Important lessons that Arsenal must learn from its loss to Manchester City. by Kennedy
Manchester City ended Arsenal’s dream of winning this year’s premier league by whipping the Gunners 4:1 at the Etihad.
There is no shame in losing to the rampant Cityzens, and the dominant display by Guardiola’s men demonstrated clearly the gulf in class between the two sides.
What is surprising is that Manchester City is pursuing success in three different competitions and getting results, while Arsenal is only competing in the Premier league, but they are not performing as expected.
In addition to chasing the Premiership glory, the Cityzens are also competing in the FA and the UEFA Champions league.
What is the secret behind Guardiola’s success in spite of a crowded fixture schedule and what lessons can the Gunners learn here?
Depth, quality and synergy are a prerequisite for success.
Manchester city is firing on all cylinders and overpowering all opponents because it has depth in its squad, and Pep Guardiola is rotating his players to protect them from getting fatigue and injuries, without compromising on the team’s quality.
Moreover, the Manchester City players are playing with focus, determination and unity of purpose with Guardiola’s tactical guidance.
Squad depth without quality and unity may not produce results. For instance, Chelsea has acquired many top-class players, but there is no synergy and that explains why the team is not performing.
Arsenal needs to learn from Manchester City and add depth and quality to its wafer-thin squad in the upcoming summer transfer window.
The Gunners midfield and defence urgently needs reinforcements. For instance, Thoms Partey is approaching the peak of his playing career and his understudy Jorginho is over 30 years. Even Granit Xhaka is getting on in years.
In contrast, Pep Guardiola has a wide reservoir of top-drawer players to choose from and is actually spoilt for choice when deciding which player to utilise and in which competition.
Arsenal should fix its leaking defence.
In the last four games against Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton and Manchester city, the Gunners have conceded 11 goals, clearly showing that there is a problem with the Arsenal’s backline.
Fixing the defence at this time of the season may not be easy, given the fact that Tomiyasu has undergone surgery and is not available for the rest of the season, while Saliba has a back injury, and it is not known when he is likely to be fit again.
However, managers are hired to solve problems and Mikel Arteta, together with his coaching staff, should be able to find a way of tightening the Gunners’ backline for the remaining fixtures until a permanent solution is found during the summer transfer window.
Imagine how the Gunners would struggle defensively if Ben White or Gabriel Magalhaes got injured today?
Arsenal must find a way of defeating top premier league teams.
It is virtually impossible to win the English Premier league by only defeating the mid table teams and those fighting relegation.
Arsenal has lost this season to Manchester City home and. away.
The Gunners failed to beat Liverpool recently and only settled for a draw after winning the first leg match. They lost one match against Manchester United and won the other. Against Newcastle, Arsenal only managed to get a draw and the return match is yet to be played.
If Arsenal hopes to savour Premier league success, then it will need to improve its performance against the dominant teams in the EPL, such as Manchester City as well as its traditional rivals.
The Gunners should also learn to get maximum points from the weaker teams the way Manchester City does. Recent draws against West Ham and Southampton put paid to the Arsenal’s premier league aspirations.
This is not the time for the Gunners to feel sorry for themselves or look for excuses.
They need to learn from their mistakes, plan for the next game and get as many points as possible from the remaining premier league fixtures in order to secure UEFA champions league football next season.
Kennedy Mwanzia
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I’m not giving up hope until we are mathematicaly out of it.
COYG
I’m with you Stephanie, but be careful as some on here will call you out for toxic positivity if you don’t accept we cannot win it😊.
By the way, is anyone else on here plague by constant pop ups, (usually official Arsenal videos), blocking half of the content?
GB, it’s becoming a complete distraction, especially when / if one wants to check what’s been written.
Pat – I understand why you need advertisements, but it is becoming a nightmare… try it yourself and you will see what GB and I mean!!
I’ve found it hard to remove from the computer,,,, but much easier to delete those pop ups when they appear on my phone. But I must say it’s quite frustrating 😤
I’ve had another word with my ad people mate.
Fingers crossed
Admin Pat, the pop up ads and videos has made posting on this site a very unpleasant and annoying experience. I support the comments of others on this matter.
No you won’t. There is nothing wrong with be positive at all. Its attacking other people for different analysis and not gushing optimism that’s the issue.
As before, we are all entitled to differing opinions, unless of course that opinion is based on analysis not raw emotion. Two posters in particular have trolled anyone who dares to transgress against their views. They are not alone.
Moaning you’re being ‘picked on’ for being optimistic is like Tory bullies claiming other people are at fault for being bullied…
They are both in moderation at the mo. I hate waking up to kids bickering in the aground.
We’re all supposed to be adults with our own opinions allowed .
Well said AdPat as the attacks for one’s opinions have been relentless at times👍
Pop up is killing me , try as I may
Till the end we fight😁
I don’t mind losing but we went out without a fight
That’s the worry
We need a beast of a centre half and the same in midfield
Guardiola has too many £40+ M players to rotate. For example, Ake was £41 million, Dias was £61.64 million, Laporte was £57 million, Stones was £47.5 million and Walker was £45 million
Man City have invested a lot in their defense department and most of their defenders are dominant in duels. Our £40+ M defender is just White and Saliba may leave this summer
No need to be sorry for our loss, because we have an atrocious history at the Etihad and Man City would most likely win EPL again next year. The best that other teams can do is being a runner-up, if Guardiola is still around
Point taken. The same applied to Liverpool and Utd when they dominated. They had the best defences in the league and reserves able to give adequate cover. Its always been said that the defence is key to success, and more so to sustained success. An established defensive pattern even more so. Liverpools 70’s and early 80’s sides were duller to watch than paint drying, but immensely successful. Utd by contrast played excellent football (94-2008) but were still mean in defence.
To challenge City therefore, we must improve our cover at the back, and maintain our defensive shape in every game. It’s a young side, they’ll learn, but it does lack experience in the back four.
I wouldn’t give up hope of challenging City while peps there, hell, a team by the name of Arsenal took trophies during both Liverpool and Utds heyday..
Yes. Any team could win in EPL, based on Leicester’s and our title-winning seasons
We need to find another gem like Saliba
“Arsenal must find a way of defeating top premier league teams”. That is factually incorrect.
Excellent record against the top 6 this season, not just in regards to the points tally, but performances as well. I would have to check again, but I am sure Arteta has a very decent record against the top 6.
It’s just Man C we cannot cope with.
Quite correct Jen and I find it puzzling that the author doesn’t mention our 5-1 aggregate and 6points gained from the spuds.
GAI makes a very good point regarding the spending surrounding city and one wonders why, when talking about our defence, the author has forgotten certain facts?
Before the injuries to Saliba and Tomi, we had a better GA record than city, only Newcastle bettered it – a coincidence? I think not!!
It’s also very strange to read how so many fans have already given up the title race… I’m sure that wen we were 7 points ahead, city players and fans hadn’t thrown the towel in.
Of course we need to carry on improving the squad, that’s an ongoing given and qualifying for the CL has, it’s been reported, already guaranteed £35,000,000 into the coffers.
We had a really good run for half a season, after that performances started to drop and then point dropping followed. Nothing more than that and nothing less.
For the fans that are just happy with top 4 as that was the “target” then good for you, just know that this was our best chance in decades to win. Liverpool and Man U will likely be better next season + there’s Newcastle and the the unknown Chelsea. Will we be 8 points ahead of league leaders next year after half the season? Doubt it
And you think we are just going to stand still and not improve our squad?
We lost 1-3 at Utd, and beat an average side 3-2 at home. Against a struggling Liverpool, again we won 3-2 at home, then famously imploded at Anfield gifting them a priceless recovery 2-2. Against City we lost 1-3 and 1-4. Newcastle we are yet to play at theirs but we drew at home. North London derbies don’t count. They often, I’m pleased to say, go completely against the form book. In other words not a bad season against the usual suspects – until you put it in context. That being, we still haven’t beaten utd and liverpool at there’s despite neither side shining, and City did horrible things to us. If Newcastle beat us, it looks less clever.
As you say, nothing at all, given recent results against the top six to be ashamed of, but, as the poster says, still some way to go.
I still have some issues with Arteta’s stubbornness. It is evident that Holding has been a disaster and he kept using him when he could have used white there and probably work something out with Tieney and kiwor but he’s the man that decides. He’s done a good job all along but he has made a lot of blunders, sticking to Holding, Jesus and Partey when it was evident that they were not working. I hope he’s not too proud to admit, learn and effect some changes.
Any sensible analysis, undertaken by a person with a good knowledge of football, will highlight the glaring weaknesses in our defensive set up and personelle.The Zinchenko strategy has been found wanting as teams focus on gaps which arise when we lose the ball upfield.The Ukrainian is a great technician and a very able central midfielder where he plays for his Country but as a defender, he is weak and a liability.I would urge our Manager to revert to a more conventional defensive set up and use Xhaka and Partey as a double pivot in front of our back four.A number of our players including Martinelli and Saka are running on empty and now is the time to give Trossard ,ESR,Nketiah and Nelson opportunities to bring some fresh energy to our front three.Finally, the reservations which I have always had concerning Ramsdale and Gabriel have sadly come home to roost and perhaps it time for Arteta to trust Turner and Kiwior who were ,after all, recruited by him.
Can’t argue with any of that – bar Ramsdale. If it wasnt for him, City would have declared at half time and left us chasing a score even the Windies in their heyday would struggled with. He’s a bit headstrong, but a decent keeper coach could sort that out. Perhaps give Dave Seaman a bell? Anything to stop those dire Safestyle adverts!
Arsenal midfield leaking ,think party need to rest for while,jogh should play ,chengo should rest to we got teany ,eddy to play 9,.bring bolugan back and bring caicedo forget rice.
You can’t give up until it is mathematically impossible to finish ahead of Manchester City.
The reality is that Manchester City has in Pep Guardiola, a top class manager with a winning record everywhere he has been, backed by unlimited financial resources to purchase any player available giving great depth and ability in every position.
Thanks AdPat at present not getting ads covering content 👍