One of Arteta’s Arsenal successes on show vs Man City

The morning after a defeat tends to lend its hand to revised analysis. Emotions are high as soon as the whistle blows and feelings have time to develop. Yet, how Arsenal feel now about Saturday’s 2-1 loss will be no different.

Pride remains the outstanding takeaway.

One crazy four minute spell turned the tide. A penalty incident, an open goal missed and a sending off completely changed the complexion of proceedings, with Arsenal leaving onlookers to question which side was chasing a title and which one was battling for a top four berth.

To have not only gone toe-to-toe with the Citizens but to have also dominated large spells of the game is testament to the progress made in a few short months. There was a period of ten minutes in the first half where the Premier League league leaders and Champions League favourites couldn’t get out of their own half.

One of Mikel Arteta’s finest Arsenal successes was on show against Manchester City as the Gunners showed immense bravery in the 2-1 defeat

In the quest for belief in the process, this performance justifies any of the mostly unfounded faith in a manager and team whom there is no track record to fall back on. Mikel Arteta has taken huge strides with this group this season and the confidence he’s instilled is one of his finest successes.

It’s a success in the sense that it is progress, even if the means used to measure ‘success’ would classify it as no more than an improvement.

Beating Manchester City is impossible without bravery; belief in your own ability and capability. There is no finer example of that from what Arsenal produced having gone down to ten men.

Arsenal took the game to Man City because they believed that their football, played their way, could win the match. They more than matched them. Few sides in the world will not sway from their principles to adjust for City’s excellence. Arsenal continued to be Arsenal, even when they were numerically disadvantaged.

Shattered bodies weren’t met with shattered minds. Despite exhaustion across the team and playing for half an hour with ten men, Arsenal pressed in City’s half, sought to force broken play in areas of threat and committed bodies forward in unison, with the back four undeterred by their opponents’ strength and willing to keep their line high.

Moments of intense pressure with ten men in the box are inevitable, but when the ball went back, Arsenal pushed up. While the red card may have changed the game, it did not change the mindset.

Credit must go to the manager for the mentality he has ingrained on this group. Unbelievable bravery in the face of a footballing juggernaut, especially after the events of the reverse meeting, is one considerable chunk of what is required to reinstate yourself in the upper echelons of the Premier League, and hopefully Europe.

Talent is meaningless without the necessary application. Whether with ten men, against the finest opposition, or both, that is a belief system the manager has implemented where he deserves to give himself a pat on the back.