Pep Guardiola defends Manchester City’s park-the-bus tactics despite Arsenal draw | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has leapt to the defence of his side’s unconventionally conservative tactical setup in their draw with Arsenal on Sunday.

Eyebrows were raised as the footballing world looked on to Manchester City – renowned for their attacking and possession-heavy style of play under Guardiola – resorted to a strategy resembling the famous park-the-bus ways attributed to the likes of Jose Mourinho.

City took an early lead at the Emirates Stadium courtesy of Erling Haaland and having named an unchanged lineup for the third time in a week, Guardiola ordered his men to shut up shot and dig deep to defend whilst only breaking on the counter with the likes of Haaland, Tjjani Reijnders and Jeremy Doku.

The plan worked to near perfection and Manchester City seemed destined to defy all odds and claim nine points out of nine in a week’s worth of games against Manchester United, Napoli and Tottenham – but Gabriel Martinelli’s injury-time dink over Gianluigi Donnarumma rescued a point for Mikel Arteta’s side in north London.

There were mixed reactions to the way Manchester City’s rather respectful demeanour against Arsenal at the weekend, with many hailing Guardiola for his conservative outlook on the game owing to the 5-1 battering his side received at the Emirates Stadium in February – and others questioning why the Catalan advised his side against playing to their attacking strengths.

Guardiola attributed the manner in which his side set up to Arsenal’s credentials as well as Manchester City undergoing a period of transition, having only recently recovered from a difficult start to the 2025-26 Premier League campaign following successive losses to Tottenham and Brighton before the international break.

“I’m really proud, satisfied, I don’t know the right word. We recovered many things that last season we missed. We have an incredible spirit.,” Guardiola reflected on his side’s display against Arsenal on Sunday in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

“We cannot sustain all this season to play the way we played, and we don’t want it. But I give incredible, powerful credit to the opponent; Arsenal, most of their games, are able to do that to their opponents.

“Always I want to learn to celebrate when we draw in the way we draw in a game away to Arsenal; a semi-finalist in the UEFA Champions League, big contender in the last seasons. I want to celebrate that point.

“The only thing I’ve asked since I started my career is give everything to the pitch, and last season we didn’t in some moments. And this season, especially since USA and from United, we started to recover many things that define our teams for many, many years.”

“First comes the spirit we’ve shown this week and we have to take care of these kind of things like a father, a mother takes care of their sons.

“It’s the only thing we can be, and step by step when important injuries come back, when we’ll learn what we can do better – and Gigio (Donnarumma) will set better and James (Trafford) will set better, and many things, the team will grow up.”

Guardiola is expected to name a much-changed starting XI against Huddersfield Town on Wednesday evening as Manchester City kick off their 2025-26 Carabao Cup campaign ahead of Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Burnley.