LOSS PL: Manchester City 2 - 1 Arsenal | Sunday 19th April | KO: 16:30 BST | Sky Sports

Once lovers now rivals… apart from the sideshow with the Scousers and the Bald Dutchman last year this is the true title race we have come to know.



Pretty bleak run in to this season defining game form wise but crucially we will have a better squad available (hopefully) than Bournemouth or Sporting.



This lineup is controversial and depends on three players coming back who’ve been absent but Havertz up top changed the way we played tonight.

The ball stuck with him and it allowed Noni and Trossard to get on the ball more in dangerous areas. That will be crucial to hit City on the break on Sunday.

Bring Gyok off the bench by all means and just pray that Rice and Zubimendi can make it through before a well deserved week off.

COYG please for once in my life!

 

[El Realista]

I think we werent that bad tbf, think City were kinda lucky with the amount of chances we did not scored. but we need to play Eze and Ødegaard together from now on.

Didn’t they hit the post before 4th min and had like 60% possession the whole game? And more shots also?

 

[grange]

Morning @grange mate

So about that Berta masterclass? About them new signings? About all that depth….

Eze was our best player yesterday. You should watch the games..

 

[SuperGoon]

Hurts.

Just listening to Tom Odell until my wounds are licked.

See you next season, guys.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

Eze was our best player yesterday. You should watch the games..

Not surprised you think this, simply not a football mind, probably watch Baller League.

 

[SuperGoon]

The house, it feels so empty
'Cause now I live alone
The kid next door keeps asking me where you've gone
And I tell him, I tell him you've gone home
But when I close my eyes
You're standing there in front of me
When I close my eyes
It's almost like it used to be
Then I realise you're just a ghost
Maybe at most, a fragment of my mind
When I close my eyes
The days can be so lonely
So I stay out all night
My friends, say take it slowly, hmm
I tell 'em that I'll try

 

[Clrnc]

Didn’t they hit the post before 4th min and had like 60% possession the whole game? And more shots also?

They had 40 touches in our box. We had 14...

 

[Rasmi]

They had 40 touches in our box. We had 14...

I think the worst part is we have gone backwards so much footballing wise, our last 2 games with City looked like a smaller team playing big time playing on the counter. We just can’t keep the ball and is constantly rushed. Like a plucky underdog we had some chances. But that’s all it was. We just not great team on the ball

Really think 14/15 team with Özil, Sanchez, Cazorla, ramsey, wilshere outplays this team. That team was technically on different level. Even the strikers giroud and welbeck were not worse than these guys

 

[SuperGoon]

I think the worst part is we have gone backwards so much footballing wise, our last 2 games with City looked like a smaller team playing big time playing on the counter. We just can’t keep the ball and is constantly rushed. Like a plucky underdog we had some chances. But that’s all it was. We just not great team on the ball

Really think 14/15 team with Özil, Sanchez, Cazorla, ramsey, wilshere outplays this team. That team was technically on different level. Even the strikers giroud and welbeck were not worse than these guys

I agree with most of what you're saying, but rewatch Giroud in the Monaco game before you make statements like that. We were not clinacal back then.

 

[grange]

probably watch Baller League.

No idea what this is but I'm not surprised you're engaging in reality TV involving balls.

 

[MartiSaka]

I think the worst part is we have gone backwards so much footballing wise, our last 2 games with City looked like a smaller team playing big time playing on the counter. We just can’t keep the ball and is constantly rushed. Like a plucky underdog we had some chances. But that’s all it was. We just not great team on the ball

Really think 14/15 team with Özil, Sanchez, Cazorla, ramsey, wilshere outplays this team. That team was technically on different level. Even the strikers giroud and welbeck were not worse than these guys

This was my feel for the game. It felt we played as well as we could against a team that was superior to us, not an equal. It felt they were on another level to us on the ball, a bit like PSG last yr in the CL. We were constantly under pressure, and unlike a lot of the games we play, even when we went behind, they still controlled a lot of the ball.

I felt a lot of our chances came from their naive defence. For instance, i have no idea how Havertz found himself 1-1 with Silva so easily. Something went wrong for them there.

 

[Rasmi]

I agree with most of what you're saying, but rewatch Giroud in the Monaco game before you make statements like that. We were not clinacal back then.

Current team has 63 league goals in 33. That team ended with 71 goals in 38. Pretty much same level. Keep in mind the amount of goals from set pieces we get now

I don’t see a team with Wilshere, Cazorla Özil, Sanchez, Walcott and Welbeck/Giroud get 0.05xg goals from open play in a home game ever

 

[SuperGoon]

Current team has 63 league goals in 33. That team ended with 71 goals in 38. Pretty much same level. Keep in mind the amount of goals from set pieces we get now

I don’t see a team with Wilshere, Cazorla Özil, Sanchez, Walcott and Welbeck/Giroud get 0.05xg goals from open play in a home game ever

True. True.

 

[outlawz]

You mean Dembele? Mbappe is at Real now.

But yeah, generally that happens. Arteta also brought in your dream transfers like Pablo Mari, Zinchenko, Jesus and most importantly Raheem Sterling along with him.

I had Pablo Mari's poster on my wall so it was a dream come true.

Luis Enrique is like Karim Benzema - people need to stop pining for something that isn't going to happen.

We had our chance and the ****ing Board fumbled it. I don't know how well he would have done for us in 2018- given that his time at Roma and for the Spanish NT was less than stellar but I would take him in a heartbeat today as we are only missing the eternal final piece.

 

[Bob H from Manchester]

Hi Pep. I am pretty sure you are capable of winning those last 5 games.

Haha Marti, I’m much older, much poorer and much less bald than Pep and I can’t imagine why you’d confuse an old boy like me for a living legend of the game.

Are City capable of winning their last 5 games? Well yes they are although they have 6 games to play, not 5, and the additional risk therein is one of the reasons that the bookies have the odds in Arsenal’s favour.
If City whup Burnley on Wednesday then that will increase the likelihood but, as a lifelong City supporter I can vouch without a shadow of a doubt that them losing would be a very City thing to do . . they call such stumbles ‘typical City’ in my neck of the woods and there have been many typical City moments already this season as clear evidence of that.
Being capable / having that outcome as a possibility or even a probability isn’t the same as a certainty though and if your lads do what the bookies expect then they’ll deserve the accolades and I can’t think of another team that deserve to win it as much as Arsenal do in the event that City don’t.
I’m a City supporter but I’ve always had a good repartee with the Arsenal faithful, I see you lot as a kind of southern version of City fans (though a lot of dinks have joined the City bandwagon in the last decade).
I honestly enjoyed having Arteta working with Pep at City, I think that they learnt a lot from each other and, because I have some emotional distance from Arsenal’s current tilt at PL success, I probably have more respect for Arteta as a coach / manager than a lot of the posters in here.
In short; I was posting respectfully and truthfully and I’m Bob not Pep

 

[Nunowoolmez]

Not that it alters anything but, regards the game, I agree with what I see as the more common and reasonable sentiments in this thread inasmuch as I thought it could’ve gone either way and that a draw would’ve been the fairest outcome if fairness was an actual thing in football.
Beyond that, as it currently stands and even with my blue tints on, I firmly believe that Arsenal are most likely by far to win the Premier League title this season.

I recommend that those in here who’re wallowing in negativity should look at the odds the bookies are giving . . and if they genuinely think that City will win the title then they should put their wages on it because the returns will be good if that comes true.

What I’d like the outcome to be is no secret but if I had to bet on it then I’d bet on Arsenal for sure because when we put the emotion aside we all know the bookies aren’t daft.

 

[outlawz]

Rather ironic that the box-crashing LB did us again in O'Reilly. While the counter-arguments about him being a midfielder turned LB are fair - he is still playing as a LB and whatever gains you get from his attacking play, you're losing with him not being a natural defender. So it's swings and roundabouts as to whether a CB or CM is better suited to the LB role. That's notwithstanding that Josip Gvardiol played the same role in 23/24 and he is a CB by trade.

 

[Bob H from Manchester]

If that’s how you view it then I’m grateful for your very measured response as I’m not in here to wind anyone up.
I come on this forum regularly, mostly to read & rarely to comment.
I don’t hide who I support and, out of respect, I never post in the build-up to a game between our sides and never in the immediate aftermath.
I was just making the point that you’re still the favourites to lift the title and, if that’s the outcome then I’ll be happy for you all because you’ve been knocking at the door for a few seasons now, you’ve played some magnificent football and you deserve every success that comes your way.
If you see this as bait then you’ll have to concede that it’s well sugared eh?

 

[Gooner Zig]

They had 40 touches in our box. We had 14...

So? They had like 30% possession at the Emirates and got a 1-1 draw.

 

[Nunowoolmez]

If that’s how you view it then I’m grateful for your very measured response as I’m not in here to wind anyone up.
I come on this forum regularly, mostly to read & rarely to comment.
I don’t hide who I support and, out of respect, I never post in the build-up to a game between our sides and never in the immediate aftermath.
I was just making the point that you’re still the favourites to lift the title and, if that’s the outcome then I’ll be happy for you all because you’ve been knocking at the door for a few seasons now, you’ve played some magnificent football and you deserve every success that comes your way.
If you see this as bait then you’ll have to concede that it’s well sugared eh?

NGL I couldn't be a*sed to read all that mate !

 

[SomGooner]

We would’ve had enough cushion to absorb a loss to Manchester City if we had simply taken care of business against Forest and Wolves. Instead, The Spanish Tony Pulis’s tendency to protect narrow leads…sitting back rather than pushing for a second goal cost us crucial points.

It’s exactly this lack of ruthlessness that keeps hurting our title hopes; you can’t expect to win the league if you keep dropping points against teams you should be beating.

Losing four points in those fixtures isn’t just frustrating…it’s the kind of slip that hands the advantage straight back to City.

I want him gone and the sooner he F*CKS OFF, the better.