I cannot stand the term ‘dark arts’.
You see a team do what they need to do – like how Arsenal heroically handled that second half at Manchester City – and it’s lazily lumped with that derogatory narrative, with negative connotations rather than positive ones.
I much prefer the phrase ‘game management’, of which there was plenty worth praising in Arsenal’s performance on Sunday. Mikel Arteta‘s men do not deserve the criticism they’ve received for how they went on to extract a result from the Etihad Stadium.
They should be celebrated for how cleverly they contained City, to the extent that Pep Guardiola‘s magnificent winning machine relied on John Stones scoring their latest-ever Premier League goal to avoid losing.
Arsenal were leading 2-1, down to 10 men after a ridiculous red card for Leandro Trossard, and had 45 minutes to play against one of the world’s greatest teams, the champions, searching for a fifth consecutive title. What else could they do except make sure they defended their slender advantage with everything they had?
Arsenal don’t deserve criticism for the way they looked to extract a result at Manchester City
Mikel Arteta’s side should be celebrated for how cleverly they contained the champions
It’s like asking Frank Bruno to let go of Mike Tyson. You’re begging to be knocked out. I’ve heard the holier-than-thou comments coming from various voices within the game, as if what Arsenal did was ugly and unfair.
I love Bernardo Silva as a footballer, but he even used the words: ‘There was only one team that came to play football.’ I’m sure he said that out of frustration after seeing how Arsenal pulled the shutters down in front of their goal until Stones turned into their saviour.
But do not try to tell me that City would have sneered at turning to the same tactics if they had been thrown into this very predicament at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal did not need to go in search of another goal.
They had their lead. They needed to protect that at all costs and Arteta’s men tried to manage the game with a 5-4-0 formation because they had no other choice.
This wasn’t a case of the ‘same old Arsenal, always cheating’ claim that Manchester United fans used to deludedly like throwing at us. This was a necessary approach, executed brilliantly until Stones popped up with that equaliser.
Bernardo Silva (right) claimed after the full time whistle that ‘there was only one team that came to play football’
Time on City’s side
It was not as if Arsenal arrived at City with a plan to persistently break up play. It was Rodri who stepped into the path of Kai Havertz within seconds of kick-off, remember, not the other way around.
In the second half, the ball was in play at the Etihad for 35 minutes and 23 seconds. That is more than any other match in the Premier League this season. Arsenal’s critics may cry they were creating stoppages and that David Raya was taking his time with goal kicks.
But the statistics show City still had plenty of time to try to break through the Thames Barrier that had been created by the visitors. Whatever time was wasted, referee Michael Oliver gave that back at the end and then some.
The statistics show City had plenty of time to try to break through despite time wasting claims
Exhausting pressure takes its toll
Arsenal’s players were accused of faking injuries but there is one issue with that. Those who went down claiming cramp – such as Gabriel Martinelli, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori – were substituted. When City are coming at you, it is as relentless as it is exhausting.
Martinelli would have much preferred to be in attack mode but he had to show total defensive determination throughout the second half, along with Timber and Calafiori. Had those two been fit enough to stay on the field, I suspect Arsenal would have seen out their first-ever win at the Etihad.
Believe me, it’s much easier when you’re the team dominating the ball. When you’re doing all the defending, it’s incredibly taxing, and it was inevitable that Arsenal’s players needed treatment as time ticked on.
Raya was another who dropped down injured and that is a different debate. Whether that was a legitimate concern, or a reason to give his team a timely breather, we cannot say for sure. As we all know, goalkeepers are not forced into leaving the field like outfielders so that is a loop hole there to be exploited.
But even so, every Premier League team has done this, City included I’m sure.
Arsenal players were accused of faking injury but it is exhausting when City are coming at you
Walker at fault, not Oliver
The refereeing team could have handled the match much more smoothly overall, but I will not critique Oliver for what happened with Kyle Walker.
If anything, that’s more on Walker than the referee. Getting back into your position as quickly as possible is defending 101. He dawdled when he could have sprinted to man his space, from which Martinelli set up Calafiori to score.
I like to watch matches with a notepad next to me. One note I made, before all this unfolded with Walker, was how slow City’s players had been at getting back into their positions for restarts. If you work early, you defend less, that’s the rule.
But there had been a lazy feel to those scenarios, and I’m sure Arsenal’s analysts will have noticed that before they punished City.
I admire Walker as a defender. But you cannot rely on referees waiting for you. Get back into position first and foremost, and save the shouting at your team-mates for afterwards.
Kyle Walker was at fault for Arsenal’s equaliser – getting back into position is defending 101
Gabriel and Saliba relish Haaland test
When I was tussling with strikers for a living, I had a little black book in my mind of opponents with whom I could get into a battle. I was a contact defender and knew who would collapse like a pack of cards when given half the chance and who would stand up to me.
If Ruud van Nistelrooy was at one end of the spectrum, Mark Hughes was very much at the other, giving as good as he got whenever we were engaged. Erling Haaland has shown he is not someone who will shy from the fight with Gabriel and William Saliba going forward. He was already the ultimate test professionally.
Now, he is practically their personal enemy as Sunday saw that rivalry go up a gear, not least when Haaland committed an act of disrespect by throwing the ball at Gabriel’s head after Stones scored.
Arsenal’s clashes with Manchester United forever carried an edge, the sense that we didn’t like them and they didn’t like us and so fireworks were expected. Led by Haaland, that same ill feeling is developing now between English football’s latest elite rivals.
It’s bubbling, and nearly spilt over when Haaland crashed into Thomas Partey after the restart, but I believe what kept a lid on it all was the respect between Arteta and Guardiola. It helps that these two former colleagues are such close friends, which certainly wasn’t the case in the early days of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Instead of turning on each other, Arteta and Guardiola’s fire was directed at Oliver. Make no mistake, however, when these two titanic teams meet again, there will be no love lost between Haaland and Gabriel or Saliba.
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba will relish the challenge of handling Erling Haaland
Trossard red card was harsh
Arsenal were under the cosh in the opening stages and showed so much character to come from behind to lead 2-1. Then the game changed with a flash of a card.
That second yellow for Trossard was harsh. If he wanted to lash the ball out of play in anger, he could have done so, sending it into Row Z. But he didn’t. In that split second after Oliver blew his whistle, he kicked it into the path of Martinelli, who looked through on goal. He was committed to the action.
Nobody has shown more yellows this season than Oliver, who could do with showing greater patience with players. After that, Arsenal had to play as if the world was against them and they tried to hold on to their win by any means necessary.
They weren’t at the Etihad to make friends. They were there to try to win. For me, this was a second-half performance worthy of applause, not the condemnation that came their way in the aftermath.
