Arsenal 1-1 Man City: Pep Guardiola’s tactical gamble almost pays off

After the city scored a goal, what a Guardiola prefers before, on the contrary, adopted a defensive approach.

They sat deeply and prevented the center of the field, making it difficult for Arsenal to find the striker Viktor Gyoketes or attack midfielder players between the lines. Guardiola typically asked the team to defense in 4-4-2 and began to start, but as the City game progressed, it moved to 5-4-1 or 5-5-0.

So why did he prefer this approach?

According to Guardiola, this was the third game for a city side in seven days. Most teams were going to fight to suppress Arsenal’s excellent accumulation game, but defending Deep with City Struggling, preventing them from being exposed to Arsenal trying to press Arsenal.

This was not just about stopping the accumulation, but to prevent Arsenal from creating luck.

Arteta’s men finally took their echoles, but he said that the target came directly on a accelerated city defense instead of visitors when he sat deeply.

Arsenal ruled the ball, but 68% scored 0.61 goals in the second half.

The artillery played Martin Zubimendi before releasing their attackers and played with Riccardo Calafiori Key this season.

The city invalidated the quality of Arsenal’s dangerous center by putting a large number of bodies in the middle of the field. They also aimed to invalidate the runners by reducing the space behind their own goals.

The city is not likely to play so deeply, but considering the previous quotations about the formation, it was interesting that such an aggressive manager, like Guardiola, used a form without a well -known striker.

“In prehistoric times, now and in 100,000 years, it is always very difficult to attack the formation of 5-5.”

Ultimately, while trying to minimize the quality of Arsenal – especially the direct, accumulation and central attackers of the home side, it was a combination of accepting the tiredness of the city and strong counter attacks.