The expectation – maybe the worry – had been that Manchester Metropolis in opposition to Arsenal can be like their two league conferences final season: of undoubted prime quality and pressure, however a little bit tepid, missing the blood and thunder to reside lengthy within the reminiscence for neutrals. As an alternative, what performed out was a basic, a recreation of one million subplots, of controversy and brilliance and doziness that turned, finally, nearly a re-enactment of José Mourinho’s Internazionale eliminating Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona within the 2010 Champions League semi-final.
Arsenal had saved 9 clear sheets in 11 away league video games this 12 months with the win over Tottenham final week, through a header from a nook after a stifling defensive show, making clear that Mikel Arteta, though he served an apprenticeship as Guardiola’s assistant, is in no sense a Guardiola clone. Many even stated he has a streak of Mourinho (who himself, after all, was schooled within the Barcelona technique earlier than adapting it) however, nonetheless, few thought that by Sunday afternoon he’d have embraced the position with such gusto.
In 2010, Inter went to the Camp Nou 3-1 up from the primary leg of their Champions League semi-final and, after having Thiago Motta despatched off after 28 minutes, a call they disputed vehemently, retreated into their bunker, defending deep, scarcely bothering to current a risk on the counter, spoiling and time-wasting at each flip. Inter misplaced 1-0, however that was sufficient to undergo on combination which, in his personal eyes, was Mourinho’s best hour, to the extent that he had a life-size cutout of his finger-raised celebratory dash on the last whistle put in in his workplace when he was supervisor of Actual Madrid.
Inter had 19% possession in that recreation; Arsenal had 12% within the second half on Sunday. Metropolis had been predictably livid with Arsenal’s gamesmanship (and rightly so – what could also be nearly comically brazen in a one-off recreation would quickly lose its appeal if it turned recurring) with John Stones calling them “intelligent, or soiled” and Bernardo Silva accusing them of taking part in “to the bounds of what was attainable to do and allowed by the referee”.
However what was extraordinary was how badly Metropolis handled the scenario. That they had 28 photographs within the second half. Of these, 13 had been by defenders – the final of them, from John Stones, the late equaliser, which adopted the precedent of Gerard Piqué’s late objective in 2010. An extra 4 had been by Mateo Kovačić, who has solely scored 18 league targets in a profession that started six months after Mourinho’s triumph on the Camp Nou. Eighteen of the 28 photographs had been from exterior the field. Just one, earlier than the objective, had an xG of upper than 0.1.
Partly, that’s testomony to how nicely Arsenal defended, the diligence with which they dropped into their 5-4-0 form, sometimes a 6-3-0, simply exterior their very own field. There was a second in damage time when the ball was labored to Rúben Dias on the sting of the field and Arsenal, for as soon as, had no one in place to shut him down. It was a real alternative however so frazzled was Dias after 4 misses from vary, the final of which had provoked a grumble of frustration from the group, that he paused and performed a sideways move as an alternative.
But it surely additionally highlighted the oddity of the fashionable Metropolis. Guardiola is the good manipulator of form; his complete philosophy is about creating overloads and getting gamers into the positions wherein they are often at their handiest. But the 2 gamers who had probably the most touches within the second half had been Dias and Manuel Akanji (152 between them, versus 120 for each Arsenal outfielder put collectively); nice gamers although each are, are they actually the boys most probably to have the ability to choose their approach by a low block? Of Metropolis’s 13 league targets this season, 10 have been scored by Erling Haaland, which on the one hand speaks of his extraordinary skill, however on the opposite, with all due caveats about how few video games have been performed, could trace at dependency. On the very least it speaks of how far Guardiola has moved from his previous imaginative and prescient of a staff of 11 diminutive and nearly interchangeable midfielders.
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The opposite participant on whom Metropolis rely is Rodri, and his damage could find yourself as probably the most important consequence of the sport. The one staff Metropolis beat within the league with out him final season was Luton. He’s very important to how they play and, if he’s out for any protracted interval, it can make it more durable for Metropolis to regulate video games.
Arsenal would nearly definitely have taken a draw earlier than kick-off, and once more after Leandro Trossard’s pink card. There was one thing magnificent of their resistance, and but it proved not fairly sufficient – which is turning into an unlucky trope for Arsenal. A win would have lifted Arsenal above Metropolis; as it’s, the sense given how the sport went is that, for the second season working, they maybe missed a chance on the Etihad.
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That is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US on the recreation in Europe and past. Subscribe without spending a dime right here. Have a query for Jonathan? E-mail soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll reply the perfect in a future version
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