Man City 0-0 Arsenal - Player Ratings and Match Reaction

Raya 6 - His kicking was Bobbins, but he made himself big at defending set pieces


White 7 - Did well getting forward, must admit never been a fan of him as a full back but he’s made that position his own


Saliba 7 - Grew into the game


Gabriel 8 - Saliba had Haaland in his back pocket for the home game, it was Gabriel’s turn this time


Kiwior 6.5 - Run ragged defensively and had little impact going forward but probably have to factor in he had extra time and pels against the Taffs mid week


Odegaard 7 - Chances were limited


Jorginho 7.5 - His experience and maturity are invaluable


Rice 7 - Good defensively but had far less impact on the attacking side of the game


Saka 5 - Looked every bit a player that was an injury doubt until today


Havertz 6 - Ended up playing too deep


Jesus 5 - Looked every bit the player who has managed only 15 league goals since we signed him


Subs


Tomiyasu 7 - More energy than Kiwior


Partey 5 - Looked every bit a player that’s not started a game since last August


Trossard 7 - Got stars and a potential headline in his eyes when he was put through on goal, possibly could have squared it


Martinelli 6 - Rusty


This game reminded me of the Battle of Old Trafford in 2003 without the Drama, the character and hard work was there even if the confidence and flair was not.

If Arteta has a brain in his head he will make a point of telling these players how proud he is of them (I mean shit I’m proud of them) because the hard work was there to see. If we were able to combine that with ruthless attacking Verve we’d absolutely smack teams about.

It’s really hard to get the balance right, took city a lot of dodgily accounted for spending to get it right

What I wanted was a sign, any sign that we can stand up and be counted when it matters and getting a draw from our hardest fixture in the run in was a sign.

Nothing but positive things to say about that. A+ for effort and concentration, an Arsenal team going to City and looking like they belong on the pitch? It’s been a while.

If we don’t win the league it will be because of the forwards and their powder puff nature.

Odegaard was shit.

That was the best I've seen the team play in years, maybe a decade. They gave those tippety-tap bastards NOTHING. The big girl with the ponytail up front got NOTHING. And the legend Pep spent the whole afternoon hitting his head against a brick wall. It's no small thing to stop his money machine coring a goal. And we should have had a couple but for woeful finishing. Don't know if this team can win the league, but I do know this team is finally a team. Been a long time coming. Suppose we're losing to Brighton next week then? Just don't even go there.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

That was the best I've seen the team play in years, maybe a decade. They gave those tippety-tap bastards NOTHING. The big girl with the ponytail up front got NOTHING. And the legend Pep spent the whole afternoon hitting his head against a brick wall. It's no small thing to stop his money machine coring a goal. And we should have had a couple but for woeful finishing. Don't know if this team can win the league, but I do know this team is finally a team. Been a long time coming. Suppose we're losing to Brighton next week then? Just don't even go there.

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Crikey that’s a reasonable statement.

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Originally Posted by The Wengerbabies

Odegaard was shit.

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He was immense. I was watching him all forst half and was thinking, theres no way he can keep this up. And he did drop a bit in the second half, but not by much. Wasn't a day for him to be unlocking defences, it was a day for him to cover every blade of grass and he did it. Was also watching him issue instructions throughout the game, a proper captain's performance from him. This is the Ethiad, the richest collection of players ever assembled with the richest collection of backups ever assembled. Sky (who are biased as fuck) mentioned a stat about them scoring in every home game since 2021. Well not today. Mainly because Odegard and Jesus and Haevertz and White and Saliba and Gabriel and all the rest of them were a machine. It was quite incredible watching them resume their shape and move it left and right and cut off any avenue for, supposedly, the best team in the world to create a chance. I started watching the game thinking we were the underdogs. I ended up laughing at the prospect of the gypos getting a sniff. Sky are such arseholes. If you look at the first half stats we had 28% possession, or something like that, but created twice as many chances and had more meaningful possession in the box. Sky flashed up the stats and the commentators never mentioned it. The, in the seocnd half, a few minutes in, the gypos finally managed to create a chance or two. And the commentator were all over it. Gypos dominating! But not enough that they culd get a clean trike on goal. Even once. Odegard drove that for the whole 90 minutes. It was an epic performance.

Agree with NQ re Odegaard and how he drove our performance

Am only slightly frustrated with the thought of those two corners Rice wasted in the second half

One thing I'd also say is that we are lucky Anthony Taylor largely kept his cards in his pocket, it allowed ua to get about Citeh and break their game up a bit, especially in the first half

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Originally Posted by Mac76

Agree with NQ re Odegaard and how he drove our performance

Am only slightly frustrated with the thought of those two corners Rice wasted in the second half

One thing I'd also say is that we are lucky Anthony Taylor largely kept his cards in his pocket, it allowed ua to get about Citeh and break their game up a bit, especially in the first half

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Balances things up given Michael Oliver let Kovacic get away with murder in the game at the Emirates

Also Sky mentioned the anniversary of David 'Rocky Rocastle mentioning he was in the team that beat an exceptional Liverpool side at Anfield 2-0 in one of the greatest climaxes to a league season though had to slip in Aguero's against the mighty QPR.

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Originally Posted by dazthegooner

Also Sky mentioned the anniversary of David 'Rocky Rocastle mentioning he was in the team that beat an exceptional Liverpool side at Anfield 2-0 in one of the greatest climaxes to a league season though had to slip in Aguero's against the mighty QPR.

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March 31st 2001.

Fans sang his name in the stands for years after

He’d have been 57 in May.