Arsenal | the first shot of the new year: strong inside, really strong

Not surprisingly, Arsenal lost to Manchester City. With a 2-1 away win over the Gunners on New Year's Day, Manchester City led by 11 points, 30 years in the Premier League, only Manchester United in 1993/94 and Manchester City in 2017/18, at this point in the season, had a 12-point lead. Losing to such a candidate for title, Arsenal are not ashamed.

But from approaching the match to abandoning their achievements, Arsenal's loss of this game is still costly, and the lessons are particularly profound. Surprise lies in the obvious progress of the Gunners from the five-goal defeat on the road to the defeat at home; the shock lies in the team's approach to perfect attack and defense in the first half, and there is a chance to lock in the victory in advance; the horror is that the world and the world are mutually easy in the second half of the four minutes, and the home team falls rapidly, so familiar. On the first day of the new year, with a stunning first 50 minutes and a quick-decaying last 40 minutes, is this the path of the young gunner's quenching?

Five minutes of old age

Over the years, Arsenal have lost in the "green" and the game of playing less and playing more, winning first and losing later, which has become uncountable. Atta, he should focus on cutting off this disgraceful tradition in his own youth army. The up-and-down shift was too brief and too drastic to make gun fans grow old for five minutes. The young people of the Gunners, after losing the game, when will they be reborn?

In the 55th minute, Xhaka was placed inside the penalty area to send a point by Bessie, Mahrez equalized, and Manchester City finally struggled to return to the game. Incidentally, Xhaka and Gabriel were outspoken to the referee in protest of the penalty, and both turned yellow. Two minutes later, Arsenal counter-attacked and caused Laporte's header to be almost crossed back, the Acker goal line was kicked back, and Martinelli made up for it, and the post was deflected. City then attacked, with Gabriel near the centre circle pulling down Jesus. After some defense, Gabe turned two yellows and one red, which was 59 minutes.

Finally one less shot, the gunman may appeal: Gabriel probably did not know that he had just taken a yellow. Blame the referee? Or do you blame yourself for being hot-headed? Defenders should defend their teams with their feet and heads, not their hands and mouths in the wrong place. The Brazilian centre-back, who has just turned 24, maintained a clean sheet in nine games with Ben White and Ramsdale before the game, only less than Manchester City. And in the 16 games of the trio, the Gunners have never conceded a goal before 38 minutes in the first half. Arsenal's defence was equally stable in the first half, with Gabe filling the right shortly after the opening to halt Sterling's potential threatening attack. But as soon as the lead was equalized, many players immediately lost their inner balance.

Arsenal in the transition period has been beaten badly, and it has been a long-term rout for Manchester City. Among them, due to the lack of strength, but also because of the mismatch between playing style and personnel, there are more mentality problems.

"Atteta's best first half"

Regardless of the tail, do not blame Arteta, this is the characteristic of Wenger football in the eyes of everyone, it seems to be the price paid to create an offensive football brand. But bearing such a price does not mean that the details cannot be repaired and the strategy cannot be perfected.

On the first day of 2022, when they met Manchester City again, the Gunners began faithfully fulfilling three key points: try not to concede goals too early, try to keep the numbers intact, and take advantage of the counterattack. As a result, the home team played what the British media called "the best first half under Arta". After defending Sterling and dodging two headers from Jesus and Díaz, the Gunners remained mentally stable and the personnel remained in order, leading to more than five minutes of the 20th minute of the half-time period that weighed on their opponents.

Taking advantage of the assaults on both sides of Saka and Martinelli, Lacazetla pulling the defensive line, and Erdego's insertion, Arsenal approached the goal step by step. The failure of Odegaard to make a point is not necessarily bad. Wouldn't it be more a bonus to pass smoothly, let the goal come naturally, and play this Manchester City like Arsenal in the past – including Martinelli's three attacks on the left side - a pass control showdown?

Arsenal's goal came from the counter-attack, starting with De Bruyne being cut off from the pitch. The attack quickly went from right to left, and Tierney assisted Saka, clean and tidy. As long as you have been calm, it is others who are not calm. The Gunners were not distracted by the penalty decision for the time being, did not get discouraged by the siege, and the fist was first withdrawn to absorb a wave of manchester City's counterattack, and then it finally worked. Even if it ends up losing, it's a first half for the team to cheer up. Halfway through the season, City conceded a goal in the first half for the second time. It is not easy for young people to do this.

Eight minutes five yellow, blame the referee?

The lessons of the second half should be remembered even more. When the Red Dot loss package, this time scattered in less than five minutes into penalty misses, empty goals, red card attrition and stoppage time kills, Arsenal must not think that there is anything new in this loss. From three points to one point to one point, this time it only prolonged the loss process, and did not change the core from technology to mentality that is not strong enough.

It was Arsenal's ten-game losing streak against Manchester City. Blue Moon has been calm when it has been suppressed for a long time, and remains shrewd even if she is impatient inside. Laporte was entangled to the elbow by Martinelli and the referee did not see it. Blue Moon insisted on being killed by Rodri in stoppage time before Bessie and Rhodes were yellow. Previously, the Gunners started from Xhaka sending a little yellow, to 63 minutes Saka, Holden and the referee's corner of the mouth yellow, eight minutes five yellow! Xhaka, who started the team's dramatic defeat, was to blame for the loss.

The sharp fluctuations in the Gunners' mentality do have a relationship with referee Atwell. After the game, the home fans roared in unison. The referee did not see that Ederson was playing Odegaard instead of the ball, and VAR was "not sure that the Manchester city goalkeeper was playing first", so the original sentence was upheld. The home team swallowed the breath, but did not digest it. In the second half, the Zakara people, the referee did not see it, but he went to the sidelines to review at the request of the VAR group - the key is that he stayed on the field when Helmut Erdegaard suspected of getting points. City get justice and Arsenal can't hold back any longer. Atwell's actions, before Martinelli's second-half shot, suddenly sprinted into the box, resembling a "defensive defense", causing Martin to shoot with an unfavorable foot.

The Gunners have suffered the referee's loss this time, can they make up for it at the end of this season? It's a little suspense. The big suspense is the adversity caused by the subjective and objective situation in the future struggle for four, can the mentality be more stable, and can the response be more comprehensive? On Thursday, in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Liverpool, the Reds played a smoother kick and were much more brutal than Manchester City. Spurs won the round and were only two points behind the Gunners in two games. On 16 January, the North London derby Gunners were away, and there were not many scoring opportunities, and the referee was short-sighted. The Gunners, this time, the lead is clear, and they also hope to lose clearly.