Where to start with this one…
On the one hand, I said pre-game that a draw would be disappointing but not terminal and then add that to being behind for 85 minutes and it feels like a point gained. Right?
On the other hand, it really felt like City were there for the taking today and we didn’t really seem to go for it in the way that all Gunners’ fans had hoped.
Liverpool limped over the line again in their fixture meaning that they open up a 5 point lead over the rest of the league and with new players settling in and a fully fit Isak to come, Arsenal, and others, are going to have to settle for being the co-stars in this title race for a while.
The line-up
I think this is the main sticking point for most people. No Eze, no Martinelli, no Nwaneri and Merino lining up in a defensive, functional looking midfield once again. It didn’t really set pulses racing and many could argue that this sent the wrong message to the fans, to City and to the rest of the team in that avoiding defeat and keeping it tight, at least in the early stages, was the most important thing. City on the other hand, went strong again with Haaland supported by Bernardo Silva, Reijnders and Foden. If you’d shown the two teams to someone objectively and asked them to pick who was the home team and favourites to take all three points based on the lineup, I don’t think many would have said Arsenal.
I wasn’t as annoyed as I thought I’d be at the time, which may have been partly because the bench was so unbelievably strong and we’d seen from the game in Bilbao in midweek that if the game was level around 60 minutes, we were more than capable of running away with it when we turned it on.
First half
We actually started pretty well, dominating possession without really threatening City’s goal but it didn’t take long for things to take a nasty turn for Arsenal. I see lots of Arsenal blogs and YouTube videos were fans have a deep understanding and knowledge of tactics and game play but in truth I don’t think this blog is ever going to be going into football into that level of detail as I just don’t look at the game in that way. However, it didn’t take a tactical expert to see that trouble was brewing in the 8th minute. For some reason, we had a lot of players drawn towards the ball just inside City’s half fighting for a loose ball and you could see straight away that if we didn’t come out with the ball, we were going to be open to a swift counter and unfortunately, so it proved. City won the ball and broke at pace with Haaland making an unbelievable run of pace and power, leaving Gabriel trailing behind and Saliba with two attackers to contend with. City dealt with the overload well and Haaland was played in for the simple task of rolling the ball passed David Raya. The goal felt very similar to the one we conceded at the Etihad last year (I think it might be been Calafiori who could ‘done’ by Savinho too easily for that one) so remembering back to how we roared back last year, all was not lost.
We responded well and dominated the ball for pretty much the whole half but in truth we never really threatened the City goal. At least not on a consistent basis. We looked dangerous from set pieces without ever really looking like scoring. We also brought long throw-ins into the mix but we don’t really have the players for this (from a throwing perspective) so this created very little. Madueke got in behind a couple of times but couldn’t quite find the right ball or get fully away from his marker. Our best chance of the first half actually fell to Madueke as he hit a fierce shot towards Donnarumma’s near post but despite the power the winger generated, the Italian was able to beat it away. At the other end, Merino was caught on the ball in a dangerous position which lead to a good chance for City but Raya saved well from Reijnders. That was the story of the half really, Arsenal with all of the ball but City were always dangerous on the counter.
Second half
After a disappointing first half, Arsenal, and the fans in particular, were crying out for some inspiration or something to shout about and Arteta duly obliged with a double substitution at the break with Eberechi Eze entered the field in place of Merino and Bukayo Saka making a long awaited return from injury also entered the fray in place of Madueke.
It was a really statement of intent and one which seemed to galvanised everyone at the start of the half with Arsenal looking more of a threat almost instantly. Saka’s cross from the right was cleared only as far as Martin Zubimendi on the edge of the area but he fired just over. Shortly after, it was the other substitutes chance to make an impact as Eze unleashed an unbelievable volley that nearly knocked Donnarumma off his feet but unfortunately, despite the power, the shot was straight at the City keeper and they managed to clear.
City then threatened again on the break, with the lively Doku causing a problem but the ball eventually breaks to Eze, who had tracked Haaland all the way back, who nearly forces the ball into the Arsenal net via Declan Rice. That was a real let off for Arsenal as I couldn’t see this stubborn city defence letting in 2 goals on the day.
In response to Arsenal’s growing attacking threat, City made some substitutions of their own as they reverted to five at the back, before bringing on another holding midfielder for Haaland with 15 to play. The changes indicated that City had doubled down on their strong defensive display, with a clear intention of seeing out the game to take all three points.
In all honesty, it very nearly worked, as Arsenal had very few clear sighters at goal from this point onwards as City just left Arsenal with nowhere to go.
Arteta then turned to his bench one last time and brought off Jurrien Timber for Wednesday’s hero, Gabriel Martinelli, as he could afford to go all out attack with City lacking any focal point after Haaland’s withdrawal.
This was to be the change that managed to break the City resistance as City left some space in behind for Martinelli to run onto Eze’s beautiful, lofted, through ball. Martinelli still had plenty to do but with Donnarumma off his line he lifted a beautiful lobbed finish with the outside of his right foot that nestled into the corner. Cue delirium from The Emirates as Martinelli once again came to Arsenal’s rescue in the 93rd minute.
There would be no further drama in stoppage time and a rather strange game, in which Arsenal had 68% possession against a Manchester City side, who sat incredibly deep in the second half, came to a close.
All three points were really needed today but that at least the late equaliser kept Arsenal’s unbeaten home start intact while denying City three massive points and also gaining some revenge for City’s late show at the Etihad last year.
Three key takeaways
Even with Eze and Saka – Arsenal really struggled to break down a low block
To be fair, they were up against a seriously well organised and high level defence but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by the bluntness of our attack in the second half. As good as Saka is, things might have gone a little better if Madueke had still been on the pitch with his relentless, direct running but with Saka and Eze on the pitch for the first time wearing Arsenal shirts, I had hoped for a bit more fireworks, flair, cutting edge, quality. We got only glimpses of the quality these two possess and one of those moments produced a goal that rescued a point for Arsenal. However, is it too greedy to have asked for a couple of moments like that and for us to take all three?!
Gabriel Martinelli deserves a place in this Arsenal team – as things stand
If Leandro Trossard can play his way back into this team, surely it’s Martinelli’s turn now, and I don’t just mean against Port Vale. Aside from the finishes in the past two games, what was really impressive was his decision making. It doesn’t seem that long ago that Martinelli raced forward against Liverpool with chances to pass, dribble or shoot only to be tamely dispossessed without doing any of the above. A few weeks on he’s run through against two top level teams, made his decision early (especially yesterday) in terms of what he was going to do and execute both perfectly. As well as the goals, Martinelli also treat the Arsenal fans to a piece of excellent wing play against Athletic Club as he showed his signature pace and determination to beat his full back, get his head up and cross for Trossard to score.
A bit of context is needed as in both games he was up against tiring teams and a high line on both occasions, which fed into his biggest strengths so, it might be that he’s just being used perfectly, being playing the role of impact sub. That said, I think he deserves the chance to stake his claim for his starting position once again. I’ll go one further, I’d play him up top in place of Gyokeres in a game or two and see what he does. If we’re willing to play a more direct game to get the best out of Gyokeres, why can’t we do the same for Martinelli?
The Rice and Merino midfield pivot has to be a thing of the past
Arteta was defensive when questioned about his midfield being too negative by pointing out that nobody queried it when we won in Bilbao. That’s the crux of the matter for me. When you have a squad like ours, I think it’s actually riskier to play defensive in some ways. If we’d gone in at half time 0-0, you would have fancied Arsenal to take all three points. The main issue with that is, firstly, you had to get to half time at 0-0 and you’re playing against the best striker in the world right now and secondly, you have let 45 minutes, in which you could have scored a couple of goals in, just drift away.
Extreme example but when Stoke City were playing boring football but taking big scalps by beating the likes of Arsenal and City every year on their home patch, the fans were loving it. However, when the results hit a bit of a rocky patch and the glory nights dried up, the fans turned on Tony Pulis quite quickly. If you are going to play and setup in a certain way, you need to get results to keep the fans on happy. I’m not saying we were all thrilled all of the time under Arsene Wenger, but we were more likely to be forgiving of falling short if we were watching beautiful football week in week out than if we packed the midfield and went long every game. It feels like Arteta has reached a fork in the road. He has the squad now, question is, how is he going to use it.