Manchester City 0-3 Arsenal: red card holds back City, but Arsenal impress in important win
The starting line-ups
An early red card was the game’s key moment, but Arsenal played well on their way to an ultimately comfortable victory.
Manchester City’s front six were as expected – the news was at the back, where Dedryck Boyata started alongside Vincent Kompany in Kolo Toure’s absence, with Jerome Boateng at left-back and Micah Richards at right-back.
Arsenal also named an XI without many surprises – Abou Diaby was unavailable so Denilson came into the midfield, and the Djourou-Squillaci partnership continued at the back.
City started extremely strongly, with Richards motoring forward past Andrei Arshavin twice in the opening five minutes and getting into good crossing positions. Tevez also looked to play on that side, and one of his balls into the centre found David Silva, who flicked towards goal but was thwarted by an excellent Lukasz Fabianski save.
Cesc Fabregas started the game playing deeper than usual, coming short to collect the ball in front of City’s midfield, and playing two very good through balls early on. The first caught Arshavin slightly offside, but the second found Marouane Chamakh, and when Boyata fouled him, he was shown a straight red card.
Red card aftermath
This forced Manchester City to reorganise in the absence of one of their central defenders – first James Milner went in at right-back with Micah Richards in the centre, then Yaya Toure moved back to centre-back, then Toure moved into midfield again, with Ricards going to centre-back , Boateng switching to the right-back position, and Gareth Barry playing at left-back.
City had so many options to get around the problem at centre-back, and versatile players are generally an asset. But by changing the system three times in the first half (with yet another change at half-time with Wayne Bridge coming on), the defence was always going to have problems working as a unit.
One of Mancini's four defensive solutions after the red card
That’s not to say that City gave up. Despite the fact that such an early red card will always have an impact on the game, this was probably one of the less decisive red cards in terms of the overall pattern of the game (although clearly the home side were severely weakened) – City were always going to sit back, Arsenal were always going to dominate possession.
City still offer attacking threat
Mancini went with a 4-3-1-1 system – David Silva played in the centre of the pitch with Milner forming more of a midfield three. And this meant that City offered a surprising level of attacking threat, especially considering how cautious they generally are against bigger sides.
With the three in midfield narrow, and Silva just ahead, they were effectively forming a midfield diamond around Arsenal’s three central midfielders (with the wider players of the three shuttling forward) and were not played off the pitch. Indeed, Arsenal were having trouble in the centre of midfield, reflected in the fact Fabregas, Alex Song and Denilson all collected yellow cards.
City’s problem, however, was that when Arsenal had possession, they were able to shift the ball from flank to flank (see the Chalkboard below, with the majority of passes in wide areas) and exploit City’s narrow midfield.
Milner covered the right side well, but the left was more of an issue – with the changes to the side there was no permanent left-sided midfielder, and no permanent left-back. It was therefore vaguely inevitable that Arsenal would score from that side, and Samir Nasri was always a good shout for first scorer, with six goals in his last six games.
Arsenal control the second half
Fabregas missed a penalty that would have made it 2-0, and the second half started with City still very much in the game. Tevez was not at 100% and had to make way for Emmanuel Adebayor, and the ex-Arsenal player was arguably a more appropriate type of striker for this situation – able to hold the ball up and buy time, whereas Tevez needs support, which was limited with one less player on the pitch.
Arsenal weren’t passing the ball particularly well (by their standards) at 1-0, though a second goal always looked like killing the game. It was again in City’s left-back position that the goal came from, with the substitute Bridge allowing Song in for another goal. Song’s goal tally this season (three already, compared to only four before this season in his entire career) demonstrates his slightly more advanced role, as mentioned after the Arsenal v Shakhtar game. From City’s point of view, it also demonstrated that the return of Aleksander Kolarov is very much needed.
At 2-0 Arsenal changed their style, simply looking to keep the ball. Mario Balotelli came on for Gareth Barry to increase City’s attacking threat, but this opened up the midfield and Arsenal dominated possession to a greater extent. Arsene Wenger’s side only really looked for goal if they happened to end up in a goalscoring position at the end of some neat passes – Nicklas Bendtner finished nicely to seal the win, after the excellent Nasri’s through ball.
Conclusion
It’s difficult to judge performances when the game sees such an early dismissal, but both sides can be pleased with their display. Arsenal were relatively comfortable (aside from the number of bookings they accumulated) and now have seven points from their last four away games at Blackburn, Sunderland, Chelsea and Manchester City – seven more than from those fixtures last year.
Mancini’s hands were tied, and the 4-3-1-1 system he used worked well. His problem was that he didn’t make a stronger decision about the personnel within that system, meaning the defence was disorganised and two poor goals were conceded.
Manchester City 0-3 Arsenal: red card holds back City, but Arsenal impress in important win
A typically good analysis ZM. Two things. First of all, I kept thinking that Arsenal were struggling in the centre of the pitch and were desperate for width, so I was disappointed that Rosicky and even more so Walcott were put on so late in the game. I fear that Wenger’s lack of tactical acumen, though not shown up here, will hurt Arsenal against the big teams of Europe.
The other thing is, is there some reason Chamakh draws so many crucial fouls? I wonder how many that has been so far this year. Did he do this at Bordeaux? This must be the fourth or fifth one (and third or fourth for a red card) I have seen this season. Any thoughts?
Dan,
i agree arsenal were struggling in the middle of the pitch but i think the reason is because city was putting HEAVY pressure there because they weren’t at all afraid of giving clichy and sagna space on the outside. The width needs to come from the wingbacks, and the wingbacks need to make opposition pay when they focus the entire defense on stopping Arsenal’s midfield trio.
That is true. I recall the Guardian Chalkboard from the Chelsea game where They didn’t even bother to tackle on the flanks of their penalty box. Arsenal’s crossing is so appalling other teams don’t seem to consider it a threat. I think Sagna is improving at this though. As is Rosicky, when he plays on the left. The problem with playing creative wingers is they like to cut inside rather than getting to the byline, so it reduces the area other teams have to defend when crosses are so ineffective.
As usual Arsenal dominated midfield as they usually do against all opposition. I don’t know what game you were watching. To illustrate the level of dominance here’s a stat;
Alex Song completed more passes than Man City’s midfield three in yesterday’s game. Messrs De Jong, Toure & Barry funneled 76 passes to team mates between them. Alex Song completed 78 passes.
And it’s not as if he neglected his defensive duties, he got more challenges in (8) than any of the Man City three.
I have noticed it, but don’t see enough French football to comment on whether it is a usual thing. But I’ve no idea, to be honest…
Now Arsenal were having trouble in the midfield because of multiple reasons. City pressed hard at times and Fabregas was a bit rusty… yet to hit peak form… Add to this the fact that Song wanted to move forward as he is doing more and more this season which tends to open up some gaps behind…It was actually a good move by Wenger to put two defensive midfielders in Song and Denilson today against the three enforcers in City – Yaya, De Jong and Barry.
@ Dan… Dnt wry.. Wenger is slowly building up the playing time for Bendtner and Walcott… They will play the full game on Wednesday against Newcastle in the Carling Cup.. Once Vermaelen and Van persie are fit then Arsenal really have a lot of firepower to choose frm…
Presumably just because he’s an intelligent sort of player and is often in dangerous positions. Well, they would be dangerous if he could finish..
Xabi Alonso drawing an incredible number of cards is a much more curious phenomenon!
I think it’s because Alonso holds the ball for a long time and releases it at the last second, which draws late challenges that often end up as bookings in La Liga.
Might be that Chamakh is seen as a reference point/aerial striker by the EPL defences (hence marked so), when he is probably more adept at finding space behind defences?
I think Chamakh has won six penalties and been fouled four times winning red cards so far this season. I put it down to the way teams defend deep and narrow against Arsenal and the way Arsenal try to pass the ball into the net. So much movement and many bodies in the box inevitebly leads to a poorly timed chalange and a penalty. Chamakh’s close ball control and movement has been fantastic in winning those penalties.
RED card change everything..nothing special about this game..seriously
85minutes for 10man is hugely advantage to Arsenal..
RED card changed everything..nothing special about this match..seriously
down to 10men for 85minutes is hugely an advantage for Arsenal
Fabianski is starting to show some serious promise. Keep up the good work! Is it possible that Almunia’s played his last game as a Gunner?
I thought Arsenal were well off their top form for this game- lots of wayward passes and failure to connect on through-balls.
Clichy was an absolute disaster at LB. As a fan, its difficult to watch when your fullback can’t contain runs from Micah Richards. Also, Tevez repeatedly drifted to Clichy’s side and had more success winning possession and penetrating the Arsenal defense on that side. Obviously Wenger won’t buy a LB with Gibbs close to making the spot his own but until that happens its a major area of concern.
For that matter, both of Arsenal’s fullbacks are terrible in possession. Notice how City pressured the midfielders whenever they got the ball, but allowed the fullbacks much more time and space. The only time Sagna or Clichy drew the attention of the defense was when they got near the box to send crosses in… none of which truly threatened the goal. If Arsenal is going to improve their finishing and final ball, they NEED to have more of a threat from the fullbacks. Right now the fullbacks give away possession with poor crosses and teams are more than willing to sit back and give them time on the ball. If the fullbacks become more dangerous, the midfielders will have more time, space, and success.
Lastly, thank god Theo is back! The only Arsenal player that consistently pressures the backline from the wing position. Arshavin prefers to play from deeper, Rosicky & Nasri are really midfielders. If Bendtner can stay healthy i think we’ll even see Chamakh and Bendtner play up front together, taking turns playing centrally and on the wing. Arsenal needs natural front-line players on the pitch.
I agree on your point about the fullbacks, they just aren’t as threatening and leave a lot to be desired offensively. Sagna compensates with his defensive work but Clichy is exposed too often and it doesn’t help that Arshavin doesn’t track back as often as the player on the other wing does.
Is Sagna’s offensive play really that poor? I think he has improved his crosses considerably (and with Chamakh, he now has somebody making a run for the ball), and he is pretty good with his link-up play and ball retention on the right hand side. Clichy was consistently poor – his crosses often could not get past the first defender, and he forced a couple long balls, but I don’t think Sagna deserves the same criticism.
Agreed on Sagna.
“Clichy was an absolute disaster at LB. As a fan, its difficult to watch when your fullback can’t contain runs from Micah Richards. Also, Tevez repeatedly drifted to Clichy’s side and had more success winning possession and penetrating the Arsenal defense on that side. Obviously Wenger won’t buy a LB with Gibbs close to making the spot his own but until that happens its a major area of concern.”
I don’t rate Clichy, but it’s not his fault he can’t stop multiple people. When Arshavin helped, they dealt with it pretty comfortably. Pretty sure tracking the opposing fullback isn’t his job anyway.
“For that matter, both of Arsenal’s fullbacks are terrible in possession. Notice how City pressured the midfielders whenever they got the ball, but allowed the fullbacks much more time and space.”
This is normal. I’m sure ZM has done an article on how fullbacks are often the most free players on the pitch these days. Look how much time and space Dani Alves/Maicon etc get(despite obviously being a big threat). Sagna is not remotely terrible in possesion though, I can’t imagine why you would think he was. Pretty much all Arsenal players are good in possession..
“The only time Sagna or Clichy drew the attention of the defense was when they got near the box to send crosses in… none of which truly threatened the goal. If Arsenal is going to improve their finishing and final ball, they NEED to have more of a threat from the fullbacks. Right now the fullbacks give away possession with poor crosses and teams are more than willing to sit back and give them time on the ball. If the fullbacks become more dangerous, the midfielders will have more time, space, and success.”
This is more an issue that Arsenal lack players who can score from crosses, whether by heading or beating the centreback when it’s played to feet. Sagna’s delivery is fine, he gets his share of assists when someone like Bendtner plays. Clichy’s is indeed terrible though.
Perhaps ‘terrible’ is a strong word to describe Sagna, but there’s a reason he only makes safe passes. How often do you see Sagna deliver a through-ball? How often does he take on opposing full-backs like Micah Richards did Clichy? These events are very rare. I should add that on the whole I do rate Sagna and think he makes up for his inabilities in possession with some very solid defending. As long as he keeps his form i’m glad to see him in an Arsenal shirt.
As for the Clichy vs. Richards battle, there were multiple instances where Richards was the only player attacking down MC’s right side and clichy made him look like ronaldo. I know there were times when clichy was out-numbered as well, but i’m specifically referring to the 2-3 instances in which it was richards vs. clichy and Richards was able to get deep and deliver an easy cross into the middle.
lastly, i’m not just looking at crosses. that’s a very small part of the picture, especially since we’re talking about Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.
eboue really needs to get more time at right back. Sagna can play centerback at times if necessary.
In Clichy’s defense, Arshavin was supposed to be tracking those runs from Richards but the guy can’t be bothered. Clichy is expected to defend two positions when Arshavin is playing in front of him so he is always going to struggle
there were PLENTY of instances in which micah richards was by himself, attacking clichy and succeeding.
clichy is a fine deputy at LB, nothing more.
Come on Gibbs!
My point is he shouldn’t be by himself. It is Arshavin’s job to track the fullback in a 4-3-3 but he wont so Clichy has to worry about Richards and any winger or forward running in behind him. It is not a simple one versus one battle because Clichy has to hold his position so cant fully engage Richards. You can’t ask a player to cover two positions then complain when he gets caught out.
Gibbs had the same problem last season when he played. No way is he a better player than Clichy.
man city were down to 10 men at the time. he had no other threats or worries. The position that clichy was holding was exactly where city attacked, and had the most success.
Also, why is arshavin getting all the blame from fans? Arsenal plays a fluid front 3, arshavin’s on the left about half the time! Where are complaints about nasri???
gibbs will make the LB spot his own by the end of this season. Arsene is rightfully easing him back into competitions.
If you’d been paying attention this year, you’d have noted that Sagna’s crossing has indeed improved – he’s put in dangerous crosses leading to goals on several occasion, and as JC notes his defense is excellent.
Arsenal have Gibbs and Traore waiting int he wings for the LB spot, so Clichy needs to shake himself loose and get back to the best form he’s shown in the past; however, since Arsene seems to trust him, I’d be surprised to see him lose his spot this season without further shocking displays.
I thought denilson played a positive role as he keeps the ball so effectively and believe that even if Diaby was fit, Denilson would still have been the better option. However, when the game was 1-0, I felt that Wenger should have brought on Eboue for Sagna. The reason for this is as you mentioned there was no width Man City and Sagna didn’t have no man to track his run so he could have created a 2v1 situation with Nasri and Eboue is the better attacking rightback of the two.
In the last 10 minutes I thought Man City switched to a 4-3-2, similar to Inter vs. Barca last year, with Adebayor on Sagna and Balotelli occupying Clichy, this would seem to have been a more effective ploy from the start as Djourou and Squillacci are not great ball playing defenders by Arsenal standards and allowing them the extra space wouldn’t have been as threatening as leaving the wings open.
Man City looked very dangerous at the beginning and it would have been great to see a 11 v 11 but the red card was deserved.
It was surprising to see City cause Arsenal problems even after being one man down, and I gotta say Arsenal was lucky not to concede in several occasions but at the same time Fabianski made some good saves too.
@ZM
It always puzzled me why AW never played Arshavin behind the striker, when Arsenal first acquired him it was understandable to a certain point because they were playing a 4-4-2 but now that they have been playing a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 system in the last two years, do you think think it would be better to have Arshavin there and say, Fabregas and song just behind him so that a player with better defensive work rate could operate in the wing and help the leftback more often?
Maybe, but that doesn’t seem to be much of a consideration for Wenger at times. Arshavin does help out defensively slightly more than he gets credit for, though…
you really think so? I’d like to see some stats or something to back that up. Clichy is definitely off form but I don’t think its a complete coincidence that his worst spell for arsenal has been while playing with arshavin ahead of him. On the other wing sagna often has more help from an attacking player – nasri, walcott, eboue all tend to give some help.
i don’t think it helps clichy that arshavin is struggling for form himself at the moment either. he’s giving the ball away a lot, which obviously puts extra pressure on clichy
Good win for The Gunners but I can see them struggling to keep many more clean sheets with a denfence that included Almunia, Clichy, Djourou and Squillaci. Looks very average to me -what do you reckon? Also, Djourou never seems to play more than 2 games without getting injured – why is this?!
yeah, well, any team playing their 3rd and 4th centre backs will look shaky at the back. do you think Chelsea would do well with Ivanovic and Bruma as their CBs? or Man Utd with Jonny Evans and Smalling? they can’t even hold leads with Ferdinand and Vidic at the back…
OK, even with your first choice players (Almunia, Clichy, Sagna, Vermaelen and Koscielny), it’s hardly title winning material is it?
Can ZM do a quick calculation on the number of red cards, penalty kicks, and fouls Chamakh has drawn this season. It is phenomenal. He is deceptively agile, quick and therefore I believe defenders end up swinging at his legs.
Off the top of my head, 6 penalties, 4 red cards, 6 goals, 4 assists, 12 appearances.
I think two of his won penalties were not converted, but that still brings up a total of 14 goals that he has been directly involved in through either scoring, assisting or winning the pen.
@ZM how is that aresenal were able to get those early through balls behind mancity’s defence as they generally defend deep excellently, was it due to mancini’s tactics or defensive sloppiness?
defensive sloppiness I think. Chamakh is surprisingly fast, I think Boyata just got caught on his heels for that one. as for Arshavin they tried to play him offside, he beat the trap (but was wrongly called offside) because one of their CBs (I think it was Boyata again, could be wrong) was late in stepping up.
you could also put some blame on the Man City midfielders I think. Fabregas got a lot more time on the ball than he should have, considering they were playing 3 holding midfielders… I think it was mostly Gareth Barry at fault because Fabregas picked up the ball on their left side, where he was stationed.
Just Fabregas threading the eye of a needle, I think…
In all honesty, the red card changed the entire complexion of the match, would have been much more interesting to see 11 v 11, and that would have given a much more accurate reflection of the two teams situation, stating the obvious I know.
As for the game itself, it was still a good performance from Arsenal, for what they spend on players, they obviously do well for themselves, they have top quality players, but there is no denying there not quite at the level of Chelsea, and despite being above United, I still think United are some way ahead of where Arsenal need to be, time and time again Arsenal will show promise, but they will fade away, this year won’t be any different. They still get bullied by certain teams, drop silly points, and you’re just not going to win a title with Squillaci, Djourou and Clichy in you’re defence.
As for City, strongest they have been for many years, thats a given with the money they’ve spent, but surely when they’ve spent the money they have spent, they have to be winning the league in my opinion, and not just based on today, I just can’t see that happening. With basically all the money in the world, what other manager in the world would have gone out and bought Kolarov, Milner, Boateng to name just three? City want to be the very best, those signings aren’t going to achieve that, Madrid obviously want the same thing, they went out and signed Ozil, Khedera, Carvalho, Di Maria… I know what players I’d rather have, addmittedly it is easier to attract players to Mourinho’s Madrid than the smaller club in Manchester. Like Arsenal, strong squad, weak in some areas, and in the end will fall short of Chelsea and United…
Just a quick note on Micah Richards, what does Glen Johnson do that Richards doesn’t? Richards is faster, stronger, better in the air, can go forward equally, if not better than Johnson, and Richards is competent in the art of defence, something Johnson most definitely isn’t…
‘Arsenal get bullied’ is a common fallacy nowadays and i’ve noted that no matter what they do they always lose as AW said.and have you thought just for a minute that Arsenal won because injuries are clearing up?and united have been poor so far.give credit when its due.cheers.
You realize that Djorou and Squillaci are 3rd and 4th choice, right? Not saying Arsenal are a great defensive team, but you are talking about back ups here.
Even with there full strength defence, it’s no where near strong enough to win the league. I’m guessing first choice centre half pairing of Squillaci/Vermaelen, (massively overated) compare that to Terry/Alex, Vidic/Ferdinand.
There is no comparison…
No, probably Koscielny and Vermaelen. I do tend to agree the defense is likely not good enough, however.
that’s a very broad statement… in 2002/03, Man Utd won the league with Mikael Silvestre getting 21 starts at centre back, Wes Brown got 14 starts, and a 37 year old Laurent Blanc in his last season got 13 starts. (Rio Ferdinand did make 27 starts). if you can win the league with Silvestre as your 2nd centre back, I think you can win the league with Koscielny as your 2nd centre back…
Silvestre was very good around 2002-04, though
and arsenal don’t have anyone near as good as ferdinand was
You’ll be lucky to see Ferdinand/Vidic play together more than 5 times this season and Evans/Vidic isn’t nearly as impressive a combination.
As an Englishman it pains me to say it but Ferdinand is crocked.
They’ve already played about 4 times together.
I’m not convinced in the slightest that you’re correct about which of those players is overrated at this point.
“you’re just not going to win a title with Squillaci, Djourou and Clichy in you’re [sic] defence.”
Well, no one has ever tried, now, have they?
This is irrelevant to today’s game, but after all that’s happened this week, what do fellow ZM reader’s think of the situation up at United?
Today was actually a very good performance from United, and I still think the title will be a straight shootout between them and Chelsea. Vidic was absolutely immense today, Kenwyne Jones obviously isn’t the best striker in the world, that said, he’s a handful with his physical and aerial presence, he got NOTHING out of Vidic today, if anything, he was bullied out the game, really was a classic no nonsence centre half performance, Ferdinand alongside him was very composed on the ball, equally dominant in the, and keeping them both fit is vital. The only worry with United for me is in midfield. Scholes’s performances are starting to drop slightly, but it was always going to be hard to match the awesome performances he was producing at the very start, and also, they don’t have a holding midfielder. Carrick can sit deep, but is at his best with a destroyer alongside him, Fletcher can do it, but is better pressing and working all over the pitch. They have attacking options, Berbatov, Rooney and the ever improving Nani who really is developing into a genuinely top class player.
So all this stuff about a crisis at United, I don’t get it. Arguably the best centre half pairing in world football,quality in midfield, attacking options such as Nani, Berbatov, and the ever improving Chicharito, strength in depth, experience and arguably the best manager in the world… Where’s the crisis? Unbeaten, and still the biggest threat to Chelsea.
yeah.. but Evra as a left-winger was totally awful
Several players are not on their top forms and this is the problem united have met
Fletcher makes less attacking threats and more passing misses than last year. Carrick, though getting better these days, needs to be better. Park is unable to make an attacking threat. Valencia, the best winger last season, is out for more than 5 months. Rooney needs to score. Neville has been terrible since last season. Rafael and Anderson are not yet enough to be starting XI. I believe Van der Sar, Giggs and Scholes are gonna retire after this season. Van der Sar surprisingly has made some mistakes in last two games, and one led to a goal. O’shea and Brown are also making some costly mistakes in defense this season. And Ferdinand is becoming more injury-prone but Evans is disastrous these days.
It is also true that there are some positive points like good performances from new sinings Hernandez and Smalling(though he played not so many games), Vidic still solid, Berbatov and Scholes on top form, Nani improving. Yet this is not enough to win the premier league title against Chelsea, not to mention the Champions league.
“This is irrelevant to today’s game” – ’nuff said.
On a relevant note, where are all the Arsenal fans criticising Song for getting forward this season? Were you having a go at him after he smashed in a brilliant, and at that stage vital, second goal? Didn’t think so.
Song is gradually getting better and better offensively – although he did a great job last season as a DM, that is not his best position. On loan at Charlton he really showed his class in a more advanced role, and he’s starting to do so for Arsenal now. It’s brilliant to see us playing with only two centre-backs as purely defensive minded players – it’s brave, and a breath of fresh air in the wake of so much successful football being so negative.
I know it’s a massive, massive ‘if’ but if Arsenal do win a big trophy playing this way, it will be one of the greatest footballing achievements of recent times. With the likes of Wilshere, Song, Fabregas, Denilson and Diaby providing more discipline and defensive awareness, finally 4 decent centre-backs, and a rapidly improving ‘keeper, perhaps it’s not such a big ‘if’ after all
It is good that Song managed to get a goal, but like Vermaelen last year, his goals were taking the focus away from his defensive frailties that cost Arsenal numerous goals last season. Not saying Song is defensively frail, but some of his positional play for a defensive midfielder is up for debate, but for me, this is down to Wenger’s tactical naivety. Could you imagine Obi-Mikel rampaging forward to join Chelsea’s attacks, could you imagine Mourinho instructing Cambiasso (when at Inter of course) to just go on a run up pitch? No to both.
He may have scored a goal from doing it today, but pushing high up the pitch as a DM over the course of a season is going to cost you more goals than you’re going to score. Song needs to turn into the Obi-Mikel of Chelsea, he has the attributes to do it.
‘wenger’s tactical naivety’.so all the trophies he has won he sat there and sent players to the pitch hoping for the best?thats why he gets paid 6 million pounds a year to do his stuff while you sit there thinking you know it all.song no longer sits,he plays more like essien nowadays and you saw denilson sits deep sweeping up as Alonso does for madrid. ZM has already said that song’s role has changed so check out the article.and to say vermaelen is overrated,he has his faults like pushing forward alot but he is a superb defender and thats why he was in the PFA Team of the year.
And what about all the trophies he’s won in the last five years?
@ Mark:
Such a tired and unpersuasive retort. The vast majority of all football teams have no titles over the past 5 years. Most of them have not been always in the top 3 or 4 and making it to the CL quarters or semis. So Arsenal’s better than the competition.
As for the teams that have better recent records with championships, what do you notice about them? Ah yes, they all are massively in debt and operate in a fashion unsustainable without wealthy benefactors. Well, first off I’d call that cheating, the exact opposite of fair play and worthy of derision rather than espousal. Secondly, in a couple years it could be that they won’t be in the CL because they’ll either be broke or barred for financial mismanagement.
Thirdly, and most importantly, Arsenal try to play the game with spirit and panache. They may not be as good as Barca, but the suggestion that a lack of trophies since 2005 should completely invalidate Wenger’s accomplishments with the team is just absurd, and it demonstrates a rather blinkered, reductive, and unappealing conception of what this game means to fans.
I don’t know about you, but I want to watch compelling football. I come here to try and gain a better understanding of the patterns that underly the events of the game. If I wanted “And what about all the trophies he’s won in the last five years?” I could have stuck with the tabloids. And maybe it’s because I’m not really a fan but rather an admirer, but if given the choice of watching a season of compelling, exciting play in which a team finishes 3rd or a boring one where a team alternates grinds out 1-0s and slaughters their opponents 7-0, I’d take the former in a heartbeat.
Can you imagine Mourinho’s team playing like Arsenal? No.
Have you SEEN Real Madrid lately? I’d much rather watch Ozil and Di Maria and Alonso play than the rubbish that Arsenal serve up every week. It seems like Arsenal can only play well against 10 men or against European minnows at home.
if arsenal spent hundreds of millions of pounds cherry picking the absolute best established superstars in world football we could make fair comparisons between his team and the madrids, chelseas and citys of the world. how people consistently overlook this is beyond me.
The Song of seasons past played on a team with no defensive midfielders. Remember Denilson being played as such last year? However, Diaby and Denilson are both maturing and playing better positionally (their tackling still needs to improve, though!). This allows Wenger to play a double-pivot with two defensive-minded midfielders who have freedom to move up the pitch if the other stays back. So when Song scored his goal, Denilson was well back; and when Denilson was shooting potshots at Joe Hart, Song was playing deep.
Although much criticism has been done of Wenger for not winning trophies but he deserves praise for his handling of younger players and finances. Look at Liverpool where Rafa could lead his first choice team to finals of champs league but with youngsters as backup he failed last year. Maintaining standards with young players is not an easy task.
I think you are hitting on something that is key and many are missing. People are criticizing Song and Wenger for this new role that Song plays compared to last year. However, what is really happening is that, like you say, Song and Denilson (or Diaby or Wilshire) can trade places depending on the needs at the time. As Arsenal pass the ball around the midfield line searching for a weakness they are both back. But as an opening develops going forward, whichever of the two is in the better position to assist with the attack will go forward. The other will cover. There were in fact several times in this game that Song held back and covered Man City’s counter attacks. Other times Denilson filled this role while Song went forward. What this allows is more flexibility. If Song is involved in developing the play, why call him off when Denilson can cover instead? What we are witnessing here is the development brilliant tactics by Wenger. As the midfield becomes more accustomed to this new role and as Denilson, Wilshire, and Diaby improve (they all still have potential to improve) the Arsenal defense will be much stronger.
When Song rushes up field, Denilson, clichy and Sagna stay back to stop counters. When clichy and Sagna attack then Song and Denilson stay behind. It is just altering movement according to situation and although Arshavin supplied the pass for goal yet he was poor as so many games this season.
The reason Wenger did not won trophies for past many seasons was due to poor signings like Gallas, Arshavin. They needed to go for club to develop.
“but they’re young. they need to develop and mature. and (to follow up with a liverpool cliche) there’s always next year!”
Man U isn’t the teem they were.
Ranking the league, I think Chelsea are clearly above everyone else.
I’d rank Man U in a group with Arsenal, Man City, and Spurs. A
Man U’s midfield is pedestrian. I think there are other weaknesses in the side. Good side, no doubt. But they are a step below what they were 2/3 years ago.
I think the only way Chelsea will fail to win the league is if they have injury problems. they actually don’t have that much depth – in the past few weeks, they’ve been calling up a lot of reserve team players with no first team experience on the bench in meaningful games (in one or two cases, it was literally Turnbull + 6 reserve team players). even Arsenal, with all their injuries, have only had to call up Jay Emmanuel-Thomas to sit on the bench (and that was in one or two games).
United win games just by a thread. They will achieve nothing this season
Arsenal’s full backs and Djorou struggle against dribbling wingers and full backs yet again. Perhaps they are not used to defending against dribblers in training, but this is an obvious weakness that must be addressed.
Arsenal have looked great this year. I can really see them winning the whole league. It is ridiculous how much creativity they can pack in one side. They aren’t making many dumb mistakes defensively either. And they can only get better when they get all the injured players back.
Thats what people don’t get.if Arsenal had lost by having a man sent off they would’ve called them naive but city are just unlucky!who cares as they were brave anyway unlike Aw’s babies.with rvp,vermaelen,koscielny,rosicky,wilshere,diaby and walcott not even starting today’s game i don’t get why fans think Arsenal are weak.if they all stay healthy they’ll blitz past any opponent easily and those expecting a March self destruct with all those players will be in for a surprise.
Man Utd wouldnt mind a bench consisting of those injured players, assuming of course that they were not all injured at the same time..!!!!
I think Songs performance was what was required in the circumstances, it makes little sense to have two defensive midfielders when you opponenet is a man short for the duration of the game.There will be occasiosn though when it is not the right thing to do, and trying to instill that into Song will be a season long mission me thinks. Is Songs Arsenal career starting to mirror Diaby’s, most people believeing he was being groomed as a long term Vieria replacement only to become some sort of hybrid and being used in a amore attacking role by his manager than a defensive one. As for them not engaging in aa March meltdown, with all due respect i will have to see it for myself, because it has been happening for the past 5 yeras and Arsenal need to prove that they are over this annual slump before i will take it with any credence….
I was shocked by the constant shuffling of the back four after Boyata’s red card. I thought coaching staffs came up with contingency plans for this kind of thing. I thought the answer was clear given Mancini’s history of moving Barry into left back late in matches where City are ahead: Barry to left back, and either Boateng or Richards in the middle with the other on the right. Toure in the middle, Milner on the left and DeJong on the right of that narrow midfield three, with Tevez and Silva further forward. Then I would have said the HT sub for Toure should have been Johnson rather than Bridge (who is doing himself no favours with his recent performances.) That would have allowed City to chase the game with an attacking 4-2-3.
A good performance by Arsenal, but I can’t help feeling had it been 10 Arsenal v. 11 City, it would have been a home victory by a similar margin. These teams are so evenly balanced and strong that either would make the opposition pay for being a man short.
Why Mancini started Boyata instead of Boateng in the middle is the real question. He could’ve started with Bridge on the left. Boateng is a natural central defender, too ponderous for fullback, and he’s not prone to rash challenges (like his brother, or Boyata, apparently.) City buy good players then waste them on the pitch.
Zonal Marking retweeted a delightful stat yesterday about Wayne Bridge: “Wayne Bridge has made 49 crosses in the Premier League since the start of last season. Not one has reached a team-mate.”
That stat really is quite remarkable. I think I could do better than that.
I wonder how’s Clichy’s stats in that exact respect
Somehow, that was the first thought that popped into my mind when I read that.
I’m wondering what Mancini wants from Boateng at left-back. It’s not a very offensive midfield trio in De Jong, Barry and Yaya so support from the wings is VERY much needed. That being said, placing naturally right footed player on the left baffles me while having Micah at the right. He (Micah) is indeed capable of making some runs at the right, but it’s not like he is a similar kind of threat as the likes of Lahm, Alves etc. It worked pretty well for Germany, but that is due to the fact that Lahm is brilliant at motoring the other flank, and Boateng can happily sit back more and merely offer a passing option in the width.
I’m not sure whether Mancini even knows he’s best 11 when everyone is fit. Especially the back four. And if I was to look at the City squad without the knowledge that Mancini prefers to play four at back (atm), I’d think that his system would have three at the back most certainly.
his first choice left back is Kolarov, a left-footed player who is great going forward. maybe it was Mancini’s fault in not signing a 2nd left footed left back, but he is a bit unlucky because of Kolarov’s injury.
Probably couldn’t shift Wayne Bridge.
Mancini is better than Hughes but there should be someone better than him. Boyata is inexperienced at this level and he could not cope with movement. and Referee was weak when city players urged him to give cards he gave them w/o looking at magnitude of fouls and did not booked De jong.
I think assuming fitness and form, the first choice is back four is:
Boateng-Kolo Toure-Kompany-Kolarov.
I’m not sure they’ve been fit at the same time since the competitive season began.
Two of the three deep midfielders pick themselives: Yaya Toure and Nigel De Jong. Then you have Barry and Milner being shoehorned into the team.
Silva seems to have cemented his place in the last couple of weeks. It appears Johnson makes way for either a second forward when they want to attack or Barry + Milner when they want to play conservative.
None of the other forwards have worked out how to play with Tevez imo. Adebayor tends to take up positions that Tevez likes to start from, i.e near either of the Centre Backs, forcing Tevez further away from goal, and into a static position between the lines, rather than a proper false nine who has the option to stay up and battle for a release ball, or drop and get the ball to his feet with back to goal. Adebayor is woeful at retaining possession from a release ball imho compared to Tevez, and you get a double loss of predictable service to Tevez and no ball retention further up the field.
i think the first choice back four is with zabaleta instead of boateng, which probably was bought to be a center-back (remember that “2 players for one position” that they say in the start of the season)
so 1st zabaleta – 2st micah richards
kolo toure and kompany – 2st lescott and boateng
kolarov – 2st wayne bridge
Pc is right with his first choice back 4 — Zab is a cult hero, but is a subsititute utility player. If anything, Richards is threatening to break into the 1st choice XI more than Zab.
As for people slating Mancini for picking Boyata, he played very well against Drogba, and was on hand for a win vs. United in the Carling Cup last year. If he were English, Henry Winter would be composing haiku in his honor… He is only 19, which unfortunately showed in the way he allowed Chamakh to get in behind him.
Which reminds me, if Belgium has a centerback pairing of Vermalen and Kompany, with Boyata on the bench, how long can it possibly be for them to be a top 20 international side?
Even though I am a City supporter, I admired the patience with which Arsenal went about their business yesterday. The were switched on enough to realize that with 85 minutes they had plenty of time to wear City out. Going wide repeatedly to make Milner on the right and the rotating triumverate of left sided midfielders run and run and run was very astute. It also forced City to concede possession at the front corners of the penalty area since it was always two v. one in that area.
The Bridge stat is somewhat misleading — City do not generally play high balls into the box, and the offensive players do not look to get in there when the ball is wide. Bridge is one of the few that haven’t quite figured that out yet… City at its best is a counter-attacking team, and when they have to break teams down, they go down the middle — even when the ball is wide, it is usually with AJ coming inside on to his stronger foot.
ZM,
Why do you think Arsenal struggled in the midfield ? Arsenal had 59% possession at the end of first half, it grew to 65.3% . I am not really sure where we can tell Arsenal’s midfield was struggling ? Denilson picked up yellow to stop counter attack , not because of Arsenal’s loss in midfield. Cesc too picked up similar yellow but De-Jong was not going to do much with the ball anyway. I simply do not see where Arsenal’s midfield struggled.
Also Denilson completed 35 out of 36 passes, Song completed 33 out of 30 passes. With that i feel we were generally comfortable in midfield. May be Arsenal were in a dilemma on whether to attack or defend after the first goal.
with all man cities money they have bought poorly and ended up with an average midfield,
de jong,barry, yaya toure are not creative passers of the ball, how does mancini expect to control games with that midfield?
Average midfield!!! Hardly. It’s a midfield made to control games. It generally outnumbers & outmuscles opposition midfields, forcing wide players to come narrow to help out.
The creativity comes from the front 3. Tevez, Silva & Milner/AJ/Balotelli.
Barry & Toure get forward a lot more than people realise. Making rash judgements like this on a performance with onyl 10 men is a bit foolhardy.
Try reading previous ZM match reports before making crass, ill judged statements.
Hmm , I dont know what control you are talking about. Blackpool had 57.2% possession
against City, unless you mean some other midfield control without possession only then it makes sense. And Blackpool had better chances, only Tevez has any sort of goal threat in this team.
you can cheer for city all you like but please don’t pretend they don’t play with 3 holding midfielders. of course barry, de jong, toure get forward when city has the ball, but they do not excel at maintaining possession or ingenuity.
they are the workhorse engine of the man city machine that protect the back four first and foremost.
Arsenal’s set-up and tactics seemed to be as expected, but what was confusing to me was the change in Man City’s performance when Tevez came off. Even injured he seemed far more effective at linking play than adebayor. Adebayor only knows how to play on the shoulder of the last man. City’s defenders continued to try to play the ball out of defense and never changed to lumping long balls to the front, so he was wasted. When Balotelli came on it was even worse.
Check out some of the late on wide views of the match and you’ll see either two banks of four defending deep with Adebayor on the shoulder of the last defender, or 7 defending deep and both Adebayor and Balotelli at the very top. This meant that even when city defender’s managed to get the ball there was no way out as both of the city strikers were virtually sitting at the half line doing nothing.
Mancini got it wrong with both of those subs. Neither of them is the tireless worker that you need when a man down and chasing the game. They both tend to be lazy and don’t press hard from the front. He would have done better to bring on Johnson for Tevez, and shift Silva slightly higher up the pitch with Johnson wide and Barry in the middle. Keep the pressure high in the middle of the pitch with threats down the flanks.
j124cp http://cra3Zzphu47hvm4bbmp82f0vwJs.com