The Gunners Hold Their Own Against Manchester City
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini showed up to home court Etihad Stadium fighting for a win to close out his final chapter with Man City, instead he thanked his fans, those who hadn’t left already, for three great years while expressing a measure of disappointment that he couldn’t go out with another win.
Arsenal donned their away jerseys and fielded Etihad amidst a sea of blue stadium seats, and fans wearing blue and white, but that didn’t intimidate them out of catching up every time they fell behind. The story of Arsenal’s defense, however, is a bit less inspiring.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech gave up two goals to The Sky Blues, each putting the team behind. To his credit, both of the shots found their way into the goal right at the corner. Likewise, the defense in front of the goal was a bit lacklustre in both instances. Still, Kevin de Bruyne’s long range shot to break the half time tie might be further evidence of a chink in Cech’s armor. Cech has given away 11 goals from outside the box, which is more long-range goals conceded than any other team in the premier league besides Stoke.
On Arsenal’s offensive side, Olivier Giroud ended his 16 game streak of failing to score a goal, tying up the score 1-1 just a few minutes after Aguero’s opening goal on Cech. Aguero’s left footed drive into the bottom corner might have been a tough shot to block for Cech, and some of the blame is also sure to rest on the shoulders of Arsenal’s failure to get control of the ball for those first eight minutes, but Giroud proved that his drought was over while simultaneously proving that the Gunners weren’t going to let some early-game mistakes turn into a loss.
After Kevin de Bruyne’s long range goal, Giroud stepped up again by setting Alexis up to get a shot into Man City’s bottom corner, once again tying up the score now at 2-2. But the game didn’t end there as neither side seemed willing to settle for a draw. A few plays could have made fans sweat fearing a last minute loss, especially Bony’s attempt which came the closest, just barely being deflected by the crossbar.
Arsenal might not have given up a loss, but they didn’t get the win they were hoping for either. A win was thought to ensure Arsenal a third place spot in the Premier League, and therefore entry into next season’s Champions League. But even with this draw they still have a chance to reach those goals.
Only time will tell, but with Giroud back in full form, and second place now up for grabs, there’s little doubt that Arsenal has a good chance, and no doubt at all about their motivation.
Kenton J
Giroud is not the out and out striker that will win us the PL, but the team iznt able to play to his strengths. He is able to hold and draw one defender atleast and create assists like he did for Sanchez at Man C and Welbeck in the previous game. Beside Sanchez we dont have much players that are able to shoot and atleast get decent shots on target from outside the box, Like De Bryne, Yaya, Hazard, Mahrez, Payet etc…Midfielders but they are able to get a goal when strikers are tied down.
a poacher would be nice honestly can u imagine arsenal with van nistelrooy. technically he was never gifted an he was selfish but goals was his stock an trade. outside the box is all well an good but inside were not clinical.
ot.
Happy birthday to the greatest arsenal player ever
ONE DENNIS BERGKAMP….
THERES ONLY ONE DENNIS BERGKAMP!!
please arsene bring him here to join henry in coaching under 18’s…
A poacher might work – but unlike the Monaco game (if you want to remember it), Giroud hasn’t exactly been missing sitters. Its our team that hasn’t really created good enough chances.I still feel that we need a real quality striker like Aguero, that can do the poaching part, and can still get a goal out of nothing. Really miss Henry!!!
i agree with you, Giroud is a good striker but we deserve a better striker… even lukaku is better
Van Nistelrooy not technical? LOL he is a completely different player from Giroud!
Why do I feel Wilshire can play a big part next season if only he can stay fit for at least 4months next season. Oh well, He hardly stay fit. So that makes it hard to tell. Anyway, that’s another topic for another day…
#ThinkingOutLoud.
I was a bit shocked to see that our boys had so little stomach for a battle for 2nd place. We could have done with the win. Instead it was City who were fighting for the win and who were the better team for most of the match despite having just played Real.
As long as Giroud is our main striker we will not win any major trophy. To win in modern day football you need to be more than a one dimensional striker, you need a complete striker and the only thing Giroud has going for him is his supposed linkup play.
Second or third it makes no difference. If we had lost then third place would have been out of our hands and fourth place. CL qualification games in a euros year could be tricky. It also interferes with pre season preparation.
Arsenal needed the draw, manc needed a win to keep top four in their hands. In the circumstances of playing at manc a draw was a very good result for arsenal.
true second or 3rd makes little difference, in fact looking at the big picture placing 8th would have been best since we would not have to worry about European football depleting our injury prone squad.
On the other hand I could not help but hope for a win and beating Spurs to second which is now a long shot IMO. A draw for Spurs should be enough to claim 2nd.
How about each player on the side of OG contributing 20 plus goals as well. When you play with a target they are suppose to score as OG is playing back to goal.
You are right a striker playing with his back to goal is poor tactics, particularly when he is surrounded by other players who also can not score. On the other hand, in Wenger’s defense, Giroud neither has the speed nor the finishing, not the dribbling skills to play facing goal more, like Aguiro, Kane, Lukaku and other more complete strikers.
1 good game of giroud and people are thinking he is back in form…
what about the previous 15 matches where he didn’t score..
GIROUD is decent as a backup option..forget about winning league with him..
“he is back in form” what form they/you are talking about … That 13 goals/season …
Try 22 as I have always said CL and FA cup goals matter. Add 6 assists and we are talking close to 30 goals sop single.
Responsible
Credit where it’s due, I thought we had a good game. Fast, aggressive end to end stuff. Entertaining and one of those that you don’t quite know what the score will be.
Considering City were up for it as their last home game under Pellegrini, I thought we played brilliantly.
Shame we couldn’t play with that much heart and desire EVERY game. We would probably be holding that trophy.
Wenger needs to up his game in the transfer market, but don’t hold your breath. This, the man who rates Giroud against competitors like Aguero. Hmm.
But yes, well done Arsenal for a great game. Just need to thrash Villa now.
Giroud scores one goal in 16 games and suddenly,he’s back in form? What’s wrong with Arsenal fans……….thinking like Wenger
The manc match was a tough game for Arsenal, it was a must win game for manc and a must draw for Arsenal. Manc played very well and in the first half were extremely good. Arsenal showed some grit and determination not to lose the game.
It has happened in previous seasons as well, when the CL spot is under threat we pull out all the stops. A few other points:
1. Historically we know that CL qualification was a target when paying off stadium debt.
2. Kroenke has said he is not involved to win championships
3. Jack wiltshire let it slip that top four in PL is arsenal aim.
It seems to me that during the years of paying off stadium debt we endured high ticket prices and not winning PL, the promise being that in the future we would compete. Then Kroenke gets a controlling interest and says, for years fans have been paying high ticket prices and excepting top four finish so lets continue that policy and instead of the money going to pay the banks it can go to me (that is Kroenke).
Top four is now so ingrained in the club that they do not buy players to win the PL. When opportunity to win PL comes along, team cannot show the grit and determination to do what is necessary. It is only when top 3/4 is threatened that the necessary response occurs. As we keep saying, it is lack of ambition and that comes from the top, kroenke, and wenger does not seem able to rise above that and motivate the team to win PL, like we could have this year. At least we should now have secured second place, taking just the opportunities at west ham away and swansea at home would have given us an extra five points.
‘Adios amigos’ Pellegrini. Via condios. Sayonara. Sad that ‘money can’t buy love’. Left the arena (fans) when you needed them most. Brought very little to the epl. Kinda cold but a bit charismatic though. Wont miss him much.
Surely the American take is “Lets make Arsenal great again” and the Chinese will pay of it by buying Walcott, Ramsey, Mert, Giroud, Gibbs and Campbell at over the top prices … seriously, they will…that Kroenke guy gave us a bad deal … he`s a loser like his teams …he is…seriously folks, etc etc etc