Stodgy matches between Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City come as absolutely no surprise now.
We’ve already witnessed a contest in which all eight defenders on the pitch were recognised centre-backs, another game when Arsenal got a player sent off and hardly got out of their own half after half-time, and a game when it barely looked like either side were even attempting to score until Gabriel Martinelli’s stoppage-time effort took a big deflection and looped in. No one is tuning into this fixture and expecting a classic.
Equally, you have to marvel at how these two managers find new ways to create boring games. Whereas two years ago it was possible to preview this fixture with, say, a look at how Kevin De Bruyne’s magnificent crosses from the right-hand channel contrasted with Martin Odegaard’s delicate chips over the top, this time around the tactical focus was on the less glamorous concepts of midfield strength and set pieces.
There were mitigating circumstances: Arsenal were without Odegaard and Kai Havertz, and City were without Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush. But, equally, you wondered which players were able to provide anything like the creativity you might expect from a match between two top sides, or even the ability to ‘connect’ the team, to receive the ball in dangerous positions and prompt a quick passing triangle. For long periods, this was desperate stuff, sorely lacking any individual creativity.
City, it should be acknowledged, scored an outstanding breakaway goal through Erling Haaland after eight minutes, and at 1-0 up, were entitled to sit back and defend. The onus was on Arsenal to get back into the game, but Mikel Arteta had selected the same midfield trio he used in Arsenal’s 1-0 loss away to Liverpool, with Declan Rice and Mikel Merino flanking Martin Zubimendi.
Has Arsenal versus City turned into a meeting of risk-averse minds? (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Arteta has rejected suggestions that this trio are mere defensive midfielders, pointing out that Merino scored an international hat-trick this month. Rice has developed his attacking game at Arsenal and Zubimendi regularly pops up in goalscoring positions. But none of these players are experts at finding space between the lines, or at linking the centre-forward and the rest of the team, or at playing passes to get the wingers running in behind.
And the frustrating thing is that one manager’s caution prompts the other to limit his players’ ability to dominate the game, too. For example, Phil Foden was excellent against Manchester United in a central role, but, presumably seeing that Arsenal’s XI meant they were attempting to block up midfield and there wouldn’t be much space, Guardiola instead used Bernardo Silva there, seemingly with instructions to get stuck in, while Foden played from the right and marked Riccardo Calafiori. This is a creative No 10 marking a converted centre-back, just to reiterate — and ended up becoming a fifth defender.
Arteta effectively admitted that he didn’t start with the right tools to break down City, and introduced Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze at half-time in place of Noni Madueke and Merino. Immediately, Arsenal offered more, with Eze boasting the ability to receive forward passes on the half-turn that Merino, with respect, can only dream of. This fairly simple move, letting the ball run across his body and shifting into attack, drew a roar from the home supporters, who were desperate for some invention.
Eventually, Guardiola realised that since Foden was spending so much time dropping back into defence, he might as well bring on an actual fifth defender, so he sacrificed his most creative player — on paper — for a centre-back, Nathan Ake. Later, he went further and withdrew Haaland in favour of Nico Gonzalez. He was basically fielding a back five, four central midfielders, and Jeremy Doku in an unfamiliar centre-forward role.
Arteta had steadily increased Arsenal’s attacking threat, and while there was no certainty they would get back into the game, there was little surprise that the equaliser came from two substitutes combining. Eze’s vision matched with Martinelli’s ability to run in behind the opposition were two concepts Arsenal completely lacked before half-time. It was the second excellent goal in a game that deserved none.
City ended up with so many physical defenders on the pitch that they accidentally boasted a fearsome aerial threat at set pieces, and it felt fitting that the final action of the game was Arteta bringing on Cristhian Mosquera in place of Zubimendi, meaning Arsenal ended the game with four recognised centre-backs to match the four of City.
It feels like these managers respond to their opposite number making an attacking move by going defensive, but also react to the opposition beefing up their defence by…beefing up their defence.
The true winners from this contest were Liverpool, who have the complete opposite approach. They won last season’s Premier League by giving star attacker Mohamed Salah extra freedom and solved their defensive midfield issues by converting the technically gifted, box-to-box Ryan Gravenberch.
They have doubled down on this: their summer recruitment involved bringing in two attack-minded full-backs, a genius No 10 and two new speedy, technical strikers. They have as many wins as Arsenal and City combined. Maybe later in the season their boldness will cost them — they surely can’t keep throwing away two-goal leads — but for now, Liverpool’s superiority is about ambition as much as ability.