Was it the defence or attack that condemned Arsenal to Man City defeat?

Arsenal’s new team under Unai Emery was not quite up to speed as they succumbed meakly to Pep Guardiola’s admittedly superior team of Champions. Petr Cech did extremely well to keep out the City strikers but we didn’t really do enough to test the City defence either. Sokratis and Mustafi were our centre-back pairing and are very inexperienced together, and Guendouzi had never played in a Premiership game before in his life but actually wasn’t too bad.

But which was the main reason for our defeat? According to Cech, it was because we didn’t make enough of our chances at the other end. “We feel that we could have got something from the game,” he said.

“In the second half, we forced them to make mistakes and we had some opportunities. But unfortunately, we lacked invention to find the killer pass.

“When you play against a team of City’s quality and confidence it is always going to be difficult. Inevitably, you can make a few mistakes.

“It was a shame we couldn’t finish off our counter attacks and overall we’re disappointed with the defeat.”

So Petr thinks it was the forwards to blame, but i’m not so sure. We simply have to face the fact that this was the hardest possible game for Emery to start his Arsenal career, and he was starting with a team that still has a lot to learn about each other and the manager’s tactics and instructions. It was never going to be easy, so don’t be so hard on the team or the boss. We still have 37 games to go to get things right! At least the hardest game is out of the way….

69 Comments

  1. I would have to say the attack was the big disappointment today. We lacked the final ball or finishing, this game also shows why we need wingers. I know some of you on here would be like, stop with the winger talk but its true, we need wingers. Mendy looked good going forward but so shaky in defence, wished we had someone to push him back and terrorise him more but we kept passing the ball around which isn’t bad but sometimes you have to go one on one and be more direct, just look at sterling’s goal. I was actually impressed with mustafi and sokratis which really surprised me, bellerin was ok but shouldn’t be first choice, guendouzi started really nervous but grew into the game, xhaka is too immobile to play for arsenal especially against fast and agile teams like man city and liverpool, mkhitaryan was poor, ozil was ok but lacked the final ball or finish, lacazette wasn’t clinical enough and aubameyang didn’t get too many chances. Mancity are such a great team that loosing 2-0 isn’t the end of the world so lets give emery time to implement his ideas fully.. COYG

    1. Respect for you analysis. You got it spot on. Ramsey wasn’t really good. Am hopeful we can continue to improve. But there is a new spirit about the team.

      1. We already improved when Ramsey and Xhaka were replaced. Let’s hope those two don’t start the Chelsea game. Would like Unai to get rid of these 2 ‘captains’ as soon as possible.

        1. I agree, when Torreira and Laca came on, things seemed to improve. I expect that Torreira will start this week, I also liiked the aggression from Lichtsteiner when he came on for AMN.

    1. it’s no longer stingy wenger @xxnofx?
      I thought wenger was the reason we aren’t signing the c Ronalds the messis and the neymers of this world bcoz he’s not ambitious

      1. Guys-let’s get a bit of perspective in here.Counting the January purchase of Aubamayang the Club have spent over £120m this calendar year.I know we got money in from the sales of Giroud Walcott and coqulein But this still shows a net spend of £50-60m including the Ox money.For two seasons we have had zero Champions League revenue so that’s £80-100m lost to the Club.Wenger spent his budgets and it seems Emery has as well.So without any more money coming in the Club have most likely spent every available penny.We are not a Citeh.We are closer to Chelski but a mile off Manure in terms of spending.We MUST get Champions League back to the Club.The revenue is up and better players will arrive.
        In regards our current Squad of players I would add that they got Sixth place last season with an abysmal away record.If we can maintain our home form of last season and improve on the Away performances then it stands to reason we should at the very least be aiming for a Top4 spot.
        And I can tell you we will not be facing a team anywhere near the quality of Citeh again this season until we go to the Etihad.They really are that good

        1. Go check Transfermarkt, we made a transfer profit of about 3m last season, despite the acquisitions of Laca and Auba.

          PEA (63.75m), Laca (53m), Mavro (2.1m), Mkhi (Free), Kola (Free)=118.85m

          Ox (38), Theo (22.5), Olly G (17m), Coq (14m), Szczes (12.2m), Gabby (11m), Gibbs (7.5m)= 122.2m

          Profit of 3.35m

  2. I think Emery is a mediocre coach but right now Arsenal board is at fault , look at Chelsea board , they changed manager too but they brought in a top manager who plays a beautiful style but also got him the players he needed (Gorginho and Kovacic) , now because of that preseason was enough for Chelsea to develop with their new manager and they won their first game 3-0.

    But it seems Arsenal needs “time” to develop and unfortunately we wont get it.

    1. Chelsea will sack him within the next 20 months. Unless we want to adopt their model of changing managers every 2 seasons they aren’t the best club to cite. And ignoring the fact the team they faced was Huddersfield just to make Arsenal, the club you support, look bad is pretty crappy.

      1. John Doe, you base your assessment of Unai Emery as a “mediocre coach” on what basis? Are you more qualified than Pep Guardiola who rates him highly and respects his ability and past performances with Valencia, Sevilla and PSG?
        How long will we have to wait for you to make a positive comment?

    2. Are you really that naive or are you pretending to be one? Chelsea won 3-0 to Huddersfield not City.
      Please show some kind of reasonable support to our club

    3. Chelsea played Huddersfield…
      The same chelsea lost to Mancity with same scoreline last weekend at the community shield…
      I don’t understand how some fans watch or assess football..

      Its really a pity bro

    4. You just comment because you want to…if you don’t have anything to say is it not better to keep mute…?
      You say Emery is a Mediocre coach?..buh sarri is a world class who never won a competitive cup before…same as Emery Sarri lost his 1st competitive match and a cup against city with dsame margin 2 nill…
      Yet u say Emery is mediocre who have lots of tittles to his name…my brother just gbenudake
      I Believe in Emery and his tacticsd
      Guodiola lost series of match when he 1st take the city job

    5. John Doe how about you just go and join Chelsea? A coach with 3 Europa titles and 2 lique 1 title is mediocre while a coach with no major trophy is a top manager. I see… its either you missed your drugs or you are on some illicit drugs. your brain is really working.

  3. We better sell Ozil
    He’s a luxury
    Surprised he wasn’t replaced
    Xhaka is useless
    Msy be Welbeck should’ve played to give us width

    1. I am tired of hearing Ozil is world class . World class players have consistency.
      Xhaka should have been sold ,
      Ramsey belongs in a club like Southampton or Bournemouth not Arsenal .
      Bellerin is average and needs to learn more from Lichtsteiner .
      A left back should have been purchased or promoted .
      i honestly think the coach should best relying on Mkhitaryan to be the creative spark in the team rather than hope on Ozil .
      As a fan i can only see some promise and hope we get better .

    2. I must admit, Ozil sucks when played on the wing… But guess what, he is not a winger! , he built his reputation playing as a CAM, thats where he is good at. So it would be rather stupid to sell such a great, proven talent simply because he cant perform when played out of position. I say play Ozil in his natural position and sacrifice xhaka and ramsey. We looked more dangerous with matteo and torreira in the cm positions, this actually allows ozil to slot in the CAM role in a 4-2-3-1 system. With Miki and Auba on the wings and Laca upfront, Ozil WILL be unstoppable! I don’t understand why the coaches keep playing him out of position!

      1. That was my biggest disappointment yesterday seeing Ozil not given a free role as a No10.And Ramsey should NEVER be played through the centre as advanced as he was yesterday.But you know what?If Emery needs to try different things then at least he is trying.But Ozil MUST play centrally.

    3. Useless is an understatement to qualify Xhaka..
      The fool looked more like the 19yr old between him and Guendouzi..
      Guendouzi covered Xhaka’s ass most of the time… pretty much why the young lad was put under some pressure…
      I really like Guendouzi….he has guts…at least not to go missing in games..

      Terminate Xhaka’s contract…. promote Bielik
      Sell Ramsey the fowl…… Promote Smith-Rowe

  4. Ozil & Mikey are luxury players and don’t fit into Umery pressings high intensity style. Get rid of those friggin assh@les and get a hard pressing athletic players.

    1. NIKK and Howard

      I think you two are talking about Arsenal or Burnley?
      Get athletic players like Walcott/Welbeck/?
      These players are miles and years away from the likes of Ozil or Mik
      They played sort out of position today. Coach is still looking for ways to blend the team and today
      he gave Ramsey a #10 spot to entice him to sign maybe. Ramsey is not a 10. Ozil is.

      1. It is crazy how Emery let Ramsey play Wenger s game in the new season. If Emery continue to give Rasmey freedom to run around like a headless chicken then there woj t be any progress at all.

  5. I would tend to agree somewhat with Cech. City really was not that great today, but we were not good today. Sloppy, poor touch , mistakes, etc. They gave us some chances to score and we didn’t take advantage of them. Its unfortunate that we were not able to take advantage of the opportunities they gave us. We might not get these chances against them in the future

  6. I don’t blame Emery “yet”
    However there seems to be something that’s staring him in the face
    Ozil
    Xhaka
    Belerin
    Are simply not good enough
    Yes ozil is a terrific player but only when we play lower teams
    As for Xhaka is is slow, can’t defend, lost headers to Bernard and I cannot see in two seasons why he still plays

    Belerin cannot defend, is poor at crossing cannot head the ball
    While we continue to use these players we will still struggle
    Belerin has a replacement
    Xhaka can be replaced
    Özil should be replaced
    When you include Czech who has lost it we have half the team under performing

    My team for the next game if all are fit

    Leno

    Litch. Soka Mustafi Monreal
    AMN Torreira. Smith-Rowe Guoudazen ( can’t spell it) Auba
    Lacca

    1. good thing we don’t have downvote option anymore or I’ll downvote you to death. Mikhi plays better trough right and ozil though middle. You cannot play two of your star player out of position just to accommodate Ramsey.

      Also your team formation is bad and you shall feel bad. Its not FIFA18 where a 4th division team can beat Barca with all teenagers where you are a very skilled player. This is real life.

    2. why blame Ozil when the players or midfield players around him are below his level? No connection from midfield and you expect him doing magic? common even Messi will become an average Messi in the midst of these arsenal footballers. Different coach but players with same mentality. I don’t expect anything good from them this season until next season. City have always had quality players even before Pep came and with new and better players and coaches with better styles they’re the best in epl for now. Time will tell if things get better with this Kroneke ownership of AFC.

  7. As i have said before, my main worry is not the defence but our midfield recovery speed and closing down opponents, just too slow.

    Another thing is and i have said it before OZIL. RAMSAY AND MIK must not be on the field at the same time, weakens the team as a defensive unit and the 3 are more providers than regular goal scorers.

    Emery made a big gamble which did not work out and lost, Elneny is more of a DM than Xhaka, Guendouzi is not a DM but plays better with a DM beside him. I hope to see the correction of the Errors in the next game

  8. The game shows how emery wants to play but to be honest we couldn’t really click. I thought our passing was awful but hey sok and mustafi weren’t bad, plus there were glimpses of how brilliant we could be so let stay hopeful.

  9. You can’t expect average players to defeat Top players. Most of our players are of average quality

    Torreira was never going to be enough.

  10. Compared to last season it was much improved performance by team… Our Squad lacked communication…. Many times that passes were misplaced.. Either receiver of pass used to overrun or never run… You could seed lack of communication between team in that Ederson Mistake which should have been capitalize by Lacazzet or Ozil… But lack of communication and Lacazzet left the ball for City Goalkeeper..

  11. it wasnt defense or offense, it was the the competition that made the difference, seriously, this city squad is likely the 2nd best prem league squad in history, losing only one match in the last 39, did we think a new squad under a new manager was going to beat them, they need to gel. we were down 3-0 last yr to city at the half, starting against city and away at chelsea is brutal, so strap it in, ride gonna be rough, but I suspect you will see this team hit stride this year, but they are not city, and that was obvious

  12. We unfortunately don’t have the players to complete a full press system and Emery knows it. We were stuck between our old system of defending space and a full press. I hate to say but until we can compete financially we should be adopting a more defensive and counter attacking system, especially against the likes of citeh and pool. Play a more expansive game against Huddersfield etc.

  13. I think new signings did really well. Guendouzi was impressive despite that huge error. Sokratis & Mustafi looked solid.

    I was disappointed with Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Ozil. They are proven players. Had to influence the game. What worries me is their lack of motivation. It was the opening match of the new campaign, under a new manager, at home, against the champions. How could they NOT get motivated?

    However, I don’t feel too bad because this is the first game under Emery, not under Wenger. When Emery says we need to improve, I believe he means it and he CAN improve the squad. And I am sure he has the guts to drop underperforming players to the bench, unlike Wenger, and brings fair and healthy competition.

    Finally, I hope that this will be the last game to see Ramsey and Xhaka in the starting eleven, and that AMN will be OK.

  14. I think if Emery wants to pursue the pressing game he should bring in the players who can adapt to that style! Ozil, Mkh and Xhaka aren’t your men! I honestly believe we can do a lot better than Aaron Ramsey too, a more physical pacey box to box midfielder.. Ramsey may just have too much Wenger in his game to extract! I’m not suggesting we sell everyone because all squads need experience and depth, I would actually keep Bellerin and Mustafi as squad members but I think Ozil is just a luxury we don’t need, he goes missing way too much for my liking and doesn’t really make a great influence in the big games but as the window has closed there’s nothing we can do now other than find the best 11! I would seriously try Torreira and Maintland-Niles centrally, I’m a big fan of Niles I think he should be given a spell in his favourite position.. last season he was awesome against recent world cup winner Paul Pogba, he could be dynamic in our midfield! Of course Arsenal are gonna have to rebuild and it will take time but I just think when the big teams are in town we shouldn’t be going toe to toe with them, we should take a leaf out of Simeone’s book and make ourselves difficult to break down, work on the defending and rope a dope the bigger boys, we don’t always have to play and win in a certain way.. Atletico soak up pressure and sucker punch many teams and of course a nightmare to play against even Luis Suarez said they are the worst team to play against! Yes we don’t have the defensive power of Atletico but should seriously try being more pragmatic in big games, make opposition teams dread playing us! Anyway on to Chelsea next let’s hope Emery rings the changes! COYG

  15. We were poor in both didn’t create many chances which is very unusual for arsenal and city looked like they would score every time they went forward. It’s frightening that city were only in 3rd gear and made it look easy and look what they left on the bench if they started a full strength team my god we would have got hammered them and Liverpool look a class apart with man u Chelsea and spuds being the best of the rest and were even way below them teams in terms of quality!!

    1. If city were not in their full strength were arsenal in their full strength ?… stop making up stories pls…. arsenal lost To a better man. city Team 2:0 that’s the outcome..
      Every defeat people loss their sense of reasoning

      1. How am I making up stories city had 3 or 4 regular 1st team starters on their bench arsenal were on missing injured jos and prob only torrier would make regular starting 11 from our bench that was on display yesterday and sorry missing Montreal but would that have made any difference to the result def not so get your own facts right before criticising my comments!!

        1. Dan, according to you Arsenal should give up after one match, particularly when they played the run away winners of last season.
          Only one team can win the EPL; the rest are only making up the numbers. Imagine the supporters of other clubs, who keep following their team through thick and thin with minimal chance of ever experiencing the success the Arsenal have achieved. They don’t give up on their club.

  16. How can anyone be disappointed Today

    what had people hoped for funny it was always going to be tough against city And tougher when you don’t have your yet ready for the level of competition city brings some are now saying Chelsea is better 2 weeks ago sitting breezed past them And judging the two matches arsenal made a better account of themselves next time city plays both teams It will be more different because they will have more team chemistry then
    you guys should learn to start ignoring people some people who come here To make mockery of Our arsenal witg their coments just like chiza..It makes you loose site of the simple fact

    1. I’m just stupefied to why we tried to beat city at their own game. Was Emery wanting to see what Pep told his players to do when our GK and CB’s were building from the back, maybe Pep would give a solution to a chink in his own armor. No idea why we thought we could beat city with those tactics.

      I would’ve thought soaking up pressure not too deep though, and sharp countering would be a more clinical way of beating them. Also when we have the ball deep, before one of those four or five city players start surrounding us, our defender should of had instructions on where to send the ball towards by passing that first line of attack, and our players would win the fifty fifty seeing as a few of ours already know where its gonna be hit into.

      Niles marking Laporte, sure Laporte swept Litch out of his way with one arm, he had Niles on him. That will spell bad news on a few occasions this season, if a manager doesn’t go too in depth about who’s marking who on set pieces. Sokratis and Chambers situations, I put all that on Gazidas. Gazidas was listening to fans talk about what they thought Arsene needed. But he gets a coach that plays football from deeeeep, but he still went ahead with what he thought would improve Arsene’s team. That shows how useless he is in this post, knowing nothing about the difference between the two managers.

  17. How can anyone be disappointed Today

    what had people hoped for funny it was always going to be tough against city And tougher when you don’t have your team ready for the level of competition city brings.. some are now saying Chelsea is better 2 weeks ago city breezed past them And judging the two matches arsenal made a better account of themselves than Chelsea, next time city plays both teams It will be more different because they will have more team chemistry then
    you guys should learn to start ignoring some people who come here To make mockery of Our arsenal with their coments just like chiza..It makes you loose sight of the simple fact

    1. Some people don’t like the truth they can keep dreaming that the good times will return but it’s never gona happen the days of us being a proper force in football are well and truly over if we ever make champions league again then that will be as good as it gets but can’t see that happening for many many years or def not in my life time!!

      1. In the same way that I chide the immature Chiza for thinking we were “going to walkover City” as he wrote a few days ago, I also chide YOU Dan, for unrealistic long term pessimism bordering on lunacy. All realists know full well the size of the job that Emery has in front of him and which he has JUST started. But all realists also know things are far, far , better than you make out. Realism is moderate, truthful, accurate, sensible and properly analysed and considered considered. Extreme opinions on both flanks are childish, immature, and show a lack of brain power, frankly!

    2. Well, some good things ,when guendouzi toughens up he could be a star he has a good engine can pass a ball well and did win the ball back occasionally but did get caught once or twice, Lichsteiner seemed to calm things with his experience and things did improve for a time after he came on,the bad things Bellerin is very overrated in my opinion I worry every time he gets near the ball, Ozil still does not do enough and as I said last week Xhaka is crap he wouldn’t get in a championship side what do these managers see in him, he brings nothing to the team, Emery needs time I agree, and I am sure he wouldn’t have been happy with some of the players input and hopefully he can weedle out those lazy players and get some grafters in, too many of them dissapear up their own backsides then blame everybody else and if he doesn’t change that mentality which I might add has been like it for a long time now we will get turned over badly against Chelsea next week.

    3. Chiza does not mock Arsenal. Rather, he is positive about the team and tries to encourage others to support the team.

  18. For me our attacker should be blame more, facing team like city we cant expect our defend not facing any threats and made mistakes. Even city defenders made mistake that can cost them. The only difference is that their attackers know how to score.

    We get our own chances that can actually bring us back to the game but we not take it well. Lacazette got similar chance as b.silva when miki makes cut back, but he blew it. Ozil also get two chances to score but both his efforts not even on target.

    But definitely there are some positive side we can see on this match,

    Lichtsteiner shows his experience, he managed to defend and attack well and looks very convicing.

    Guendouzi, despite makes several mistake, his work rate was good and able to pressure the opponent well in the second half.

    Toreirra, we can see the impact he makes even playing just for a short time, able to read the game and position himself well. Hopefully emery will choose him over xhaka next week.

    Substitute, I really like how emery makes subtitute, he make it fast and not waiting until last minute. I’m pretty confidence if it were Wenger he will keep both ramsey and xhaka.

    Lastly our coach, during the game we can see he encourage the player and give direction to them which is something that we never seen before.

    Lets be positive, even chelsea lose their first game to city, give emery time and support to our player. Come on you gunners!!

  19. What City did to us can be done by them to every other team in the premier league with the exception of liverpool. So no point retreating to our doom and gloom days. Their team is much better than ours and considering we have a new coach, new players and a new style of play, our team will need some time to gel. Period. No point reading too much meaning into this. Chelsea looked like a world beater against Huddersfield and yet when they played City in the community shield, they looked rubbish. City can make most teams on this planet look rubbish

    1. How long do you want for Xhaka Bellerin and Ozil to gel into this team , they have been with the club for at between 4 and 6 years and we are lucky if we get mor than 5 good games per season out of any of them, lighten up mate its time to get rid.

  20. Emery or whoever was involved in transfers will find out they didn’t do a good job in addressing our offensive line two wingers, one more additional striker in case Aubameyang or Lacazette are out for some reason and playmaker in Santi position- they should have let Ramsey go or January and Ozil also big pay but is not performing as a great player

    1. thats Mislintat…..Emery has nothing to do with the negotiation and scouting….

      the signings are probably based on the budget we have…

      1. You might right, out entire transfer was down to money but let see when Kroenke has a complete control if that’s if gonna make some difference could have been awesome if we had Leon bailey as a left winger and Aubameyang as right winger but the main problem going through the entire season is the squad width and not Emery imagine both of our main strikers are out!! Will be to go back to Wenger’s drawing board “kids” who are not ready by any accounts

  21. I am just glad Iwobi did not play….He would have been sacrificed today for the failures of the whole team

    1. The reason he want picked is because he is not good enough to get into the side in front of the players that started against Citeh.
      I am Iwobi’s biggest critic.I honestly believe he is not good enough.But I am now only going to judge him when he plays and not in past seasons.So I am wiping the slate clean as far as his past is concerned as I really want to see if Emery is able to coach better and more consistent performances out of the player and prove me wrong.He was on the bench yesterday and that tells you he is not a recognised first team starter.But with games coming up and Euro/International games starting soon he will get his opportunities soon enough

  22. Lacazette should of scored, that should have been an easy one over the keeper. Bellerin should of shot back across goal, other than that we were well beaten.

    Ozil and Mkhit were very poor, we allowed then time to find their midfielders.

    The defence was frightening at how casual they tried to play from the back even when you could see five city players on their marks ready to go.

    Emery choosing Niles to mark Laporte was a really poor decision. His decision to try and play city at their own game was a very poor one too. Chambers is our best passer back there, he’d be our best at that very deep passing game, he can go long and short.

    Gazidas must be behind the Chambers loan. Same with Sokratis, no-one can tell me that Emery would target a Sokratis, that was all Mislintat and Gazidas. They went and got Emery an anti Emery signing, and loaned out our best ball playing CB.

    1. Okay guys Babylon wasn’t building in weeks it required years. Unai require time to build his dynasty, game such like yesterday was are required for him to evaluate each player , his capabilities . guess what he passed that test, who on earth would sub Ramsey, leave 19 years old boy on field only unai, let’s morn over n over this players needed that defeat so they can go n do homework properly, if they could ave won what an ego they could but now more work…

      1. I agree 100%. It will take time to pick the best possible players for the system he wants and with the desire he requires.

  23. in my opinion , we shouldn’t be starting Ozil in a big game. he hides every time, I still don’t get why Anyone would refer to him as world class. he only bullies the smaller teams. I rate Iwobi as a more complete number 10 than Özil. (kidding) but Iwobi couldn’t have played worse than that. our team against Chelsea should look like this .

    Leno
    Lichtsteiner Mustafi Mavropanos/Sokratis Monreal/Welbeck
    Torreira Guendouzi
    Nelson Mkhityran Aubameyang
    Lacazette
    4-2-3-1
    Ozil is useless . we should trade him to China or Japan. he will get it easy there .

  24. Ramsey Xhaka and Ozil should be sold at a cut price in January .. I don’t even care if we don’t buy anyone else.. promote the youth team players .
    Emile – Smith-RoweNALDO should replace Özil , Maitland-Niles should replace Xhaka and Ramsey (since they are both useless).

    I know it’s Man – city, I shouldn’t freak out . but I was a subject of a Joke by my friends (Nothing Manchester United fan) after the match . they trolled me till late night until I slept off really angry and I couldn’t even eat dinner !!!

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