26/08/06: City 1 Arsenal 0Updated: October 3rd, 2007
So the storm cloud had a silver lining after all.
Our first win against Arsenal since Dec 1991, and you have to wonder whether the siege mentality created by the Thatcher controversy played a significant role yesterday.
TalkSport was still talking about the incident after three days, 5Live’s Alan Green was calling for the player to be jailed and 365.com were selling Ban Thatcher For Life T-shirts for £14.99 each.
Sir Alex Ferguson used to go to great lengths to engineer a siege mentality at Aberdeen and United, with obvious results. While ours was created by a moment of madness, it looks to have created a team spirit that has been lacking in previous games.
It may even have shaken the fans out of their depression. The crowd of 40,699 were certainly a lot noisier than on Wednesday.
The big question now is whether this is a significant turning-point or merely a blip. With Arsenal twice hitting the bar we undoubtedly rode our luck. Timing also helped. Last season Arsenal won just one point from their first four Premiership away games, so there probably wasn’t a better time to play them.
Major doubts also remain over our ability to create goals.
A comment was recently posted at the Evening News (link), noting that in our previous 13 competitive games (including the Thomas Cook Trophy) we’ve only scored five goals. Three were bundled in from corners, one was a toe-poke from a long throw and only one - Vassell’s against Villa - came from open play. It’s also been 13 games since we scored more than one goal in a league match.
News that Andrew Cole is back in full training has never been more welcome. City scored 32 goals in the 22 games he played last season, an average of 1.45 goals per game. In the 19 league games without him, we’ve averaged 0.68 goals per game.
Yesterday’s win may have ignited the pilot light, but I believe it will need Cole to make us really fire.
Match stats
The table (below) is compiled from the live match commentry. Some of the figures differ from Sky’s stats, which can be found at the bottom of the match report here.
Match reports
Wenger still believes as City reverse leaves Arsenal facing ominous gap (Independent)
A defence whose average age is 22 - enforced upon Wenger by injury, the release of Sol Campbell and a refusal to genuflect to Ashley Cole - offered City rare hope at the end of a torturous week and they duly took advantage, making an obvious target of Cole’s 21-year-old replacement, Justin Hoyte.
Arsenal’s style lacks substance (The Times)
(City’s) players exchanged bear-hugs and high-fives at the final whistle after a victory that called to mind the way they overcame Chelsea in similar circumstances two seasons ago. But by far the biggest smile belonged to Weaver.
Barton puts spoke in the wheels of Arsenal’s over-polished caravan (Guardian)
Richard Dunne was the pick and on the occasions when City’s defence was breached the fit-again Nicky Weaver seemed intent on establishing himself as one of England’s finest goalkeepers. Weaver has an endearing story to tell, having had five operations to rebuild a knee, and Pearce described it as a “miracle”.
City 1 Arsenal 0 (MEN)
Barton could not quite be described as the hero. There were plenty of others who deserved the accolade as well, notably central defensive duo Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin, plus goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, who twice brilliantly denied Thierry Henry with his legs.
Misfiring Gunners pay the penalty (Sky)
Robin van Persie and Kolo Toure both hit the woodwork in the opening 45 minutes and fragility at the back and a lack of cutting edge up front prevented the North London side from capitalizing. (Player ratings here)
Barton punishes Arsenal (Sunday Times)
Arsenal had almost all the possession, and a fair few chances to go with it, but it was not enough against a Manchester City side, heroically marshalled by Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin.
City profit as Henry misfires (Observer)
The combination of City’s determination and Thierry Henry’s uncharacteristically poor finishing meant Pearce’s side could celebrate a rare three points.
Barton lifts City depression on bleak day for Arsenal (Telegraph)
The roar that greeted City’s win was matched by the response to the announcement that the man of the match was City’s captain and central defender, Richard Dunne. His partnership with Sylvain Distin was a rock that baulked everything Thierry Henry, Robin Van Persie and the rest of Arsenal’s collection of multi-nationals tried.