Whenever you come close to winning a match and the other team equalises with a few minutes to go before the end of the match, it feels like a loss. Equally for a team coming from behind, gaining a point feels like a victory. For Arsenal, yesterday's draw felt like 2 points gained from Manchester City.
Arsenal went with a 5-man midfield of Arteta, Diaby, Ramsey, Cazorla and African Brother Gervinho (ABG), with Podolski as the striker, although for most times, African Brother Gervinho (ABG) was playing as the striker with Podolski dropping deep as usual. I thought this was a good starting line-up; we needed to be solid defensively by doing what we do best and that meant dominating possession of the ball.
In defence, Koscielny came in for the flu-ridden Captain Vermaelen. But such is the strength of our central defence that any of the 3 can play together in the two slots with the same high quality.
I got a little bit the jitters, in the second half when fatigue started to creep into our team and Manchester City started to dominate the game. Gaps started appearing in our midfield, Diaby started dribbling and getting caught in possession... a repeat of the Montpellier game almost.
Arsenal started the game the better side. Our passing and movement was crisp and honestly sublime at times. we were running triangles around Manchester City and they were failing to get anywhere near the ball. Aaron Ramsey particularly impressed me with his energy. He was all over the place, particularly when Diaby and Cazorla started to tire. He seemed to be carrying the midfield at some point in the second half. A real workhorse that boy is.
In the 16th minute, Ramsey played a great forward ball between the City defenders to African Brother Gervinho (ABG). All African Brother Gervinho (ABG) had to do was slow the ball down, pick a spot and place it there. That should have been 1-0 in favour of Arsenal. But his touch was too heavy and he instead passed it to Joe Hart in the City goal. Somebody needs to pull African Brother Gervinho (ABG) aside and say to him, "African Brother Gervinho (ABG), at this level of the game and in these big games, you must take your chances or your team will be punished! There can be no margin for waste!"
We continued to probe and threaten the City Goal, until and against the run of play, we conceded a needless corner through Kieran Gibbs just before half time. Our Zonal marking system failed us on this occassion, but I thought it was one of those lucky ones for City. The ball on this occassion landed between Podolski and Koscielny's heads and hit the head of Kompany, ending up high in the corner of our goal, at the juction of bar and post, such that Mikel Arteta who was covering that post could not defend it. Just one of those really.
After the break, the fatigue that I raised concern about during the midweek champions league game at Montpellier started creeping in. City moved Yaya Toure and Silva into the centre of the park and they started to dominate possession of the ball, closed us down quicker and forced our play even narrower.
Abou Diaby started to do his thing and thankfully, the boss replaced him with Theo Walcott in the 70th Minute. Olivier Giroud also came on for Lucas Podolski who was having a quiet game, as far as attacking play goes. Arsenal continued to huff and puff without real vernom. Walcott did nothing to support his alleged demand of £100K+ wage a week. Giroud did not do much but his presence up-field allowed us to slowly start gaining territorial advantage and push City back.
In the 82nd minute, the game came to life. Santi Cazorla found some space outside the City box and let fly. A few inches wider and that would have been a goal. Joe Hart saved but from the resulting corner, Manchester City's organisation let them down. the ball was not cleared and fell to the feet of Koscielny. He poked it into the net empatically.
A couple of minutes later, Manchester City had a corner at our end of the pitch. The ball was not cleared, instead Koscielny passed it to Aguero who missed the target from about 4 yards out.
A few minutes later, Gervinho had another chance to become a hero and win the match. He received a pass from the left, danced infield and then, instead of keeping calm and picking a spot (again!), he swung wildly at the ball, missing the goal by several kilometres! I thought African Brother Gervinho (ABG) is an embarassment to Africa at that particular moment...
I wish the two chances that fell to African Brother Gervinho (ABG) had fallen to Podolski. There would have been two similar outcomes in both circumstances: 2 goals. But hey...
Afterwards, you could see which of the two managers was happier. Arsene Wenger said;
"I am pleased because [a point] was the minimum we deserved today. I am pleased also with the quality of our performance and our spirit. Also a bit frustrated because I feel there was room to do more. We had early chances and very late chances, especially African Brother Gervinho (ABG) at the edge of the box where he missed the target. But overall I hope this will reinforce our belief and confidence and reassure us about our potential in this league.Don Mannone also did himself no harm. I thought he had a very decent performance. He has been blamed for the goal, but I don't think there was any way of him reaching it. Had he stayed on the line, there was no way of him saving it either. It is just one of those corners you have to accept was perfect for Manchester City, unlucky for Arsenal.
I cannot decide between Per Metersacker and Aaron Ramsey who my Man of The Match is. Metersacker was making crucial blocks and interceptions with a swing of his hip and a flick of his leg. His reading of the game is good.
Aaron Ramsey on the other hand is the type of midfielder you want and need for this kind of game. Faced with powerful midfielders in the mould of Yaya Toure, Ramsey is no lightweight when it comes to burning energy. My word, but this boy has got quite an engine in him. He was full of running, passing, marking intercepting and making things happen when the likes of Diaby were getting tired.
Overall, I'll take a point. That was a very solid performance by Arsenal. The team is looking solid defensively but equally potent in attack. Let's just see if we shall last the course of the season.
Onwards march the Arsenal!!
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