Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal: 16 Conclusions

Matt Stead

* Call it narrative, call it bias, or just call it the most obvious explanation for the most typically inexplicable phenomenon of modern football: Arsenal are Arsenal are Arsenal. No amount of discussion about new-found resilience, mental strength or a different Gunners side to any other over the past 12 years will change that. The only surprise is that we continue to be surprised by them.

Arsenal had completed half the job at the Etihad Stadium. They were on course for a first away victory at any of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United or Tottenham since January 2015. It was the perfect response to the midweek setback against Everton. Then they put in a second-half performance which was borderline insulting to the fans, and one of their worst in recent memory. Whether this is one, two, three or more step backs after the early-season lurch forward is superfluous, because they are still treading in exactly the same footsteps as last season. And the season before. And the season before that. And the season before that. And…

 

* As for Manchester City, this is an absolutely huge victory. A comeback win over a fellow Premier League title rival is an excellent feat in any circumstance. But without Sergio Aguero, Ilkay Gundogan, Fernandinho and Vincent Kompany, the hosts proved that perhaps Pep Guardiola’s way can be successful after all. Who knew?

It should not legislate for a poor first half where, at times, the home support’s frustrations threatened to boil over. But in this instance, the result was far more important than how it was attained. The latest crisis has been averted; City are second.

 

* The starting line-ups hardly reflected the nature of this top-of-the-table clash – or at least City’s didn’t. John Stones reprised his role on the naughty step as Pablo Zabaleta, Nicolas Otamendi, Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy started in a defence which, for the first time in the Premier League this season, was unchanged. Yaya Toure and Fernando would sit in front of them in a midfield two, while a front four of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling will strike fear into any opponent.

As for Arsenal, their only change saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced by Alex Iwobi. The Nigerian would offer more defensive support on the left wing, but would Oxlade-Chamberlain not have been more of a threat on the counter-attack? It was the first suggestion that Wenger saw this as a must-not-lose clash as opposed to a must-win.

 

* Within four minutes, any fears over that City defence were realised. The move began with Petr Cech rolling the ball out to Hector Bellerin, who dribbled 60 yards before releasing it to Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean turned and, in a split second, delivered a sumptuous reverse pass to Theo Walcott. The England international kept his composure, and Arsenal were 1-0 up.

From De Bruyne’s non-existent pressing to Otamendi’s lack of awareness, right down to Kolarov’s poor positioning, City had been sliced open. That is the risk you take when you play a midfielder as a striker and three full-backs in defence. Arsenal sensed nervousness and, on their first opportunity, exploited it. It was the only time they would show a true killer instinct.

 

* But as questionable as City’s defending was in the opening stages, Arsenal can always be relied upon to take a rifle and aim it squarely at their own feet. Just three minutes after the opener, De Bruyne found space on the left-hand side. His cross was met by the unmarked Sterling, whose diving header was just wide.

City dominated possession for large swathes of the first half, but were equally non-threatening. Sane showed brief glimpses of a £37million player on the right, but without a true focal point, the hosts were blunt. One could sense early on that Guardiola had made a mistake with his front three, Sane, De Bruyne and Sterling each in a position which nullified their individual threat. To the manager’s credit, he would eventually change it.

But there was a general unease surrounding Arsenal’s defence, following their capitulation at Everton. Cech’s first save of the afternoon came not from a City shot, but from a Gabriel clearance which rebounded off Hector Bellerin’s head. It is no coincidence that all of Arsenal’s three defeats this season have come with Shkodran Mustafi out of the side. The German is as missed as Santi Cazorla in midfield.

 

* Once the teams were announced, it was hardly a difficult task to identify a potential weak point in City’s line-up. The left-hand side of their defence featured Clichy and Kolarov, both over the age of 31, the former having started fewer than half of the club’s Premier League games so far, and the latter not good enough at left-back, never mind at centre-half. It was an early Christmas present for Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

And, as it happened, for Bellerin. The Spaniard was the focal point of Arsenal’s forward play early on, with 62.5 per cent of the club’s attacks coming down his right-hand side in the first 20 minutes. City had over two-thirds of the possession by this point, but Bellerin’s pace was a constant threat on the counter-attack. Arsenal failed to build on their early momentum however, and ended the game with just over 35 per cent of their attacks coming down the right. Quite why they did not maintain the pressure on Clichy and Kolarov is unknown, but it was certainly their most effective route.

 

* By the time referee Martin Atkinson brought the first 45 minutes to an end, Arsenal had completed one half of the perfect away performance. The Gunners were comfortable, incisive on the break and holding any City attack at just about arm’s length. Most strikingly, they looked relatively calm and in control. It was their game to lose.

Which is precisely where the managers come in. Wenger presumably felt there was no need to instigate change; he would surely have told his players to simply keep up their standards for the second half.

Guardiola did not have that same luxury; he could not afford to cross his fingers and hope for the best. He replaced Zabaleta with Bacary Sagna, switched De Bruyne central, and put Sterling on the right with Sane on the left. Defeat would leave City ten points behind leaders Chelsea, and level with fifth-placed Tottenham – even a draw would have felt underwhelming. With an exasperated support and a gleeful media watching and waiting for him to fail, the manager, well, managed.

 

* And he hardly had to wait for it to pay off, either. After looking comfortable for 45 minutes, Arsenal did an Arsenal. Cech took a goal-kick and, within ten seconds, City were level.

The similarities with Walcott’s strike were obvious as Sane scored his maiden Premier League goal. As good as Sanchez’s delightful reverse pass was, Silva’s lofted through ball was just as good. As confident as Walcott’s finish was, Sane’s was comparably self-assured. As woeful as City’s defence was early in the first half, Arsenal’s raised that ignominious bar with barely two minutes passed in the second.

Sane, in his best game yet for City, now on the left wing, played his role perfectly on the shoulder of the defender. Even before he slotted past Cech there were calls for offside, but it is impossible to say even now whether he was beyond Nacho Monreal at the time of Silva’s pass. The debate should not obscure just how simple it was to slice through Arsenal.

 

* The roles had suddenly been reversed – the pendulum had swung. It was now Arsenal who were shell-shocked and City in the ascendancy. The hosts were pressing harder, passing more crisply, running with more intent. After ceding a one-goal lead against Everton in midweek, this was a litmus test for the Gunners.

It was one they failed miserably. The Gunners had just two shots to City’s seven in the second half, both of which were from outside the area and off-target. They had zero corners. They won ten fewer duels than the hosts. From the 45th minute to the 60th, they completed just three passes in City’s half. No player provided an iota of leadership or guidance to their teammates, each shirking the responsibility. As individuals and as a collective, they capitulated. It will take a hell of a lot of work to overcome the psychological effects of this surrender.

 

* One particular instance in the second half exemplified the gulf between a City growing in confidence and an overwhelmed Arsenal.

In the 64th minute, Francis Coquelin broke forward, leading a rare Gunners attack. A combination of the Frenchman’s lack of quality on the ball and indecisiveness gifted Toure an opportunity to dispossess him. The lasting image of the game will be the towering Ivorian shrugging his midfield opponent off the ball before leading a City break. It resembled a father teaching his young upstart son a lesson by embarrassing him in front of his friends.

It was also quite lovely to see Toure dominate in such a fashion. He had more touches (111), completed more passes (98), made more tackles (three), completed more interceptions (two) and gained possession on more occasions (12) than any other City player. Coquelin and Granit Xhaka were made to look embarrassingly poor by a 33-year-old who rolled back the years.

 

* It felt like a matter of time, and City’s goal eventually came in the 72nd minute. Sterling received the ball on the right-hand side, and he was quickly greeted by Monreal. The Spaniard has rarely looked so unassured; the City winger twisted and turned before unleashing a fine effort past Cech at his near post.

In that moment, Guardiola’s half-time changes had been justified. The decision to move Sane to the left to maximise the space left by Bellerin had paid off almost instantly, and moving Sterling to the right to isolate the slower Monreal was just as decisive.

But to ignore De Bruyne’s phenomenal assist would be tantamount to sacrilege. That the Belgian managed to spot Sterling’s run from the other side of the pitch was quite something; that he managed to execute a volleyed cross-field pass to find it was just unfair. It was just one of the seven goalscoring chances the 25-year-old created; every other player combined created just nine.

 

* Just as Guardiola had affected change on the game through proaction, the onus was now on Wenger to do the same. Seven minutes before the goal he had made his first change, as Oxlade-Chamberlain came on for Iwobi. Three minutes after the goal, Olivier Giroud replaced Coquelin. It was an uncharacteristically attacking swap for a manager who knew the repercussions of defeat.

Wenger then reverted to type in the most infuriating of fashions. After just 13 minutes, Oxlade-Chamberlain was forced off through injury. Chasing a result, the manager brought on Mohamed Elneny, defensive midfielder extraordinaire. Lucas Perez, scorer of a hat-trick from the wing in his last Arsenal appearance, the £17million summer signing, the attack-minded player, was left on the bench. It felt like a final middle finger to the fans.

 

* First, a preamble: Mesut Ozil is not a ‘big-game bottler’, a ‘flat-track bully’, or any other similarly disparaging description. He has scored goals against Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham. He has won trophies for club and country. He is a world champion.

But games like these serve only to propagate that myth. The German was completely anonymous at the Etihad Stadium, completely refusing to press from the front, and making no tackles, clearances or interceptions. That can be forgiven if one is effective at the other end, but Ozil had no shots and created just one goalscoring opportunity.

It is why his contract negotiations will be a little more difficult if he is to demand the same money as Sanchez. As undeniably talented as he is, he is not the indispensable one of that pair. Even on such an underwhelming afternoon Sanchez provided one assist. Ozil offered nothing.

 

* It really should not have worked and yet, for 86 minutes, it did. Messrs Zabaleta, Otamendi, Kolarov, Clichy and Sagna did not keep a clean sheet, but many forecasted a disaster before the game. Claudio Bravo will not enjoy much quieter games.

While much of that was admittedly down to an abysmal Arsenal performance in the second half, City’s defence does deserve some praise. The quintet completed a combined six tackles, 19 clearances and six interceptions, while three of the side’s top five passers were defenders (Kolarov, Otamendi and Clichy). Stones will eventually find his way back into the starting line-up, but Guardiola has no particular reason to change just yet.

 

* “The two goals are two offside goals and in a game of that stature I feel enough is enough for us. We got some bad decisions for the whole season and today I looked at the goals and both are offside.”

It is not a look that suits you, Arsene. Jose Mourinho is perhaps capable of pulling off the disgruntled manager routine after a poor defeat – and even that is arguable – but Wenger’s post-match interview just made him look stupid. The transparent attempt to deflect criticism of his players was unsuccessful.

Was Sane offside for his goal? It is difficult to say. Was Silva – clearly in an offside position – interfering with play before Sterling scored? That is down to conjecture. But for Wenger to scapegoat Martin Atkinson and his officiating team is a cowardly move. Did the referee fail to react when it was clear that City were the dominant side? Did the linesman make a substitution that spurned the opportunity to push for at least a point?

“The second one is five yards offside. The first one is still offside. But what can I do?” Wenger added. It is no wonder the players failed to take responsibility if even their manager cannot.

 

* Only two points now separate Manchester City and Arsenal in the Premier League table, but the gap, in reality, is far greater than that. If confidence and momentum were tangible, the two sides would be in different leagues. City have followed two successive Premier League defeats with two victories in a row, both hard-fought, both valuing substance over style, and both enough to silence the critics – at least for now. The gap to Chelsea is still seven points, but they are the leaders of the chasing pack.

As for Arsenal, the ramifications of this defeat could be severe. Their top-four cushion is down to just one point, they have lost their last two games having led both, and after months of preaching about how the Gunners are a different animal and have learned from their mistakes, they will spend Christmas Day in fourth place. Just as City players paid tribute to Gundogan before the game, Arsenal ought to wear back-to-front shirts with ‘mental strength’ written on them in their next game. It might well have suffered a season-ending injury on Sunday.

 

Matt Stead

Arsenal 16 Conclusions

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