A second-half performance that contained glimpses of the Manchester City from yesteryear (well, four months ago) was enough to beat title rivals Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and it was all thanks to City manager Pep Guardiola.
The first half saw City disappointingly slipped behind to Arsenal early on after a defensive mishap which the supporters have become too well accustomed to in Manchester. A touch of brilliance from reported City target Alexis Sanchez – using a reverse pass to pick out Theo Walcott – was enough to beat the entire City backline after just four minutes of play.
An immediate response came from City through Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian skipped down the wing and delivered the sweetest of balls for Raheem Sterling to finish, but his off-target header meant that a glaring chance went missing.
Apart from that, the first 45 minutes was played mostly in the middle third of the pitch, with some uninspiring possession football from the hosts not even beginning to trouble a resolute Arsenal defence.
Martin Atkinson blew the half-time whistle and nothing but silence bestowed itself upon the Etihad as the players left the pitch for a 15-minute interval.
That’s when the magic happened.
In the first-half, City had been playing in a 4-1-4-1 formation, leaving Sterling isolated as the striker and forcing Fernando (playing as the holding midfielder) to dictate the tempo of the game. On paper, it seemed a logical solution to make direct changes in the absence of Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho. The flaw to that plan is that those two players do not have direct replacements because of their unique abilities which make them an integral part of the team.
As they emerged from the tunnel for the second-half, Pablo Zabaleta, who had struggled through the first half with an injury, was replaced by Bacary Sagna – a change that initially concerned City fans that Guardiola had changed nothing, or at least very little, at half-time.
In reality, Guardiola had made wholesale changes – the key one being a switch to a 4-3-3 formation. De Bruyne played as the false nine, with Sterling and Leroy Sané taking up the wide areas. Meanwhile, David Silva and the resurrected Yaya Toure joined Fernando in the centre of midfield. The trio formed an interchanging midfield so the onus of changing the tempo was equally shared.
This also meant that the pressure being applied was able to be more intense. Whichever Arsenal player was on the ball, there would be five City players surrounding him and giving him very few options other than to clear the ball for the City defence to collect.
As an isolated performance, City’s second half was one of the best of the season – narrowly ousted by the first half of the Manchester derby in September and the 3-1 win over Barcelona. The display showed signs that Guardiola was beginning to adapt his tactics in accordance to the league. In midweek, he said that he was open to change but his main philosophies would not change.
That’s exactly what happened against Arsenal. His determination to be in possession as much as possible was reflected by City’s 61% possession, but he also found a system in which City looked defensively stable while still being able to produce the attacking flair that has been lacking in recent weeks.
The 2-1 victory does not mean that City’s problems have been eradicated or that they will not return in the future, but it means that the problems are on the way to being resolved. The win was a statement of intent that City need to build on with the festive period – which include a tough trip to Liverpool – approaching.
