Man City 0 – 3 Arsenal: Match Thoughts And Individual Analysis

Wooo Hooo!

What a performance! This is the kind of game that gives an Arsenal supporter a high like no other. It’s been coming for a while but we couldn’t really know for sure unless it arrived. Now that it has, we can say a mental barrier has been crossed. It’s not the final frontier but a major challenge nonetheless.

It wasn’t a perfect game but it didn’t have to be. That just shows how much better we can get.

The game started at a high tempo. City created the first chance in the opening minute when Tevez got in behind down the left and squared it. Silva made an excellent run and got a great flick towards goal. Fabianski made a superb save. We knew at that moment this game was going to be fun.

City had some joy down the left in the opening minutes while Arsenal were trying to play down the middle. I thought Arshavin was harshly flagged off-side early on when he made a run past Boyata. The big moment however, came in the fifth minute when Chamakh timed his run brilliantly and was found by Cesc with an inch perfect ball. Boyata lunged and the ref had no choice but to send him off.

I know there will be many Arsenal distractors and City apologists who will point to this moment and say it made it easy for Arsenal. I don’t buy it. When you play a youngster at this level there is always the risk of a big moment going horribly wrong. As Arsenal fans we know it all too well. The fact that City were forced to do so just shows spending big isn’t always the solution. If a team spends crazy money on a big, strong, English defender like Lescott only to realize that he’s not good enough, one cannot have much sympathy towards them.

The game clearly changed after this moment as Yaya Toure was moved into a central defensive role and this gave Arsenal a numerical advantage in midfield. From this point on the hosts were always going to struggle against the passing and movement of Arsenal.

We had a lot of the ball but Barry and De Jong were doing a good job of closing us down. Some cynical fouls and the ref giving them almost all the 50-50 decisions helped.

The first goal came almost out of nowhere. Nasri had the ball on the edge of the box. Arshavin, who was inside the penalty area, came towards him and played a delightful one-two. The finish from the Frenchman was the definition of clinical and composed.

It was interesting to note that Yaya Toure looked like a joker in central defence as he didn’t close the Russian down and allowed the ball to go through his legs for the one-two. What a waste of money! Yes it wasn’t his best position, but how many times have we seen Arsenal players being criticised even when they’re playing out of position? At this level, and with the kind of hype around him, he should have done much better.

City did try to come back into the game after that. Arsenal, for a while, looked confused. We didn’t know whether to go for the kill or to hold back. That meant players were not in perfect sync and we kept giving the ball away.

Luckily for us, Mancini’s team didn’t have any creative threat except Silva, and were restricted to taking the ball out wide and crossing. Our defenders did a good job of dealing with the balls in the box.

We should have established some comfort level when Kompany conceded a penalty with a daft tackle on Fabregas. But the hesitancy in our play was also evident in the way El Capitan went for his penalty. It was a decent strike but he almost telegraphed it to Hart who made a top class save to his left.

City got some heart from that and came forward. Arsenal dropped deep and defended with numbers to see out the game till half time.

Straight after restart we had a good chance when Chamakh outmuscled Boateng. The Moroccan found Cesc who exchanged passes with Nasri in the box but his finish was not of his usual standard. There was another moment a few minutes later when we overcomplicated things around the edge of the box.

We could see that Arsene had calmed the team down at half-time and we were doing the right thing tactically. If there is any time that can be considered a good time to play tippy-tappy football, this was it. In the second half we did it well and made City chase the ball.

Meanwhile Adebayor had come on in place of Tevez who might have picked up an injury. City had a few minutes of sustained pressure on either side of the hour mark. Most of the times, they were trying to play the ball wide and then get in behind. Arsenal didn’t do a very good job of reading these situations but dealt with it by having enough numbers behind. On the odd occasion when the hosts did get in, Fabianski handled the situation with a save from a Silva strike standing out.

Song was moving forward quite often. We weren’t exposed because Cesc and Denilson did a decent job of covering for him and we had a man advantage. The Cameroonian finally made an impact with an exceptional finish. The ball was played in towards Chamakh who almost got in but Bridge intercepted with a toe poke. Song was first to react and smashed it into the far corner with one swift movement.

After the second goal, City looked almost clueless as Arsenal players made them chase the ball. We created some chances but didn’t score the third. Mancini’s side were tiring and didn’t have any creative edge. Their only hopes were some balls over the top but our defence dealt with them fairly well. Fabianski came up with an excellent point blank save from an Adebayor header but we all knew the striker would be off-side. It’s what he’s best at.

Wenger brought Rosicky on with twenty minutes to go and it helped us control the ball even better. You could sense the moneybags had given up. Even then, in such situations a goal can lift the struggling side and we did extremely well to maintain our focus for the duration of the game.

Le Boss introduced Bendtner and Walcott for Cesc and Chamakh, both of whom had put in an incredible shift. The Dane got his reward with a couple of minutes to go. Nasri controlled the ball just on the touchline and played him through. Bendtner scored with another superb finish.

City has some late pressure as Arsenal took it easy but we always had enough players back to protect the goal.

Individual Performances

Fabianski: Excellent. Was on top of his game from the first minute. Made some good saves, swept well behind the defence. In the preview I mentioned that it will be nice if he is forced into action and delivers. That’s the perfect way to get the confidence high.

Sagna: Back to his solid self. Excellent defending on the right. Made some good runs forward. Put in a couple of top class crosses (Djourou should have scored from one).

Squillaci: Did everything he had to do. His positioning was excellent. When Richards had a good chance it was his positioning that forced the shot wide.

Djourou: Looked a little shaky at times. Got turned on a few occasions but did well to cover up. He has to improve his reading of the game and the way he stands. Did well against the balls over the top, won almost everything against the midget Tevez! Good covering on the left when Clichy was outnumbered.

Clichy: Good game. I know City created some moments down the left but that was mainly due to more numbers. Rarely lost a one-v-one, and ran back well to cover when he did. Very important in terms of our possession game and put in a couple of good crosses.

Song: Big game. Unbelievable work rate, excellent defensive reading and tackling, good contribution in attack and a fantastic goal. He did make a couple of rough tackles early on but controlled himself well after the booking. Another guy we know will get better and better.

Cesc: his performance was a classic example of pulling the strings. Was all over the pitch, dropped deep when Song went forward. Picked some excellent passes. Maintained his composure despite being on the end of some deliberate rash tackles. Worked hard defensively. Penalty miss was the only blot.

Denilson: I was surprised he was picked for such a big game as he’s rarely played. Did the simple things well. Understated performance, but that’s what we needed with an extra man in the middle.

Nasri: It took some time for him to get in the game but made a huge impact once he did. Amazing work rate, good defensive tracking, always looked like a threat, beautiful finish. Assist for Bendtner showed he was alert and focused even at a late stage. My man of the match, just ahead of Song and Cesc.

Chamakh: insane work rate, excellent run that got us the man advantage, tracked back quite often and made some good interceptions as well.

Arshavin: started off slowly but got involved as the game went on. Wonderful assist for Nasri, also did some good defensive work when Clichy was up-field. In a way you could say his work rate meant the man advantage was not that big but Arshavin is not in the team for doing the donkey work. As we’ve seen, De Jong, Barry and others did a lot of that but to no avail. The first goal is so important and most often in big games, the Russian provides the inspiration.

Subs: Rosicky kept it ticking, it was good to see Theo tearing down, Bendtner’s finish was heart-warming.

It’s funny pundits are already saying the score-line wasn’t a true reflection of the game. We had 65 percent of possession, created more and better chances, scored three wonderful goals but it’s just not enough for the distractors.