There has been a varied response to this game - some take issue with the less-than-adventurous tactics that Mancini kicked off with, whilst others are rightly happy with a point at 'Fortress Emirates.' These were the first league points Arsenal have dropped at home since United beat them in January and, whilst they are a greatly diminished team at the moment and on the back of a bad couple of results, a point keeps us in the running for fourth.
It was a game of little incident with both teams reluctant to concede ground in a tentative display. City set the stall out to defend with Mancini dropping the "injured" Adebayor to the bench in favour of the five-man midfield. This, combined with what Wenger admitted to be a reluctant Arsenal side, contributed to a game of very few chances.
I think the game-plan was always going to be to unleash Adebayor in the second half, but City may have had more success prior to that if Tevez had been on form. After apparently taking a few injections during the United game, he didn't look his normal self yesterday and looked a yard or two off the pace. Without his ordinary work-rate, his role as lone striker was completely ineffective and a rejuvenated Sol Campbell dealt with him without much trouble at all. It took the energy of Adebayor to set him free a little. I don't take the argument that Tevez cannot play in the lone striker role, because before Adebayor's return, people were suggesting he wouldn't be able to play with a partner, but he is certainly more effective in the free-role.
Despite Mancini's caution, City's midfield weren't having too much trouble nullifying Arsenal's patient probing in the first half and the extra man upfront helped to open the game up a bit. It is a shame we didn't test the potential weak-point of Fabianski, but to take a draw away from the Emirates still leaves us in pole position - despite being sixth at the time of writing.
The injury to Shay is a bit of a blow but, if our defence can defend like it did yesterday, Nielsen may have only a few tests to deal with - and yesterday he was strong when called upon.
It is one of the great paradoxes of football that you can be cursing a team one week, supporting them the next, and then returning to a slightly more sated hatred once more... But, for yesterday lunchtime only, I was glad United won.
It wouldn't be City if this didn't go right down to the wire, but West Ham's apparent safety yesterday will play into our hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment