At Arsenal

[gavin]

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Rodrigo, Bernardo (C), Reijnders, Foden, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Stones, Ake, Nico, Savinho, Nunes, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis

Is that really the same team three games on the trot!

[Stephen Paul]

Probably the best possible lineup

Doku Foden and Haaland should be a handful

[Stephen Paul]

We need to settle things early, keep possession which will frustrate the gonners 

[Stephen Paul]

Cracking fucking goal , get in big man

[Stephen Paul]

First Half possession

Arsenal 68%
City 32%

[Stephen Paul]

 Donnarumma,absolutley superb commanding the box

[gavin]

We have played poorly really. Never had control of the game at all. But if you look at it as an old fashioned away performance, then it is cracking. The lads have put everything into it. A great goal and we made it through to half time with the lead. Pep needs to sort it out though at half time and see if we can get some control of the ball.

[Stephen Paul]

Hopefully Foden and Doku will see more of the ball second half

[Stephen Paul]

Giving the ball away too easily and Rodri looks fucked

[gavin]

Poor. It might be seen as a good point at some stage but we were just hanging on for the most part of that. We didn't look like a champion team at all.

[Swiss]

Urgh, feels like a loss that.

Also, fucking hard to watch.

The 1st 11 good enough, the back up...

[KunDB]

Doku & Donnurumna and Halaand all outstanding. Loved this game, loved the performance. Nothing to be down about, a well earned point against a very good team at their home and up against a poor weak referee.

Onwards and upwards is what I see from this performance.

C'mon City

[Hesperus]

Very un-City and Pep like performance.

I didn't enjoy it tbh. For me that's only a good performance if you defend like that and win.

34% possession!

[KunDB]

There was a foul ignored for their goal. Earlier Doku was brought down and the officials played on and instead booked Pep for complaining. Donnarumna was booked for wasting time, Rice took longer on every corner and was under no threat from the officials for time wasting. 

We were playing against Arsenal and weak officials. 7 minutes extra time was laughable and was the stimulus the fans and Arsenal team needed.

Put simply we were up against it big time today and we stood up bravely.

Give the team time until it gels together and then we will see more of the possession football, combined with the direct approach and stronger defending.

A split second decision to not move back a split second earlier cost us the extras 2 points today. But that was probably affected by the foul on Nico not being given.

Still carrying key injuries, Stones, Cherki & Marmousch, new players still settling in.

The future looks very promising for this team. I'm very positive. 3 tough games in 8 days resulting in 2 wins and a draw is GOOD. 

Doku is awesome this season.

[gavin]

There is no doubting the spirit shown today which is a good sign for the future. Also, we defended very well for the most part. However, it is concerning that we were completely unable to keep possession for any length of time and control the game. For years we have been doing it and I still believe it is Pep's focus but we gave up on it today and dug it manfully instead. There is a long, long way to go to be the force we were in footballing terms.

[KunDB]

There is no doubting the spirit shown today which is a good sign for the future. Also, we defended very well for the most part. However, it is concerning that we were completely unable to keep possession for any length of time and control the game. For years we have been doing it and I still believe it is Pep's focus but we gave up on it today and dug it manfully instead. There is a long, long way to go to be the force we were in footballing terms.

We did dig in but as Pep said (my words not his exactly), against top opposition sometimes we need to dig in and defend deep, we did it in the past and hit them on the break (Sane, KdB) but its not the plan, we will improve.

[Stephen Paul]

Pep changed the style of play, with counterattack football which worked, defensively we were very good

A good point at that shithole, onwards and upwards