Let’s cast our minds back to December 15th, 2019. Arsenal had just suffered a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City. Just three weeks prior to that humbling, the hapless Unai Emery had been relieved of his duties. Freddie Ljungberg had taken interim charge as we looked for a permanent manager for only the second time this century. In the opposition dugout there was also a former Gunner in Mikel Arteta. Following his retirement with us in 2016, the Spaniard made the move to East Manchester to assist City’s gleamingly bald new manager, Josep Guardiola. He had hand-picked our Mikel as his main right-hand man. And it worked out fantastically for both men. In those 3 years Citeh won two Premier League titles with the help of being allowed to cook their books. But on the pitch, there were two geniuses at work. Many jokes were made about Arteta being Pep’s designated ‘cone man’. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. And so, following that defeat Arsenal’s board members tailgated Arteta’s motor back up the M1 and then the M62 and they negotiated a deal long into the night. Just five days after that loss Arsenal proudly announced Mikel Arteta as their new head coach on a three and a half year contract. Much to the annoyance of the financial dopers. And the rest is history.
Now despite suffering a similar defeat in terms of the scoreline, the context and circumstances are chalk and cheese compared to that crushing defeat. Both sides are now locked together on 51 points. Arsenal have a game in hand but City currently lead on goal difference as they should with the money they’ve spent. And we competed well. We went behind after 25 minutes following Tomiyasu’s weak headed back pass which left Ramsdale in no man’s land and Kevin De Bruyne, our chief tormentor on so many occasions over the last few years, was only too happy to lob the ball over Ramsdale into an empty net. But we deservedly found our way back into the game before the break. We enjoyed the novelty of being awarded a penalty (only our second of the season) and Saka stepped up to take it. Ederson pointed to his right, no doubt an attempt to distract the youngster, and Saka put it there. Ederson dived to his left. But he could’ve dived right, diagonally, upwards or downwards and he still wouldn’t have got near it. A pressure penalty in a game of high stakes.
In the second half City upped the ante somewhat. We had plenty of the ball but struggled to create an awful lot. But the crowd remained behind the team every step of the way. We had a scare just before the hour where Haaland looked to have won a penalty but following a VAR check it was ruled out for offside. ‘Draw the lines’ was the cry from the Arsenal fans. Looks like they remembered to do their one and only job this time. I hope Lee Mason was watching. He probably forgot the game was on and watched Love Island instead. It’s a good job that man isn’t a pilot. But on 72 minutes, City regained their lead. We gave the ball away in the middle of the park, the ball broke to Gundogan on the edge of the box, who fed Grealish who was in acres of space on the left and his shot took a nick off Tomiyasu which took the ball past Ramsdale into the net. Not the greatest defending from us. Arteta brought on Trossard for the tiring Martinelli and the Belgian probably should’ve had a penalty when he was tripped in the box but there was nothing doing. And before we knew it, City had a third, this time Haaland. It was a tidy finish into the corner with his weaker right foot after another De Bruyne assist. Nketiah had a great chance to pull a goal back, but he directed his header wide of the mark. And that was that.
The crowd remained in good voice at full time. Until the third goal the Emirates was one of the loudest atmospheres I’ve seen there. But I think most in the stadium were aware that despite being knocked off our perch, the title race is far from over. The good news is we have a favourable run of games coming up from now until Liverpool away over the Easter weekend, against mostly bottom half sides. We go to Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime; a quick turnaround is exactly what you want after a defeat. No time to fester in disappointment. Then another away trip in the Midlands, to And Leicester, followed by extremely winnable home games against Everton and Bournemouth. Then a pair of London Derbies against Fulham and Palace to take us up to the international break at the end of next month. Five of those six sides are in the bottom half. We normally thrive against those sides so it’s a prime opportunity to pick up a healthy number of points. We really need to make that game in hand count you feel.
What I would say about this game is despite the result I still don’t feel there’s anything between the sides at all. And that is precisely what the table suggests too. The reality is, we picked up an unusual amount of points in the first half of the season. Deservedly so of course, but ordinarily we would’ve drawn or even lost 2 or 3 more games than we did and we’d be sitting here now ‘floundering’ eight or nine points behind top spot. But we find ourselves joint top after 22 games with a game in hand. Cynics would argue if the season ended now, we would finish second, but the season wouldn’t finish with one side playing less games than the other. There are still 48 points for us to try and accumulate, 45 for City. There is a marathon stretched out in front of us and we’re half way through, neck and neck with our main rival; the rest are stranded, packed together like a tin of sardines miles behind. Our rival has run more races than us and has more medals to his name. Well, recently anyway. And there are rumours he’s being investigated for taking performance enhancing steroids. But the other runner comes from a family with a long history of running races. They haven’t always won them, but they’ve always been up there, more or less. They garner much more respect from their fellow racers too. Most with a moral compass would rather see them win than their cheating, doping rival. Apart from Gary Neville. But he’s standing near the finish line by himself because no one likes him.
It seems like the race is only just getting started……
Thanks, 21 CG. A fair and balanced report. Though I would have liked us to win or draw at least.
Keeping the momentum we must win against Villa.
ESR and Jesus were who we missed most.
COYG
An accurate report 21CG. Definitely a game of two halves for me. In the first half Pep played a back three with wing backs and we thrived. Bernardo Silva at left back was given a torrid time by Saka and he had to resort to kicking him time and again. Eddie had a great chance from a header that he guided just wide. Then we were punished from Tomi’s error. Saka’s ice cold penalty levelled up the score and overall, I thought we had the better of the first half. At half time Pep changed it up, moving Silva back into his normal midfield and the excellent Nathan Ake from left centre back to left back in an orthodox back four. It had an immediate effect as City created overloads in midfield and pressed much more effectively.
As City looked more and more like scoring we created a great chance for Eddie that was probably one inch from connecting with his studs and going in. By now it was obviously that City were dominating and I thought Arteta was a little slow in reacting by changing the team to defend. As 21CG reports, Haaland won a penalty then saw it chalked off for offside. Then they ran away with the game and, I thought, were worthy winners. Eddie had another free header at 3-1 down with 10 minutes left that could have made it interesting but again missed the chance. As Odegaard said afterwards, the difference was in the boxes, both offensively and defensively. As well as the defensive errors, Eddie could, maybe should, have scored at least two.
The atmosphere was red hot and very emotional. It again was hugely supportive until we were three one down. At that point a few, in their disappointment, starting coating off individual players, especially Tomi and Gabriel. This sparked some confrontations as these individuals were told, in no uncertain fashion, to shut the f—k up. I will admit to doing some of the telling. It helps that I’m an old age pensioner known to most around me and no fisticuffs ensued. It came to nothing, but was the first time I have heard such this season. Let’s hope we get back to winning ways and we see no more of it. As I said it was a loud, proud and very emotional atmosphere and maybe people cared almost too much.
21CG summed it up well. There is still a long way to go and we are bang in this title race. Let’s get back to scoring more goals and to winning ways against Villa on Saturday lunchtime. Time to go on a run.
Spot on, 21CG. City has no more won the league than we have lost it, despite what is being said in the media. The loss was a setback, no sugarcoating that, but technically, the title is still in our hands. What worries me is that we have now gone four games without a win. Arsene Wenger always stressed how important it was to win the next game after a loss or otherwise, a run of defeats quickly develops. We must beat Villa.
C100@2: Getting behind players after they have made mistakes has been an encouraging part of the crowd’s support this season. I hope that you having to brandish your pension book as an offensive weapon is not a harbinger of a turning mood. Now more than ever…
Ned. You don’t get a pension book any more. It’s all digital. Whatever that is.
Great report, 21CG. Unfortunately I was confined to barracks due to post-op malingering so couldn’t attend. But I thought it was instructive that City were in full-on “dark arts” mode from very early in the first half – snide fouls and that most irritating of sneaky tricks, timewasting at every opportunity. Make no mistake, Pep and his players knew they’d been in a game. The gap that was a chasm even last season has now closed such that we are really pushing them. Heads up and we move on to Unai’s Billa.
A very good and feisty report 21CG . A few years before you were born we clinched a most unlikely title at Anfield, then won an FA Cup in the last minute of extra time in a replay and in most seasons of Arsenal triumph it’s always darkest before the dawn.
I’m losing a little belief in this team but they were without two of the three indispensables and our first half performance was the best in a game of this sort since we lost 2-1 to Citeh last season when we played them off the park in the first half . This side still needs more leaders but it has a fine coach and some real talents and if, and it’s a big if, we can turn the next two games into six points it may be that we can take our challenge much deeper .
We do miss ESR who would be joining from the left to great effect, Jesus’s overall dynamism enervates those around him like Martinelli and Xhaka and Partey was a huge loss for a game of this magnitude .
I never contemplated a title but felt 3rd and the Europa would be the summit of our ambitions. To be honest I think it still is but I’d love to be proved wrong
Well done, 21CG.
It was a disappointing result. I think some freshening is in order. I pray Arteta is bold enough to try somethin unorthodox. It’s all left to play for.
MCMBD
Thanks 21CG, I agree with all of that. The momentum tends to shift back and forth over a season but we have a good chance in March to drag it back in our favour.
Thé boss and the captain summed things up well afterwards but MA was quick to stress that the team still have the essential self-belief. That’s what will be needed now regardless of any changes MA makes to the side. On to Villa and a reunion with UE and Calum.
Thanks 21 for a very fair report. Losing sucks but as a very wise (or not) person once said, it is what it is. Better luck next time starting against Villa. Meantime here’s a song for you to ruminate on.
I guess that’s two songs. It wouldn’t hurt to listen twice though
I read that MA said that he’s never seen Tomi play that back pass in 7 years…….
If true that means MA has been watching Tomi since he’s 17!!
Pithily summarised review 21CG! We lost a football match, it happens. It’s a great sign that we are finding it so hard to accept.
It was instructive to note that City, forced by the ferocity and discipline of our pressing, decided to play a lot of long balls from the back jettisoning their typical patterns and thus significantly reducing the impact of our pressing from the front, and at the same time being especially ruthless in cutting down our passing lanes from the back; and yet we continued to play a high risk playing out from the back game. It’s not a criticism but an observation about how sometimes the borderline between courageous self-conviction and self-destructive hubris can become blurred, and tuning it on field sensing the flow of the match is purely a function of experience.
We missed chances and made some otherwise rare mistakes. But I think behind that observation lies the reality that they identified and targeted our weaknesses ruthlessly whereas we failed to exploit theirs. They got away with the experiment of playing Bernardo Silva in a defensive role against Saka for 45+ minutes. It’s only expected given the stages of evolution where each squad and managers now are.
If one thing I am certain of it is that this was a learning experience that would not be wasted on this group of supremely professional players, coaching staff and manager. Just like without the painful days of last couple of seasons this season’s surprisingly consistent form in the first half would have not been possible, without chastising experiences like this Wednesdays the next stage of necessary transition would not be possible.
bt8@11 and 12: “The sun is the same in the relative way but you are older.”, “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.” … are you trying to tell us something? 🙂
C100@5: I had you pegged as old school. Next you’ll be telling me the ration books are plastic now.
21cg, well played. i missed the first half covid-napping, and turned on just as saka scored the penalty. the rest of the game to the 80th minute i thought we largely played them even, excepting our mistakes were in more critical areas and they took advantage of ours at speed. they also forced us to defend well at those moments rather than throwing away overhit through balls, headers that didn’t force a save, etc.
bt8, here’s another version of that song, mixing it up, as it were.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64641090
Though I didn’t agree with this lot, I do think fair play to them for actually doing something instead of just moaning.
I’m not sure about Martin Samuel in the Times, but this is a nice piece about our new ground artwork.
Arsenal are trying to bridge the divide between art and sport. Bravo.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fae41358-ae0d-11ed-91ef-347dcf6a25f6?shareToken=383a016cfc7a7331fbe4dfb02902f831
Partey doubtful and ESR ready it seems from the presser. I thought Jorginho played well the other night so I wouldn’t rush TP and it will be great to have ESR back as an option.
Agree on Partey, OM. Jorginho was very good the other night and a break might do Partey some good. I’d like to see Trossard start too for Martinelli, purely for freshening up , as well as a return for Ben White. Tomiyasu, since the World Cup, looks a different player – unsure and always on the point of making an error. I wish White had played the other night and been rested tomorrow. Really not sure whither ESR. His absences are far too many. Since season 20-21, his breakthrough season, he has made 33 starts with 16 sub appearances in the league. That’s out of 98 games. I hope this is simply growing pains of some kind but it needs to be rectified and soon.
C100 @18 – I take your point about Martin Samuel. “ It is one of eight giant murals that will adorn the outside of the stadium, hiding 17 years of wear and tear.”. Clearly he has never been to Old Trafford, then.
CER he spent many years writing in the Daily Fail of course. Puzzled why he would change at this point in his career. Difficult to shrug off that tabloid style. He’s not a patch on Henry Winter, his stable mate in The Times, or Jonathan Liew in The Guardian, IMHO.
Indeed. I’ve always thought he belonged at the grubbier end of The Street of Shame. Probably says more about the Times than anything else
C100 @18, I AM sure. He’s a slob. Impure and simple.
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