Some say that the Gunners’ defense was excellent at holding the City attack at bay during the Arsenal vs. Manchester City match. However, one could argue that, in reality, both the Arsenal and City attacks had a horrible day at work. Both teams’ strikers struggled to be effective.
The game didn’t live up to expectations. With all the hoopla surrounding it being a title decider, the fact that it ended 0-0 and had nothing noteworthy about it was disappointing.
After the game, Theo Walcott admitted that it did not live up to expectations and was actually rather frustrating.
“Arsenal didn’t do enough to win the game – neither did City. That is why it was very frustrating for the fans to watch and for us up here. We wanted a little bit more from the players,” Walcott told Sky Sports.
In any case, he believes the international break contributed to the game’s lack of intensity: “There’s always an element after the international break players tend to come back lethargic and haven’t prepared well enough, maybe that’s what we saw out there today.”
Anyway, Walcott suggests that Arsenal did well not to lose to Manchester City, and that picking up a point at the Etihad is okay:
“Arsenal, they got a result. That is a result. Yes, they want to win of course, but you come to Man City and you get a result and you frustrate them.”
Arsenal and Manchester City’s 0-0 tie was disappointing, but the Gooners should be appreciative of the outcome. The Gunners have three games in a row against the Cityzens. In three games against Arsenal, Pep Guardiola’s side has failed to win and has scored just once. If Arsenal eliminates Bayern Munich and City eliminates Real Madrid in the Champions League quarters, the two might face each other in the Champions League semifinals.
If that is the case, I hope a UCL semi-final duel between the two will be a little bit more exciting.
Darren N
ADMIN COMMENT
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You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
To me, City looked scared to the point they exerted all their energies trying to stop us playing our game, that they’re own plying style suffered. I also feel Martinelli should have started over Jesus. He would have made more of an impact on the game in the beginning, than later on when he was introduced in the game. Jus sayin 🧐
Exactly how I see things as well…interesting to note that the team with least goals conceded and best xga have won the last 6 epl titles…guess who’s miles ahead in those departments currently ? We are aligned in every way to do something very very special !
Do you not agree that MARTINELLI was probably not completely fit, esp for 95 mins , as it turned out?
Twenty mins or so he COULD manage though!
My thoughts too
@jon fox
I also noticed that. But still of the mind that he could have started and done damage in the early stages of the match, to be subbed at the half. Just sayin…
Martinelli was not fully fit and Arteta did not want to take a risk by starting him. He was only brought on as an impact sub.
not pretty?It was Wonderful to see the fear in their eyes after so many years
I’ve held back on my comments about the city game, as I wanted to see if others viewed it in the same way as I did.
I thought it was a great game of football, played by, possibly, the two strongest squad of players in Europe at this moment in time.
It was a chess like game, with each side testing the other and neither gaining an advantage.
To have played city three times this season and come away with four points from six, no goals scored against us and win the first piece of silverware on offer, after winning a penalty shoot out at Wembley against the club that had just been crowned champions of Europe is a fantastic achievement for MA and his squad of players.
I won’t go into individual statistics, as that has been done already, but at no time did I think that city would break down our defence and that in itself is the highest praise one can give of a defensive unit – absolutely brilliant!!
We also won the midfield contest, has anyone seen a more inept showing from city’s acclaimed players?
The organisation that went into our play was top notch and the link with the defence was, once again, outstanding.
The only very small negative that I saw, was the reluctance to throw caution to the wind up front, but even then we produced more shots on goal than city’s Haaland led attack.
Of course we COULD have come away with three points and the same cannot be said for city, but, as Walcott noted, the bogey of losing at the Etihad has finally been lifted and Pep, his players and everyone else knows that we are not going away.
I offer my complete admiration and support to every single player for this performance (no need to name any one player) and despair at those Arsenal fans who STILL find negatives to talk about.
There is no doubt that we will be active in the summer transfer window, but, apart from an out and out striker (did anyone watch Toney against United?) where would we improve IF IF IF all our players remain fit?
Tend to agree with this. There are still negatives, of course. Whiners gonna be whiners.
Transfers are not just about improving to my mind it’s about getting the right squad. When I see the arsenal bench still has Cedric on it who only plays the last few mins when Arsenal’s 3-0 up, it shows a squad that hasnt got a lot of real depth.
Look at all the players on loan who are probably not wanted, only on loan to get them off the wage bill, then imagine all those gone and replaced with players who Arteta might actually want to play.
Or just get rid and promote some of the academy players like Nwaneri and co. Stronger squad right away. I think that’s where the improvement comes.
Damn right. This summer is going to be massive on who comes in. But we have the little matter of another 15 (hopefully!) games to go before then….
And the little matter of maybe as many as 9-10 players to ship out, possibly before anyone comes in.
How many outgoings depends on how the club sees the likes of Partey, Jorginho, ESR, Zinchenko.
BTW I deliberately wrote “how the club sees”, not “how the fans see”.
Others are easier – Cedric’s deal is up on June 30th 2024 so he will just leave without any more being done.
Exactly how I see things as well…interesting to note that the team with least goals conceded and best xga have won the last 6 epl titles…guess who’s miles ahead in those departments currently ? We are aligned in every way to do something very very special !
Ken Rarely, if ever, have I so TOTALLY agreed with a welcome LONGISH POST that said much.
I am with your view completely and despair at the short sighted negativity shown by a surprisingly high number of JA posters.
. I doubt if ANY Gooner who attended the game would agree with the negative ones either.
I am fully convinced we have a great manager and he will get still greater. No matter where we finish this season- and I DO think we have a realistic title chance- by NEXT season, I envisage us being better still!
Yes, THAT GOOD!
With the suberb defence wehave and our ability to score goals, I can see us winning a great many of our last nine matches.
TBH, though I dont welcome it, it would be a help if we get knocked out of CL by Bayern. Fixture pile ups and injuries to key players are our greatest anxiety.
Exciting times to be a Gooner but some are too short sighted to see that reality!
Bugger off Jon. I believe we can win both!
Good to see my post appearing PAT. And so relatively quickly too.
However, IF, which I think unlikely, we were to get knocked out by BAYERN, don’t you agree with me that it would DEFINITELY and majorly help out PREM title chase?
Personally, though both comps would be the dream outcome, I would prefer the Prem to the CL, even though Perry Groves would rather have the CL!
Though i hope i’m wrong but i don’t think we are making it past the CL quaterfinals.
Actually Pat and Jon, I think we have a better chance of winning the CL as the season has unfolded, but that doesn’t mean we can’t win both…. IF we can keep every member of the squad fit.
As Neutral says, it’s the club who will decide who leaves, but I ask again if they all remain fit and apart from those who’s contract expires, where would we strengthen, apart from the attacking position?
Oh we need to strengthen in depth of TOP QUALITY, more than in actual numbers KEN.
We will probably even reduce in numbers.
Such as Jorginho, Viera, possibly even Jesus and Zinny, plus definitely Nketiah Soares Cedric Elneny Lokonga will surely go.
And we need to replace all of those with better quality A long way to go yet to have a squad with the depthof quality of Citys.
If you think you dont srengthen, then you stand still or go backwards. I forgot PARTEY too BTW!
And on PREM or CL, every team we face in CL from now is DEFINITE TOP QUALITY.
Not the same though in Prem and all are beatable in the Prem.
And look seriously at our schedule ahead with games every three / four days, IF we stay in CL and see how unrealistic NO injuries are. Its a huge IF and to me its a very, VERY, unlikely one!
So that’s 8 players you want out, plus Elneny, Jorginho and Cedric that you’ve already said will leave Jon.
Is that REALLY being realistic?
Are you forgetting that we have beaten city twice this season, with their squad that you seem so envious about, plus they haven’t scored one goal against us in three matches?
You say what happened previously doesn’t matter (I agree 100 %) so why aren’t you judging our squad against theirs this season?
Of course MA will want to change some personnel, but if he follows your thinking, he’s breaking up a winning squad before it’s reached it’s peak.
Same here, In have belief and so does Arteta, the staffing coach and the team
I’d rather win against BM. Lays down a marker that we are worthy of being at the later stages of the competition It would also add value to the team’s confidence
@John, I dont agree with the concept of us getting knocked out of the CL, that is against the very essence of playing football. Arsenal plays every game to win and make progress. Also there is the fact that there is no guarantee that if we get knocked out in the CL, we are winning the League.
Well said Ken.
In my opinion i feel we will need to replace some players on our bench as well as getting a suitable replacement for partey.
Palmer scored against us in the Charity shield, or were you referring just the PL games?, but like you I was so impressed with Arsenal and if Jesus had been more clinical we could have come away with three points, both Man Cit and Liverpool have not beaten us in the PL this season and that is a huge improvement, but I totally enjoyed watching Arsenal contain City, nice to have a plan b at last
It was the worst ‘top level’ PL match I’ve seen this season. OK, we got a point but given their weakened defence I would have expected us to have a go, at least for about 15-20 minutes. Except we sat back, sometimes with a back 6, and decided not to lose. Missed opportunity imo to get a rare win at the Etihad and hope it doesn’t affect our chances of the title.
Best comment I’ve read since the game finished Andrew .
One team came to win the other came to nullify said team .
Considering City had only one shot on target, and we had two I would say Arteta had a plan and it worked. People praised Liverpool when they drew with City but Arsenal get negative vibes
“What could have been” is not the time for now. I just did not want to lose to our rival this late in the season. A point is great for me. We are just two points behind Liverpool and on the same points as city. That will do me good as we still have enough games to go.
It’s going to be nerve wrecking here on out. But we have showed that we are have a backbone nowadays.
We are one point ahead of City, two if you include the huge goal difference we have over them
Andrew
From a personal perspective, not losing was better than the possibility of losing. Our history against City away has been poor and that draw laid to rest the mentality issue yesterday. We did have a few chances that could and probably should have resulted in a goal but that doesn’t alter the importance of not losing. Just my thoughts – regardless of the match not being particularly exciting
Exactly as I see things too Sue!
Ødegaard said that Arsenal didn’t intend to play the way that they did, but were made to by Man City.
Having said that, we did have two clear scoring chances to City’s one lucky Ake header.
Not a pleasant match at all, but a good point.
I think it was just nerves and not wanting to our title rivals lose this late in the season. We went there not to play fancy football but to not lose..
Indeed Jax, which goes to prove that MA can change tactics during a game and STILL stop the PL champions from testing our keeper!!
Let’s not forget we had Timber out and Martinelli, Partey, Tomiyasu, and Vieria all returning from injury – yet it’s city’s injuries that our own fans are highlighting!!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, in my eyes it was a masterclass. and a pretty one at that.
Well I enjoyed it, a masterclass in controlling a game without ‘parking the bus’, Gabriel and Saliba had Haaland in a straight jacket between them and we could/should have scored two goals from clear cut opportunities.
A great game for the tactical oriented fans and an awful game for the typical fan.
That’s unfair Vamos, we all see the game differently.
Sometimes it pays to wait and analyse the game later, rather than a knee jerk reaction.
Two people I respect greatly, Andrew Elder and DK, saw a completely different game to me and it’s really just our own opinions.
Interesting perspective. It could be considered close to being a (defensive) tactical masterpiece in demonstrating how to nullify MC at the Etihad.
It will, however, never be considered a great game for the lack of excitement.
David, a tactical masterpiece is how I saw it. Last time I saw us perform like was in the FA Cup Final in ’05.
HD
How we won that game was miraculous.
SueP, the players had nerves of steel in that penalty shootout.
Arsenal and Arteta emerged happier than City and Pep after the draw. Although Liverpool were the actual winners from the draw, there are still 9 more games to go and Liverpool could still drop points whilst Arsenal must win all their remaining games.
Some of us have failed to remember that liverpool is been regarded as the team that has given city the toughest contest over the years, but how many times have they won at the Etihad? When there go there and get a draw every one come out to praise them, just few weeks ago both played out a 1-1 draw at ANTFIELD and no one saw the draw as a lost point for liverpool.
As far i am concern this team is making progress and getting a draw at the Etihad at this stage of the season with so much tension is not an easy task i see it as progress from previous seasons.
Myself, like most others here, would have obviously loved 3 points. But, am delighted with what happened at the etihad. Arsenal muzzled city and gave me then no chance on their own turf. City will not forget this for the next few seasons to come. This is the beginning of a mindset change. It heralds a different era. The tide is turning. This was a pivotal game.
As fans we have been crying out for a plan b and on Sunday we got it, if Jesus had been more clinical we would have nicked it. The whole team was a well drilled machine especially our two Centre Halves. It was a pretty game but I don’t care, if we could beat BM 2-0 at home I would welcome that plan b again in Munich. Chelsea won the CL playing boring football, but who cares, to have this plan b is a joy and I for one applaud Arteta and his coaching staff to doing that