Loss Premier League: Manchester City 4 - 1 Arsenal | Wednesday 26th, April | KO: 20:00 BST | BT Sport

Last night was not good enough and we must not repeat the mistakes we made if we must get a result here. Even a draw will be good enough.

We just need to abandon our principle but you know Mikel will never do that. He's so obsessed with winning his own philosophy rather trying to be pragmatic.

Even Pep sacrificed possession when they came to the Emirates earlier in the year. We have to pragmatic. We have to protect Holding like a group of wildebeest would protect their youngest calf.

Prediction

Man city 0-1 Arsenal

COYG!

 

[lomekian]

Didn’t watch the match and I won’t be bothering watching these sellouts again for the rest of the season.

Heck this might be it for me as far as following this club is concerned. It’s honestly a crime against humanity what they’ve served up the last 4 games and I just cba with it any longer. Not worth the hassle.

Ok we won't win it, but we are still top and could still equal our best ever points total if we wake up. If that is so bad that you can't follow the club any more, all I can say is don't let the door hit you on the way out, and I hope life in general isn't so traumatic for you.

 

[lomekian]

They've done the triple over us this season.

Not even Sir Alex's Man U could do us over this bad.

Ferguson's United weren't as good to be honest. City have beaten Utd's best ever points total in 5 of the last 6 seasons, and they still won the league that year.

 

[MartiSaka]

Who the **** draws these lines? Stones’ whole upper body is offside, yet they shift the camera angle to make us look at his feet.

We were screwed by camera angle

 

[lomekian]

Bollocks. We should’ve had this title virtually wrapped already had it not been for a combination of ridiculous complacency, freakish ability to contrive to somehow lose control of games that we had total control over and failure to get close to recapturing control and typically injuries at the worst possible time to get injuries. Incredibly frustrating to lose the title like this when we had as good as both hands on the trophy, making all the haters breathe a huge sigh of relief in the process.

Two bob clubs like Leicester city can capture the moment when the opportunity presents itself. We on the other hand have to do whatever it needs to take to manage to throw it away. I’m honestly done with this sh!te.

Leicester won the league with the lowest points total in the last 25 years as everyone around them self destructed spectacularly. We are up against the pressure of competing with a team about to win their 5th title in 6 years with yet again a higher points total than our club has ever achieved.

Grow up or bugger off.

 

[lomekian]

Why was this not a red card?

View attachment 14772

Apparently lack of force.....more commonly known as the person committing the offence played for a club down the road from PGMOL HQ.

 

[9jagooner]

Good point BUT we cannot afford to have an asset such as Tierney barely playing and reducing in value.

I disagree with Arteta on this but I feel he doesn't really rate him or he's not his type of player. Same goes for Nketiah, Nelson, Holding and maybe Smith Rowe, Since he's done well this season he must be allowed to choose his squad and then, if he fails, leave the club.

I see your point and mostly agree with you.
I just don't see how Arteta does not see Tierney's value. Yesterday for instance, one way we would have given City trouble was to send balls into their box. It was obvious our plan to overload the right then pass the ball to the left was well read by City (we conceded two goals trying to do this), an intelligent manager (and even maybe players) would have aimed to try something else.

BTW, before I get misunderstood, I am not Arteta out. I have acknowledged since he joined us that he is learning so I see this as part of his learning process. I am just surprised that given that City did to us yesterday exactly what they have done in previous matches and what United also did to us, yet the manager keeps trying the same method.
Next season, I expect more teams to see through this same predictable style of playing.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

The worst thing about yesterday is how Jack ****ing Grealish was acting like some hardman. Partey let him grab his shirt. Grealish you know.

 

[lomekian]

We've been knocked out of competitions fairly early this season, If we look tired and fatigued then there are questions to be asked.

The answers are pretty simple. Youngest squad. Reserves who are either still developing or will never be good enough, making rotation risky. A team who isn't good enough to coast through games and spent 80% of the season balls to the wall. Several players playing more demanding roles than in previous seasons. A number who have never been first choice for a full season before. A couple who've not got that much experience of sustaining weekly selection in the most physically demanding league in Europe.

 

[lomekian]

True another thing Arteta has to learn properly.

Agree - though a better squad would go a long way.

 

[lomekian]

It's dawned on me today that the future of the Premier league is not going to be very competitive. I can see us improving, but i think sadly it probably does not matter that much.

Depends on how long Pep stays and whether the Premier League charges have any teeth. Chelsea and United are perfect examples of how a bad managerial appointment or two and a bad summer or two transfer wise can make a seemingly indestructable ship quickly veer into the rocks.

 

[9jagooner]

Pretty simple - they turn up half-arsed expecting to win against the worse teams, and in both games against us they have been super pumped up and 'on it' from the first seconds. Its like asking how can Real Madrid lose to some relegation teams every season in Spain and yet keep winning the Champions League all the time. Or how Bayern always beat Dortmund despite bad results elsewhere. City are always really focused against us.

Of course moving fixtures away from our top run of form right into their best from doesn't bloody help either.

Also because we fail to be pragmatic when we play them whether it's Wenger or Arteta. We want to play our football.
Smaller teams don't mind parking the bus or changing their strategies and hoping for that one break. City play such a high line that it's easy to put a Toney or Mbuemo or any other fast and strong striker upfront waiting for that break

 

[lomekian]

LOL... You really believe the rest of the Top 6 teams will still be missing next season like what happened this season? And the usual Top Ten Teams like Everton, West Ham and Leicester, are fighting for relegation? We would be fighting for Top 4 next season and will be lucky to get it with Newcastle entering the picture.

Do not overrate Arteta's 2nd place. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got 2nd place while the Top 6 were competing and not midtable, and that without a so called "process".

You conveniently forget one key fact. We still have 75 points with 5 games to go, despite dropping points to Everton, West Ham and Newcastle that you mention. If we make good signings and keep improving, there is no reason we can't do well next season.

 

[Vinci]

The worst thing about yesterday is how Jack ****ing Grealish was acting like some hardman. Partey let him grab his shirt. Grealish you know.

Partey was intimidated by his calves.

 

[lomekian]

Agreed - for what it’s worth and having spoken to one of the barristers close to the case, the PL are justifiably confident of getting a result - problem is it will take years and will probably become quite political as time passes.

Yeah. The gun is giving off a lot of smoke. City are guilty as hell and everyone knows it, but they have a nation state funding an army of lawyers. Its why the UEFA charges fell down - they were time bound, and the City legal machine just clogged the process up beyond that timescale. That's why the key EPL thing is that are NOT time bound, and have already been building their case for years.

May be quicker to ferment a revolution that overthrows the evil corrupt ****ers running that country at the expense of their citizens.

 

[LittleMo]

Agree - though a better squad would go a long way.

The squad isn’t as bad as people are making out. Trossard, Jorginho, Tierney, even Nelson and ESR are all perfectly good players at this level and more than capable of coming on and playing better than the players who started.

The squad will never look good enough if Arteta never picks them or when he does, they are rusty and he has them playing out of position or in ways they can’t play. He needs to become capable of changing things.

Really good players want to play, even City can’t keep all of their squad players all the time. The idea we’ll have some squad full of immense quality waiting to come in is a fantasy.

 

[MikelHadADream]

All I noticed was how consistently free and open KDB was, Partey no where near him and Xhaka was doing absolutely nothing as well.

Can’t believe it.

We played into City’s hand. Arteta really needs to consider a double pivot and a proper defender at left back, you can’t get away with only having Gabriel and White who can defend at the back.

 

[lomekian]

Why has my stance been tediously clear for months? Do explain. What actually is my stance?

Seemingly to be a miserable whinging git who complains about either the coach or certain players with the regularity of someone who has long made up their mind and has little interest in the evidence in front of them

 

[lomekian]

All I noticed was how consistently free and open KDB was, Partey no where near him and Xhaka was doing absolutely nothing as well.

Can’t believe it.

Yeah - this was game that perfectly illustrated why we want Rice &/or Ciacedo. Xhaka has no athleticism and was chasing shadows (slowly), and Partey has no motor for all his other qualities. And Ødegaard is mid paced and physically not strong, despite good energy. Against most teams this doesn't matter, but at against the best or particularly physically intense opposition (Leeds/Everton away), they can't keep up, and don't win enough duels, and can't recover. Its clear as day and the club's transfer targets make it clear that its recognised internally too.

That said, KDB was excellent and deployed with great intelligence. Stay close to Haaland when you can and just go anywhere Partey isn't.

 

[OnlyOne]

We played into City’s hand. Arteta really needs to consider a double pivot and a proper defender at left back, you can’t get away with only having Gabriel and White who can defend at the back.

I think we can if we have a proper CDM which Partey was for a lot of this season.

Just felt like Partey couldn’t get near anyone.

 

[lomekian]

I see your point and mostly agree with you.
I just don't see how Arteta does not see Tierney's value. Yesterday for instance, one way we would have given City trouble was to send balls into their box. It was obvious our plan to overload the right then pass the ball to the left was well read by City (we conceded two goals trying to do this), an intelligent manager (and even maybe players) would have aimed to try something else.

BTW, before I get misunderstood, I am not Arteta out. I have acknowledged since he joined us that he is learning so I see this as part of his learning process. I am just surprised that given that City did to us yesterday exactly what they have done in previous matches and what United also did to us, yet the manager keeps trying the same method.
Next season, I expect more teams to see through this same predictable style of playing.

Agree re Tierney.
Next season? I think we'll change again. Arteta seems to change a lot in pre-season each year. Some real legs in midfield would help a lot too.