying a restart of the game? I’m genuinely asking. Would be nice to get an answer. When this same referee failed to send of Kovacic, Webb told us he didn’t “want to have a negative impact on the game by over reacting”. When it’s Arsenal, the letter of the law is suddenly forgotten.

This takes me back to the question Arteta was asked in pre-season on what it would take to topple City  and he responded with “114 points”. It sounded like a joke. I really didn’t think it was then and I don’t think it is now. For me, an indictment on the rest of the league. As if that’s not bad enough that we have to deal with cheats off and on the field, we have to deal with a league who will roll over and play dead against City. A league where everyone is now a City fan. It needs to be studied really How the entire league would prefer to see City win a fifth title in a row than see Arsenal stop them.

I can’t wait to see Raya become the first GK to be sent off for time wasting. You know. Letter of law and all.
Damola, AFC Bremen

First, Michael Oliver (the ordained best ref in England? Why?) was awful yesterday, period.

The narrative that Arsenal were the more victimized team is incorrect. Oliver upon summoning Walker to speak should  also allow him to fully reset in his position (there’s also the issue of the placement of the ball but that’s less material). If Walker was not pulled to come talk to the ref and was set, there’s no space for Matinelli to exploit. It’s that simple.

Secondly didn’t the PGMOL confirm blocking and obstructing in the box on set pieces would be enforced more stringently this season? Ederson was intentionally obstructed, by design, by two Arsenal players. They weren’t  in the box  to contest the ball, their sole purpose was to obstruct Ederson from moving, which per the new directive should be a foul, no?

Lastly the Trossard incident  is simply a second yellow. The barge into the Bernardo’s back, with no chance of getting the ball, when on a yellow (and he already had a nippy foul or two after the first booking) was  itself very ill advised. The whistle was immediately blown and he then booted the ball away, second booking, end of story.

Contrary to conventional thinking, I believe going down to 10 helped Arsenal more, to get something out of the game.  Arsenal already has a phenomenal defence and  packing 9 in the box is going to be difficult to break down and City couldn’t figure out a way, until the late changes were made. Pep was uncharacteristically slow to react, the Grealish and Foden changes could have come earlier.
Z. Alan Prince. World Citizen.

I don’t like to write in straight after a game but “it doesn’t matter that the law is unevenly applied”. Of course it f****** does. If 3 people were murdered in identical ways and 1 person wasn’t even arrested, would you stand by and say “yea but the first 2 guys were stupid”?

I’m not one of those Arsenal fans buying into the conspiracy theories but to say it doesn’t matter when the very laws of the game aren’t applied evenly/fairly, what is the point in them?
Rob A (7 from 3 of the toughest away games of the season, yes please) AFC

The Conspiracy
I’m reading a lot of conspiracy theories from Arsenal fans, some of whom I even know and considered rational, sane human beings. Obviously, this is b*llocks. Every fan base has its share of morons, but it feels like Arsenal have more than most, I can’t help feeling this comes in part from the manager’s antics.

It also conveniently ignores the advantage Arsenal got for their equaliser, or the block on Ederson for the second. Not an egregious error from Michael Oliver and nor do I think it was a foul on the keeper, but if there was any hint of a conspiracy there would have been different outcomes in both situations (same applies to the push on Romero last week, not a foul but a bent ref would have given it).

Ultimately, Arsenal and Arteta need to accept responsibility for their actions, realise that the world is, in fact, not against them, and take the many positives out of the game.
Andy the hammer (let’s not talk about Saturday lunchtime) 

Dear Football365,

Foolishly I was drawn into the mailbox by the headline suggesting Arsenal are the victims of some sort of a conspiracy. Imagine my curiosity as to which of the two yellow card offences committed by Leandro Trossard prior to him kicking the ball away Arsenal fans were so upset about – was it the shirt pull or was it clattering into the back of an opponent? Both of these have been bookable offences for a long time, even before Trossard kicked the ball away, an incredibly foolish thing to do given his teammate was shown a second yellow for doing that just a couple of games ago.

I’ve seen at least one Arsenal fan elsewhere trying to draw a parallel between Trossard kicking the ball away and Jeremy Doku. Alan Shearer explained on MOTD2 that the reason Doku wasn’t punished is because Arsenal were attempting to take a free kick from the wrong place (by a significant distance) and Doku’s action moved the ball closer to the correct place. As such, this couldn’t be said to have prevented a free kick being taken quickly. I know he’s a lot better as a pundit now, but it’s not all that long since being less informed in a situation than Alan Shearer was something to be embarrassed about.

There doesn’t need to be a conspiracy to prevent Arsenal winning the league, there just needs to be an Arsenal team.
Ed Quoththeraven

And there’s more…
Thoughts on the City Arsenal game:

With all the whining to the media by the City players it tells us one thing. They are scared of Arsenal. If you are confident in your superiority you don’t resort to all of the “Wah Wah only one team was trying to win the game, wah wah dark arts , wah wah” comments. I know this from many years of supporting a team that was often owned by their rivals.

The match referees lost all respect. The sending off was confirmed by VAR at the time to be for “overly aggressive tackle” which must have come to them from the ref. Then magically over half time they switched the reason to “kicking the ball away”. Perhaps they realized that the tackle was no worse then others that hadn’t been punished.

No real defense of Trossard but it looked to me in my red and white tinted glasses like he wasn’t deliberately kicking the ball away and more that he carried on playing and was clearing the lines. Like when a striker is in on goal and gets flagged for offside (pre VAR) and continues to take the shot after the whistle is blown. It is at least plausible that he didn’t hear/register the whistle immediately.

I have sympathy for City over the first Arsenal goal, but when Walker stops jogging back and turns around to face the ball I think it is reasonable to assume he got back to where he wanted to be.

I assume the celebration police will be out in force after city celebrated an equalizer against the team 5th in the table like they’d won the league.

Proud of the lads.
Ozzy AFC DC

Hi

One more thought on Arsenal’s first goal against Manchester City on Sunday. Michael Oliver called over both captains to try and calm the match down after things started getting tetchy. Presumably Oliver told both players to have a word with their teammates, and take the heat out of the game. So not only did he not give Walker time to get back, when was he supposed to pass on the words of wisdom? In the replay you could see Walker shouting out instructions as he jogged back. It just seems performative from the referee if he isn’t bothered about his instructions being passed on. In saying all that, the space given to Calafiori by the rest of the City defence was ridiculous.

Best wishes
Colin Lawton, Galway, Ireland

Time-wasting goalies
Dear referees and ex referees who defend their ex colleagues, if you are going to play by ,”the letter of the law”, why is it ok to let goalkeepers drop on the ball and lie on it for 20 seconds when the law only gives them 6 seconds? We all know that time never gets added on. It would only take one ref to give a freekick inside the box and it would stop. Also, it would be hilarious to see the defending team lose their sh*t!
Rob

A very happy Man Utd fan
After letting the dust settle on the game at Selhurst Park, I found myself very happy. Goals and the win would have made me happier, but very happy nonetheless. We’ve been waiting to see Ten Hag’s plan for his team materialise, and for a third of the game, we saw it. Movement, speed, passing, chances. This is finally a moment where we saw progress and I really enjoyed it. If we had played poorly and scraped a 90th-minute winner, cracks would have been papered over, and more questions would have been asked.

Putting in probably our best performance under Ten Hag, dominating for that long, and then coming away with an away draw due to an incredible save and a missed chance, is exactly where we should be right now.  Following the Liverpool game, we’ve had a good away win against weaker opposition, a thrashing against even weaker opposition, and a positive away draw at a mid-table side. Two of those results depended on big saves. That is what progress looks like for us at the moment. It may not be at the pace or magnitude that some might like, but it is definitely progress. We have another away game in the week against average opponents, so now, progress looks like a similar performance level and a win. Not a 4-0 whitewash, but an away win whilst playing well for the majority of the game. Then it’s Tottenham at home. We might not win that, and that doesn’t mean we’ve gone backwards. But if we play well and do win, things suddenly look positive.

We might not win every game, but if our season ends with us in 5th or 6th place, consistently playing at this level, I’ll be very happy. A real push at the Europa League represents a more realistic possibility of Champions League qualification.  Make some additional signings next summer, and the progress continues. Incidentally, would £10 million on bringing home Danny Welbeck be a bad investment? If he’s happy dropping down a level.

Top 4 should be the target for next year, top 2 the year after, and a genuine title challenge the following year. After such a long period of rudderless performances on and off the pitch, progress isn’t defined by titles or Champions League qualification yet. It’s about consistent performances first, then performances coupled with results, and finally, consistent performances and results.

Ten Hag might ultimately not be the long-term solution, but I wrote in before the Liverpool game to say that no matter the result and performance of that game, things need to be judged from the Southampton match onwards, following the international break. And so far, the progress has been positive. Now that the team has seen how well they can play together, they have a benchmark to aim for. Before that, we didn’t even know what they were aiming at.
Matt

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