Match Report – Player Ratings – Arteta reaction – video
Where to start? Well, what about the first few seconds when Kai Havertz collided with Rodri? Rodri was walking across his path. The Spanish international pretended to get hit in the face, and the game was stopped for two minutes while he held his face and received treatment. That set the tone for what was to come.
A few minutes later, Erling Haaland was slammed into William Saliba during an aerial clearance, a dangerous move that the referee pocketed. It was an afternoon where the rivalry reached a new level. Haaland did what he does best and scored. Saliba and Gabriel were never on the same wavelength, but Sabinho passed him and slammed home the ball to make it 1-0.
It could have been worse. Ilkay Gundogan hit the post and City built up momentum that we had a hard time dealing with. And then there was one of those moments that changed the game. Rodri hit his knee in a corner, this time he was really hurt and had to come off. Mateo Kovacic came on, but the home team broke and we started to play a little bit.
Almost immediately we were level. City were upset that the referee had called on both captains in midfield after a free kick, not giving Kyle Walker time to get back into position. Thomas Partey took it and passed it to Martinelli, who then passed it to Riccardo Calafiori for a superb goal on his first Premier League start. It was a superb finish and as for City’s complaints, Walker may have been distracted but he wasn’t paying attention and City were disorganised by the substitution. That’s more his fault than the referee’s. And I don’t want to give Michael Oliver the benefit of the doubt (read on).
Even at 1-1, we were struggling to hold on to this game. By the 33rd minute, Declan Rice had made just three passes. Trossard and Havertz had two and one respectively. But our chances were drying up and we were threatening from set pieces. Gabriel was too strong for Jeremy Doku at one corner, so they put Walker on him next. What followed was possibly one of the most ridiculous things we have seen this season.
Walker poked and prodded Gabriel, probably trying to block him. The Brazilian swayed one way, then the other, ran to the back post, jumped as high as he could and headed home to make it 2-1. A brilliant dismissal. He is a threat, and his timing is impeccable, but also credit Bukayo Saka’s delivery quality and Gabriel Martinelli’s job of blocking Ederson. The City keeper was so weak and vulnerable at both corners from a goalkeeper who is considered the best in the world, it was a pleasure to watch.
The goal came just before the break and gave us a good platform to go into half-time, but then came the moment that changed the game. Leandro Trossard, who had been booked for a very soft foul, was shown a second yellow for ‘delaying the restart’. He cleared the ball after the foul. He probably intended to pass the ball rather than kick it, and he cleared it, but it looked like a hoof. It was also a bit instinctive and barely a second after the referee had blown the whistle (and the City player was on the ground anyway, so I’m not sure if he was actually delaying any restart).
Michael Oliver didn’t hesitate. Second yellow. Red card. And look, of all the teams in the Premier League, we should be very careful about this one because we’ve already broken this rule. In fact, we seem to be the only team that this rule applies to. You didn’t have to look far on social media last night to find examples of players doing the same thing and not getting sent off. In fact, one of them was Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai. That game was… you guessed it, Michael Oliver was the referee.
So here’s my take: Trossard was a bit foolish and shouldn’t have given the referee, especially that referee, the opportunity to put himself front and center. We know this rule very well and we have to be smarter in the future. But at the same time, this rule is bullshit and we shouldn’t let this little thing ruin the game because that’s the rule. It ruined the game.
I think it was great that Arsenal almost got it in the second half. There was a heroic defensive effort until City scored the last goal, but City got a point that I don’t think they really deserved. But objectively, it turned a great game of football (potentially an all-time Premier League classic) into a terrible game of football. I watched it because I’m an Arsenal fan, but if it had been City vs Liverpool or Man U or anyone else and the away team had been sent off, I would have just looked away. To be honest, I wouldn’t have watched it and I would have felt somewhat cheated after such a fascinating first half. The self-proclaimed ‘best league in the world’ is in danger of becoming a laughing stock because of this nonsense (even though I suspect there was a decision somewhere in the executive to distort the sporting and entertainment aspects of the game, because the latter attracts more headlines and attention).
Basically the Premier League and/or PGMOL have created a ‘delayed restart’ issue to make it seem like they have the authority, but in reality, people have never talked about it or worried about it for a second. Let me be clear here, there are a lot of good reasons why a player can be sent off, but this is not one of them. There are other ways to delay the restart. The simplest way is to add time. That’s what extra time is for.
I am also genuinely amazed at how quickly this crap has become normal. Former players and pundits are supporting the referee’s decision to send off Trossard. A combative midfielder like Roy Keane would have enjoyed this physical game, but the referee is supporting the decision to send someone off and give one team a complete advantage. It is so petty and pointless. What are we doing here? Why is no one saying ‘this is stupid, no one wants this’ and just parroting the PGMOL press release?
Michael Oliver is the same referee who didn’t want to send Kovacic off last season because he ‘overreacted’ and ‘didn’t want to have a negative impact on the game’. It’s ridiculous that the same thing didn’t apply when it came to Arsenal players. As I said, all we can do is be more sensible and control what we can control, but I stand by what I said after Declan Rice was sent off. No player, not even a Spurs player, should be sent off for that. We had seconds left in the half and Oliver could have applied common sense and talked to Trossard, but he didn’t. He wanted to have a negative impact on the game, at least for us.
We’ve come this far and we haven’t even mentioned Doku. Did he delay the restart? Even if he put the ball back into the area the referee pointed to, he clearly kicked the ball past Rice, who was supposed to take a free kick. So yes. When you think about the slight touch Rice had against Brighton and how it was punished, it’s hard not to be frustrated by the discrepancy. Back to Trossard, I can understand the decision in the current context (even if I think it’s ridiculous). But I can’t stand double standards. The rules should apply to everyone, even the stupid ones.
The red card meant we made a change, Ben White came on for Bukayo Saka and the plan was to make it harder for City to break us down. Mikel Arteta called it impossible and we almost did it. Everyone has to realise how exhausting it is for a man who puts in a huge defensive effort. Physically and mentally, it’s really tough. We made blocks, clearances, saves and catches while City threw the kitchen sink at us, often playing right outside our box. We kept beating them.
Eventually, a slight lapse in concentration from a corner resulted in a lucky counterattack, and John Stones equalised in the 98th minute. It’s understandable that Arsenal wasted time trying to ease the pressure a bit, but with the ball in play for over 35 minutes, you can ask where the time came from. That’s the most in a first half this season. It was disgusting, like a punch in the gut. I don’t think an opponent’s goal has had that effect on me for a long time.
We worked very hard with 10 men against a team that was tenacious in quality and experience, and it was terrible to concede so late. But I have a strange feeling about this game and what we will get out of it. Arteta has often used these things as a way to further motivate and unite the team. He will do that 100% in this game.
He will make sure we don’t take it as the pain of that late goal or the two points we lost. He will make it all about effort, hard work, unity and the way the players stand up for each other in the most trying situation you can face in the Premier League. This was also the third away game in a week, City had an extra day’s rest after their Champions League draw with Inter Milan, and the way we dug so deep will help his team take another step forward. I think we should be proud of the effort we saw yesterday because it wasn’t easy.
He later said:
Obviously we were thrown into a situation that was almost impossible for 56 minutes, but somehow we adapted to it in the best way possible and the way the team competed was just unbelievable. I’m really proud of the team. You can’t be thrown into a more difficult situation with that opponent and the way we handled it. I’m really proud of them.
As you might expect, he was not shown a red card and said:
I’m looking forward to playing 100 Premier League games this season, whether it’s 10v11, 10v10 or 9v10. Let’s see.
Of course I’m joking. Ultimately, it’s a game where I think there’s a lot to be gained despite the disappointment. Every season, the gap with City narrows, and this time, they couldn’t beat us even when the second half lasted almost an hour. As I said above, it’s clear that Arteta will capitalize on that, but more than that, I wonder if it changes the dynamic between us and them a little bit. We used to be easy to win, but now we’re not. And I expect to get revenge for how this game ultimately went in the home game against them.
Anyway, that’s all for now. You can join us later on Arsecast Extra when we can talk about this in more detail. Keep an eye out for the Q&A call. Thread Include hashtags @gunnerblog and @arseblog #Arsekastestra – Or, if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon, leave a question. #arsecast-additional-questions This is a channel on our Discord server.
Ford will be out mid-morning. For now, have a nice day.
