Nothing To See Here...

 And so, after an interminably long and dull Interlull, Arsenal were back in action on Saturday evening. And, if the line-up wasn't quite a surprising as others have been, the formation certainly was.

Far be it from me to criticise Mikel Arteta - and this was Manchester City they were up against, after all - but I do wonder if he out-thinks himself occasionally. And, of course, I'd rather have it this way than get smashed by Manchester City, as has happened all too frequently recently, but if I had to sum up the performance I suppose I'd go with timid, uninspiring, tentative and... a little boring. After all, this lot had shipped 5 in their last home game!

And so to the game itself. And firstly - why the blue kit? There was no reason why Arsenal could not have played in their 'proper' kit - the red and white. But there's merchandising to consider, isn't there. Ridiculous!

And then - and much more importantly - the formation. On paper, with neither Lacazette or Nketiah selected, it looked for all money that Aubameyang was going to be up top. And yet... and this is where I question the over-thinking - Arteta chose to play an inverted formation with Willian up the middle. And it simply didn't work. Both Auba and Pepe were too wide to influence the game - when Arsenal had possession, that is - and it also inhibited the ability of the wing-backs to make an impact. One could see what the plan was, but it was essentially all too crowded out wide, but with a gaping hole down the middle!

The only player who got to express himself properly, I would say, was Bukayo Saka. He found himself 'between the lines' more often than any other Arsenal player, and had one of Arsenal's most serviceable chances - good save from Ederson here:

Throughout, Manchester City dominated possession, as might be expected, but as a whole Arsenal held them off fairly comfortably. Of course, they had chances - Mahrez had one as early as the second minute, cutting inside and firing just wide with his left foot - and they continually pegged Arsenal back.

However, there were opportunities to get forward, and I suppose that I was a little unhappy with the lack of ambition from Arsenal. It wasn't until City had scored that a little more attempt to get forward was shown, and there were immediately that chance for Saka, and others for Auba (finally in from the left) and Pepe.

And when Arsenal needed to switch formation and up the tempo late on... well, their hearts didn't seem in it. It was almost as if they'd prefer to settle for a narrow defeat than really go for it and end up losing by two or three. And I suppose that it's a measure of how far this team has come in just a few months that we can be disappointed by that. And I really wanted to see Aubameyang start up top!

And so, on another weekend of thrills, spills and controversy all over the Premier League, our game was rather insipid. Of high technical quality (particularly from City, of course), but we could have done with a bit more excitement. And a bit more excitement would have involved - and here's a theme oft mentioned - some more chances created by Arsenal, whose chance creation stats have been low for a while. I'd almost be thinking about mentioning Mesut Ozil here, but perhaps Thomas Partey (who sneaked in a 10 minute cameo) might help in that regard.

A few other points to mention. Firstly, I counted no less than 9 cynical fouls by City players during the game. Tug-backs, niggly tackles from behind, blocks etc. That's how they keep teams pegged in; they pile the pressure on, and then when they lose the ball commit a foul as high up the pitch as they can. As an opposition supporter, I don't like that.

Secondly, Sergio Aguero. What was this about?

He's touched an official. A female official. So not only is it out of order because he touched an official, but it looks like a sexist act at the same time. Words should be had, at the very least...

And finally, this:

Walker on Gabriel. I'm not saying that it's a penalty, but it's a high foot, and it's frankly reckless. It could easily be a penalty, and the thing that annoys me is that VAR did not even review the incident!

I'll now just quickly cover what else went on over the weekend - I'm writing this on Monday, so if there's any controversy tonight it won't be included:

There's the two incidents in the Liverpool derby. The reckless 'tackle' - I'd prefer to call it an assault - by Pickford on van Dijk that will see the latter out for the season, Should have been a red card for one; but the loss of this wonderful and vital player could easily scupper Liverpool's entire season.

More points dropped from a winning position by Chelsea. Great going forward; a right mess at the back. Good.

And then there's Tottenham. 3-0 up in no time at home to West Ham, and cruising. If they'd have gone 6 or 8 up you couldn't have argued. And yet... with less than a quarter of an hour to go a daft free kick given away leading to a goal, followed by an own goal by the ever unreliable Sanchez, and then a completely needless challenge by Aurier that led to a goalmouth scramble and Lanzini's thunderous 25-yarder. Oh, how we laughed! 

Not even Jose Mourinho can prevent the inherent Spursyness of Spurs. It's simply in their DNA.

And so to the indefatiguable Arsene Wenger. I say indefatiguable because he's not stopped doing interviews! But... for all we hoped for something hard-hitting it's all a little bland; the book, as well as the interviews. It's lovely to hear his dulcet tones once more, but the book is entirely uncontroversial, and the interviews don't reveal much either. To be expected, I suppose.

Except that he has let slip at the book launch how much he and Sir Alex Ferguson actually hated each other at the height of their rivalry. 

And the other thing that interested me was how disappointed he was at the 2006 Champions League Final loss; as he said, it would have put the seal on that era, starting in 1997, when Arsenal had a truly fantastic team.

I also couldn't help fail to notice that at the launch of his autobiography, at the London Palladium, the theatre looked packed - with very few people wearing masks. Now haven't we got this all wrong - you can pack an indoor arena like that, but you can't watch a football match outdoors? Indeed, I hear that clubs can run hospitality at grounds, but if there's a view of the pitch it has to be hidden and one must watch what's going on right under one's nose on a television screen instead. Utter madness!

Anyway, Arsenal are back in Europe on Thursday, followed by a tricky game against Leicester City. I hope that there'll be good news all round to report on next Monday. Cheerio.