***Arsenal v City Official Match Thread***

[sniffer]

Not sure if Pep wanted to be quite so defensive but when Halland went off he had very little option. Marmoush would have perhaps been the one had he been available. Bit worried we are a bit light up front if Halland not available.

[zuricity]

Had last week someone said we'd win the derby 3-0, beat Napoli 2-0 and draw at Arsenal whilst nearly completing a smash and grab, I'd have been more than happy with it.

Donnarumma looks very decent. Khus and O'Reilly look very competent as full backs. Gvardiol and Dias are forming a nice partnership. Doku has had his best week IMO and Haaland has rediscovered his mojo, (if it ever really went away).

It could have been a whole lot worse after the Brighton loss

Fair play

Yep, 1 all at the end of 3 games in 8 days - especially with only 66h rest against a team who had loads more rest, who ate on better form and who were playing at their home.

Wasn't pretty, parking the bus like that, but a point is not a disaster.

Smaller picture, bigger picture played 5 - 7 points sitting bellow Sunderland in the league

I think we are all well aware of the big picture, which is why others write things like , let us see how it is on Boxing Day.

The Arse were only three minutes from being on the same points as City and with two losses - but they are not.

This time last season we had 13 from 15 and then the gündo effect kicked in.
.
Still way too early to press the panic button.

[Indianablue]

Gutted to lose the lead and felt it was a poor moment from the back 8 and GK to let them in.

Having said that as a few have said I’d have signed up for these 3 results a week ago. I genuinely feared us losing all 3 with recent derbies, expected Pep to change the lineup mid week and us to just not be good enough at Arsenal.

Pep really showed me something this week and I hope a few on his case here see it.

Firstly so many complain he chops and changes back 4. Well to play the same team 3x in a week was something I never saw coming. More of this please pep.

Secondly we play side ways and backwards and everyone moans we don’t release Haaland. Arsenal actually looked like us from last season and we tried something new. 6 mins longer and it would have been the first real smash and grab of Peps career. It was icky as fuck but sometimes it needs to be and it showed the willingness to adjust and that’s a huge sign for me.

Cmon City!!!

[Indianablue]

Gutted to lose the lead and felt it was a poor moment from the back 8 and GK to let them in.

Having said that as a few have said I’d have signed up for these 3 results a week ago. I genuinely feared us losing all 3 with recent derbies, expected Pep to change the lineup mid week and us to just not be good enough at Arsenal.

Pep really showed me something this week and I hope a few on his case here see it.

Firstly so many complain he chops and changes back 4. Well to play the same team 3x in a week was something I never saw coming. More of this please pep.

Secondly we play side ways and backwards and everyone moans we don’t release Haaland. Arsenal actually looked like us from last season and we tried something new. 6 mins longer and it would have been the first real smash and grab of Peps career. It was icky as fuck but sometimes it needs to be and it showed the willingness to adjust and that’s a huge sign for me.

Cmon City!!!

Pep doing what many told him to do last season. I'll expect my cheque in the post from the sheik. Still needs to use Bernie wisely - not all fucking game

[Nick]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

[Nigels Tackle]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

did we? it was incredibly close to a defensive masterclas. definitely a lot more positives than negatives coming from that game for me.

[Scatman]

Imagine the debate on here if we go from boring us to death with sideways football to taking the lead early doors and going all out George Graham every game.

[Hazy2]

Just saying Erling squares it to Phil 0-2

[Nick]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

did we? it was incredibly close to a defensive masterclas. definitely a lot more positives than negatives coming from that game for me.

Did you think we would win the game when he made the subs?

If we had won id have been buzzing obviously, mostly because the players would get confident in grinding out results but id still say he got it away with. We are no good at bus parking.

[Mase]

Just saying Erling squares it to Phil 0-2

Yeah, that pissed me off

[Hazy2]

Savinho is fucking wank. If Spurs come back in with a decent offer, we should snatch their hands off. Thought we were reasonably comfortable with Jeremy playing up in place of Haaland with his pace always likely to cause them issues. Then Savinho comes on and does his half-arsed routine and invites even more pressure.

No idea what some see in him he is fucking shit. Lazy half arsed player, goes down when breathed on, offers nothing. No idea why he brought on a loose Canon who loses the Ball 9 times out of 10 whilst trying to grind out a result where keeping possession was key.

I've been a fan, but I said that we made a huge mistake keeping him.

It is strange because Savio was very impressive at Girona. Perhaps the uprade to the premier league is a step too far for him. He shows signs of good play but on the whole he has not played well since he joined us.

Mentally left us. How he’s getting mins is a question

[Wooders]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

did we? it was incredibly close to a defensive masterclas. definitely a lot more positives than negatives coming from that game for me.

Yes, apart from conceding a goal it was a defensive master class

[Nick]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

did we? it was incredibly close to a defensive masterclas. definitely a lot more positives than negatives coming from that game for me.

Yes, apart from conceding a goal it was a defensive master class

We had 11 players defending with not one outlet to offload the pressure ? Never keeping a team out doing that for 45 minutes

[ayrshireblue]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

did we? it was incredibly close to a defensive masterclas. definitely a lot more positives than negatives coming from that game for me.

Yes, apart from conceding a goal it was a defensive master class

We had 11 players defending with not one outlet to offload the pressure ? Never keeping a team out doing that for 45 minutes

This was exactly the reason we lost a goal. Defenders knew there was no risk to them, pushed further up and condensed the game. Doku and Haaland should have been left on the pitch to pose some questions of the Arsenal defence.

[Nigels Tackle]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

did we? it was incredibly close to a defensive masterclas. definitely a lot more positives than negatives coming from that game for me.

Yes, apart from conceding a goal it was a defensive master class

We had 11 players defending with not one outlet to offload the pressure ? Never keeping a team out doing that for 45 minutes

This was exactly the reason we lost a goal. Defenders knew there was no risk to them, pushed further up and condensed the game. Doku and Haaland should have been left on the pitch to pose some questions of the Arsenal defence.

we conceded the goal the ONLY time the defence pushed up in the second half. we were fairly comfortable with 2 banks of 5 sitting deep

[Nick]

Think hes saying the arse defence pushed up because we had zero forward players on

[Slim]

Nett result was I would have taken a draw before the game and we got a draw.

Not happy with dropping two late points, but who would be?

[Outcast]

He shut up shop FAR too early inviting pressure thr whole game with a back 5 and nobody to get the ball forward. We all knew it was coming.

did we? it was incredibly close to a defensive masterclas. definitely a lot more positives than negatives coming from that game for me.

Yes, apart from conceding a goal it was a defensive master class

We had 11 players defending with not one outlet to offload the pressure ? Never keeping a team out doing that for 45 minutes

Haaland asked to be subbed, he ran out of steam. I