- Arsenal v Manchester City: the progress, the possibility, the team
- Arsenal and Man City injuries, and how injuries are linked to yellow cards
By Tony Attwood
Whether you were there or not, it was a time to boo and jeer the Arsenal team for the first half, and then celebrate like mad.
And it wasn’t hard to understand why. Because from the moment we first realised that Arteta was adjusting Arsenal’s gameplan to avoid the weirdness of PGMO decisions I thought, “at last”. Most of the rest of the crowd thought “why are Arsenal being so ****ing negative,” and said it. A lot.
So let’s start with Havertz the substitute. The worst signing ever along with Pepe (said Goal.com) Worst deal of the Summer said the Athletic, (what a bloody awful magazine that site has become) while the Sun (well we know about them anyway) claimed without evidence that he was voted the worst transfer of the last window.
And on and on. “Arsenal mocked” chimed the Express. It’s a lot to put up with. But still he came on as a sub, and sent a gentle pass to Martinelli. And well you know what else happened.
14 minutes was all Havertz (“worst signing of the summer – Caught Offside) got. At least the Guardian found an amusing excuse saying “This is a footballer who will always carry with him the air of a slightly limp and disappointed Jane Austen minor character, but on his better days does so with an air of upright authority.” It’s gibberish of course to compare a footballer with a writer of six novels in the 18th/19th centuries, but then, it’s the Guardian.
But by far the worst thing about this game was the appalling and disgraceful negativity from alleged Arsenal fans in the first half who were booing and jeering, and above all complaining about a set of tactics that utterly and totally worked. OK it was not pretty to watch, and it was designed to frustrate the opposition, but it worked and allowed the late subs to come on with the score still equal.
There was no replacement for Saka and Martinelli being absent – of course not as there couldn’t be, but Manchester City had to be contained, and if going sideways and backwards was a way to do it (and it certainly worked) I was all for it, even if half the stadium seemed to think that Arteta ought to be kicked out at half time and replaced by, well… anyone, according to the nut total idiots behind me.
It was not exciting football, except with the notion that it stopped Manchester City, and the players stayed on task no matter what nonsense the crowd came up with. Jorginho was there just to stop all the fancy work, and ensure that no one got carried away, while all around the majority of the crowd were utterly appalling.
And no, to the people who want to argue otherwise, my view was not obscured. I am lucky enough to have a season ticket seat upstairs in the front row. Manchester City were nullified, had no idea what to do, and the only encouragement they got was from the negativity of the alleged Arsenal fans around the ground.
And so when the second half subs came on, Manchester City couldn’t adjust to the sudden change at first, and when they did the subs came on and four combined to score. Something that, as others have suggested, has probably never happened before, at least not in the Premier League.
And what caught Manchester City out, (and let us not be churlish and not admit they are a bloody good team), was that suddenly everything changed. Manchester C had brought on Doku, so Tomiyasu came on to sort out that issue. He did. He headed it to Havertz (no booing this time when he came on, maybe because everyone had run out of boos in the first half) and Havertz sent it to Martinelli. Tomiyasu started running, which utterly distracted the Man C defence and Martinelli hit his target (which was either Nathan Aké or the net, according to your mind-reading skills). Either way he seemed quite pleased about it.
Will that stop the booing of Havertz? Probably not, as there are a fair number of idiots with season tickets but without reality. Of course Declan Rice was wonderful throughout the game, and worth every penny, but we knew that already. (I don’t think they saw that either).
And certainly the media, tucked away in their sanitised bubble, with their own special entrance and refreshments won’t notice as they work on the basis that they can change their review of the first half right at the end, to make them seem knowledgeable. Anyway, they get paid no matter what tripe they write before a game. Just as Arteta gets paid no matter how appallingly negative the crowd is for half the game. The only difference is Arteta just worked out how to beat Manchester City
I wonder, what would Jane Austen say.
Yellow Cards to date
- Tottenham: 27
- Manchester City 15
- Arsenal 12
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Tony
As I was going to an event in the evening I watched the game in a pub round the corner to the venue amongst a small crowd (crowd in the looses term you understand), consisting of some enthusiastic Japanese tourists, (who they supported I am still not sure as they seemed to get excited at everything, weirdly taking pictures of the tv screen at regular intervals), a Man City fan (since 2009 apparently) A Spurs fan, (looking and sounding very happy, and utterly convinced this is ‘their year’) and a spattering of Arsenal fans.
Now here’s the thing. There was only one person moaning. And he was moaning….. a lot. And yes you’ve guessed it, he was an Arsenal fan and he was loud. Everyone knew his every opinion.
Before kick-off we were told how utterly terrible Nketiah is. Should never wear an Arsenal shirt. Arteta hasn’t a clue what he’s doing playing him. Arsenal will lose and if they do “…..well I don’t know what I’ll do, but it wont be good”. Fortunately we didn’t find out, but I fear, given his state of agitation during various stages of the match it may of involved a rope, a noose, and a leap out of the window, (although to be fair, we were in a basement bar so another method may of been required) If Nketiah alone wasn’t enough to tip him over the edge, then the appearance of Havertz surely would. But no, he kept a lid on it, to an extent at least, and simply resorted to endless abuse, banging his head on the table, and “I told you so’s” every time Havertz touched the ball and didn’t score. This endless moaning ceased of course when we scored, as he joined the rest of us Gooners in a manic jig of delight around the small bar.
Alas normal service was soon resumed with “There’s no way we’ll hang on to this, not with this defence, and if we don’t, I don’t know what I’ll do!!!” Oh dear.
Well as we all know, none of us ever found out what this guy would do, firstly if we lost, then even if we drew, but I’m sure it would of been no different to what he’d done all match, which was endlessly moan and groan about absolutely everything.
Arsenal fans aye? They can be a hard bunch to please.
Over the last years the moaning fans said that Arteta should adopt the tactics when playing $ity. And when we played an open game against them we lost and they were unhappy and mad. Now for the first time in the PL Arteta adopted his tactics…. and again they were unhappy and moaning. Well Arteta got the last laugh in the end. So did we. I would love to see us attack from the first till the last minute. But we have to admit that this didn’t work against the $ity machine in the last years. So yes I was rather happy that Arteta adopted his team and tactics and frustrated $ity for 90 minutes. It wasn’t the most thrilling match but in this case the only thing that mattered was to not lose this match and even if possible win it. I do hope that our supporters start supporting the team nomatter the tactics that are used.
I wonder if there is any meat on these bones ,
Getting widely reported.
Michael Oliver, who refused to send Mateo Kovacic off for what was an obvious instance of two yellows recently travelled to the UAE to referee a game and was paid by the same people who own Manchester City.
What’s more :- Txiki Begiristain was the director of football at Barcelona during the time they have been accused of bribing refs, he is now the director of football for City.
I was one of those who was thinking , ” What the hell are we doing ?” in the first half , till I realised that City were being tied up and running out of ideas !
But Martinellis’ introduction cheered me up. And then we started to play the Arsenal way ( as we knew it !) , and started to gain the advantage .
And when we made the substution , I was thinking that our captain was about to go off . I was quite happy with Jorginho ‘s play , albeit a slow start .
In future , I pledge myself never to doubt my manager , and just sit back and watch it all unfold !
Up the Gunners !