Cesc Fabregas was far from his best and did not impose himself on the game from the start. We did not see Cesc driving from the midfield, looking to make things happen

Manchester City 4 Arsenal 2 – Premier League

Manchester is certainly a place that Arsenal will be pleased that they will not have to visit for a while, quite possibly until next season. A couple of weeks ago the team rather unfairly left Old Trafford without any points, this time round the players cannot look at just luck as something to blame, they can all pretty much look in the mirror and ask themselves if they could have done more to achieve a result.

Abou Diaby replaced the injured Andrey Arshavin whilst captain Cesc Fabregas returned to the starting line up.

I was happy with the start that Arsenal made. Positive and offensive. We took the game to them and started with most of the ball as we do against most teams. Manchester City showed their intentions by closing us down as quickly as they could at every opportunity.

Rather frustratingly this didn’t appear to be the case with the Arsenal players when Manchester City were on the ball. Watching the team giving every last bit of energy to win the ball from the front against Everton and at Celtic Park was just a pleasure to see. A team that as aspirations of winning major trophies have to fight for the ball for every game, especially tricky away matches and I am afraid that this was not the case.

Abou Diaby was deployed as a left forward so he could help track back and aid Clichy on the left side of the pitch, there was no other reason as to why Diaby should be in that position ahead of Eduardo in this instance. Diaby was far short of what was needed in that position. He gave the ball away far too often and held onto the ball when the pass was on and this put his team mates in trouble on more than one occasion.

Diaby is a powerful central midfielder who is best when he is driving through from the middle. But as a creative left sided player you are taking a large part of his game way.

Cesc Fabregas was far from his best and did not impose himself on the game from the start. We did not see Cesc driving from the midfield, looking to make things happen. He played his passes simple and predictable. Even with these problems Arsenal looked the better team up until the final third.

With Diaby and Bendtner as the wide players, Van Persie missed Arshavin’s inventiveness, missed his spark. Robin found it difficult to get into the game in the early stages. The attack certainly looked short of mobility in and around the Manchester City penalty box.

Emmanuel Adebayor started poorly. Gave the ball away easily, could not get hold of the ball. His first notable contribution was to dig his studs into the ankle of Cesc Fabregas. I was shocked at how cynical it was on his old team mate but I didn’t realise that more was to follow.

William Gallas could have changed the whole out come of the game had the ball landed at his head from a lower height, instead he was stretching to reach a cross and the ball sailed over the cross bar.

Against the run of play Micah Richards headed across Manuel Almunia’s goal from a Gareth Barry cross into the far corner off the post and onto Almunia’s head for 1-0 to Manchester City. Could Almunia have moved across his goal area faster? Was it avoidable? It is pretty easy to pick out problems after a goal but I had the feeling that Almunia could have some blame attached to the header, which Richards looked suspicious like he was coming from an offside position.

At that stage, Almunia had been pretty much a passenger, the ball being spent in the most part in the City half but once again we fail to deal with a set piece and we have to chase the game.

The International break is often used as an excuse for poor performances but to be frank, I am well and truly fed up of it being used as a reason to not give our all. Teams that win trophies have to deal with International weeks. they have to deal with tiredness and we have to push that excuse to one side and deal with the travelling, deal with injuries and win matches. Manchester City had players on International duty who chased the ball down from start to finish so our boys should have matched that effort.

I still believe that had we put the same input in this game as we did in previous matches then we would have scored first and won the game.

Arsenal upped the gears in the second half as usual, which makes you wonder about the reason or need to start games so tentatively. This was certainly a regular feature last season and something that I was hoping would be cured for this season, especially after the bright starts at Everton, Celtic and Portsmouth. If we go back to playing one half football then we cannot win the Premier League. I do not believe any team can go a season cruising through first halves. This is either a planned energy saving tactic or a mental problem that needs addressing.

The biggest plus from a terrible afternoon of course came from the bench, January 2008 was the last time that Tomas Rosicky pulled on an Arsenal shirt and kicked a competitive ball. He looked like he hadn’t been away. I called the change, Denilson off for Rosicky but I assumed that Wenger would revert Diaby back into midfield and push Rosicky further forward on the left, but it appeared to be a like for like switch with Denilson. I wanted to see Diaby driving forward from central midfield instead of trying to cut inside and act like a wide man.

Rosicky looked sharp and brought urgency to a rather static looking midfield. Robin Van Persie started to come to life, he now had a midfielder willing to join him in forward positions. Cesc was supposed to have that role but didn’t offer much support to the Dutchman.

The chances started to come thick and fast.

William Gallas header saved by Given.
Vermaelen long range strike pushed away once again by Given.

Arsenal finally got their deserved equaliser when Rosicky fired the ball into Van Persie who spun past Lescott with the outside of his left foot, he approached the D and fired a right footed shot low into the corner of Given’s net. It was coming and surely there is now only one team in the game. Arsenal were going to go on and win the game. My prediction of going a goal down and then winning the game 2-1 was about to happen, or so I thought.

Then the talking point and possibly the turning point. A disgraceful act of violence on a former colleague. I think that is what gets me more than anything else. To do that against an opponent is bad enough, I would find doing that against someone I detested quite difficult but to do so against not only a team mate but a partner on the pitch for a couple years is indefensible.

There is little doubt that it was intentional and he deserves everything he gets from the FA but that doesn’t help Arsenal football club. He should have been shown a straight red for his act of violence and we would have played against 10 men at 1-1 with our team in the ascendancy. Not to be.

Adebayor then preceded to kick out at Song, which the Arsenal man received a yellow card for his retaliation on the former Arsenal forward (sorry to say)

Mark Clattenberg going someway to prove the theory that Arsenal players receive bookings for less fouls than anyone else. The referee had a poor game overall, well a good game for the Manchester City management and players.

Gael Clichy has received a lot of stick for his role in the second Manchester City goal by getting caught too far forward but I disagree. It was a great chance of a counter attack, Vermaelen had just won a header in his penalty box and Cesc was on the ball and his attempt at a pass to the Frenchman was not good enough, it gave Clichy too much to do and Lescott got to the ball first, that was not Clichy’s fault.

Had the ball have been played further forward then Clichy and Shaun Wright-Phillips would have had a race to get to the ball first and Arsenal could have found themselves 2-1 up instead Song had to cover for Clichy. Diaby strolling back instead of busting a gut to get in support of his team mate, was criminal, especially given the fact that Clichy had been taken out. Diaby HAD to get back and replace Song who had replaced Clichy. Even when Richards had beaten Song there was still no urgency to get recover from Diaby. Quite incredible.

Song was beaten too easily and this left a gap large enough for Richards to square to Bellamy, another goal against the run of play. 2-1 to City and Arsene had to start taking risks to get back into the game.

One half of Wenger’s defensive protection was already removed after 55 minutes, Denilson off for Rosicky and his second soon followed Manchester City’s second goal.

Alex Song had come off for Eduardo. Eboue’s attacking power replaced Sagna’s defensive ability. Arsene Wenger had basically flipped a coin and decided to go for broke. No defensive shield from his midfield and City’s greyhounds, Bellamy and Wright-Phillips waiting for the chance to pounce.

Gael Clichy was exposed for the third goal, fouling Wright-Phillips who bounced back on his feet and having the break of the ball. Our central defenders were now out of joint with Clichy not in his position. Vermaelen had come across to cover for Clichy and Adebayor was sandwiched in the middle where he met the cross with a powerful header past Almunia.

His celebration was a slap in the face to the Arsenal fans. He got what he wanted, a reaction. His apology after the game was pathetic and transparent. He had already intended to celebrate in front of the Arsenal supporters and I do not buy the in the heat of the moment crap. To be honest the celebration doesn’t bother me, many would want to stick it back where they feel unliked. His actions during the game itself were far far worse in my book.

Any respect I had to the man went with his challenge on Cesc let alone what took place with Van Persie’s face.

Arsenal then decided to play with some purpose, why it takes falling behind and the time ticking down for this to happen I will never know. Diaby’s left foot shot was cleared off the line from Adebayor.

With the Arsenal players desperately trying to get back into the game, the counter attack was more than a possibility. This proved to be the case when Craig Bellamy picked the ball up and ran at the heart of the Arsenal midfield, without Song and Denilson Bellamy may as well received his invite through the post. His pass to SWP was perfect and the finish was clinical and calm.

Manchester City were never 4-1 better than Arsenal at any point during the game but at the end of the day football is about results. It is about taking your chances and not letting your opponent score goals. Arsenal were not good enough to keep City out today and that is something that Wenger will have to address.

Rosicky deserved to get his name on the score sheet and did just that to pull a goal back.

Van Persie hit the post, so what is new, we also had other late chances to get back into the game but it was too late, the game was already gone. Manchester City were too far away for us to start sprinting, perhaps a quicker start will save us from sprinting at the end, I have gone over that point enough for today.

As disappointing as this result was and believe me it was disappointing. Let us not blow this out of proportion. Two defeats out of four sounds disastrous but if you are going to lose then it would be away and if you are going to lose it is against good teams. Chelsea, Liverpool et al will loose matches this season at Old Trafford and Eastlands just as it is very probable that those teams will drop points at the Emirates later on in the season.

Put it this way, I would rather drop points at Man City than at Burnley or at home to Aston Villa. Chelsea are now every man and his dogs favourite for the league title because they have grinded out late wins since the start of the season. Can I point out that the best team they have played so far is possibly Fulham. Scoring late goals against Hull City and Stoke City doesn’t make you invincible.

This team needs to regroup and gain some confidence and get players like Nasri, Walcott, Arshavin and Vela back. Players like Cesc, Rosicky and Eduardo are yet to gain full match fitness. The jigsaw puzzle will look a little clearer with those players available for the manager.

Victories breed confidence and our fixtures until we face Chelsea at home on November 29th look very winnable.

I want Chelsea to come to the Emirates facing the side on form and on top of the league. In the meantime, Arsene Wenger has to make sure that the team do not lose the balance he has been searching for since last season.

It was a bad day at the office on Saturday but the players should all know their jobs and will have many happy days at the office. It is time to forget about Adebayor, Manchester City and defeat and look forward to the team showing their class.