Clrnc It's hard to see the positives just now, but from last night's game (were there any!?) and more generally, but if De Bruyne's interview shows anything, it's that we're definitely on the right track if Guardiola is fundamentally changing the way he plays against us, as they fear our press and midfield. That they could bypass it so easily at times is a worry, but we're talking about arguably the best midfielder and best striker in world football being coached by the best manager, so it's hard to be overly critical about being torn apart by those two.
Arteta needs to learn though. He's done massively well to bring this team on and seemingly has learned a lot this season, but at crunch time he's shown he still has a lot to do. His focus on specificity will kill us going forward. I'm not going to criticise Holding for last night. Holding is a more than capable Premier League player but he has his flaws, and that Arteta cannot tweak how we approach games to minimise the downside is on Arteta, not Holding. That he sets us up in a way where we cannot vary our approach and adapt to circumstance will kill us in the league and Champions League next year, as he'll be even more reliant on a select group of players when things get tough.
If Arteta looks at the best team in the league and sees how they adapt to circumstances, and refuses to see that we could and should be doing the same, 7.59pm last night was as good and as far as he's ever going to take us.
