When karma finally came crashing through Arsenal’s bus blockade and ‘Johnny, Johnny Stones’ swept in Manchester City’s 98th minute equaliser, the Etihad Stadium erupted with a raw sense of relief, righteousness and revenge.
It wasn’t up there with the ecstasy of the Agueroo 93:20 moment, nor the euphoria of Ilkay Gundogan’s title-winning tap-in against Aston Villa, but by God it wasn’t found wanting for pulsating passion and Mancunian malevolence towards the reviled Gunners.
The ‘Fat Lady’ had cleared her throat ready to burst into song, the travelling Tarquin’s in the South Stand away pen were giddy with anticipation, but Guardiola’s gladiators were doing what City do – fighting until the end.
In the context of more than 99 minutes of mayhem, Stones’ late, late show was accorded the delirium normally reserved for a last gasp winner, such was the intensity of the clash between champions and cheats.
So much has already been said and written about Arsenal’s mastery of the ‘dark arts’ – a term which misguidedly glamorizes blatant time wasting, feigning injury, premeditated fouls, dissent and hassling referees. It’s akin to describing football thugs and hooligans as ‘Ultras’, lending a degree of respectability to reprehensible behaviour.
Once considered as heir apparent to Pep at City, Mikel Arteta has chosen a far more Mourinho-esque approach, opting to sully the beautiful game. Snide, deceitful and riddled with hypocrisy, his touchline temper tantrums and post-match hissy fits set the tone for his team.
David Raya must’ve created a record for individual possession during a game. He managed to ‘retain’ the ball for nine minutes and four seconds – 10% of the match – whilst taking a dozen goal kicks.
When he wasn’t busy procrastinating – as per the instructions of his manager – the Spanish goalkeeper was one of a multitude of players dropping to the floor with ‘cramp’.
If only he and his teammates had ingested the requisite amounts of potassium, calcium or magnesium and stayed on their feet, Arsenal might have found the ‘minerals’ to try to win the game.
But why would Arteta do that?
He was more than thrilled to take a point and make a point after his team targeted Rodri from as early as the ninth second of the game. Kai Harvertz inexplicably pole-axed City’s talismanic midfielder with the ball nowhere in sight. VAR ignored the ‘collision’.
Twenty minutes later it was mission accomplished. An awkward tangle with Thomas Partey saw Rodri go down writhing in agony. He limped off with a season-ending ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury. He's undergone surgery in Madrid today and Pep has confirmed he's out until 2025/26.
Arteta and his acolytes will hope his absence spells the end of City’s quest for a fifth consecutive title. The morally bankrupt Gunners don't care how they pursue their lofty ambitions.
Up until that point City had been utterly dominant with Savinho’s exquisite assist setting up Erling Haaland for his 100th City goal in just 105 games.
City were subsequently aggrieved as Arsenal took the lead in controversial circumstances.
Kyle Walker – having been summoned over to chat with referee Michael Oliver – wasn’t given time to retake his defensive position. Arsenal took a quick free kick, leaving the City skipper unable to close down Martinelli’s pass to goal scorer Riccardo Calafiori.
Gabriel’s powerful scoring header from a corner kick was aided and abetted by a two-man block on Ederson, but Oliver ruled it all above board.
Having incurred the wrath of the City supporters, Oliver came under fire from the away fans when he sent off the truculent Trossard for two quickfire yellow cards.
This set the scene for City’s second half siege of the Arsenal goal with 87.5% possession and 28 goal attempts in the final 56 minutes.
Proving Albert Einstein’s famous line of, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result’, City huffed and puffed with a total absence of any overlapping wingers or wing backs to get beyond a low block.
Only the belated arrivals of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish brought the creativity and guile to finally make the breakthrough.
In different circumstances Arsenal’s rearguard efforts would’ve been admirable, but such grotesque gamesmanship offset any prospect of respect, let alone admiration.
City’s players were unhappy with referee Oliver’s inability or unwillingness to put a stop to Arsenal’s antics. Manu Akanji said: “Their players go to ground at every opportunity. They go on the floor to get up, sprint back again, go on the floor again, one of their team even went over to tell the keeper to lie on the floor and stuff like that.”
Bernardo was even more incensed: “The referee allowed a sequence of time-wasting events. The thing that bothers me the most is having a lot of meetings with the FA at the beginning of each season. They tell us they will control this kind of situation and will stop them, but at the end it doesn’t have any worth. They say a lot, but nothing happens.”
Man of the Moment, Stones was critical of Arsenal’s approach saying, “You can call it clever or dirty, whichever way you want to put it.”
Of all the post-match reactions, Erling Haaland’s have been the most widely publicised and amusing.
The Nordic Meat Shield was captured goading Arteta, sarcastically suggesting he should, ‘Stay humble eh, stay humble eh…’ It's not a personality trait readily associated with the Arsenal manager.
Similarly, he wasn’t taking any prisoners when Gabriel Jesus spouted off in defence of Arteta, telling the former City player ‘…get the fuck away you fucking clown!”
Haaland had already provoked much hilarity when he threw the ball at the back of Gabriel’s head in the immediate aftermath of Stones’ goal.
Amidst the jubilant celebrations, the incident was missed by thousands of fans in the ground, but broadcast over and over again to the millions watching on TV.
VAR checked it for ‘violent conduct’ whereas Arsenal pundit, Ian Wright called it 'cowardly’. One suspects the very woke Wrighty would’ve received the same response as Jesus.
Arteta’s coup de grace was to whinge about City’s 98th minute redemption after the prior announcement of a minimum seven minutes of added time.
He must have forgotten Jurrien Timber had ‘felled’ himself for the first minute and 30 seconds – timewasting during the added time for timewasting!
The Arsenal boss has since incurred Pep's wrath with his insidious comments about his three-and-a-half years as Guardiola's assistant.
Responding to accusations about his usage of the 'dark arts' Arteta, said of his time at City: "I was there for four years. I have all the information, so I know, believe me."
Pep's riposte was to query Arteta's insinuations.
"He said he was here four years and knows exactly what happened here. That can be related to the process now with 115 charges, maybe he knows information about that? Or maybe he had something like, I don't know...?
"Hopefully this question has been asked and he can answer exactly what he means."
Despite retaining top slot in the Premier League – two points ahead of Arsenal – it’s City who must re-evaluate their player and tactical options in the wake of Rodri’s injury.
His loss cannot be overstated at a time when he’s on the cusp of winning the Ballon d’Or.
Undoubtedly the most influential player in world football today, he remains unbeaten in his last 51 Premier League games. When City lost the FA Cup Final to Manchester United it marked his first loss in 75 matches.
His influence is all pervading, he’s the metronome of City’s midfield.
Since switching to City in 2019, Rodri has led the way for the total number of passes across Europe’s top five leagues. Even more impressive are the statistics showing the most successful passes in an opponent’s half and in the top third of the opposition’s territory. He’s a defensive midfielder but poses such an attacking threat.
He scored the vital equaliser in the stunning come-from-behind 2022 title-winning thriller against Aston Villa, and lest we forget, that thing of beauty in Istanbul on June 10th 2023 – the winner in the Champions League Final.
City under Guardiola are a winning machine but more frequently when ‘Rodders’ is anchoring proceedings – 74% of the time with him, and just the 64% without.
Humble in nature but so assertive on the pitch, he described his first season following his £62m move from Atletico Madrid, as a ‘disaster’. How times have changed. He is a prime example of ‘Second Season Syndrome’ (SSS) under Pep.
When he served a three-match suspension last season City had a 100% loss rate. However, a trio of wins in his absence this season – against Chelsea, Ipswich and West Ham – appears to have got that monkey off City’s back.
In the past 18 months Rodri has played 85 games for both City and Spain, winning 66, drawing 18 and losing just once. He – above all others – is deemed irreplaceable in Guardiola’s side, but Pep must find a workaround, and more than likely will.
City were negotiating a new bumper pay rise and contract extension before Rodri's injury. Presumably that will happen and Club and player alike can commit to each other for the long term.
Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan are the most obvious candidates to fill in, but a repurposed John Stones, a converted Kevin De Bruyne or a myriad of mix and match combinations could see City through the toughest of losses. Maybe Matheus Nunes could surprise everyone with his own version of SSS?
City were keen on Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes in the summer but were reluctant to pay the £100m buyout clause or meet the player’s wage demands.
Speaking at today's press conference, Pep certainly didn't rule out the possibility of a move in the January transfer window, adding that now is not the time to speculate.
Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad might be an attractive proposition at half the price of Guimaraes. He seamlessly undertook Spain’s defensive midfield duties when Rodri didn’t reappear for the second half of the Euro 2024 Final against England.
He’s only 25-years old and - prima facie - he’d be a perfect fit for Pep’s style of play. He turned down a move to Liverpool in the summer, but it now appears he is keen on playing in the Premier League.
Guardiola has a happy habit of winning trophies even in adversity. He’s lost key players for prolonged periods in the past, legends such as Kompany and Aguero, but has always found tactical solutions.
More recently De Bruyne was missing for five months and Haaland for nine weeks last season, and yet City still captured a historic 4-In-A-Row Premier League titles. KDB is already absent after being injured against Inter Milan.
Nathan Ake should return next month and Oscar Bobb hopefully before the year end after breaking his leg in pre-season. We're only five games into the Premier League campaign and City have already suffered four significant injuries.
But, if – come the end of May 2025 – City bag an unprecedented fifth consecutive Premier League crown, karma will well and truly have bitten Arsenal, Arteta et al on the arse!
By David Walker
Twitter @ReadButNeverRed
@djwskyblu
Superb writing as always David. The Arsenal backroom staff were also at it. Donned in their matching tracksuits, they were like a swarm of bloody hornets bouncing around on the touchline causing mayhem. What a vile club.
On the ball as ever, Mr Walker. The antics for which an Arsenal substitute was booked before he'd even made his debut for the club, in getting Raya to fall to the ground so that Arteta could bark orders at the outdoor players (presumably the order in which they were to fall to the floor) is something they did at last season's fixture and the previous week against Spurs.
As much as we need a replacement for Rodri, we've all seen how long it can take a new player to adapt to Pep's style of play and this could rule out buying someone in the next transfer window. Who knows - Kovacic could continue his excellent start as Rodri's deputy…
Thank you David for putting into words so eloquently my thoughts about the Bumnal, foot in fronts!
The lows to which they have sunk beggars belief. Hat sales must be up in North London as they seem to have a team that has two hats in every position not only on the field of play but also in the boardroom as the behaviour from the director who left rather gracelessly to captain blacks pathetic over exuberances, really hope they reap what they sow and may they be the first of the losers once again being runners up is to good for them in reality.
thanks David
Rumour has it that Arteta was inspired to this laying-around-on-the-pitch tactic by the apple tree in his backyard. A backyard full of apples on the lawn is the villain, not the humble lad prone to temper tantums and ill manners displayed during post-match pressers.
Tough times ahead without 'Mr Irreplaceable' but in Pep we trust and pray that karma does its work
Thanks for another great piece Mr RBNR ... onwards and upwards now boys 💙