We have lost 12 of our last 13 Premier League games against Man City. The only win out of those was in this very season at Home. We haven’t really playing well against them from some time now, having lost all our last 7 as visitors. And there is a chance to do the double on them since 2007-08 season.
Man City are unbeaten in their last 38 games at home in all competition, last time they failed to register a win was against Brentford in 2022; their longest run without a defeat since 1919-1921. They have one of the best managers in the world, probably ‘the’ best who has assembled one of ‘the’ best teams on the planet. We have seen how they didn’t allow Klopp and his Liverpool team with the likes of Salah, Mane, Firmino and VVD to win more than one Premier League title at their heights. We know they will not allow us as well.
Team News
We are having some luck. John Stones and Kyle Walker are out for today’s game – both picked up an injury in the international break. However, Ederson, Akanji and De Bruyne are fit to play likely having recovered from their not-so-serious injuries.
We have our own challenges though. Saka and Gabriel pulled out from their international duty and it remains to be seen if they can make it. Martinelli was out because of a foot injury and is doubtful for the game. Missing both Saka and Martinelli creates a problem for us, since we only have Trossard as a quality back up. I don’t want to see Nelson starting against City with almost no game time recently. The other option would be to put Gabriel Jesus on the right wing but too many un-tried changes can disrupt the chemistry and it’s not one of those games where you need to try new things. Lets see who makes it before the game.
Personally, I would pray for Saka to make it. He has a score to settle with Foden. Kai up top has proved better than Jesus and I will stick to it. In the midfield, Jorgi allowing Rice to play an advance role has helped us. We need Odegaard to continue his form, and we need our defence to be solid like we had. We need Raya to keep his calm and concentration because the City players are going to test him.
Fire and blood
At this point, players are aware of the game Mikel wants to play. At this stage, both the managers would have figured out each other’s game plan. Quality wise, City might have an upper hand because of De Bruyne and Haaland but then Saliba had kept Haaland in his pocket whenever we have played them and we have our own KDB in Odegaard. At this stage, I would say the only disadvantage we have over City is that we are playing on their ground.
Most of the time, you win because of your game plan. You find a way to over crowd the opposition box, you define a strategy to overload the fullbacks, you play a false 9, and if you are Brentford, you find a way to let them have all the ball and counter attack whenever you get a chance. Some other time requires fire and blood. Today’s the day!
The winner of this match will be decided by whoever is willing to sweat more, keep the fire burning for 90min, run and press endlessly and put their body on the line when needed.
The winner of this match will go on to win Premier League. Lets see how much Arteta can motivate a group of 15 players.
Right, we should thank the gods – the old and the new – for the football is back. And what a way to begin. Hope you are doing well, hopefully it ends even better.
Cheers!
At the end of the day it was negative tactics by El B. Certainly not the tactics of a title winning side.
Offensively we needed Trossard, Martinelli and a fit Nelson if Saka was suspect. We had no pace in lumbering Havertz who’s job as a striker is to defend.
We can still win the title but we will be relying on other results going our way. Had we bagged the 3 points the title was ours for the keeping. Now we play catch up football.
We had the squad only El B once again was left wanting and played not to lose rather than to win.
Tony-agree wholeheartedly…we came there not to lose and were far too conservative when it came to our early subs…with the ref opting to let us “play” we should have played some more man coverage in the midfield, then brought in some more pace to counter effectively…taking it to a wounded beast, even if we lost 4-3, would be better in the long run, as that’s the full circle moment this program needs in order to push on
KP on that basis of tonight’s game it wasn’t a title winning side’s performance. We played not to lose. When we should have played to win.
Wrong selection for the game for me. We have a £billion squad and El B makes the same mistakes playing Havertz and Jesus who thought it was funny to get booked.
The few times we got in their box we showed we could go toe to toe with deft passes. Unfortunately Ode was lacking his usual sharpness down to too much running in our press. His creativity was from tired legs.
Kiwior was better than Tomi. Partey was largely ineffective moving the ball forward and didn’t look fit.
When your 9 is playing more in defense and defensive midfield and Jesus thinks it’s funny getting a yellow, you have to question the manager.
We had 2 shots on target to City’s one where they had 7 off target to our 2.
I feel it’s points lost rather than gaining a point.
Defensively we were sound and Saliba was worthy of the MOTM adulation.
Now we have to win every point and to hope others take points off Liverpool and City who are a point behind us.
TRVL sorry repeating myself but absolutely right had we won that would have been a potential title winning 3 points, such would have been our swagger going forward.
At best El B bottled it yet again. Conservative football was very apt from you. Toothless would be a word I’d associate with tonight’s performance.
Tony-Cheers!!
KP-don’t get me wrong, there were far worse potential outcomes and, given our past, taking anything from a match at the Etihad should raise spirits, but I’m not sure this actually moves us forward…I guess I’m more perplexed by the notion that we went there with nothing more than a draw in mind…if not now, when? especially considering these particular circumstances
context is so pertinent to the conversation…if this were the final week of the season and we needed a single point to take the title, masterful shit, especially if City could have unseated us with a win…with their lineup issues out wide and at the back, poor goalscoring form(PL only) and lack of success against the top 5, we should have been chomping at the bit to take all 3 or die trying…for me it was a bit of a missed opportunity
Ultimately, we were top at the start of the weekend and now we’re not. So it has to count as points dropped in that context.
It was a brave win and took peak concentration. We limited ManC, no goals, limited shots on target. Not many manage that and we were good for it. The performance was satisfactory. For all the chat about them not beating top 5 teams not many keep clean sheets against them either. Keeping them at bay, at about 30 mins I saw them start to toss 3 or 4 random crosses in hoping Haaland might get… something, isn’t to be sniffed at.
When Early Days Tets was lobbing in blind crosses and trying to gaslight us that the metrics meant we were virtually winning he was rightly dissed. He was wrong then, Pep saw it was wrong today and took action. Give Tets his dues, he responded to those changes quickly, he’s learning. But it was a recognition by Pep that our set up was working.
We’re still in the pack, all of us will drop more points. There was never any sense in going all out for one game. But if you can’t win, make sure you don’t lose etc.
The subs made sense, although Tomi took a minute to find his feet. Partey had a decent cameo and showed he still has something to contribute in the run in. He also brought some composure and held of their press well.
When the game became a little more stretched bringing on Martinelli was positive. We could have gone full double team once Doku and Grealish came on but we took a slight risk in not putting all our eggs in doubling up on either and leaving ourselves with no attacking outlets.
What was also encouraging, if a little nervy for me at the same time, was in the second half, the team trying to remain composed when we won the ball deep. We stopped lumping it out to invite more pressure and tried to play it out. Risky but necessary if we wanted to avoid constant attacks.
I’m relaxed about the poss stats. One thing we’ve come to terms with from Wenger to Tets is the concept of ‘illusory possession’. No point having the ball if all you’re doing is play horseshoe football with or hit and hope crosses.
I can’t get excited about the performance but content that we matched them and end the weekend above a team I still see as the main rivals. Liverpool are doing what we did last year, sneaking wins. We know that’s not sustainable. Them being top is less of an issue.
Onwards to Luton.
Aitcho-agree with several of your sentiments, minus the “brave win” commentary
one of MA’s most glaring managerial flaws has been his inability to make in-game adjustments in a timely fashion…once it became apparent that the Taylor was going to let them “play”, we should have made life much more uncomfortable for their midfield by ramping up our pressing, especially considering their inability to properly threaten us from wider spaces…not to mention, the whole Jesus out wide experiment seemed to be more about catering to those on the highest wages than the greater good…the last thing we needed was to have both Havertz and Jesus on the pitch at the same time, as it was exceedingly unlikely that either would score from the limited chances MA’s tactics would provide
I have no problem with adopting a more pragmatic approach at times, but this was a full-bore don’t lose initiative that didn’t even include a plausible countering option…in my opinion, this sort of “baby steps” approach to game management should have been tossed in the bin as soon as our investments reached unprecendented levels…hopefully our rather toothless Striker position will be quickly remedied come the offseason, but I do fear that this might not be in the offing…MA paid through the nose for Havertz and without him being deployed as an up top afterthought, he will undoubtedly be shoehorned into our midfield, which certainly won’t help matters…to be frank we simply traded one albatross, Xhaka, for a far more expensive one, who will never live up to expectations, from a wages perspective, and who doesn’t make tactical sense
Our next 4 games… 9 in total still remaining.
Luton (h)
Brighton (a)
Shit on the Villa (h)
Wolves (a)
Plus the small matter of Bayern twice.
This is when it starts to count. Maximum points needed, nothing less. Notwithstanding anyone being crocked yesterday, I think the squad is in pretty good shape. TP looked at it yesterday and our midfield looked better with him and Declan at the end. Tomi got better too as his stint wore on. Martinelli looked like he hasn’t been away of course
Arteta needs to think about spreading the load and which combinations of players will get the job done. That includes tactical substitutions when sensible. If he’s thinking to himself, ‘I’ll just stick with my core XI (til they snap)’ , that way madness lies.
Surely we can trust him to get this right, eh lads?
In essence, I’m probably glass half full after that. Luton will huff and puff but a win will assuage any doubts about the draw. Getting the best out of our squad is vital.
But I equally respect others’ nuanced views. That’s why 10 out of 10 users prefer LiR to other hipster, bullshit, US-based blogs of bollockry! Cheers again Ambarish for doing what you do – we appreciate it mate!
The defence were in control yesterday and defensive midfield matched them but when a fast break was required it didn’t quite provide the much needed goal. Big Willy had Haaland in his pocket and when he realised Taylor had forgotten his cards he reminded Haaland who was boss.
A fast counter attack needs players who can provide the punch – Martinelli, Saka and dare I say ESR would have provided something different to the cumbersome Havertz. Odegaard was quiet yesterday – Pep knows how to squash his flair – Pep cannot coach his players to deal with somebody who can, with a flick of a switch, do something they cannot deal with.
I havent checked but I think Liverpool have probably the easiest run in to the line. Klopp will be polishing his teeth with gusto. If Liverpool do win the premiership TV & the Press will have to fix filters to their lenses.
KP – I agree, LiR is ‘comfortable’ reading. None of this ‘you will agree with me because I am right’ approach. Is Big Brother watching I wonder.
Good points Aicho.
On reflection our defensive focus was laser sharp. We we hampered by El B. The selection was wrong and proved to be on the day. Sometimes, we were too crowded at the back and getting in each other’s way. Havertz should never be in our penalty box. He almost dragged a Pool’s player foot way in our box in slow motion. We need speed for counter attacks so what was El B thinking? Play it safe of course; can’t lose.
I agree with TRVL and others Havertz and Jesus has no right playing that game and is why it’s a 2 points loss rather than a one point gain.
As KP says we can’t afford to drop points – all remaining games are one-leg cup finals. I would like us to do well against Bayern, but would prefer we focus on winning the league. Next season we can go all out for the CL when we’ve experienced a successful run in to put in their collective experience lockers.
That said any more poor selections from El B particularly against BHA away, and we may well drop unnecessary points. They ran Liverpool away very close yesterday and De Zerbi has got Brighton playing difficult to beat football.
Luton will be a tough game but winnable at home, but Villa are dropping off so we should have too much for them. Wolves away is another unsure as they now and again beat top 6 teams at home when they turn up.
12 points it is then, anyone see us dropping points?
Taking 4 points off both Liverpool and City is a positive tally there’s still 9 games left 27 points to be had and bother City and Liverpool will drop points.
No one has looked the complete part this season but by god we need a real striker.
both not bother!
Norg
Watching Willie and Gabs knocking 10 bales of crap out of Haarland was a joy to behold. Haaland spent more time on the floor than Jesus – the king of floor time, no less.
It shows the mighty Erling’s game can be dismantled if he’s hit fractionally early or earlier than him to getting the ball under control. To cope with that Haaland would need ballet lessons, which is not something I could relate to really. Wasn’t there a team or two sent to ballet lessons for better control?
https://www.google.com/searchclient=safari&rls=en&q=which+football+teams+were+sent+to+ballet+lessons&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Looks to be some relevance in the connection. Kanu was very balletesque in his movements. Would love to see Haarland in a tutu and white tights, though. You’d never take him serious again. In Spas here they have pics of Haaland using a gun massager on his knee looking all mean.
Big men need getting at early or they run rampant has always been my mantra when playing, as I was a short CB at 172cm. Aerially challenged to the max and I may or may not hav e been an expert in dark arts but will admit to grey ones. Hitting the grass together and thumbing or elbowing the odd dead leg pressure point did wonders, and one has to remember elbows were legal weapons in there 70s and used effectively by lanky strikers. Mark flapper Hughs comes to mind for United.
Amen Marc
KP-like yourself, I’m in a glass half full mindset, even though my critiquing might suggest otherwise…it’s certainly not all doom and gloom entering the final 1/4 mile stretch, like in the more recent past, but I still believe that our weakest link is our manager
(1) he’s a tactical simpleton in comparison to our closest competitors and (2) he’s made far too many recruitment missteps, minus Rice and Ode, that have stifled our ability to get over the hump and will likely continue to do so moving forward
now this isn’t to suggest that we can’t lift a trophy come season’s end, I just think that in order for that to transpire the players will have to find a way to win in spite of MA’s tactical shortcomings and we will need some considerable help from others…both of which are plausible
Interesting and worrying
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13259779/Arsenal-Bukayo-Saka-game-Mikel-Arteta-future.html
Cardiff beat Coventry 2-1 but none of their players scored…. Two own goals did the trick. The madness of the championship.