Pep Guardiola seemingly took Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta by surprise as he set his Manchester City side up to defend deep at the Emirates Stadium.
Declan Rice admitted Manchester City’s tactics were surprising as they changed their defensive shape to a 5-4-1 setup in the second half, saying: “And seeing the end, they changed to a back five, went to five, which I’ve never seen them do, and they’re obviously trying to hang on, so obviously to get them with draw at the end was good for us.”
City’s pragmatic approach was working to a tee until Gabriel Martinelli scored yet another goal off the bench by dinking the ball over Gianluigi Donnarumma after darting in behind the visitors’ defence.
However, when taking stock of how Pep Guardiola has set up recently, his tactics do not come as much of a shock.
Man City played in a back five vs Man United before Arsenal clash
When Nathan Ake came off the bench against Manchester United, he was spotted screaming “5-4-1” while gesturing Manchester City’s change of setup in the final half an hour after entering the fray.
As a result, Rice’s admission about City’s tactics are somewhat surprising as Mikel Arteta would have watched how the Sky Blues fared during the derby.
It seemed like Manchester City were preparing for their contest against Arsenal, as they played much like the North Londoners did when they drew 1-1 to the English giants at the Etihad Stadium last season.
Jeremy Doku won 13 duels against Arsenal and made four tackles, a statistic that sums up that City were fully on board with Pep Guardiola’s tactical setup.
With Donnarumma impressing Rodri among others at Manchester City, it seemed like Guardiola was willing to sit back and hit Arsenal on the counter as he was aware that the Italian will largely keep them out of trouble due to being an elite shot-stopper.
Knowing how the Catalan tactician is always adapting his system, he is unlikely to play the same way when Arsenal visit the Etihad Stadium in April.
Pep Guardiola admits he hated how Man City set up vs Arsenal
On another day, Mikel Arteta may have paid for seemingly being unaware of the fact that Manchester City could approach the contest defensively had Arsenal winger Martinelli not have stepped up, judging by Rice’s comments.
With Abdukodir Khusanov being taken off at half-time due to picking up an injury, it seemed likely that Guardiola would embrace pragmatism even more in the second half.
However, the two-time treble-winner admitted via Beanyman Sports that he does not like to sacrifice possession and invite danger as it makes him uneasy.
“I don’t like it.”
“I want the ball away, I want it to be close to [David] Raya, not close to Gigi. But I said the same, the opponent is doing good things, we have to accept that we have to improve.”
