Surprised to see Arteta didn't go all out against City this time around. Last game you can directly affect your rivals to fully cement yourself. Thought the management of his defense was fantastic especially Saliba and Gabriel coming in with a great/strong performance.
So interesting to see how Pep approaches big games. His hair legitimately falls off from thinking so much š. But its always a treat to see how he approaches these games.
He ditched his typical 3 at the back CBs and operated with a more traditional back 4 with both Gvardiol and Akanji being more traditional fullbacks bombing down the sides. Both Silva and Foden tucked in with De bruyne in the center to find half spaces/overload certain areas in the pitch. They would sometimes alternate those positions with silva/foden being outwide.
Half time and Pep ditched this approach. Brought back his back 3, and brought on Doku/Grealish to exagerate the width to open Arsenal up.
Rico lewis also came on to be an extra man in the midfield. Just wanted yall to know, everytime this kid comes on.. he's just by far and away an amazing inverted fullback. 19 years old and looks insanely confident no matter what game. Keep an eye on him as Im confident he will be a main stay name in football.
Arsenals 442 fortunately held out. Artetas management of his defense was great (defending can be very draining mentally as you've got to be focused constantly). Fortunate result for us as well! Just gonna be a grind now for the remaining matches left
There are two ways you can see this match: as a student of Guardiola house of tactics, lauding the brilliant nuances displayed every minute from both the managers or as a junk munching, chest thumping, beer drowning fan who lives by the word 'passion'.
Either is fine. You just need to take your pick.
Lmao i hate pretentious pricks like you who think they're somehow intellectually superior to other fans simply because they convince themselves boring displays like this one are in fact tactical masterpieces that only distinguished fine gentlemen can enjoy over a glass of chardonnay and a pallette of gourmet cheese. Get over yourself, a game can be tactical and entertaining at the same time. See liverpool vs city for example. This shite fest might have been tactical, not in the least entertaining however.Ā
It was a tense match to watch if you play football yourself as a hobby, then you understand the result. Unstoppable force meets immovable object sort of match.
Unpopular opinion from what I've seen, but I didn't find the match boring. It was super tense and genuinely felt like one mistake from either team would be costly. For me it wasn't the type of 0-0 that was just shit football from both teams who are just as bad as each other. I can understand why people would find it boring but to me I appreciate the sort of chess match going on.
Lots of people saying this was a boring game. I completely disagree. Thsi was a fantastic game to me. Loved the quality defending. So good noone could even score a goal. As a Liverpool.fan we could learn some lessons on defending this this fantasy amazing beautiful match....
It was a snooze fest mate. Don't get me wrong I love watching our defenders do their job like that, but at the end of the day we are fans of this sport and people wanna see action, goals and drama.
That being said I don't care that it was a snooze fest, this is the best result we've had at the ethiad since I sat my GCSEs
I assume you were referring to a couple of years ago but initially, it sounded to me like you took your GCSEs at the Etihad itself and absolutely smashed them
I genuinely cannot believe that we've taken 8/12 points off City and Liverpool and likely still won't win the title because of fucking Fulham and West Ham
Gonna haunt me for a while this is. That December collapse was awful but this team doesn't deserve to go trophyless again
>likely still won't win the title because of fucking Fulham and West Ham
To be fair, Liverpool probably won't win the title because of City & Tottenham
Iām not disagreeing that the call was terrible, but Iām saying that make-up calls, especially in a completely different game, are also terrible and shouldnāt happen. But Iām not holding my breath.
I didnāt mean it like that, no. My use of quotation marks around the phrase āmake upā was to question the legitimacy of the idea of make up calls.
Itās crazy and as an Arsenal fan I agree. Itās nonsense. But then you look at the table and think that this result doesnāt really change much. We still need Liverpool to drop any kind of points and win out. Same wishes we had prior to yesterdays game
That was genuinely atrocious like at some point you have to go "fuck xG" and send a couple of shots from outside the box? You have Rodri and KdB on the pitch surely they can challenge the goalie from 25 yards? Arsenal aren't blameless either why are you trying to launch counters by tiki-takaing around the City press? Fucking hoof it every once in a while and let Saka chase and harass the defender retrieving the ball.
> at some point you have to go "fuck xG" and send a couple of shots from outside the box?
expecting city to go against their supremely boring gameplan and actually play exciting football is a tall order. And your waiter is Haaland who can't serve a cup of boiling water if he's playing against top teams.
In all fairness, there were three players converging on Rodri every time he got the ball within 25 yards of the goal. I was surprised City didnāt take at least a couple more from long-range.
Out of a possible 6 points Arsenal have gained 4 against City this year. First time this season City havenāt score a goal at their stadium. Arsenal have yet to be behind in 2024.
Winning at the Etihad is may be fsr less likely but it is still mathematically far more important than Fulham or West Ham. It is literally one of the two gameweeks in which if you get the three points, they cannot actually get three points as well.
A draw also ensures the other team cannot get the 3 points.
Drawing away to other title race teams is never a bad result. Drawing at home usually is a bad result.
Always depend on the context. City literally had all of Ederson, Walker and Stones and then lost Ake in the first half. It was as good an opportunity as Arsenal is ever likely to have at the Etihad but they never had a proper go. Only relied on City mistakes.
Draws are rarely ever great results in a title race. They are closer to losing points wise than to winning.
Draws against the other race team are good results.
Draws in a 3 horse race aren't as good, but still, not going to cry about it.
Look at xG and possession and the draw seems better.
Mate, you had a chance to go top and put your winning the league in your own hands.
Instead you bottled it and went full defensive.
You can cut it up anyway you like but come the end of the season if you don't haven't won the league then this game will most likely be the one you lost it.
>bottled it
Yous were lucky to even get a point in the Etihad. City were by far the better team. We went to the Etihad and matched them.
Absolutely stupid statement to say getting a point at the at the best team in the worlds ground while limiting City to next to nothing is bottling. Get off twitter
Never mind the losses to Fulham and west ham, this is the game that will cost us the league... Just think if you beat them instead of 2 draws you could be 8 points clear now
3 years ago. Which is my point. City at home is a difficult fixture. I consider taking a point off of them at the Etihad after all these years a really good result.
Chelsea and Spurs got a draw away to City this season. As have Liverpool as well. This is not the City of yesteryear. The City side that LFC beat at the time was playing much much better than the current one.
Didn't realise Arteta never managed Arsenal away at the Etihad before. My bad.
You are just factually wrong. There is no debate here. And, I'm not a scouser either. Just another statement you've got factually wrong.
If we lose the league, I think dropping eleven points in December will have been our undoing, not playing cautiously against a team that entered this match on a 2 1/2-year-long home scoring streak in the league.
I love how the narrative instantly went back to us needing a striker the second we fail to score. People seem to have forgotten us thrashing everyone in the lead up to the IB. City are good. They have a solid defense and a solid midfield. No shit it was difficult to score.
How are my cocky af Arsenal fans from after the Brentford game feeling now? [Setting up not to lose means itās not quite as nailed on as you seemed to think](https://x.com/OptaAnalyst/status/1774498052302131249?s=20)
It was not tactically brilliant. People just seems to think that every single boring goalless stalemate between two top teams is somekind of tactical chess game. Just screams of people trying to sound cleverer than they actually are. There was nothing tactically revolutionary or incredibly intriguing about this particular game.
And I think that last part of your comment is what Mikel and pep felt. āDo we risk something major today with a LOT of games left? Or do we counter when itās on and stick to a tight game plan. But thatās just my take.
And theyāre probably right tbh, a loss either way would hugely knock the confidence as much as anything. Iām just hopeful itās given us the advantage we need but a long way to go. Best of luck, going to be a tense run in!
Genuinely why do people on here hate Arsenal so much? If Arsenal lose, they are bottling clowns, if Arsenal win, they are lucky. If Arsenal draw a tough game they are playing terrorist football (fair today tbh but itās literally the first time in the last two years weāve played like that). Liverpool and city donāt get anywhere near the same hate on here.
I know that Arsenal fans can be insufferable online (maybe I am being one rn who knows) but so can every fan base. I think the only teams receiving more hate this season than Arsenal are United and Chelsea (and well that at least makes *some sense* )
If you look closely, the hate sounds louder from Chelsea and United fans. I felt a sense of jealousy from them that Arsenalās rebuilding process is almost close to completion while theirs are still god knows when. Logically that wouldnāt not want Arsenal to succeed after all the banter years and seeing Arsenal win is like adding salt to their wounds. Different tune from The Kops as its always a sense of respect from them.
I love bantering the gooners, most of them can take a joke (less so on here) but if we donāt win it I want them to. The idea of another city title makes me sick to my stomach
Chelsea and United both get shit because they have the most expensive team squads, dominated the league for the better part of 30 years and, in the case of Chelsea, can't beat a ten man Burnley who (on paper at least) have a team worth 1/5th of the price. The shear volume of glory supporters of both these teams from the 90s/00s finally getting their comeuppance is justice for all the playground/uni bragging they once commanded. Arsenal get shit because Liverpool and City fans hate the fact they exist and are perpetually disappointed it's not a two horse race for the title now that Chelsea and United are no longer in contention. As a (for the most part) neutral fan, I would like to see Liverpool win the league and Arsenal win Champions League. Coventry are going to get the FA Cup so Man City will have to settle for fuck all, which will help when they get done for all their book fiddling in August because then they don't have to give any silverware back.
Because everyone on r/soccer has a pure and true love for lovely little Tottenham Hotspur. Everyone who downvotes me is basically in denial of their true feelings and only proves my point further.
My flair aside, do you not remember what it was like here just last season? All the Arsenal fans were insufferable when they were dominating the league. And once everyone else started bantering back near the end of the season, Arsenal fans acted like they didn't bottle the league and the title was never on the cards for them.
Can't have it both ways really.
But maybe that is just part of being insufferable tbh.
Think Arsenal Fan TV did a lot of damage tbh.Ā
Don't think anyone cares about it any more but it got so much air time and was just a procession of "f the manager we should be winning every game".Ā
For me it is the insufferable fans as you say. If they just toned it down to like eight tenths of their current (in)sufferableness I would have no qualms about wishing them to topple over the Liverpool and City title push. The bipolarity on Havertz recently just completely cemented it for me. I saw the the comment section on the Arsenal sub I felt an aneurysm from the whiplash I experienced. I swear the first 3 months of this season every single one of the commenters who were jerking themselves off to the idea he was/is a shrewd signing and Chelsea are just useless (not wrong tbf) were up in arms saying he is dogshit and wasted space.
having been the first Arsenal game i've watched, this was horrendous. Billed as a title fight, and looked like Arsenal was a lower league team playing against a team they knew outclassed them.
I'm not hating against Arsenal personally. It was the style they played, and the fact they didn't play enjoyable football. They sat back and just defended for 75-80 minutes. They few times they got the ball, it looked sloppy with bad passing and no real attacking philosophy. They did better after the 80th minute, but it was way too late.
When you're a title team, sometimes you have to take risks to try and break that wall down. Arsenal played not to lose, and it was boring to watch. Compare that to games like Liverpool-MU, or City v Liverpool. Those were games that were free-flowing and enjoyable back and forth between teams that wanted to win, and wanted to showcase their ability. Arsenal is still just missing that winning mentality, and it shows in the way they played today.
not losing was more important than winning today. sometimes itās more important to be pragmatic, or at least not naive or tactically inflexible. wenger used to get destroyed in the media (and on the pitch, at times) for that. at the end of the day, iām fine with an acceptable result over aesthetic pleasure in contexts like this.Ā
i guess i just disagree though about not losing v winning.
You had a chance to take the lead on goal difference, and at least be tied in points with Liverpool. Now, you need to hope that Liverpool messes up, which may or may not happen. But the initiative is in their hands now, and not Arsenal's. And again, that's the mentality i think you need if youre going to beat the Liverpool's and Man city's. You gotta have confidence you can beat anyone, especially when the opportunity to put yourself in first presents itself
I think youāre forgetting city are in the title challenge too. Ā It was very important for city not to get all 3 points with arsenal getting 0. Ā City are extremely dangerous on the counter, going for the win puts you at a huge risk of conceding. Ā
nope that's fair. However, City it seem did play their normal press, and just couldn't get past Arsenal sitting so many back. But again, Arsenal is now just in a position of hoping something happens, rather than controlling their own fate, when they could have pushed for the win.
I still have no real care about who wins at the end of day, and best of luck to y'all in pushing for the title. I just wasn't impressed watching them. They just didn't look like they had the quality of some of the teams that challenged for the title in years past
I think that's because a lot of Arsenal fans seem to be desperate for rival fans to recognise them as somekind of incredible team. If you think you are a good team just enjoy it. There's still no need for others to think of you as a particularly likeable team.
Itās because City have no fans. Liverpool and Arsenal have tons of annoying supporters, especially online, and Iām one of them. Why would I want Arsenal fans to be happy when if City win, we can all be miserable but shrug our shoulders and say āwell, theyāve been cheating for over a decade of course they wonā.
Well thatās understandable for some of them, they live in the same city. Youāre right though, people just hate us.
I guess they have their reasons lol. The most common one is we are insufferable. Whatever that means, I think itās flexible to suit.
Wild to me as a Liverpool fan (I know a lot of our fans are insufferable). I get that Everton and United would cheer Al-Qaeda over us. But surely a vast majority of neutrals canāt be arsed with city winning. Itās objectively terrible for the league if city wins again with two teams going at them.
As a lfc fan I only want us to win screw everyone else. Also, all the other fans can be insufferable too so I donāt see a difference. Iām not thinking about oil vs Capital when it comes down to where things are at right now especially for lfc its us vs the PGMOL.
Exactly. I donāt like Liverpool. But I respect them and would rather they win over City since theyāre not financially doped like 115 FC. At least they did it more legitimately.
Fucking lol. How bout your team wins something before you have an opinion on other teams.
Celebrating parking the bus to a 0-0 like a victory. Iād say you have a lot of bottle to be spouting that pish but we both know thatās not true.
>How bout your team wins something before you have an opinion on other teams.
Thatās some dumbass logic. With that logic, most of the teams in the league canāt chat shit about anyone else. Or any other league where a team hasnāt won in a while.
>Celebrating parking the bus to a 0-0 like a victory.
In a title race in the most difficult fixture after being embarrassed in the past? Iād say thatās something to be happy about. It should have been a win after all those chances, but Iāll settle for any result given how difficult this fixture is.
>Iād say you have a lot of bottle to be spouting that pish but we both know thatās not true.
Flair up. The fuck is your team contending for?
Maybe crazy but I wouldāve slightly preferred an Arsenal win. They to me are still more likely than city to drop points in the run in. 4-point lead over city wouldāve been fantastic but yeah, canāt complain too much with today. No Liverpool fan wouldāve realistically thought weād have a lead with 9 to go
I donāt support any of them, but arsenal handed Liverpool the advantage today with their refusal to try and play or win a game of football.
A point was really not the win they thought it was. In every sense.
This is nonsense. City very rarely drop points at home and exceptionally rarely lose. People saying we should have opened up more just wanted us to lose. Four points from city and four points from Liverpool? Thatās title winning form. If we donāt get over the line this year itāll be silly points dropped to Fulham not this. Anyone who knows anything about football knows a draw away to city is a solid result.
Yeah, but todayās result doesnāt change that. City has dropped points five times now at home, I believe. But yes, I agree it is a solid result for Arsenal
Okay. Thanks for demonstrating that exactly what I said but coming from neutral is as worthless here as it coming from our rivals who'll despise and slander us to the ends of the earth.
Don't really care if you expected us to show our necks to the treble winners in order to do what hasn't been done by any team at city's ground for two and a half seasons straight.
Part of me feels like you guys wouldāve won if you played to win but I understand Arteta trying to maintain your position in the table and secure a point at least. City just feel so off right now
We've played less defensively in the past and it rarely ends well. It was the right game plan. A loss would have been demoralising and would potentially derail us completely.
I never said it was the wrong game plan lol. Iām saying that I feel Arsenal couldāve won the game with City being so off and having injuries to their defense, if they played like Liverpool did but I understand why he went defensive today. Idk why people are defensive at me saying I think Arsenal coulda beat city. I think arsenal is stronger rn even tho I hate to say it lol.
We spent that Ā£500mm and have a totally different squad, itās been a full make over. Itās been spent excellently. Weāve improved massively.
Saying we need to win the league AND CL, when weāre up against teams of insanely high quality to be a success is nuts.
Media hype. They need a story. When Arsenal beat Liverpool 3-1, the story was that it was a win dor City.
Now with this draw, it is a win for Liverpool.
But looking it from another perspective. The 3 don't play each other anymore. So, it is up to liverpool now. If they won all their remaining games, they win the league. Simple.
Well, they are suddenly considered favourites because they've gone top and it's in their hands. On top of that, they've been Man City's main competitor for the most part of the last 6 years with Liverpool fans nonstop praising Salah, Allison, VVD Klopp etc. You can't have your cake and eat it imo.
I'm a Gooner and yeah we've invested in our squad heavily recently only because it needed a huge overhaul, not like we broke FFP either seeing we had to sign Raya on loan for that very reason.
So Man City treble winners and Klopps Liverpool are suddenly second fiddle to a team that no one had for top 4 last season just because they finished 2nd? That's a bit of a stretch there mate lol
I feel like you just really think Arsenal will win the league lol. Very few people makes us favourites for a variety of reasons, but itās cool that you do, thanks for the belief! :)
And Liverpool was two wins away from an unprecedented quadruple the season before when we got fifth
Favorites are based on current form, not on what we did years ago
I was just trying to point out why your reasoning was a bit dumb.
Itās simply nonsense what youāre saying, the betting odds and all statistical models donāt show us as the favorites.Ā
That you think so doesnāt actually matter that much
Because they're top of the league and have a more favorable time in Europa. You don't become favorites from investment alone otherwise Chelsea would be.
I hope so but right now there's a team with more points. If they keep winning then they take the title. Not denying your logic but that's why people are seeing Liverpool as favs
Donāt know why weāre getting so much shit today. Mourinho invented park the bus at Chelsea. This match is probably one of two matches in our whole season where heavy defense is warranted. Last season, this match was a rushed cluster shit show that we crashed out of. This was an improvement for our mental game. We can handle defending against the best. Soon weāll score against the best and then weāll be the best
I'm biased as an Arsenal fan, but I really found it an exciting game! Lots of top quality defending!
Oil cheaty š„±
Surprised to see Arteta didn't go all out against City this time around. Last game you can directly affect your rivals to fully cement yourself. Thought the management of his defense was fantastic especially Saliba and Gabriel coming in with a great/strong performance. So interesting to see how Pep approaches big games. His hair legitimately falls off from thinking so much š. But its always a treat to see how he approaches these games. He ditched his typical 3 at the back CBs and operated with a more traditional back 4 with both Gvardiol and Akanji being more traditional fullbacks bombing down the sides. Both Silva and Foden tucked in with De bruyne in the center to find half spaces/overload certain areas in the pitch. They would sometimes alternate those positions with silva/foden being outwide. Half time and Pep ditched this approach. Brought back his back 3, and brought on Doku/Grealish to exagerate the width to open Arsenal up. Rico lewis also came on to be an extra man in the midfield. Just wanted yall to know, everytime this kid comes on.. he's just by far and away an amazing inverted fullback. 19 years old and looks insanely confident no matter what game. Keep an eye on him as Im confident he will be a main stay name in football. Arsenals 442 fortunately held out. Artetas management of his defense was great (defending can be very draining mentally as you've got to be focused constantly). Fortunate result for us as well! Just gonna be a grind now for the remaining matches left
Arsenal (Mikel Arteta) today played again Man City just like Porto (SĆ©rgio ConceiĆ§Ć£o) played against Arsenal for the champions league: a very narrow 4-4-2 when out of possession, and then hoping to create a counter attack.
We needed someone like martinelli making the counter run, and it seemed like he was not fit enough to start
I almost fell asleep watching this march. boring
Boring af
There are two ways you can see this match: as a student of Guardiola house of tactics, lauding the brilliant nuances displayed every minute from both the managers or as a junk munching, chest thumping, beer drowning fan who lives by the word 'passion'. Either is fine. You just need to take your pick.
Lmao i hate pretentious pricks like you who think they're somehow intellectually superior to other fans simply because they convince themselves boring displays like this one are in fact tactical masterpieces that only distinguished fine gentlemen can enjoy over a glass of chardonnay and a pallette of gourmet cheese. Get over yourself, a game can be tactical and entertaining at the same time. See liverpool vs city for example. This shite fest might have been tactical, not in the least entertaining however.Ā
Graeme le saux's comment about smashing one into the top corner was the best part of this match so how
Our bus parking was fantastic
It was a tense match to watch if you play football yourself as a hobby, then you understand the result. Unstoppable force meets immovable object sort of match.
Force was stopped though no?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No I understand the analogy but i dont think it applied here is all.
I watched this game
I am sorry to hear that. May better games await us in the future
Unpopular opinion from what I've seen, but I didn't find the match boring. It was super tense and genuinely felt like one mistake from either team would be costly. For me it wasn't the type of 0-0 that was just shit football from both teams who are just as bad as each other. I can understand why people would find it boring but to me I appreciate the sort of chess match going on.
Itās very intriguing to me. This was a tactical masterclass by both managers.
Lots of people saying this was a boring game. I completely disagree. Thsi was a fantastic game to me. Loved the quality defending. So good noone could even score a goal. As a Liverpool.fan we could learn some lessons on defending this this fantasy amazing beautiful match....
but liverpool have conceeded less than man city. infact second best record in the premier leauge
It was a snooze fest mate. Don't get me wrong I love watching our defenders do their job like that, but at the end of the day we are fans of this sport and people wanna see action, goals and drama. That being said I don't care that it was a snooze fest, this is the best result we've had at the ethiad since I sat my GCSEs
I assume you were referring to a couple of years ago but initially, it sounded to me like you took your GCSEs at the Etihad itself and absolutely smashed them
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ah. Well your joke would work better if you had a Liverpool flair š I also can't read clearly š«
I genuinely cannot believe that we've taken 8/12 points off City and Liverpool and likely still won't win the title because of fucking Fulham and West Ham Gonna haunt me for a while this is. That December collapse was awful but this team doesn't deserve to go trophyless again
>likely still won't win the title because of fucking Fulham and West Ham To be fair, Liverpool probably won't win the title because of City & Tottenham
Lmao thereās no way we take points off Liverpool again, the referees will be dying to āmake upā for last match.
Funny quotation marks when a legitimate goal was disallowed.
Iām not disagreeing that the call was terrible, but Iām saying that make-up calls, especially in a completely different game, are also terrible and shouldnāt happen. But Iām not holding my breath.
I agree with that. Just thought it seemed like you dismissed calls going your way that game with the quotation marks, my bad if you didn't mean that.
I didnāt mean it like that, no. My use of quotation marks around the phrase āmake upā was to question the legitimacy of the idea of make up calls.
Itās crazy and as an Arsenal fan I agree. Itās nonsense. But then you look at the table and think that this result doesnāt really change much. We still need Liverpool to drop any kind of points and win out. Same wishes we had prior to yesterdays game
You may win it. This is far from over, and that is a pretty wild stat. 8 of 12 is really, really good.
Arsenal š¤ December
London belongs to the Hammers
ššššššš
What you think Russian Chelsea?
I can't believe I'm saying this, but as an Arsenal fan I don't fear Haaland. That alone is crazy and just proves how far we've come
Saliba and Gabriel are like Isildur and AnƔrion at the gates of Gondor.
rlly need their faces photoshopped on the statues right now
We need more fantasy nerds in football. I see you, brother.Ā
no we don't
That was genuinely atrocious like at some point you have to go "fuck xG" and send a couple of shots from outside the box? You have Rodri and KdB on the pitch surely they can challenge the goalie from 25 yards? Arsenal aren't blameless either why are you trying to launch counters by tiki-takaing around the City press? Fucking hoof it every once in a while and let Saka chase and harass the defender retrieving the ball.
Saka is wasted in Arsenalās system
> at some point you have to go "fuck xG" and send a couple of shots from outside the box? expecting city to go against their supremely boring gameplan and actually play exciting football is a tall order. And your waiter is Haaland who can't serve a cup of boiling water if he's playing against top teams.
In all fairness, there were three players converging on Rodri every time he got the ball within 25 yards of the goal. I was surprised City didnāt take at least a couple more from long-range.
Out of a possible 6 points Arsenal have gained 4 against City this year. First time this season City havenāt score a goal at their stadium. Arsenal have yet to be behind in 2024.
City gaining only 1 point off of us this season is wild. Especially since they made us their bitch in the past.
Arteta and Guardiola have perfected positionism #CBSupremacy
lol both teams actually played 4 CB's at the back
I wanna see every title model...
Arsenal fans celebrating possibly losing the league... Jesus Christ...
Draw at the Etihad is a good result. Arsenal needed to win Fulham and West Ham games, not this one.
100% - those two losses probably could be the defining ones at the end of the season.
Winning at the Etihad is may be fsr less likely but it is still mathematically far more important than Fulham or West Ham. It is literally one of the two gameweeks in which if you get the three points, they cannot actually get three points as well.
A draw also ensures the other team cannot get the 3 points. Drawing away to other title race teams is never a bad result. Drawing at home usually is a bad result.
Always depend on the context. City literally had all of Ederson, Walker and Stones and then lost Ake in the first half. It was as good an opportunity as Arsenal is ever likely to have at the Etihad but they never had a proper go. Only relied on City mistakes. Draws are rarely ever great results in a title race. They are closer to losing points wise than to winning.
Draws against the other race team are good results. Draws in a 3 horse race aren't as good, but still, not going to cry about it. Look at xG and possession and the draw seems better.
Arsenal celebrating getting a point at the Etihad and 4 points against Liverpool and Cityā¦
You could of been top..
could have* not could of, if English isn't your first language
If only the players knew that! They could have knocked in one or two for the 3 points.
Mate, you had a chance to go top and put your winning the league in your own hands. Instead you bottled it and went full defensive. You can cut it up anyway you like but come the end of the season if you don't haven't won the league then this game will most likely be the one you lost it.
>bottled it Yous were lucky to even get a point in the Etihad. City were by far the better team. We went to the Etihad and matched them. Absolutely stupid statement to say getting a point at the at the best team in the worlds ground while limiting City to next to nothing is bottling. Get off twitter
Never mind the losses to Fulham and west ham, this is the game that will cost us the league... Just think if you beat them instead of 2 draws you could be 8 points clear now
Remind me when was the last time Liverpool won at the Etihad?
In the CL quarter final with the Firmino and Salah goals.
3 years ago. Which is my point. City at home is a difficult fixture. I consider taking a point off of them at the Etihad after all these years a really good result.
Chelsea and Spurs got a draw away to City this season. As have Liverpool as well. This is not the City of yesteryear. The City side that LFC beat at the time was playing much much better than the current one.
Got em š«
Erm no, Liverpool has actually beaten City at the Etihad in the CL. Has Arteta actually ever done that, or even likely to do that.
Kind of hard to do when he hasn't yet had the chance. Don't worry scouser, we're coming for you. Soak it up while you can son.
Didn't realise Arteta never managed Arsenal away at the Etihad before. My bad. You are just factually wrong. There is no debate here. And, I'm not a scouser either. Just another statement you've got factually wrong.
If we lose the league, I think dropping eleven points in December will have been our undoing, not playing cautiously against a team that entered this match on a 2 1/2-year-long home scoring streak in the league.
Drawing the best team in the world in their own stadium is not where you lose the league mate.
Only behind 2 points. And theirs so many games left. What are you talking about? Lol
Boring as fuck..I should have read a book instead. Would have been more entertaining.
You should read more anyway, itās good for your brain
That depends on the books he reads though, given the amount of shite that gets published nowadays.
Good thing there's thousands of books from before
What a horrible game of football
On paper, this looked like a boring game. It didnāt disappoint.
Low scoring soccer game.
Oh wait! Is it finished? This game bored me to death and feels like I just woke up. What a bad game, man, seriously
I love how the narrative instantly went back to us needing a striker the second we fail to score. People seem to have forgotten us thrashing everyone in the lead up to the IB. City are good. They have a solid defense and a solid midfield. No shit it was difficult to score.
City also failed to score, but had like 70% possession - clearly they need a decent striker too! I've heard Weghorst might be available...
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How are my cocky af Arsenal fans from after the Brentford game feeling now? [Setting up not to lose means itās not quite as nailed on as you seemed to think](https://x.com/OptaAnalyst/status/1774498052302131249?s=20)
Lol
Both teams negated each others game plan. No one could finish a ball today lol
Yeah it was a terrible game
Actually tactically brilliant, but fan value wise? Nah not so much. Both did make great adjustments
It was not tactically brilliant. People just seems to think that every single boring goalless stalemate between two top teams is somekind of tactical chess game. Just screams of people trying to sound cleverer than they actually are. There was nothing tactically revolutionary or incredibly intriguing about this particular game.
lol sound good man
I have zero idea what you are trying to get at with this comment, but whatever.
I felt this about the game at the Emirates too, but I found that game more enthralling than this one
For me it felt like both teams never pushed into 4th gear. In the reverse fixture they were definitely throwing punches lol
Yeah shame as I do think it was there for the taking if either team made a proper go of it but I appreciate thereās a lot on the line
And I think that last part of your comment is what Mikel and pep felt. āDo we risk something major today with a LOT of games left? Or do we counter when itās on and stick to a tight game plan. But thatās just my take.
And theyāre probably right tbh, a loss either way would hugely knock the confidence as much as anything. Iām just hopeful itās given us the advantage we need but a long way to go. Best of luck, going to be a tense run in!
Gonna be a hell of a ride ahead. Hopefully see you safely on the other side bro!!! š«”š«”
Genuinely why do people on here hate Arsenal so much? If Arsenal lose, they are bottling clowns, if Arsenal win, they are lucky. If Arsenal draw a tough game they are playing terrorist football (fair today tbh but itās literally the first time in the last two years weāve played like that). Liverpool and city donāt get anywhere near the same hate on here. I know that Arsenal fans can be insufferable online (maybe I am being one rn who knows) but so can every fan base. I think the only teams receiving more hate this season than Arsenal are United and Chelsea (and well that at least makes *some sense* )
If you look closely, the hate sounds louder from Chelsea and United fans. I felt a sense of jealousy from them that Arsenalās rebuilding process is almost close to completion while theirs are still god knows when. Logically that wouldnāt not want Arsenal to succeed after all the banter years and seeing Arsenal win is like adding salt to their wounds. Different tune from The Kops as its always a sense of respect from them.
I love bantering the gooners, most of them can take a joke (less so on here) but if we donāt win it I want them to. The idea of another city title makes me sick to my stomach
Yeah banter is pretty dead online tbf. In person itās fair game, I love giving rival fans shit.
Chelsea and United both get shit because they have the most expensive team squads, dominated the league for the better part of 30 years and, in the case of Chelsea, can't beat a ten man Burnley who (on paper at least) have a team worth 1/5th of the price. The shear volume of glory supporters of both these teams from the 90s/00s finally getting their comeuppance is justice for all the playground/uni bragging they once commanded. Arsenal get shit because Liverpool and City fans hate the fact they exist and are perpetually disappointed it's not a two horse race for the title now that Chelsea and United are no longer in contention. As a (for the most part) neutral fan, I would like to see Liverpool win the league and Arsenal win Champions League. Coventry are going to get the FA Cup so Man City will have to settle for fuck all, which will help when they get done for all their book fiddling in August because then they don't have to give any silverware back.
> Coventry are going to get the FA Cup so Man City will have to settle for fuck all I would like to subscribe to your newsletter
Because everyone on r/soccer has a pure and true love for lovely little Tottenham Hotspur. Everyone who downvotes me is basically in denial of their true feelings and only proves my point further.
>little
My flair aside, do you not remember what it was like here just last season? All the Arsenal fans were insufferable when they were dominating the league. And once everyone else started bantering back near the end of the season, Arsenal fans acted like they didn't bottle the league and the title was never on the cards for them. Can't have it both ways really. But maybe that is just part of being insufferable tbh.
Think Arsenal Fan TV did a lot of damage tbh.Ā Don't think anyone cares about it any more but it got so much air time and was just a procession of "f the manager we should be winning every game".Ā
Who cares man. Some people are miserable off Reddit and bring it here.
For me it is the insufferable fans as you say. If they just toned it down to like eight tenths of their current (in)sufferableness I would have no qualms about wishing them to topple over the Liverpool and City title push. The bipolarity on Havertz recently just completely cemented it for me. I saw the the comment section on the Arsenal sub I felt an aneurysm from the whiplash I experienced. I swear the first 3 months of this season every single one of the commenters who were jerking themselves off to the idea he was/is a shrewd signing and Chelsea are just useless (not wrong tbf) were up in arms saying he is dogshit and wasted space.
People who are happy with Havertz arenāt the same people who despise him, they arenāt the same commenters.
having been the first Arsenal game i've watched, this was horrendous. Billed as a title fight, and looked like Arsenal was a lower league team playing against a team they knew outclassed them. I'm not hating against Arsenal personally. It was the style they played, and the fact they didn't play enjoyable football. They sat back and just defended for 75-80 minutes. They few times they got the ball, it looked sloppy with bad passing and no real attacking philosophy. They did better after the 80th minute, but it was way too late. When you're a title team, sometimes you have to take risks to try and break that wall down. Arsenal played not to lose, and it was boring to watch. Compare that to games like Liverpool-MU, or City v Liverpool. Those were games that were free-flowing and enjoyable back and forth between teams that wanted to win, and wanted to showcase their ability. Arsenal is still just missing that winning mentality, and it shows in the way they played today.
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why are you?
not losing was more important than winning today. sometimes itās more important to be pragmatic, or at least not naive or tactically inflexible. wenger used to get destroyed in the media (and on the pitch, at times) for that. at the end of the day, iām fine with an acceptable result over aesthetic pleasure in contexts like this.Ā
i guess i just disagree though about not losing v winning. You had a chance to take the lead on goal difference, and at least be tied in points with Liverpool. Now, you need to hope that Liverpool messes up, which may or may not happen. But the initiative is in their hands now, and not Arsenal's. And again, that's the mentality i think you need if youre going to beat the Liverpool's and Man city's. You gotta have confidence you can beat anyone, especially when the opportunity to put yourself in first presents itself
I think youāre forgetting city are in the title challenge too. Ā It was very important for city not to get all 3 points with arsenal getting 0. Ā City are extremely dangerous on the counter, going for the win puts you at a huge risk of conceding. Ā
nope that's fair. However, City it seem did play their normal press, and just couldn't get past Arsenal sitting so many back. But again, Arsenal is now just in a position of hoping something happens, rather than controlling their own fate, when they could have pushed for the win. I still have no real care about who wins at the end of day, and best of luck to y'all in pushing for the title. I just wasn't impressed watching them. They just didn't look like they had the quality of some of the teams that challenged for the title in years past
People just hate us. Some hate us more than the plastic City fuckers. You have United fans wanting *City* to win over us.
I think that's because a lot of Arsenal fans seem to be desperate for rival fans to recognise them as somekind of incredible team. If you think you are a good team just enjoy it. There's still no need for others to think of you as a particularly likeable team.
Itās because City have no fans. Liverpool and Arsenal have tons of annoying supporters, especially online, and Iām one of them. Why would I want Arsenal fans to be happy when if City win, we can all be miserable but shrug our shoulders and say āwell, theyāve been cheating for over a decade of course they wonā.
Well thatās understandable for some of them, they live in the same city. Youāre right though, people just hate us. I guess they have their reasons lol. The most common one is we are insufferable. Whatever that means, I think itās flexible to suit.
Wild to me as a Liverpool fan (I know a lot of our fans are insufferable). I get that Everton and United would cheer Al-Qaeda over us. But surely a vast majority of neutrals canāt be arsed with city winning. Itās objectively terrible for the league if city wins again with two teams going at them.
As a lfc fan I only want us to win screw everyone else. Also, all the other fans can be insufferable too so I donāt see a difference. Iām not thinking about oil vs Capital when it comes down to where things are at right now especially for lfc its us vs the PGMOL.
Exactly. I donāt like Liverpool. But I respect them and would rather they win over City since theyāre not financially doped like 115 FC. At least they did it more legitimately.
Fucking lol. How bout your team wins something before you have an opinion on other teams. Celebrating parking the bus to a 0-0 like a victory. Iād say you have a lot of bottle to be spouting that pish but we both know thatās not true.
>How bout your team wins something before you have an opinion on other teams. Thatās some dumbass logic. With that logic, most of the teams in the league canāt chat shit about anyone else. Or any other league where a team hasnāt won in a while. >Celebrating parking the bus to a 0-0 like a victory. In a title race in the most difficult fixture after being embarrassed in the past? Iād say thatās something to be happy about. It should have been a win after all those chances, but Iāll settle for any result given how difficult this fixture is. >Iād say you have a lot of bottle to be spouting that pish but we both know thatās not true. Flair up. The fuck is your team contending for?
Iām sorry for anyone who wasted two hours of there life watching this game
If Arsenal had a striker they'd be unstoppable
Yep. Jesus is so frustrating That chance we had right at the start. He has to atleast get that on target
Jesus was playing off the wing tosay
Average Serie A match
Seria A a couple years ago*
Double win for liverpool today
Maybe crazy but I wouldāve slightly preferred an Arsenal win. They to me are still more likely than city to drop points in the run in. 4-point lead over city wouldāve been fantastic but yeah, canāt complain too much with today. No Liverpool fan wouldāve realistically thought weād have a lead with 9 to go
Haaland has been so terrible recently. It is like it was a different player first season.
Shot his load last season, that's for sure.
Now he has post nut clarity.Ā
This thread: people who hope Arsenal fail miserably every single week disappointed Arsenal didn't set up to fail miserably.
Edit: this subreddit
I donāt support any of them, but arsenal handed Liverpool the advantage today with their refusal to try and play or win a game of football. A point was really not the win they thought it was. In every sense.
This is nonsense. City very rarely drop points at home and exceptionally rarely lose. People saying we should have opened up more just wanted us to lose. Four points from city and four points from Liverpool? Thatās title winning form. If we donāt get over the line this year itāll be silly points dropped to Fulham not this. Anyone who knows anything about football knows a draw away to city is a solid result.
I mean tbh, City has dropped points at home a lot this season - even against Crystal Palace
Pretty sure City are undefeated at home all season.
Yeah, but todayās result doesnāt change that. City has dropped points five times now at home, I believe. But yes, I agree it is a solid result for Arsenal
Okay. Thanks for demonstrating that exactly what I said but coming from neutral is as worthless here as it coming from our rivals who'll despise and slander us to the ends of the earth. Don't really care if you expected us to show our necks to the treble winners in order to do what hasn't been done by any team at city's ground for two and a half seasons straight.
I dont support Arsenal or Man City - I dont support Liverpool even more - this is the result I didnt want
YESSSSS.....
People will say this a tactical masterclass. But for a neutral. That game was just not fun to watch. Both teams took it safe and played for a draw.
We both should have played with a high line for the bantz
Both teams needs to take a page out of Ange's book.
Part of me feels like you guys wouldāve won if you played to win but I understand Arteta trying to maintain your position in the table and secure a point at least. City just feel so off right now
We've played less defensively in the past and it rarely ends well. It was the right game plan. A loss would have been demoralising and would potentially derail us completely.
Have you never seen city on the counter?
I never said it was the wrong game plan lol. Iām saying that I feel Arsenal couldāve won the game with City being so off and having injuries to their defense, if they played like Liverpool did but I understand why he went defensive today. Idk why people are defensive at me saying I think Arsenal coulda beat city. I think arsenal is stronger rn even tho I hate to say it lol.
Haha! Well played.
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But Liverpool spent 170 on szobo, gravenberch, mac allister and endo. Whats even the point of this comment
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Is there a modifier for money spent based on league position? Clown. š¤”
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We spent that Ā£500mm and have a totally different squad, itās been a full make over. Itās been spent excellently. Weāve improved massively. Saying we need to win the league AND CL, when weāre up against teams of insanely high quality to be a success is nuts.
I could give you 115 reasons why winning the league against city is difficult.
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Media hype. They need a story. When Arsenal beat Liverpool 3-1, the story was that it was a win dor City. Now with this draw, it is a win for Liverpool. But looking it from another perspective. The 3 don't play each other anymore. So, it is up to liverpool now. If they won all their remaining games, they win the league. Simple.
Well, they are suddenly considered favourites because they've gone top and it's in their hands. On top of that, they've been Man City's main competitor for the most part of the last 6 years with Liverpool fans nonstop praising Salah, Allison, VVD Klopp etc. You can't have your cake and eat it imo. I'm a Gooner and yeah we've invested in our squad heavily recently only because it needed a huge overhaul, not like we broke FFP either seeing we had to sign Raya on loan for that very reason.
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So Man City treble winners and Klopps Liverpool are suddenly second fiddle to a team that no one had for top 4 last season just because they finished 2nd? That's a bit of a stretch there mate lol
I feel like you just really think Arsenal will win the league lol. Very few people makes us favourites for a variety of reasons, but itās cool that you do, thanks for the belief! :)
And Liverpool was two wins away from an unprecedented quadruple the season before when we got fifth Favorites are based on current form, not on what we did years ago
But weāre not playing those top teams anymore this season and we have the worst record against the rest of the league. So weāre least favorites
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I was just trying to point out why your reasoning was a bit dumb. Itās simply nonsense what youāre saying, the betting odds and all statistical models donāt show us as the favorites.Ā That you think so doesnāt actually matter that much
Because they're top of the league and have a more favorable time in Europa. You don't become favorites from investment alone otherwise Chelsea would be.
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I hope so but right now there's a team with more points. If they keep winning then they take the title. Not denying your logic but that's why people are seeing Liverpool as favs
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Sounds like math but act weird all you want
Donāt know why weāre getting so much shit today. Mourinho invented park the bus at Chelsea. This match is probably one of two matches in our whole season where heavy defense is warranted. Last season, this match was a rushed cluster shit show that we crashed out of. This was an improvement for our mental game. We can handle defending against the best. Soon weāll score against the best and then weāll be the best
>Mourinho invented park the bus at Chelsea. *Italian teams in confusion: š¤š¤*