How Man City parked the bus and set a new record in Pep Guardiola’s tactical U-turn at Arsenal | OneFootball

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Mikel Arteta should have the warm glow of a man who was complimented and copied. Pep Guardiola’s relationship with his old assistant remains intriguing. He called him “my friend Mikel Arteta” this week and, as those fluent in Guardiola-speak know, anyone described in such terms tends not to actually be his friend.

But this was Guardiola, the manager who changed football, threatening to out-Arteta Arteta. Johan Cruyff’s most celebrated disciple almost emulating not his mentor, but his pupil. He didn’t quite succeed. Guardiola entered injury time on the brink of perhaps the greatest rearguard action of his career. Gabriel Martinelli denied Manchester City the least Pep-ish of victories and secured a peculiar kind of parity.

For much of a 1-1 draw, it was attack against defence. And Guardiola’s side, shedding their usual identity, were defence. Arsenal, Guardiola had said this week, were the most solid team in the league. For 91 minutes, City staked their claim to take that title. Until, perhaps remembering they are more accustomed to defending with a high line than in their own box, they pushed up for once, Martinelli sprang the offside trap and continued his transformation into Arsenal’s new super-sub. That is the difficulty with defensive blueprints. You have to be flawless. City almost were, led for 84 minutes and missed the chance to draw level with Arsenal in the table.

It may still be seen as a point gained for City. It is not often in recent years that they have gone to the Emirates Stadium as underdogs. They played like underdogs, too. “When we have to defend it is because the opponent is better,” Guardiola said. They defended a lot. Their possession stats were off the charts: just not in the way that tends to mean. City had less of the ball than any Guardiola team ever, a mere 32.8 per cent. “I cannot live in this country with another record,” deadpanned Guardiola. “I am so proud of that.”

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Viktor Gyokeres is forced wide by Manchester City's defence (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

The numbers were unusual. Arsenal had 39 touches in the opposition’s box to City’s eight. Normally the challenge is to add up the passes from the City players. Here the task was to count the clearances. Rodri made 11, Josko Gvardiol nine, the substitute Matheus Nunes five, the entire side 60.

It was backs to the wall; the wall, indeed, may be a fair description of Gianluigi Donnarumma. The Italian had frustrated Arsenal in the Champions League. He threatened to do likewise in the Premier League. Then, when on the brink of a third consecutive clean sheet in a City shirt, Martinelli became the first player to score against him.

Which felt cruel. Normally City’s moral victories come when they pass teams off the mark, when their dominated is not reflected in the scoreline. Here, they were dominated in some respects, defiant in others. Arsenal had fewer clear-cut chances – indeed no shots at all in the opening half-hour – just because City defended so well.

Guardiola’s gameplan seemed based on some of Arteta’s. He had two sizeable full-backs who weren’t really full-backs. They flourished. Abdukodir Khusanov made one recovery challenge on Leandro Trossard that was pure Kyle Walker. Nico O’Reilly saw off Noni Madueke.

Or maybe Guardiola embraced his inner Mourinho. His side played without the ball, got a booking for timewasting, riled their opponents in a couple of rows based on needless narkiness. Somewhere in Lisbon, the frequently sacked one may have been nodding approvingly. It has taken 17 years but Guardiola had come around to his viewpoint. There is a beauty in defence.

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Erling Haaland put City in front early in the first half (Getty Images)

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Gabriel Martinelli scored Arsenal’s late equaliser (Getty Images)

Or he may have been inspired by a couple of inferiors. When Nathan Ake came on for Phil Foden, Guardiola went to three centre-backs. It was a ploy that seemed borrowed from Nuno Espirito Santo. When John Stones came on, Guardiola had four centre-backs, albeit with one of them at left-back. Include Khusanov’s first-half outing and five central defenders took the field. He was going full Pulis.

When the City penalty box was packed, Set-piece FC entered the land of the giants and the biggest of the giants was Donnarumma. With a big back four plus Rodri and Erling Haaland, City’s starting 11 had a supersized seven. Try outjumping them, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes. Arsenal’s 11 corners brought no reward. “We defended the corners so well,” said Guardiola.

That gave him pride. So, too, the spirit and the body language, all a marked improvement from last season. Yet the approach was enforced: by Arsenal, by fatigue after a demanding week. This isn’t the way Guardiola wants to play every week. Did he savour every header, every clearance? “I suffer,” he said. “I want [the ball] to be closer to [David] Raya than to Gigi [Donnarumma].”

Which, actually, isn’t the Mourinho or Nuno or Pulis way. Perhaps not the Arteta way, either, though this game offered a mirror image of last season’s 2-2 draw at the Etihad when Arsenal sought to hold on. “We played 54 minutes with 10 men [last season],” countered Arteta. Which was a way of saying Guardiola went even more defensive this time around. But, actually, not by choice.