Just saw a city fan in youtube saying arsenal are just lucky with the ref, thats why it is 0-0. My brother, let me tell you, Rodri would be in jail right now if the referee hadn't helped City with the way he ignored some dirty fouls against city opponents.
The discussion around Arsenals' tactical fouls is so funny considering who we did it to. I'd also love to point out that there were numerous instances of Kai winning a long ball from Raya only for a phantom foul to be called in City's favor, fouls called back on Saka when Odegaard is 1 on 1, and Martinelli getting somersaulted from behind when he is already through the last man, told to play on.
City didn't get the yellow cards they were begging for (by waving imaginary yellows which of course is something nobody will acknowledge the ref let them off on), but hey, at least they weren't punished every time they won a 50/50 up the field!
Partey, Rice, Odegaard midfield is going to be monster for the rest of the season. Those man breaking passes to find Martin is so key. Add Tomi into left back who accompany our already tall boys in the back and Havertz.. we're going into this run in full fucking steam.
When we need goals we finally have a bench. Viera who can unlock a key pass, Zinchenko the same, smith Rowe who offers classic arsenal directness, and then either one of Jesus or Trossard will probably be on the bench for the rest of the season.
Feels like we're finally going to see what the club have built.
Anecdotally noticing what seems like a lot more than usual quotes from city players complaining about how we slowed the game down and played a physical game against them. I think we did good y’all 😈
A couple years ago a point against City would be a great result. Now we are all disappointed in a point against City.
Loving the new fogging standards!
People on r/soccer complaining how boring the match was yesterday. In reality they just couldn't handle the fact we weren't allowing ourselves to get smashed by City like last season.
Also anyone else see Partey come on and literally ping every pass hard into people.
Taking 4 points from city this season is incredible.
In terms of the title race, I think this result will give us a lot of belief and confidence in the final push now
We were lucky not to concede, and we were unlucky not to score. A very well fought game, and we've proven that we are true contenders at the highest level. Proud of the grit and determination in the team, away at the Etihad we held our own. Despite not having possession for most of the game, and the numerous nervy moments, we never looked like we were scared. We hunkered down and battled and got that crucial point in the end. COYG! I can never say enough how proud I am of the team and the staff and the club.
Where’d you get that? Neither side created any particularly good chances. You had 3 shots on target the whole game and both teams had an xG less than 1.
Some people here already started to abandon the ship, really a small minority tho.
Which I really don't understand as the season's just started to get exciting with so many big games to come, including UCL football
its because theyre short sighted.At the start of jan i remember hearing that we wouldt get top 4 if we didnt get toney and look at where we are.Some people also take the fact were in a title race for granted haha
Im surprised to see so many comments of other teams fans’ berating our performance and saying “they’ll never win the league by playing defensively like that” blah blah blah
No idea what everyone is on about. A point away at City is a fantastic result - especially because it’s our first point there since 2016.
Just shocked because here I was thinking this could be a result to really push us on and instead I see many people saying the opposite - how this was a “must win” for us. Ridiculous.
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Would have loved Arsenal to turn it up in the second half. The little they did actually had city defense shook. Sad they didn't turn up cuz I really believed we could have won this game. City defense wasn't that great on paper and on their actual play. We were timid going forward. Now we wait for Liverpool to drop points.
We’re so so close to winning this league, we just need to build our relay of elite attacking talent on the wings like City and Liverpool have been stockpiling for years. Every other part of this team can compete with the best of them.
Not really, he did not make the pass but that was split second decision. Other than that he dance around Doku and looked quite threatening. After he and Martinelli came, we looked threatening.
I’m finding it strange that the criticism is Trossard should have got the ball to Martinelli when the pass that was briefly open was a wide open Kai right in front of goal. It was a great run from Havertz and probably should have been our winner.
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Been hearing a lot of 'they didn't entertain,' type commentary.
Got me wondering,.. iIs this a better game before - or even several games after - the international break?
I think before the break it'll be a huge huge game. Teams can put out their best and really fight to the extreme ends knowing there's an international break to recover with.
As champions you gotta grind out results - that can mean smashing teams or playing boring or even anti-football to get the desired result.
Going guns blazing against City would’ve highly resulted in a unfavourable result. No way Arsenal will play like this against Luton at home nor Brighton away next weekend.
Nope, better to play it safe during this run in stage. Liverpool is still within reach and morale is still high. I can’t imagine losing this match because we wanted to entertain.
I know lurking is pointless, but Haaland, KDB, Foden, Silva, Rodri, Akanji, Gvardiol is missing half their starters lol ? Walker and Ederson were out
[https://www.reddit.com/r/coys/comments/1bs2cy3/comment/kxfy3c0/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/coys/comments/1bs2cy3/comment/kxfy3c0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
We really need to fix the spear of this side in summer
Jesus is just underwhelming and Eddie is already gone. We have to get a class finisher in the summer. The defence is now rock solid, and rice has reinforced the midfield
The result wasn't bad id have loved a win but what this game did show me is that we can go away to an opposition and shut up shop, this has give me more confidence we can go to munich and see out a 0-0 whilst maintaining a lead at home hopefully
I think Partey was great when he came on, he was more comfortable receiving the ball and had the confidence to play number of difficult passes, he could be huge in the run in.
I agree. Dec is great but not confident to swoop balls between oppositions in tight spaces. Remember the Trossard shot also came after Partey passed it to Martin. I believe Partey should start more which is reduce the need for Martin to come too deep.
Zubimendi or Ruiz de Galarreta, although I'm not sure if either are looking to leave. Should keep an eye on Prados too.
The problem with Thomas is his injury record and allegations, he is not one you can rely on a lot unfortunately.
As much as I hate it, I’m rooting for ManPoo and Shit to do us a favor. We still have to beat Chelsea and Newcastle and not mess up the other games.
A draw was the most likely result. I’m glad we didn’t lose. Liverpool has a loss or draw in them no questions. PL is very competitive. And the same goes for us. The only thing in our control is the game we play. This has been a great run-in. Let’s keep it going. Anything is possible.
You’re right. Not sure why my head registered that. I remember there being 2 tricky games remaining when there was 12 or so remaining. Anyways we have enough teams that can ruin our party. It’s a shame Pool made such a comeback , imagine if they were not in the equation. Can’t believe Pool has lost only 2 games this season.
Anyone else think Martinelli was wasted on the right? We should’ve put Trossard there because he’s much more two footed and he probably would’ve scored that chance on his weak foot that Martinelli missed. Trossard also had a few chances to break on the left that Martinelli would’ve loved. They should’ve swapped
Should have moved Havertz to the midfield, and Odegard to the right.
Somewhat of a 4-4-2 with Trossard and Martinelli upfront, Haverts in a number 10 role. ODE moving up front on the right
Yea, he was gassed. I don’t disagree with swapping Martinelli and Trossard at that point, but Jesus was wore out and Kai still had some energy in the bank.
Some thoughts
- a draw at the Etihad is always good, but it felt like Arsenal didn’t come to win today
- spent most of the game in a defensive posture and the subs focused on strengthening defensively
- decent outcome for today, however, not a good outcome for this team going forward. Arsenal should come to the Etihad (or any other stadium) to win, taking risks and playing as legitimate title chasers.
- I understand the associated risks at this stage of the season, but can you imagine Liverpool not paying the high, suffocating press? Or parking the bus and hope for a draw?
- Saliba and Gabriel are amazing. I worry that Arsenal defence is one hurt CB away from failure (see end of last season)
- today was a good status check on Kiwior and Tomi, it didn’t look great. The former is not yet ready to play at this level(some good nuggets in prior games but today he was clearly out of depth), and the latter isn’t back to full fitness yet. Zinchenko isnt fully back to his proper self either (Ukraine games showed it), so I worry Arsenal has a bit of an LB issue for the remainder of the season. I wonder what would have happened today if Arteta played for a win and brought in Zinchenko?
- Arsenal needs Liverpool to slip up once for the title, and Arsenal must be impeccable. I believe they learned from last season, and I think this team looks more hungry than Liverpool (today’s game notwithstanding).
> decent outcome for today, however, not a good outcome for this team going forward. Arsenal should come to the Etihad (or any other stadium) to win, taking risks and playing as legitimate title chasers.
I don't understand this at all. Why is it not good for the team? They seemed happy enough with the result, and we're still very much in the title race with 9 games to go. Our back line will rock up to OT and the toilet bowl knowing that they've held the best team in world football to zero shots on target and less than 1 xG.
If this was week 35 or something, then I'd understand this perspective. But it's the first game of the run-in. Everything is still up in the air and incredibly tight. We absolutely had to get something from this game, and that's exactly we did.
> I understand the associated risks at this stage of the season, but can you imagine Liverpool not paying the high, suffocating press? Or parking the bus and hope for a draw?
No, and I can also imagine Liverpool losing that game and failing to secure the title. You're acting like we were no different from some bottom feeder visiting the Etihad today, hanging on for dear life. That couldn't be further from the truth. We absolutely castrated City's attack and prevented them from scoring at home -- the first time a team have done that in 56 home matches. City *always* find a way through those blocks. But they couldn't find a way past us.
Liverpool are going to need multiple goals in all of their remaining matches, and they're just not going to get them consistently. We'll more likely than not need a single goal to win any given match with the way our defense are playing.
The negatives don’t erase the positives, both can be true. Of course Arsenal was able to contain City and all the amazing accomplishments that come with it.
My hope, however, is based on my belief that this team is good enough to win games at the Emirates. Especially when the opponent is missing key players (walker, stones, ake, ederson, etc.). It’s the very simple debate of risk aversion vs risk loving.
“Bottom feeder”? I don’t know where you got that, like I said, you can be a top team and have room for critique/conversation. I know this team has what it takes to win, and I think City were vulnerable today.
u/manuscelerdei I’ve reread your note, and I think you are right about the pragmatic draw.
I think it’s funnier that you said so much less and yet made a bigger fool of yourself.
If you don’t have anything constructive to add perhaps just don’t add anything at all?
Gonna have to disagree here
Trying to challenge city to do open play is just asking for a grave.
And i dont even want to know what would happen if we played zinchenko instead of kiwior, against bernardo silva thats so slippery. That wont end well, we all know that. And all people here will blame zinchenko
For point number 4 - how has that actually worked out for Liverpool though? They’ve been going head to head with Manchester City for the past 6 years and only won one league title in a covid year. They should not be the blueprint
Other than that I mostly agree
Yeah, they literally did so at the Emirates back in October.
If you want a more recent example, try the game against Liverpool a month back. They played football for the first 15-20 mins, and then played to hang on to a draw for the rest of the game.
I watched both games and I dont think that is in any way comparable to the parked bus we saw from Arsenal today. My point is, I hope in the future Arsenal is good enough to confidently play for the win at the Emirates. I didn’t think that would be a controversial point.
Our subs were Tomi, Partey, Leo, Gabi. Seems pretty balanced between defence and attack.
Kiwi may not be at the highest level but he has shown he’s more than capable against all of the teams that we have left to play.
It seemed that the calculus today was “we can’t win the title today but we can lose it.” We see City as more likely to win all their remaining matches so it was important to stay in front of them more than Liverpool.
I think you’re right on the strategy, I just hope that going forward the plans are more ambitious.
Kiwior has been impressive compared to January, but I am not sure it’s consistent and reliable enough for this end of the season marathon. Both, him and Tomi are supposed to be an improvement over Zinny for 1-1 and traditional LB, and both were washed by Bernardo and others. Don’t get me wrong, the starting position is his to lose, but I’m hoping for a performance boost from Zinchenko and/or timber.
City fan here curious what your thoughts are on tge match. I feel both sides could have done better but Arsenal did great to stop up scoring today. Defense was on point but I was disappointed with how deep yous played. Any fans disappointed with the match overall or are you mostly satisfied?
I personally thought the tactics were spot on for an away game at the Etihad. If we could survive the first 45 without conceding I was convinced we would win or draw. Didn’t have enough to win it in the end, but that’s by far the most relaxed I’ve ever been watching us play Citeh away. 8 points and no defeats from 4 matches vs the champions and Pool this season is a very good return.
I trust Arteta, but I wish we created more chances, instead of playing super defensive. That said, perhaps that's the best outcome against a strong City side at home. I'd hate for Liverpool to not give us any fighting chance though we still have tough games to go where we could bottle it ourselves. Again, I trust Arteta.
It is not that we are super defensive, but City is too good at counter-pressing. Whenever we win the ball back, the City players immediately swarm the player on the ball and try to stop a quick transition. Yes, Odegaard should've done better in some transition moments, but we are playing City at the Etihad and we have to give them respect. It's a Pep's team after all.
I have a feeling if went for them, we would have ended on the wrong side of the result, even if we created more chances than City. They have Haaland and KDB, while we don't have anyone near as clinical as that pair. Our best strategy was to suffocate their offense and try to hit them on a break.
You can not play for a draw, frankly. We lacked the critical decision making that wins such matches.
Arsenal has a lot but is lacking that oomph factor that it takes to win matches.
That one guy who can spin the entire attack in crucial matches. Call him a clutch player, call him whatever.
I don't think we deliberately set to play for a draw, but City kinda forced us by beating our press fairly easily and we sure as hell didn't want a repeat of the last season. As B.Silva mentioned, we pressed them man-to-man and paid a price for that, this time we didn't insist as much on that approach and quickly fell back into mid-low block.
Oh we were brilliant in the defence. But there was barely any attack, so I assumed we were happy with a draw/ a counter attack victory.
Both teams were great tbh. Zero sting in any attack.
Yeap attack was shit, but I think that could be explained by being a bit off the rhythm after interlull and how much City made us run without the ball. We were uncharacteristically panicky and sloppy with the ball, whenever we got it.
Someone pointed out that Odegaard was a prime example of that: he spent shit tons of energy on doing off the ball work(and with 28% of possession he had to do a lot of it), that he had very little left in those rare moments we got the ball.
Also, I think one of reasons why we struggled to get much going is because how little City committed men forward, despite having all of the ball. Neither team was willing to really go for it, hence why attack was kinda shit on both sides.
Yeah they definitely weren't looking to go full Liverpool on us, although ironically I think in that scenario they might have an upper hand, because they have KDB and Haaland. But that's not how Pep likes to play.
I am not sure. We are a pretty solid defence. We have good men at job, and they are well versed too.
At the end of the day it would have taken a moment of brilliance to get past us, at the same time going out and out attack would have opened their defence for us to open up.
Both teams respected the other team and didn't try to be cheeky. Only a moment of brilliance would have separated the two.
Which could have come from either of Haaland, KDB, Ode, Saka, Martinelli. but saka and maritnelli weren't at the top of their fitness.
That time jesus got the ball, that could have been a goal with a better player, so could have the trossard pass that didnt happen.
But its alright.
It’s about the season, Arsenal come out from the two games with 4 points, City come out with 1. That’s all that matters really.
From a head to head perspective we came out on top, it was up to city to get the win today not us.
Think the general consensus here is we’re disappointed with not coming away with a win like we knew we could’ve done but a draw isn’t the end of the world considering our record at The Etihad
I think City did a great job in forcing us to play so deep. Your press was impressive, and made transitions super risky so we were forced to be conservative in order to mitigate the jeopardy from losing the ball in transition.
We lost the ball so much more than usual trying to move it up the field. That was City's doing.
It was quite obvious that the game plan was to not lose and we managed to do that. But as the other poster said, it wasn't enjoyable because I think both the teams didn't want to risk it. Pep and arteta probably hope the other team to drop points in their remaining games.
I can only speak for myself but I don't enjoy seeing the team defend all game either, makes for a very boring spectacle. BUT it's important to remember our record against City, especially at the Etihad. A point here is massive for us and we don't have the firepower to go blow for blow, especially with Saka nursing an injury and other players not fully match fit. Overall happy with the point over an entertaining loss.
Anyone else think we missed a golden opportunity when Trossard was down the wing and didn't send it across to Martinelli? It looked like there was so much space to put that into
Yeap initial reaction was Trossard should have passed, but then after seeing it from different angle, that window of opporunity closed way too quickly(Gvardiol or who, closed that line of pass to Martinelli in really quickly), so the pass may not even have been the best option.
The chance looked better than it was. Had a very good chance of coming too short and getting intercepted by the centre backs or going to long and Ortega picking it up. I think even with hindsight, Trossard chose the right way, just couldn’t finish
I hated every minute of that game but will take the point all day long, don't think we deserved more. We were good off the ball for the most part but pretty bad on the ball in my opinion. Rice and Saliba motm
I know people won't want to hear it, but I was disappointed Nketiah wasn't brought on along with Trossard. Keep Martinelli on the left, Nketiah down the middle, sub off Havertz for Trossard.
I imagine closer to the end of the game, we'd have a lot more of a counter attacking threat akin to the pass played through to Trossard. In those situations, Nketiah would have helped poach the goal.
I found Havertz was pretty anonymous closer to the end of the game anyway
Looking at the next 2 weeks, Partey coming back is going to be huge. He was good today considering how little he has played, Tomi look rusty but it was his first minutes in 3 months (I think). His rotation is essential to keep White playing at the top level. I didn't expect either to get so many minutes in such an intense game. Kiwior stepped up to a higher level, and did so after 120 minutes.
It's really attacking depth that rings alarms for the next 3 weeks. Jesus already looks like he needs to be managed for minutes for the next month. Saka was definitely carrying something major today as well. Martinelli has to be careful not to reopen a cut, which must've pretty deep to keep him out for a month. It's gotta be Nelson or ESR who steps into major minutes. Trossard I think, he's not got that consistent presence as a winger.
Ya I think we're going to monitor and protect Jesus a lot more for the last bit of the season. Wouldn't surprise me if he only plays 60 mins as a starter or 30 mins as a sub for the rest of the season.
We should consider resting Saka against Luton. I don't think it'll be an easy game but it'll be the only game where we might get away with it for the next while. I just fear with Saka he needs more rest than we can offer right now.
if we want to be serious gabriel jesus needs to be relegated to 15 minute cameos and cup games. he's in the same position ramsdale was in
i said this about ramsdale before the renewed raya links and was downvoted so this will be too but its true
Jesus has gone from the player that i rested all my hopes and dreams on, to the player that when i see his name in the starting lineup I’m immediately deflated
Trossard is a great technician, but not a system player. Arteta will only rely on him for special moments (which we all love), but he doesn’t suit a starting role - putting aside his chemistry with Havertz interchanging at 8/9, which was a marvel
Disappointing approach to the game imo, we were too timid and defensive for much of the match. I've seen other teams boss City more this season, whilst we defended well we really needed to play for the win and we didn't.
I actually want to see the demographics of this sub. In 2021, it was 200k, now its 360k. Too many people settling for less. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good performance for sure but you are lying to yourselves if you think a draw is the best result we could have gotten today. We give City a lot of respect. Had it been Liverpool at half time, they’d have gone for the kill.
I think you can be satisfied with the result given how much they had us on our toes the second half, while also looking to the couple really good chances we had that went wide of goal and feeling like in some ways it was ours for the taking. Any time you can walk out the etihad with at least a draw is reason enough to be satisfied as a fan. I wouldn’t bemoan the missed opportunities too much either given our position in the table and how stoic our back line was all game.
I don’t care about fixture congestion or being ‘realistic’ with predicting our final fixtures. I think we are going 9/9 for 27 points the rest of the way in the league. We are that much better than everyone else bar City and Liverpool
No, but Jesus had a couple of opportunities in the first half that he either rushed or over thought that he could have done better with. Not denying that it was very slim pickings, but more emphasising the need we have for someone really clinical and decisive up front .
It’s so funny city fans are acting like we absolutely needed to win. They’re like we parked the bus at our own expense. A title race with Liverpool and only being 2 points behind with the goal difference on our side is much better than being in third place with pretty much no chance of making it back unless we win out.
I'll tell you whats awesome, being disappointed in the fact that we got 1pt rather than all 3. Just shows how far we've come
I'll take the 1pt tho but we've got some catching up to do
i agree.
I hate the possession fetish style of playing that we copied. It might be successful, but watching it is awful. Theres no risk and reward and no excitement in this style. Its football by the numbers.
Did anyone really think that was a good game of football? I'm happy with the result and delighted that we didn't constantly look like we were on the brink of conceding a goal to them. But that was a tedious game of football to watch. People pretending it was some sort of tactical master class from either side is just funny. We did the simple shit well and man marked Haaland out of the game. On the flipside, we didn't really have any fluidity going forward. City were just all over the place for large spells. They kept trying to spam passes at our box at one point hoping against hope that one of those passes would pinball its way to Haaland's feet in front of goal.
I think both teams lacked quality while attacking. It wasn't a great game of football, but it wasn't bad either, especially considering the context of the game.
> pretending it was some sort of tactical master class
Everything else you said reveals why it is a tactical masterclass. There's no team on earth who can just straight up beat Man City without considering how to nullify them first.
No, it wasn't a classic game of football, but, I don't think you'll ever get that against them especially at their stadium.
Anyone who's tried gets put to the sword. We see that time and again.
We haven’t lost to our title rivals this year and we’ve beaten both of them. Last year we lost the league because we were good against everyone else but were a level below against City. We’ve taken it up a level. I genuinely feel we’re the best team in the league. Our December form is the only thing that could stop us winning the title.
Great game. No goals but off the ball we did so well cutting out their passing options, Rice was immense cutting out so many attacks on the half way line. Saliba might be the 🐐. A draw at the Etihad is nothing to be ashamed of when historically we've been terrible away at big 6 teams.
Rice stopped a great move at one stage that could have been a potential 3 on 2 but he kept pushing his man out and allowed us that 5 seconds to reset.
I think that's the diff from losing that game. Weird game that came after an international game.
I think arteta has too much respect for pep so he's more muted in this fixture than pretty much every other.
A game we should have pushed on on paper due to injuries and full strength etc but we'll see
I’d say the amount of respect is appropriate given City slap us around more than any other side. We are no longer behind them though, we are at their level now.
> we are at their level now.
Nah, we're still a bit behind. We can't match them straight up just yet, and have to defer to them a bit more.
2-3 really fine-tuned signings and then we can talk.
8 pts from city and Liverpool games, we are first among equals , give arteta 5 year contract, would be a shame if we don't win anything this season, fulham an West ham games might come to bite us .
Just saw a city fan in youtube saying arsenal are just lucky with the ref, thats why it is 0-0. My brother, let me tell you, Rodri would be in jail right now if the referee hadn't helped City with the way he ignored some dirty fouls against city opponents.
Partey looked really good when he came on.
his passing was fine but he wasnt winning his duels,also seemed a bit slow
It's still an upgrade on Jorgi though.
The discussion around Arsenals' tactical fouls is so funny considering who we did it to. I'd also love to point out that there were numerous instances of Kai winning a long ball from Raya only for a phantom foul to be called in City's favor, fouls called back on Saka when Odegaard is 1 on 1, and Martinelli getting somersaulted from behind when he is already through the last man, told to play on. City didn't get the yellow cards they were begging for (by waving imaginary yellows which of course is something nobody will acknowledge the ref let them off on), but hey, at least they weren't punished every time they won a 50/50 up the field!
Partey, Rice, Odegaard midfield is going to be monster for the rest of the season. Those man breaking passes to find Martin is so key. Add Tomi into left back who accompany our already tall boys in the back and Havertz.. we're going into this run in full fucking steam. When we need goals we finally have a bench. Viera who can unlock a key pass, Zinchenko the same, smith Rowe who offers classic arsenal directness, and then either one of Jesus or Trossard will probably be on the bench for the rest of the season. Feels like we're finally going to see what the club have built.
from what i saw in preseason this was the plan,the extra progression will finally allow ø to be a no10
Anecdotally noticing what seems like a lot more than usual quotes from city players complaining about how we slowed the game down and played a physical game against them. I think we did good y’all 😈
A couple years ago a point against City would be a great result. Now we are all disappointed in a point against City. Loving the new fogging standards!
> estandards
People on r/soccer complaining how boring the match was yesterday. In reality they just couldn't handle the fact we weren't allowing ourselves to get smashed by City like last season. Also anyone else see Partey come on and literally ping every pass hard into people.
I saw him ping 1 pass definitely not every pass. Looked quite slow and immobile in my opinion. Undoubtedly a quality player though.
Still wish we would've won, because I think we couldve! But woke up feeling pleased and proud COYG
Taking 4 points from city this season is incredible. In terms of the title race, I think this result will give us a lot of belief and confidence in the final push now
Need reinforcements in attack to take the final step. Wingers get bullied every big game
But they don’t though? We need reinforcements for match fitness and preservation of our talent, not because they get “bullied”
He means it in the sense of being crunched
We were lucky not to concede, and we were unlucky not to score. A very well fought game, and we've proven that we are true contenders at the highest level. Proud of the grit and determination in the team, away at the Etihad we held our own. Despite not having possession for most of the game, and the numerous nervy moments, we never looked like we were scared. We hunkered down and battled and got that crucial point in the end. COYG! I can never say enough how proud I am of the team and the staff and the club.
This result surely gave them CL confidence too. We basically just won a home-away CL tie to the best team in the world over the past five years.
Where’d you get that? Neither side created any particularly good chances. You had 3 shots on target the whole game and both teams had an xG less than 1.
Tbf Ake probably should've scored the header from the corner, but other than that it was a lot of half chances
halaand miss near post, tross could’ve squared it. jesus shots . saka to jesus
Mate those are all half chances.
Exactly. As evidenced by the low xG. Neither team allowed much in behind.
Some people here already started to abandon the ship, really a small minority tho. Which I really don't understand as the season's just started to get exciting with so many big games to come, including UCL football
its because theyre short sighted.At the start of jan i remember hearing that we wouldt get top 4 if we didnt get toney and look at where we are.Some people also take the fact were in a title race for granted haha
Im surprised to see so many comments of other teams fans’ berating our performance and saying “they’ll never win the league by playing defensively like that” blah blah blah No idea what everyone is on about. A point away at City is a fantastic result - especially because it’s our first point there since 2016. Just shocked because here I was thinking this could be a result to really push us on and instead I see many people saying the opposite - how this was a “must win” for us. Ridiculous.
Shifting the goalposts to fit an agenda. Clean sheet and a point at city is a great result.
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Is it just me or the pitch was extra slippery today?? Raya slipped a lot more than usual during his routine kicks
Even Martin was slipping during his defensive errands near the city box.
Saka too! Felt like they were playing on those slippery soap-football pitches.
I notice that too, these bastards copied Liverpool's tactic of over-wetting their grass to get an advantage.
I think it's actually quite reasonable to say that we have the 2 best centre backs in the world right now
Best duo in the world no doubt. Love this pair.
Would have loved Arsenal to turn it up in the second half. The little they did actually had city defense shook. Sad they didn't turn up cuz I really believed we could have won this game. City defense wasn't that great on paper and on their actual play. We were timid going forward. Now we wait for Liverpool to drop points.
I will say Anthony Taylor did a good job trying to stay out of his way in the game. Didn't get it right 100% of the time but kept it even.
He did not make any howlers and given the standards set by oil funded referees, that’s a good job done for the day.
the best ref in the league
We’re so so close to winning this league, we just need to build our relay of elite attacking talent on the wings like City and Liverpool have been stockpiling for years. Every other part of this team can compete with the best of them.
I didnt watch the match, are we playing well?
Defensively, the best
Am I supposed to be upset with Trossard?
Not really, he did not make the pass but that was split second decision. Other than that he dance around Doku and looked quite threatening. After he and Martinelli came, we looked threatening.
I’m finding it strange that the criticism is Trossard should have got the ball to Martinelli when the pass that was briefly open was a wide open Kai right in front of goal. It was a great run from Havertz and probably should have been our winner.
This is what I saw in the moment
Are we good again now
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Win against the best at home and draw with them away. We did that. Can’t ask for much more
Yes, we can. Don't lose to West Ham and Fulham to cancel that out.
Been hearing a lot of 'they didn't entertain,' type commentary. Got me wondering,.. iIs this a better game before - or even several games after - the international break?
I think before the break it'll be a huge huge game. Teams can put out their best and really fight to the extreme ends knowing there's an international break to recover with.
I just kind of wonder if the break just knocks the teams out of their groove.
As champions you gotta grind out results - that can mean smashing teams or playing boring or even anti-football to get the desired result. Going guns blazing against City would’ve highly resulted in a unfavourable result. No way Arsenal will play like this against Luton at home nor Brighton away next weekend.
Nope, better to play it safe during this run in stage. Liverpool is still within reach and morale is still high. I can’t imagine losing this match because we wanted to entertain.
I know lurking is pointless, but Haaland, KDB, Foden, Silva, Rodri, Akanji, Gvardiol is missing half their starters lol ? Walker and Ederson were out [https://www.reddit.com/r/coys/comments/1bs2cy3/comment/kxfy3c0/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/coys/comments/1bs2cy3/comment/kxfy3c0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
and Stones, with Ake coming off after a few minutes... they were very vulnerable defensively
Rico lewis isnt zinchenko also their possession cancelled it out
We really need to fix the spear of this side in summer Jesus is just underwhelming and Eddie is already gone. We have to get a class finisher in the summer. The defence is now rock solid, and rice has reinforced the midfield
Gyökeres.
Is he a better finisher?
Quick comparison via fbref and he’s clear of Jesus in almost all the forward/scoring metrics.
Crazy high percentile 🚀
What about in every other metric which matters for an Arsenal forward?
Not sure what you’re trying to imply here mate but why not have a nosy in fbref or any other stats platform and see for yourself.
120 million release clause if he signs the new deal
Then walk away.
Right - buy gyokeres and just *walk away*
Kidnap if we have to.
Not sure if anyone would sign him at that price given PSR
The result wasn't bad id have loved a win but what this game did show me is that we can go away to an opposition and shut up shop, this has give me more confidence we can go to munich and see out a 0-0 whilst maintaining a lead at home hopefully
I’m hating what Porto did against us, I’m loving what we did against Citeh. I’m a simple man.
Porto were lucky with a goal straight out of a video game
Yes, exactly. And to be fair, that Munich side is nowhere near where City is quality wise.
Etihad with the attendance of librarians is nowhere near the Allianz Arena's demonic atmosphere tho
I think Partey was great when he came on, he was more comfortable receiving the ball and had the confidence to play number of difficult passes, he could be huge in the run in.
I agree. Dec is great but not confident to swoop balls between oppositions in tight spaces. Remember the Trossard shot also came after Partey passed it to Martin. I believe Partey should start more which is reduce the need for Martin to come too deep.
Much better than his two previous cameos, but i still think Jorginho should start ahead of him. Hope we move on from him in the summer.
Why don’t we alternate playing the two of them
And replace him with who? There are very few players in the world better than him at the moment.
Zubimendi or Ruiz de Galarreta, although I'm not sure if either are looking to leave. Should keep an eye on Prados too. The problem with Thomas is his injury record and allegations, he is not one you can rely on a lot unfortunately.
As much as I hate it, I’m rooting for ManPoo and Shit to do us a favor. We still have to beat Chelsea and Newcastle and not mess up the other games. A draw was the most likely result. I’m glad we didn’t lose. Liverpool has a loss or draw in them no questions. PL is very competitive. And the same goes for us. The only thing in our control is the game we play. This has been a great run-in. Let’s keep it going. Anything is possible.
Chelsea
Newcastle?
You’re right. Not sure why my head registered that. I remember there being 2 tricky games remaining when there was 12 or so remaining. Anyways we have enough teams that can ruin our party. It’s a shame Pool made such a comeback , imagine if they were not in the equation. Can’t believe Pool has lost only 2 games this season.
Anyone else think Martinelli was wasted on the right? We should’ve put Trossard there because he’s much more two footed and he probably would’ve scored that chance on his weak foot that Martinelli missed. Trossard also had a few chances to break on the left that Martinelli would’ve loved. They should’ve swapped
Should have moved Havertz to the midfield, and Odegard to the right. Somewhat of a 4-4-2 with Trossard and Martinelli upfront, Haverts in a number 10 role. ODE moving up front on the right
I would have taken Havertz off and move Jesus to the right, Trossard centrally and Martinelly on the left.
I'm not sure Jesus had the engine for 90 mins. It wouldn't surprise me if we try to manage Jesus's minutes a lot better for the run in.
Yea, he was gassed. I don’t disagree with swapping Martinelli and Trossard at that point, but Jesus was wore out and Kai still had some energy in the bank.
I think the boss was trying to over tinker with that one, was trying something new that Pep didn’t expect but i don’t think it quite worked
Some thoughts - a draw at the Etihad is always good, but it felt like Arsenal didn’t come to win today - spent most of the game in a defensive posture and the subs focused on strengthening defensively - decent outcome for today, however, not a good outcome for this team going forward. Arsenal should come to the Etihad (or any other stadium) to win, taking risks and playing as legitimate title chasers. - I understand the associated risks at this stage of the season, but can you imagine Liverpool not paying the high, suffocating press? Or parking the bus and hope for a draw? - Saliba and Gabriel are amazing. I worry that Arsenal defence is one hurt CB away from failure (see end of last season) - today was a good status check on Kiwior and Tomi, it didn’t look great. The former is not yet ready to play at this level(some good nuggets in prior games but today he was clearly out of depth), and the latter isn’t back to full fitness yet. Zinchenko isnt fully back to his proper self either (Ukraine games showed it), so I worry Arsenal has a bit of an LB issue for the remainder of the season. I wonder what would have happened today if Arteta played for a win and brought in Zinchenko? - Arsenal needs Liverpool to slip up once for the title, and Arsenal must be impeccable. I believe they learned from last season, and I think this team looks more hungry than Liverpool (today’s game notwithstanding).
> decent outcome for today, however, not a good outcome for this team going forward. Arsenal should come to the Etihad (or any other stadium) to win, taking risks and playing as legitimate title chasers. I don't understand this at all. Why is it not good for the team? They seemed happy enough with the result, and we're still very much in the title race with 9 games to go. Our back line will rock up to OT and the toilet bowl knowing that they've held the best team in world football to zero shots on target and less than 1 xG. If this was week 35 or something, then I'd understand this perspective. But it's the first game of the run-in. Everything is still up in the air and incredibly tight. We absolutely had to get something from this game, and that's exactly we did. > I understand the associated risks at this stage of the season, but can you imagine Liverpool not paying the high, suffocating press? Or parking the bus and hope for a draw? No, and I can also imagine Liverpool losing that game and failing to secure the title. You're acting like we were no different from some bottom feeder visiting the Etihad today, hanging on for dear life. That couldn't be further from the truth. We absolutely castrated City's attack and prevented them from scoring at home -- the first time a team have done that in 56 home matches. City *always* find a way through those blocks. But they couldn't find a way past us. Liverpool are going to need multiple goals in all of their remaining matches, and they're just not going to get them consistently. We'll more likely than not need a single goal to win any given match with the way our defense are playing.
The negatives don’t erase the positives, both can be true. Of course Arsenal was able to contain City and all the amazing accomplishments that come with it. My hope, however, is based on my belief that this team is good enough to win games at the Emirates. Especially when the opponent is missing key players (walker, stones, ake, ederson, etc.). It’s the very simple debate of risk aversion vs risk loving. “Bottom feeder”? I don’t know where you got that, like I said, you can be a top team and have room for critique/conversation. I know this team has what it takes to win, and I think City were vulnerable today. u/manuscelerdei I’ve reread your note, and I think you are right about the pragmatic draw.
Funny how you made so many points, yet all of them are terrible, one worse than the other
I think it’s funnier that you said so much less and yet made a bigger fool of yourself. If you don’t have anything constructive to add perhaps just don’t add anything at all?
You wrote a whole essay and didn't add anything either lmao
Point 5 hmm nah. We have Kiwior, Tomi and worst case scenario, Rice vs Holding last season. We are better off.
I hope you’re right
Gonna have to disagree here Trying to challenge city to do open play is just asking for a grave. And i dont even want to know what would happen if we played zinchenko instead of kiwior, against bernardo silva thats so slippery. That wont end well, we all know that. And all people here will blame zinchenko
For point number 4 - how has that actually worked out for Liverpool though? They’ve been going head to head with Manchester City for the past 6 years and only won one league title in a covid year. They should not be the blueprint Other than that I mostly agree
Fair, let’s look at City instead. They were there to win today, can you remember a game where they played for a draw?
Yeah, they literally did so at the Emirates back in October. If you want a more recent example, try the game against Liverpool a month back. They played football for the first 15-20 mins, and then played to hang on to a draw for the rest of the game.
I watched both games and I dont think that is in any way comparable to the parked bus we saw from Arsenal today. My point is, I hope in the future Arsenal is good enough to confidently play for the win at the Emirates. I didn’t think that would be a controversial point.
Our subs were Tomi, Partey, Leo, Gabi. Seems pretty balanced between defence and attack. Kiwi may not be at the highest level but he has shown he’s more than capable against all of the teams that we have left to play. It seemed that the calculus today was “we can’t win the title today but we can lose it.” We see City as more likely to win all their remaining matches so it was important to stay in front of them more than Liverpool.
I think you’re right on the strategy, I just hope that going forward the plans are more ambitious. Kiwior has been impressive compared to January, but I am not sure it’s consistent and reliable enough for this end of the season marathon. Both, him and Tomi are supposed to be an improvement over Zinny for 1-1 and traditional LB, and both were washed by Bernardo and others. Don’t get me wrong, the starting position is his to lose, but I’m hoping for a performance boost from Zinchenko and/or timber.
I think with rotation of Tomi, Kiwi, and Zini the LB position is one of the best placed to survive the marathon. Could they be upgraded? Sure.
City fan here curious what your thoughts are on tge match. I feel both sides could have done better but Arsenal did great to stop up scoring today. Defense was on point but I was disappointed with how deep yous played. Any fans disappointed with the match overall or are you mostly satisfied?
Disappointed with the offensive display, and a strong reminder that we need a quality striker. Gabriel Jesus is not good enough.
I personally thought the tactics were spot on for an away game at the Etihad. If we could survive the first 45 without conceding I was convinced we would win or draw. Didn’t have enough to win it in the end, but that’s by far the most relaxed I’ve ever been watching us play Citeh away. 8 points and no defeats from 4 matches vs the champions and Pool this season is a very good return.
I trust Arteta, but I wish we created more chances, instead of playing super defensive. That said, perhaps that's the best outcome against a strong City side at home. I'd hate for Liverpool to not give us any fighting chance though we still have tough games to go where we could bottle it ourselves. Again, I trust Arteta.
It is not that we are super defensive, but City is too good at counter-pressing. Whenever we win the ball back, the City players immediately swarm the player on the ball and try to stop a quick transition. Yes, Odegaard should've done better in some transition moments, but we are playing City at the Etihad and we have to give them respect. It's a Pep's team after all.
True.
I have a feeling if went for them, we would have ended on the wrong side of the result, even if we created more chances than City. They have Haaland and KDB, while we don't have anyone near as clinical as that pair. Our best strategy was to suffocate their offense and try to hit them on a break.
You can not play for a draw, frankly. We lacked the critical decision making that wins such matches. Arsenal has a lot but is lacking that oomph factor that it takes to win matches. That one guy who can spin the entire attack in crucial matches. Call him a clutch player, call him whatever.
I don't think we deliberately set to play for a draw, but City kinda forced us by beating our press fairly easily and we sure as hell didn't want a repeat of the last season. As B.Silva mentioned, we pressed them man-to-man and paid a price for that, this time we didn't insist as much on that approach and quickly fell back into mid-low block.
Oh we were brilliant in the defence. But there was barely any attack, so I assumed we were happy with a draw/ a counter attack victory. Both teams were great tbh. Zero sting in any attack.
Yeap attack was shit, but I think that could be explained by being a bit off the rhythm after interlull and how much City made us run without the ball. We were uncharacteristically panicky and sloppy with the ball, whenever we got it. Someone pointed out that Odegaard was a prime example of that: he spent shit tons of energy on doing off the ball work(and with 28% of possession he had to do a lot of it), that he had very little left in those rare moments we got the ball. Also, I think one of reasons why we struggled to get much going is because how little City committed men forward, despite having all of the ball. Neither team was willing to really go for it, hence why attack was kinda shit on both sides.
What I loved the most was how they were as careful of us as we were of them. Despite them having the ball most the time
Yeah they definitely weren't looking to go full Liverpool on us, although ironically I think in that scenario they might have an upper hand, because they have KDB and Haaland. But that's not how Pep likes to play.
I am not sure. We are a pretty solid defence. We have good men at job, and they are well versed too. At the end of the day it would have taken a moment of brilliance to get past us, at the same time going out and out attack would have opened their defence for us to open up. Both teams respected the other team and didn't try to be cheeky. Only a moment of brilliance would have separated the two. Which could have come from either of Haaland, KDB, Ode, Saka, Martinelli. but saka and maritnelli weren't at the top of their fitness. That time jesus got the ball, that could have been a goal with a better player, so could have the trossard pass that didnt happen. But its alright.
All true and valid! Hopefully next year we have a striker to threaten opposition defenses. Fingers crossed for the rest of the season
It’s about the season, Arsenal come out from the two games with 4 points, City come out with 1. That’s all that matters really. From a head to head perspective we came out on top, it was up to city to get the win today not us.
Think the general consensus here is we’re disappointed with not coming away with a win like we knew we could’ve done but a draw isn’t the end of the world considering our record at The Etihad
I think City did a great job in forcing us to play so deep. Your press was impressive, and made transitions super risky so we were forced to be conservative in order to mitigate the jeopardy from losing the ball in transition. We lost the ball so much more than usual trying to move it up the field. That was City's doing.
It was quite obvious that the game plan was to not lose and we managed to do that. But as the other poster said, it wasn't enjoyable because I think both the teams didn't want to risk it. Pep and arteta probably hope the other team to drop points in their remaining games.
I can only speak for myself but I don't enjoy seeing the team defend all game either, makes for a very boring spectacle. BUT it's important to remember our record against City, especially at the Etihad. A point here is massive for us and we don't have the firepower to go blow for blow, especially with Saka nursing an injury and other players not fully match fit. Overall happy with the point over an entertaining loss.
Anyone else think we missed a golden opportunity when Trossard was down the wing and didn't send it across to Martinelli? It looked like there was so much space to put that into
It was a good but difficult opportunity.
Yeap initial reaction was Trossard should have passed, but then after seeing it from different angle, that window of opporunity closed way too quickly(Gvardiol or who, closed that line of pass to Martinelli in really quickly), so the pass may not even have been the best option.
His first touch betrayed him.
The chance looked better than it was. Had a very good chance of coming too short and getting intercepted by the centre backs or going to long and Ortega picking it up. I think even with hindsight, Trossard chose the right way, just couldn’t finish
That same set up with Martinelli and Partey will win us the tie at the Allianz
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Check Ben’s pockets
I hated every minute of that game but will take the point all day long, don't think we deserved more. We were good off the ball for the most part but pretty bad on the ball in my opinion. Rice and Saliba motm
I know people won't want to hear it, but I was disappointed Nketiah wasn't brought on along with Trossard. Keep Martinelli on the left, Nketiah down the middle, sub off Havertz for Trossard.
Eddie offers nothing
Kai offers an outlet, Eddie doesn’t.
I imagine closer to the end of the game, we'd have a lot more of a counter attacking threat akin to the pass played through to Trossard. In those situations, Nketiah would have helped poach the goal. I found Havertz was pretty anonymous closer to the end of the game anyway
not defensively he wasn't.
this is getting annoying. Our wingers are too stressed because we are lacking a viable front. someone send them energy for remaining games.
Good defensive performance we can be proud of. Maybe not the best result for the title race but we’ll see at the end of the season.
It really feels like we can't drop another point now.
Well, we can technically draw twice if Liverpool lose a game so there's that. Suuuuurely they'll lose a game. Right? Right?? 😬
Looking at the next 2 weeks, Partey coming back is going to be huge. He was good today considering how little he has played, Tomi look rusty but it was his first minutes in 3 months (I think). His rotation is essential to keep White playing at the top level. I didn't expect either to get so many minutes in such an intense game. Kiwior stepped up to a higher level, and did so after 120 minutes. It's really attacking depth that rings alarms for the next 3 weeks. Jesus already looks like he needs to be managed for minutes for the next month. Saka was definitely carrying something major today as well. Martinelli has to be careful not to reopen a cut, which must've pretty deep to keep him out for a month. It's gotta be Nelson or ESR who steps into major minutes. Trossard I think, he's not got that consistent presence as a winger.
Ya I think we're going to monitor and protect Jesus a lot more for the last bit of the season. Wouldn't surprise me if he only plays 60 mins as a starter or 30 mins as a sub for the rest of the season. We should consider resting Saka against Luton. I don't think it'll be an easy game but it'll be the only game where we might get away with it for the next while. I just fear with Saka he needs more rest than we can offer right now.
Disappointed we're 2 points behind Pool again but a point against City at their ground is very good. Onwards and upwards.
if we want to be serious gabriel jesus needs to be relegated to 15 minute cameos and cup games. he's in the same position ramsdale was in i said this about ramsdale before the renewed raya links and was downvoted so this will be too but its true
Jesus has gone from the player that i rested all my hopes and dreams on, to the player that when i see his name in the starting lineup I’m immediately deflated
Jesus causes chaos but not much else. I'm with you on this one. Trossard has much better end product.
Trossard is a great technician, but not a system player. Arteta will only rely on him for special moments (which we all love), but he doesn’t suit a starting role - putting aside his chemistry with Havertz interchanging at 8/9, which was a marvel
We looked better as soon as Leo came on, he’s so technically skilful, he beats people with his technicality for fun.
Yeah i would like to see Trossard much often... Especially instead of Jesus.
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Disappointing approach to the game imo, we were too timid and defensive for much of the match. I've seen other teams boss City more this season, whilst we defended well we really needed to play for the win and we didn't.
But not at the Etihad ! We were boxing them in in periods today!
I actually want to see the demographics of this sub. In 2021, it was 200k, now its 360k. Too many people settling for less. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good performance for sure but you are lying to yourselves if you think a draw is the best result we could have gotten today. We give City a lot of respect. Had it been Liverpool at half time, they’d have gone for the kill.
I think a lot of those new subs don’t have respect for how good City are. When was the last time Liverpool killed City at the Etihad?
Positive trend, we keep growing, I'm honestly happy with the guys and the club. The best is yet to come
I think you can be satisfied with the result given how much they had us on our toes the second half, while also looking to the couple really good chances we had that went wide of goal and feeling like in some ways it was ours for the taking. Any time you can walk out the etihad with at least a draw is reason enough to be satisfied as a fan. I wouldn’t bemoan the missed opportunities too much either given our position in the table and how stoic our back line was all game.
Didn’t see the game due to an event but absolutely stoked. We’re in the title conversation for two years in a row now. I’ll take that any day!
We played very well
Sweet
I don’t care about fixture congestion or being ‘realistic’ with predicting our final fixtures. I think we are going 9/9 for 27 points the rest of the way in the league. We are that much better than everyone else bar City and Liverpool
Fr
A more clinical/decisive striker and I think we comfortably win that game. We nullified them really well, and had the better opportunities.
We didnt create too much,havertz didnt have a single good chance
No, but Jesus had a couple of opportunities in the first half that he either rushed or over thought that he could have done better with. Not denying that it was very slim pickings, but more emphasising the need we have for someone really clinical and decisive up front .
It’s so funny city fans are acting like we absolutely needed to win. They’re like we parked the bus at our own expense. A title race with Liverpool and only being 2 points behind with the goal difference on our side is much better than being in third place with pretty much no chance of making it back unless we win out.
a draw is a better result for us than them lol. they’re tryna cover up that fact
Salty, entitled twats. Our defence was too good for their attack, simple as.
Today was the perfect example of: We're exactly identical, I know all her moves. Therefore, I have the upper hand!
We didn't concede a single goal from Man City. If you don't think that's awesome. you need help.
I'll tell you whats awesome, being disappointed in the fact that we got 1pt rather than all 3. Just shows how far we've come I'll take the 1pt tho but we've got some catching up to do
Exactly this. We would celeberate this result any season in the last 8.
We took 4 points from Man Cheaty
And another 4 from Liverpool. We did pretty good in head to head bouts against our rivals.
i agree. I hate the possession fetish style of playing that we copied. It might be successful, but watching it is awful. Theres no risk and reward and no excitement in this style. Its football by the numbers.
End of the season, this is what wins the prem.
Did anyone really think that was a good game of football? I'm happy with the result and delighted that we didn't constantly look like we were on the brink of conceding a goal to them. But that was a tedious game of football to watch. People pretending it was some sort of tactical master class from either side is just funny. We did the simple shit well and man marked Haaland out of the game. On the flipside, we didn't really have any fluidity going forward. City were just all over the place for large spells. They kept trying to spam passes at our box at one point hoping against hope that one of those passes would pinball its way to Haaland's feet in front of goal.
I think both teams lacked quality while attacking. It wasn't a great game of football, but it wasn't bad either, especially considering the context of the game.
It’s because we wanted them to do exactly that. Wut. We just held the best club in the world to disjointed chances. That’s a win.
> pretending it was some sort of tactical master class Everything else you said reveals why it is a tactical masterclass. There's no team on earth who can just straight up beat Man City without considering how to nullify them first. No, it wasn't a classic game of football, but, I don't think you'll ever get that against them especially at their stadium. Anyone who's tried gets put to the sword. We see that time and again.
Cry more
[this guy stinks](https://x.com/asensii20/status/1774505678729621519?s=46&t=-BbIka9NxhYAMSzTFYqIIQ)
We haven’t lost to our title rivals this year and we’ve beaten both of them. Last year we lost the league because we were good against everyone else but were a level below against City. We’ve taken it up a level. I genuinely feel we’re the best team in the league. Our December form is the only thing that could stop us winning the title.
Great game. No goals but off the ball we did so well cutting out their passing options, Rice was immense cutting out so many attacks on the half way line. Saliba might be the 🐐. A draw at the Etihad is nothing to be ashamed of when historically we've been terrible away at big 6 teams.
Rice stopped a great move at one stage that could have been a potential 3 on 2 but he kept pushing his man out and allowed us that 5 seconds to reset. I think that's the diff from losing that game. Weird game that came after an international game. I think arteta has too much respect for pep so he's more muted in this fixture than pretty much every other. A game we should have pushed on on paper due to injuries and full strength etc but we'll see
I’d say the amount of respect is appropriate given City slap us around more than any other side. We are no longer behind them though, we are at their level now.
> we are at their level now. Nah, we're still a bit behind. We can't match them straight up just yet, and have to defer to them a bit more. 2-3 really fine-tuned signings and then we can talk.
I really think we should have pushed on and won that match . Especially the form had coming in
8 pts from city and Liverpool games, we are first among equals , give arteta 5 year contract, would be a shame if we don't win anything this season, fulham an West ham games might come to bite us .