3. Arsenal fail to park the bus properly
When Arsenal stunned Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad with a defensive master class, many thought that Arsene Wenger has finally turned a corner. It looked as though Arsenal had finally found a way to stop being battered in the big games. Although their approach, which consisted of sitting deep and hitting on the break, wasn’t revolutionary, it was something that many thought the Gunners were incapable of doing. After all, parking the bus isn’t the Arsene way. Against Spurs, in a must-win North London derby, the Frenchman tried the same tactics but this time failed.
Why? Although the Gunners sat deep, it wasn’t by design. For long stretches of the game, Spurs simply imposed their will on the game and didn’t let the visitors get out of their own half. And while Francis Coquelin, the architect of the win over City continued his good performance, his supporting cast weren’t on the same page. Koscielny & co had an average outing at the lane. Although City enjoyed plenty of possession at the Etihad, they didn’t have too many clear cut chances to score and were restricted to pot-shots from distance. But at White Hart Lane, it was a combination of some wayward finishing and some brilliant goalkeeping that ensured that the home side didn’t score until the 56th minute. The result shows the thin line between success and failure when absorbing pressure and playing on the counter. To succeed, not only do you have to defend well, but you must also attack with purpose, on Saturday, the Gunners simply didn’t do either and as a result meekly surrendered.