Manchester City 3-0 Arsenal 5-things

 

1. 35 minutes Plod by

The minutes ticked on, but not much was happening. Understandably, there are a lot of reasons this could be. Both managers will tell you their players are not ready for a competitive game. There have been a few friendly games but nowhere near enough to get a player match fit. The players did training at home, but it was hard to replicate the sharp movements needed in a football game.

 

Was it the lack of fans? It shouldn’t be. The players will have spent much of their careers playing in less than half empty stadiums, either in lower league, youth or reserve teams. But if every game was like these first 35 minutes, not sure how many fans will be left to return, when they are allowed back in.

2. The Injuries

Can we blame this one on injuries? Because there were a lot, and they were very early on.  First, Arsenal lost Xhaka in the 7^th minute to an ankle-ligament injury. He was replaced by Ceballos, not much of a downgrade if any, but if there was a game plan, it was surely affected. Then at 22 minutes Mari goes down with possibly an achillies problem and in steps David Luiz.

 

The Arsenal starting team is up for debate, there’s probably less nailed-on starters than we have ever had. Leno, Bellarin, then Saka and Aubameyang somewhere but definitely on the pitch, the rest you could roll a dice at. In terms of team quality, losing any player other than those four is met with indifference. However, it’s not a good thing and let’s hope they are minor injuries.

3. A Gift from Luiz

Let’s try to be fair to David. He wasn’t in the first team, so maybe he was never meant to play any part in this game. However, he played in the friendlies, so he shouldn’t be rusty to the point of destruction. Luiz was forced on at 22 minutes because of an injury, and you could see his long passing ability brings another dimension to our game. The long ball dimension. Is it worth the price?

 

The second gift from David Luiz in two matches. He misjudges the flight of a fairly simple looking long ball.  The ball deflects off his thigh as he mistimes a clearance kick? Not sure what he was attempting, but all it achieved was putting Sterling through on goal. The forward goes for power and smashes the ball past a helpless Leno.

 

4. An Early Bath for Luiz

 Ah, the Brazilian again. The gift that keeps on giving. He is well-off the pace. Is the occasional good pass worth this kind of fragility? The red card is born from a similar long ball to the one Luiz misjudged for the first goal.  A long ball gets nodded down to Mahrez, who chest bumps the ball past Luiz.

 

The defender is playing catch-up, and all he can do is let the player go or bring him down and suffer the consequences. He does the latter, and it’s all a bit too obvious for the referee. The ref decides Luiz is not trying to play the ball, so it doesn’t qualify for the double jeopardy rule. It’s a penalty and Luiz is sent off. The game appears finished at 50 minutes. 

 

5. Man of the Match-Leno

Could it be anyone else? Saka had a couple of good moments; Nketiah looked to be giving the City defenders a lot to think about, and he was unlucky not to get anything for being dragged down early on. Most players gave anonymous performances in a game that saw the players without their names printed on the back. Apart from the obvious horror show.

Man of the Match goes to Leno in a game we lost 3-0. Wow, reminds you how far Arsenal are away from competing with the league champions. Leno was our outstanding player; he faced 12 shots on target a lot of them were clear chances. He got down incredibly quickly to make a series of low saves. Before we conceded, you wondered if he could keep it up all game. He did well but it was an impossible task tonight.