Waking up today feeling a lot better than last night. I was physically stressed out by the result and took a long time to get to bed. This game hurt, both because of the result and especially because of the way we showed up (or didn't).
This is the most annoyed I have been with Arteta. I sympathise with him missing our two most creative players - who would've helped break down their defense. But given what we were facing, I would've been interested in some changes.
The problem we had was that they were pressing high with 4 to force us to play the ball long and cede possession. In addition, a lot of intensity was removed by Hincapie receiving a soft yellow (in the context of how City were being reffed). Over and above this, Kepa is not as good as Raya at finding the midrange pass, and we had insufficient movement to disrupt City's pressing.
What I would've advised Arteta to do would have been to field on-the-ball protaganists who could carry the ball and take on City players and force them to readjust. For me that's Calafiori and Madueke primarily. Beyond them MLS and Jesus. I would've brought on at least the first 2 at halftime for Hincapie and one of Havertz, Gyokeres. Arteta has been good at adapting in game this season, so this is very disappointing.
