Review: Manchester City vs Arsenal January 19th

Arsene Wenger gets tactical: Wenger caught Manchester city (and the arsenal fans) off guard by bringing the much needed tactical plan for the big game. It is well documented the lack of tactics Wenger and Arsenal have shown in big games, and not once, but repeatedly. But Wenger completely turned that impression around with some brilliant tactical decisions. First was to let go of this desire to have possession, second to be more compact and third come out the right combination to nullify City. Stats show that arsenal had 35% possession but still were the better team. That says a lot about the tactics. Well done Wenger. And hope to see more of this.

City were caught off guard: Were city ready for Arsenals plan B? I think city expected Arsenal to play their typical style and City would then beat them at that. I have a feeling that they were not ready for this kind of resistance and tactics from Arsenal. City had no plan B themselves which further substantiates the point. 

Formations were similar but produced different results: Both teams played similar formation 4-2-3-1 but with drastically different results. Arsenals midfield was compact and at the same very pacy which made them very mobile. Enabled them to counterattack at will. The midfield had nice variety. On the other hand for city, Fernando and Fernandinho play the anchor role which forced Silva to make the play. Arsenal had Silva covered most of the game which made City pretty harmless. 

Yaya Toure missed badly: City depends a whole lot on Yaya and no other game exemplifies that more than the Arsenal game. There was no penetration from the midfield apart from few attempts from Silva. Yaya would run at the midfield, causing an imbalance in what was a very compact Arsenal defence. Also the team required a spark to fight back, there were no signs of that.

Cazorla was simply sensational: What a fantastic performance from the midfield maestro. He showed facets of his game which was never seen before. He controlled the attack and the defence with great effect and also ensured that Arsenal does not open up to City at any point. He marshalled the whole of the game with his teancity, skills and winning mentality. A treat to watch. 

City were not up to the task: City just did not look right. For starters, I thought too many players were coming back from injury. Kompany, Aguero, Dzeko. They looked very rusty. Add to that, some of the crossing from City was appalling. Its almost as if they didn't expect Arsenal to be so compact which would force them to put in those crosses. Navas the main culprit. But the biggest let down for was the team selection. Why opt for 2 anchor midfield players and on top of that, have 2 center backs in Kompany and Demichelis who are slow as well. Which basically meant Arsenal could run at City right through the center. This also caused City to push back knowing that it lacked pace through the middle. I would have played Lampard instead of Fernando and asked Fernandinho to sit back and make it a back 3. 

Overall, it was a brilliant match. Arsenal out thought city and should be proud of that performance away from home. Arsenal fans will be hoping Wenger can churn out more of these performances. City on the other hand have to bounce back and get their team performance in order. They need to be flexible in their setup and have multiple plans up their sleeves to tackle that type of Arsenal performance. Signing off until the next blockbuster game.