First of all I would like to say well done to Arsenal for hanging on for a point away to Man City, which makes it virtually guaranteed that the Gunners will be in the draw for the Champions League again next season. It was tough though, and I think that we got really lucky in coming up against a team that was feeling the nerves even more than we were.
Arsenal hardly deserved the point but we got it and that is what mattered but really we should have taken even more from the game, especially with City struggling for form and confidence, so why was it so hard? You do not have to look much further than our inability to stay calm in possession.
And perhaps the reason for that is fairly simple; we did not have the magician that is Mesut Ozil pulling the strings. The German may have his faults and he definitely has plenty of people waiting to criticise him when he does not have a massive impact but I have never heard anyone say that he panics or is poor in possession.
What Ozil gives Arsenal, even when his precise passing and vision is not opening up defences, is control and composure on the ball and the lack of his presence was woefully obvious today as the likes of Elneny, Ramsey and pretty much every Gunner on the pitch rushed their play and kept handing the ball and therefore the initiative to Man City.
It has been said that Ozil is like the oil in the Arsenal engine, enabling our fluent football with his movement, class, ability and sheer skill and that, for me, is the main reason Arsenal struggled today. Do you agree?