Pundits have their say on the City vs Arsenal clash
The game against Manchester City this weekend was one of the biggest this season and for the season, so of course, media and pundits were having their say before the game, and were putting the pressure on the shoulders of Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad to go to The Etihad and get the win over Pep Guardiola and his City side, something that Arteta hasn’t been able to do since taking over as manager of the club.
And if course everyone is going to have their own opinions and the pressure is always going to be there for a team like Arsenal, justified or not. But the pressure was put on both sides going into this game and a lot was said before the game and now after.
Ex England and Manchester United legend turned pundit Gary Neville spoke highly of Arsenal’s performance after the game saying this “Was it two and a half, three years since anybody’s had a clean sheet here? So that’s a hell of an effort. And the next thing was the defensive structure. Just seen a 4-4-2, it was effectively a 4-4-2 that Mikel Arteta deployed.
“And the work ethic of the two wide players – before I start going into the defensive part with Saliba and Gabriel, who were absolutely outstanding – the two wide players, I don’t know their running stats today, we won’t get them either, but they were off the scale in their doubling up.”
Showing a lot of admiration for the way Arteta set up his side tactically and played the game.
Ex Manchester City legend Micah Richards also has a lot of good things to say about Arsenal’s defence saying this “I think when you watch it from a defender’s point of view, you know Man City are going to be having a lot of the ball. But what is your concentration going to be like at the key moments?”
“I thought they got it spot on, in terms of positioning, when to go, when to drop off. And then they were basically saying, ‘Okay, you have the ball wide, and we’ll flood the centre of the field’. It was just amazing.”
“We’ve got to give credit to Gabriel. Saliba got Man of the Match and I think there was talk about Saliba and how well he’s done. But Gabriel has improved so much as well, and become a real leader of that back four. He really has”.
Both pundits showing a lot of admiration and respect for how we set up and played and normally when you’d hear a lot of praise about a Manchester City side, the shoe was on the other foot and I think people are starting to realise what a great team Arteta has built and is continuing to build. It feels like most think we deserve the title this season and I agree and not just because I’m bias and want us to win, I think we deserve the title after being so consistent and strong this season and last.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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