screenshot from mine
G'day tribe,
You must likely know the match I refer to. It was the much vaunted, much anticipated match between who most say are the pretenders for the title(Arsenal) against the title favourite(Manchester City). This was Arsenal top of the league and playing at home, versus Manchester City who were second on the league,as it were, 3 points behind Arsenal.
It was a good first half overall for Arsenal, as City went one goal ahead, but Arsenal roared back with an equaliser, howbeit a contentious penalty decision. It was Pep starting with an usual formation– three at the back. This in itself is great credit to Arsenal– the shear fear Arsenal has brought on teams. Pep gave clear orders to the wing-backs to deny Saka and Martinelli(Arsenal’s two wingers) any joy on the ball. It was funny to see a usually attacking Bernardo playing mostly as a left-wing back and basically glued to Saka. City just didn't want to be overun by this rampant Arsenal machinery. So it ended one-all at half time.
In the second half is where the teams were truly separated and in truth the better team won. When I listen to a lot of post-match analysis, I get disappointed in the fact that only few truly see where the error came from. I had to look for a certain man called ,Lee,who usually sees things as they are, free from sentiments. He didn't disappoint:
That statement above by Lee is one I was indeed looking for, that's fundamental analysis of things. Arteta let the team down yesterday. Changes could have been made early,there were great options on the bench. Let's stop all this talk of no Partey. He surely was missed because Jorginho couldn't offer anything close to Partey's ball carrying prowess, plus he was not an outlet that was entirely trusted by the defenders in deep areas, unlike the way Partey would be trusted. So Jorginho was all about simple passes.
By the way,this match is also an example of why Pep keeps falling short.
Quite early in the second half it was Mahrez off and the Nigerian native,Akanji, in, meaning a switch to a back 4(their usual formation). Bernardo who was impressive marking Saka, switched to his usual forward position.
This was an opportunity for the Gunners to bare their fangs and attack this side more, who were now in their usual shape. But here is where the coach let the team down unfortunately.
But a Real Madrid or even a Bayern will take advantage and seek to punish City. It's the reason people say Pep's only weakness is that he over-thinks. City wasn't so top-notch on Wednesday night.
Now,back to Arsenal,at least three players were off the boil that day,so why not help the team by making substitutions on time. City made their first substitution admirably in the 61st minute.
Nketiah was one of them off the boil. With sharpness in front of goal lacking with a few misses. Simple! Move Martinelli there and get in Trossard. Long before the error, Tomiyasu was shaky,take him off and on comes white.
If the coach has extra nerves like a Pep or Mourinho, you have an excellent left footed CB on the bench– take off the shaky Gabriel and on comes Kiwior, the former Spezia of Italy,star. If he is too scared he can instead take off a Gabriel for White.
Kiwior is so good with the ball at his feet that he also plays as a DM.
I know some of you are already confused. You are confused because Arteta was actually spoilt for choice but too naive to find a solution.
Now it's not like Arteta hasn't shown these signs of not using his bench properly before. In my post,GO AND SLEEP ARSENAL FAITHFULS, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS SURE, I outlined two basic reasons Arsenal fell short of the Champions league last season:
"If Aubameyang's goals had been replaced, Arsenal would have been in a much better place.
If Arteta had known that Elneny was a fantastic deputy for Partey he wouldn't have been using Lokonga in place of the injured Partey especially when a Xhaka is covering for an injured Tierney at left-back."
Let me give you one combination option that could have hurt City. Assuming I'm the coach and it's clear a few of my players are feeling nervous and I've been calming them since the first-half to no avail, I begin my changes early.
Early enough, take out Tomiyasu for White. I take out Nketiah for Trossard and Martinelli shifts to the center. I watch Gabriel, if he keeps stuttering I either move White there and Kiwior comes in at right back or Kiwior himself takes over from Gabriel. It's that simple!
Once Pep moved to his normal four-at-the-back it was time for Arsenal to attack, since that is City's usual structure. Xhaka too wasn't at his best, but changes made early can improve players on the pitch, who were previously not sharp enough. Didn't you notice that even with the late changes Arsenal’s play improved? It's almost criminal that the first change is made in the 76th minute– with Martinelli off for Trossard. Martinelli wasn't even a key problem. Then Arteta had to wait till the 83rd minute to replace the faltering Tomiyasu with White and Xhaka with Vieira. Yeah I talked of Xhaka before, but who does late changes help? Manchester City!
Let me even leak this one out. Jorginho didn't do much with the ball and others I said about him previously. It's maybe understandable as it is a high pressure match. Yet Ben White is also a beautiful defensive midfielder that can drive forward with the ball in the way Jorginho can't. You see how only Ben White was a solution to three different problems, yet he was not used for any– o yes, because he came in too late to truly turn around things.
Must Nketiah play 90 minutes? There were times last season Saka needed a rest, but Arteta kept flogging him for 90mins even when there was a sub for him. This guy,Nketiah,just began starting matches after the World Cup please help him by substituting him at times. If a Mahrez can be taken off, De Bruyne can be taken off, what's wrong with taking off your precious striker when the going gets tough(and even when it isn't that tough) to give him a breather?
The boys will be fired up to make ammends.
Arteta learns very fast, I have seen that time and again. An example is this season where he corrected the two basic errors I spoke of above, so I quote my aforementioned post:
"He has bought a proper striker now in Gabriel Jesus, Elneny has been given the confidence to remain and he's fully installed as Partey's deputy. So what are we not saying? What is the impediment on Arsenal's way?"
Manchester City will drop points definitely.
There's thus every reason to be upbeat. Positionally, like Pep Guardiola said himself, "I still consider Arsenal top of the league". Arsenal has a game in hand over City and in a few minutes time they are away to Aston Villa.
So hey, Arsenal folks don't be worried, this season is still ours!
THIS IS ARSENAL
cheerfully...
