yesterday man city played arsenal at etihad . now before i write about the game let me say that doesnt matter what formation you play or the way you execute it but atleast on defense the players mental ability and his ability to read the game and take decisions is put to test . those who do it correct are known as great players . if you had looked at the great teams of the past and present then you may had read about the game reading of the back four or one or two stalwarts in the team who would read the game and were able to stop the opposition in the tracks . the coach is important because he teaches you as to how you make decisions and what you should do in those situations . but ultimately it all depends on the player on the field and his ability and mental ability and there is the difference between a good player and great player .
man city started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation with sterling starting as the no.9 .while arsenal started with the same formation of 4-2-3-1 with sanchez in the no.9 position . the game started with arsenal sitting back and trying to soak up city pressure and hit them on the counter . on the very first counter arsenal were ahead and the very reason why arsenal were ahead because otamendi and kolarov . sanchez dropped deep to collect the ball as he does and let ozil,walcott and iwobi run beyond him and that has been the tailor made counter or way or offense for arsenal . now the reason for writing first para is this . first off otamendi or kolarov should have followed sanchez and shouldnt had given him time on the ball because they didnt had anybody beyond sanchez to worry about whom sanchez could release behind them . now even if they had not followed sanchez then they should had realized that he would try to release walcott who had made the run and they should kept track of him and made sure that the pass cant be played to him . city's defense were just ball watching in that play and were rightly punished . this is where the good players come into play because they can read the game better . reading play means that they can predict what is happening next and take the necessary steps and prevent it .
the goal was scored early in the first half and arsenal were comfortable for the whole half while city were just flat out . city were spending too much time on the ball and were just not crisp on the ball if you had looked at city's offense then you could see that at time there were only two players involved in the move the on passing and the one receiving and the others were just mannequins .city's offense lacked a clear direction . there were three or four times when yaya toure tried to release sterling behind the back four . the idea of playing sterling as the no.9 was to use his pace against gabriel and koscielny but city were just too slow in moving the ball . the instinctive changes that gaurdiola makes or the inputs that he provides were completely lacking . city were far too flaccid with toure the most frustrated player because he was slow and coquelin was getting the better off him in the exchanges . gaurdiola didnt seem to have the answer's to arsenal's counter in the first half and the first half ended with arsenal ahead . for the first time i thought that gaurdiola had lost it and had the changes in the second half didnt worked then the thoughts would had been confirmed .
gaurdiola changed the personal in the seconld half first off he bought de bruyne central and sterling wide and also the other thing that he changed on the defensive front . the time and space that sanchez was getting wasnt there . sanchez was followed up by kolarov and otamendi and was denied time on the ball . the most important change was that they were moving the ball crisply and moving quickly . the change from the first half was that in the first half city were playng the ball more in the wide area's and were unable to bring it inside . sane who was staying wide in the first had started to make diagonal run's towards the goal in the second half with de bruyne dropping deep like sanchez to release sterling and sane behind the back four . city wanted to stretched arsenal although arsenal wanted to be more compact but there was considerable space between the back four and the goal keeper which was there to be exploited .
the reason why arsenal lost there way in the second half was that sanchez wanted to much off the ball . city had changed there mentality and were not going to give sanchez the time on the ball so it would had been better off sanchez to pass the ball quickly and move it crisply and his over insistence on doing things caused arsenal their offense . arsenal tried to change things by bringing giroud but by that time arsenal had lost the impetus and were merely chasing the game .
ozil was criticized after the game for disappearing during the game but then in the first half the way arsenal are set on the counter he doesnt sees lot of the ball and he dependent on sanchez's service to feed him the ball's as ozil gets into sanchez's position to keep the centre backs occupied . but after giroud was bought about i think ozil should had taken the reins of the game but then he needs somebody to play around him and then he flourishes but he failed to establish that . while criticizing ozil nobody questioned walcott . he might had scored the goal but just look his ability on the ball . he cannot drive the ball . hopeless on the ball . the goal he scored was made by sanchez's work . why wasnt he subbed in the first place is mystery . i think iwobi deserves his minutes . to be honest i was impressed with granite xhaka and coquelin who dominated the arsenal midfield for me .
man city started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation with sterling starting as the no.9 .while arsenal started with the same formation of 4-2-3-1 with sanchez in the no.9 position . the game started with arsenal sitting back and trying to soak up city pressure and hit them on the counter . on the very first counter arsenal were ahead and the very reason why arsenal were ahead because otamendi and kolarov . sanchez dropped deep to collect the ball as he does and let ozil,walcott and iwobi run beyond him and that has been the tailor made counter or way or offense for arsenal . now the reason for writing first para is this . first off otamendi or kolarov should have followed sanchez and shouldnt had given him time on the ball because they didnt had anybody beyond sanchez to worry about whom sanchez could release behind them . now even if they had not followed sanchez then they should had realized that he would try to release walcott who had made the run and they should kept track of him and made sure that the pass cant be played to him . city's defense were just ball watching in that play and were rightly punished . this is where the good players come into play because they can read the game better . reading play means that they can predict what is happening next and take the necessary steps and prevent it .
the goal was scored early in the first half and arsenal were comfortable for the whole half while city were just flat out . city were spending too much time on the ball and were just not crisp on the ball if you had looked at city's offense then you could see that at time there were only two players involved in the move the on passing and the one receiving and the others were just mannequins .city's offense lacked a clear direction . there were three or four times when yaya toure tried to release sterling behind the back four . the idea of playing sterling as the no.9 was to use his pace against gabriel and koscielny but city were just too slow in moving the ball . the instinctive changes that gaurdiola makes or the inputs that he provides were completely lacking . city were far too flaccid with toure the most frustrated player because he was slow and coquelin was getting the better off him in the exchanges . gaurdiola didnt seem to have the answer's to arsenal's counter in the first half and the first half ended with arsenal ahead . for the first time i thought that gaurdiola had lost it and had the changes in the second half didnt worked then the thoughts would had been confirmed .
gaurdiola changed the personal in the seconld half first off he bought de bruyne central and sterling wide and also the other thing that he changed on the defensive front . the time and space that sanchez was getting wasnt there . sanchez was followed up by kolarov and otamendi and was denied time on the ball . the most important change was that they were moving the ball crisply and moving quickly . the change from the first half was that in the first half city were playng the ball more in the wide area's and were unable to bring it inside . sane who was staying wide in the first had started to make diagonal run's towards the goal in the second half with de bruyne dropping deep like sanchez to release sterling and sane behind the back four . city wanted to stretched arsenal although arsenal wanted to be more compact but there was considerable space between the back four and the goal keeper which was there to be exploited .
the reason why arsenal lost there way in the second half was that sanchez wanted to much off the ball . city had changed there mentality and were not going to give sanchez the time on the ball so it would had been better off sanchez to pass the ball quickly and move it crisply and his over insistence on doing things caused arsenal their offense . arsenal tried to change things by bringing giroud but by that time arsenal had lost the impetus and were merely chasing the game .
ozil was criticized after the game for disappearing during the game but then in the first half the way arsenal are set on the counter he doesnt sees lot of the ball and he dependent on sanchez's service to feed him the ball's as ozil gets into sanchez's position to keep the centre backs occupied . but after giroud was bought about i think ozil should had taken the reins of the game but then he needs somebody to play around him and then he flourishes but he failed to establish that . while criticizing ozil nobody questioned walcott . he might had scored the goal but just look his ability on the ball . he cannot drive the ball . hopeless on the ball . the goal he scored was made by sanchez's work . why wasnt he subbed in the first place is mystery . i think iwobi deserves his minutes . to be honest i was impressed with granite xhaka and coquelin who dominated the arsenal midfield for me .
i really dont like to talk on such subjects but i think the two goals were offside .
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