The ball was in the air as Jack Grealish kept pushing to find himself in front of Takehiro Tomiyasu so he could stroll down the left-hand side and, thus, get in a one-on-one with Aaron Ramsdale. Just a few yards away, on the other end of the sideline, there was Arsenal’s gaffer Mikel Arteta alarming Tomiyasu he should get rid of the ball instantly and play it back to the keeper. So that’s exactly what the Japanese full-back eventually did.Kevin De Bruyne made the most of that expensive gift.Those few seconds perfectly encapsulate the whole charade Arteta made with that risky Tomiyasu experiment last night. And, as if it was not enough, the Asian player managed to fail in man-marking for that City’s second goal, too. Firstly, he was miles away from Grealish, leaving him plenty of space and time for the shot, and then – in order to clinch a last-gasp block – he deflected the ball just enough to make Ramsdale’s mission of denying the effort almost impossible.However, it would be unfair to point a finger at the 24-year-old versatile defender because he’s definitely not the main culprit here. It is Arteta to blame for his awkward shuffle in the most significant match of the season. Instead of Ben White, whose recent form has been more than decent, he went for Tomiayasu, starting him for only the fifth time this entire season!
The boy who has spent less than 40 minutes on the pitch per game so far, was given a too-demanding assignment of controlling the entire left-hand side with Grealish and Bernardo Silva putting on a high press all the time.Tomiyasu’s lack of experience backfired massively for Arteta and the Gunners, while the pros of his deployment (lots of accurate passes, along with aerial duels that ended in his favour) diminished almost entirely with those two conceded goals in mind.##NAJAVA_MECA_7023604##For those neutrals, it must have been a true pleasure witnessing the battle between the two remarkable Spanish tacticians. Arteta and his former boss Pep Guardiola made sure we’d got ourselves a genuine chess game there, but once again the teacher outsmarted his pupil.He gave them the ball, which obviously surprised the Gunners, who were incapable of coming up with some adequate solutions. City’s aggressiveness prevented them from imposing their style, and Arteta just couldn’t cope with Pep’s constant changes of formation.Don’t let his self-criticism fool you, this man is a geniusJorginho’s and Xhaka’s dirty work in the middle was quite decent, but Odegaard and a pair of wingers – Martinelli and Saka – were unable to respond to that Cityzen’s high pressing. As time went by, Arsenal were less and less dangerous, firstly settling with a draw with no visible intention of fighting for the win.That lack of desire (caused maybe by tiredness?) hit them back as their rivals wrapped up the game even before that third one. In-game management in Arteta’s case was missing, so the defeat was inevitable.G/A and put Arteta his place KDB 👑 shit pic.twitter.com/QnXC1GYjMk— 21 🪄 (@karimmcfc) February 15, 2023 One lost battle, though, doesn’t mean the entire war has ended, and they still have a game in hand.Now, it’s up to the gaffer to learn his lesson and use the rest of the season to prove he’s an extraordinary tactician after all. The Premier League crown will be just the proof he needs.