The expectation – perhaps the fear – had been that Manchester City against Arsenal would be like their two league meetings last season: of undoubted high quality and tension, but a little tepid, lacking the blood and thunder to live long in the memory for neutrals. Instead, what played out was a classic, a game of a million subplots, of controversy and brilliance and doziness that became, ultimately, almost a re-enactment of José Mourinho’s Internazionale eliminating Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League semi-final.
Arsenal had kept nine clean sheets in 11 away league games this year with the win over Tottenham last week, via a header from a corner after a stifling defensive display, making clear that Mikel Arteta, although he served an apprenticeship as Guardiola’s assistant, is in no sense a Guardiola clone. Many even said he has a streak of Mourinho (who himself, of course, was schooled in the Barcelona method before adapting it) but, still, few thought that by Sunday afternoon he’d have embraced the role with such gusto.
In 2010, Inter went to the Camp Nou 3-1 up from the first leg of their Champions League semi-final and, after having Thiago Motta sent off after 28 minutes, a decision they disputed vehemently, retreated into their bunker, defending deep, scarcely bothering to present a threat on the counter, spoiling and time-wasting at every turn. Inter lost 1-0, but that was enough to go through on aggregate which, in his own eyes, was Mourinho’s finest hour, to the extent that he had a life-size cutout of his finger-raised celebratory sprint at the final whistle installed in his office when he was manager of Real Madrid.
Inter had 19% possession in that game; Arsenal had 12% in the second half on Sunday. City were predictably furious with Arsenal’s gamesmanship (and rightly so – what may be almost comically brazen in a one-off game would soon lose its charm if it became habitual) with John Stones calling them “clever, or dirty” and Bernardo Silva accusing them of playing “to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee”.
But what was extraordinary was how badly City dealt with the situation. They had 28 shots in the second half. Of those, 13 were by defenders – the last of them, from John Stones, the late equaliser, which followed the precedent of Gerard Piqué’s late goal in 2010. A further four were by Mateo Kovačić, who has only scored 18 league goals in a career that began six months after Mourinho’s triumph at the Camp Nou. Eighteen of the 28 shots were from outside the box. Only one, before the goal, had an xG of higher than 0.1.
In part, that is testament to how well Arsenal defended, the diligence with which they dropped into their 5-4-0 shape, occasionally a 6-3-0, just outside their own box. There was a moment in injury time when the ball was worked to Rúben Dias on the edge of the box and Arsenal, for once, had nobody in place to close him down. It was a genuine opportunity but so frazzled was Dias after four misses from range, the last of which had provoked a grumble of frustration from the crowd, that he paused and played a sideways pass instead.
But it also highlighted the oddity of the modern City. Guardiola is the great manipulator of shape; his entire philosophy is about creating overloads and getting players into the positions in which they can be at their most effective. Yet the two players who had the most touches in the second half were Dias and Manuel Akanji (152 between them, as opposed to 120 for every Arsenal outfielder put together); fine players though both are, are they really the men most likely to be able to pick their way through a low block? Of City’s 13 league goals this season, 10 have been scored by Erling Haaland, which on the one hand speaks of his extraordinary ability, but on the other, with all due caveats about how few games have been played, may hint at dependency. At the very least it speaks of how far Guardiola has moved from his old vision of a team of 11 diminutive and almost interchangeable midfielders.
The other player on whom City rely is Rodri and his prolonged absence with a knee injury may end up as the most significant consequence of the game. The only team City beat in the league without him last season was Luton. He is vital to how they play and his absence will make it harder for City to control games.
Arsenal would almost certainly have taken a draw before kick-off, and again after Leandro Trossard’s red card. There was something magnificent in their resistance, and yet it proved not quite enough – which is becoming an unfortunate trope for Arsenal. A win would have lifted Arsenal above City; as it is, the sense given how the game went is that, for the second season running, they perhaps missed an opportunity at the Etihad.
This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition
