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An 18th consecutive Carabao Cup victory for Manchester City was not much of a surprise, even if it ended Arsenal’s streak of 13 cup ties without defeat.
Any suggestion that these seemingly equally impressive records represented a match of equals was always an overstatement, even if one of those cup draws in Arsenal’s record was that excellent win in the FA Cup semi-final in July.
The world, however, was very different then. This was just another disappointment for Arsenal in a long and miserable series of them. Mikel Arteta has been desperately trying to find some numbers that will make things look more positive, and there were bright spots here. But that only adds to the general sense of despair in the depths to which the Gunners have sunk; they are now a club looking to bring the positive out of a 4-1 home loss. It is a nefarious business.
And even the positives that were there came with caveats before you got to the fact, and we can’t stress this enough, lost at home 4-1.
Gabriel Martinelli’s first start since March, as he continued his return from a serious injury, was a huge lead in the first half. He excelled in all the good things Arsenal did and produced a delicious pure math of a cross to set the equalizer for Alexandre Lacazette. But this is Arsenal. Martinelli then suffered an apparent ankle injury in a collision with City goalkeeper Zack Steffen, limping for the final four minutes of the first half and then inexplicably resurfacing for the second half. Three minutes later he hit the deck again and was finally replaced by Nicolás Pepe. If that injury has been slightly aggravated by his play in …
Another kind of bright spot for Arsenal was the way they fought back from the initial disaster of trying to set up with a low block from Mourinho, only to concede an almost sarcastically sloppy goal with less than three minutes left on the clock. A change from a back three to a back four made the difference and although the draw came against the game’s streak, Arsenal finished the first half well.
But how much can he really get out of that if he quickly conceded to the first three shots he faces in the second half? And that’s ignoring the fact that all Arsenal did was put out the fires that they had started themselves.
There were exceptions even in the later goals. The second was the kind of individual goalkeeper mistake a coach can do little about, though perhaps he could have played his number one goalkeeper given there is no way anywhere for Arsenal in the league. The third was the kind of decision that once would have been described as “almost level”, but now everyone in the age of VAR and the lines on the screens instantly identifies as offside. The fourth was another complete defensive disaster, but come on, the game was gone by then.
It’s so hard to find something positive for Arsenal that you don’t end up feeling more depressed than when you started. They are an absolute mess on one side, no evidence of training. There is no defensive cohesion and attacks remain predictable and pedestrian. They have a distorted and bloated squad and this is turning into a dysfunctional football club from top to bottom.
And it’s not even like City are in their irrepressible best form. They lost concentration a bit after the opening goal, understandably asleep as they contemplated the lack of opposition in front of them. As soon as they regained something like their playing faces, they fled with it, with Phil Foden very much in the forefront scoring the third and creating the fourth, both in a charming way.
That, really, was the story here. Whatever dimly bright positives there may be for an Arsenal team in their butt bones and with Chelsea next, the facts were these: Arsenal were comfortably and demonstrably inferior to a half-asleep Manchester City who played far too long. below potential both overnight and all season.
Arsenal have fallen very, very much and the road back seems terribly difficult.
Dave tickner
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