MANCHESTER City's unbeaten Premier League home record finally came to an end despite a spirited performance against Arsenal.
The Blues were two down inside the first 26 minutes after Emmanuel Adebayor and Eduardo da Silva scored, but Gelson Fernandes pulled a goal back shortly after to give City hope.
City tried hard to find an equaliser but they struggled to create clear cut chances, while Arsenal put in a typically slick display and with the game stretched, Adebayor grabbed his second after 88 minutes.
City almost took the lead early on when Elano picked out Stephen Ireland with a fine ball.
However, Ireland completely missed the ball when he tried to flick it past Jens Lehmann and the keeper gathered.
That seemed to act as a wake-up call to Arsene Wenger’s side, who took the lead in the ninth minute after Martin Petrov carelessly lost possession.
Bacary Sagna took advantage and delivered a cross into Adebayor’s path, with the Togo striker bundling home with the aid of a deflection off Micah Richards.
Arsenal extended their lead in the 25th minute when Eduardo scored with a superb overhead kick after a header down from Adebayor.
Lifeline
It was a sharp effort by the Brazil-born Croatia striker, but City were thrown a lifeline in the 27th minute after Gael Clichy was caught napping.
He lost possession on the byline to Vedran Corluka and the Croatian picked out Fernandes. The midfielder calmly slotted his close-range effort beyond Lehmann for his second goal for the club.
Although the goal lifted City spirits, it was Arsenal who looked more dangerous going forward and Hart had to be alert to parry an Adebayor effort.
Petrov, who apart from one promising run was having an afternoon to forget, scuffed a shot wide in stoppage-time after being released by Ireland.
City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson then made a change after 55 minutes as Daniel Sturridge was not getting any change from Gallas.
The experienced Darius Vassell came on but it was Arsenal who continued to dictate the pace.
City did come close to grabbing the equaliser in the 66th minute when Vassell got on the end of a ball from Hamann, only for Lehmann to kick it clear.
With City pouring forward in search of an equaliser, it wasn't a surprise when Arsenal clicnhed the win with a counter attack. Adebayor sealed the victory two minutes from time with his second goal of the game following a neat build-up involving Fabregas.
What is your verdict on the game? Have your say.
City 1 Arsenal 3
February 02, 2008
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Why cann't we ever beat the gooners!!!!!!!
Keep the faith
CTID
utterly embarrassing! gave the ball away all the time.no pride and Dunne looked scared to death.
Committed performance but ultimately outclassed by a top-four team. Hope they go on to win the league.
Laughable - utterly reminiscent of the 14 game run of games Pearce went on without a win.....
2 attempts on goal in the whole game.....Typical Typical Sven! we could buy Henry and Ronaldinho but still wouldn't get a chance on goal as Sven is the most negative tactician in English football.....
Just like watching a Sven England side!
We play a teenager who has just come back from a year long injury and plays against School sides as a LONE striker.....against one of the best teams in the World? You really couldn't make it up?!!
Still think we can finish in the top 10 this season but only if we start winning - we will get battered beyong belief at the swamp - absolutely battered!
Well what else did we expect!!
By way of a bit of fun for my Blue comrades, lets see who can name City's all time XI who kept giving the Ball away, highlighting the worst offender:
Immel, Clements, Symons, Dunne, Edgehill, IRELAND, Pollack, Silkman, Musampa, Creaney & Russell.
Wow what a line up, note my vote for the worst!!! Pants, totally and so frustrating! Urrggggghhhhhhhh!
Arsenal are quality.
Our form was always going to flatten out.
But why oh why do we create nothing? Derby apart, how many shots have we had since and including the Everton game?
I am still loving the ride, but have to say have I enjoyed the football more than this time last year, recently........ it feels very similar of late. Just to avoid confusion, I know we are a much better outfit, but I am sitting through games now, knowing the outcome before it unfolds.
Moaning, yes, disillusioned no...just please stop playing Vassell
Well now we have lost the unbeaten home record does that mean we are going to be less cautious at home and be adventurous? The games against West Ham and Liverpool were so poor and we should have won more comfortably.
Also, when will it get through to Sven that Vassel does nothing? his gutless finishing cost us the three points at Derby and we cant even say his contribution to the team covers that. He touched the ball a grand total of about 10 times in the last 5 games and has been a passenger. Why we wasted January and havent replaced him is beyond me. He MUST go in the summer.
Two questions; Petrov's - is he the laziest player in the premiership? and Richards - what was he thinking of leaving Eduardo unmarked 6 yards from goal? Very poor positioning, again. Lots to learn before you earn, Micah
Poor again. sloppy again. Very worried. Yes at start of the season i would have taken top ten. But when you have been up there all season you expect that bit more. But we have ridden our luck for months and now its caught up. Disappointed with this 451 as we need to dominate midfield for it to work and we did early on but its not working now. It hasn't for past few months. Can only see free fall at the moment. lets hope we still can finish top 10 but europe is becoming a distant dream. Very poor form, don't look like we have any goals in the team.
Cant fault the effort, but unfortunately today shows what a long long long way we have to go to be a top 4 team.
Arsenal man for man are much better than us, up front might be an issue,but midfield besides Petrov we are incredibly lightweight
No complaints just happy arsenal did not get out of first gear, other wise we could have been really embarrassed, petrov had a stormer (not),elano brought down adebayor then stood still, adebayor got up and scored the third(a good example of commitment and non commitment) ,elano now out of the derby ,god help us next week with this team, I cant see anything more than getting totally sunk at the swamp, we are on 41 points though so we are safe this season it is an improvement, still it is unbelievable though how a team that started the season so well now look like a bunch of whipping boys lacking in confidence and devoid of ideas, the next few weeks are going to be very difficult for us city fans,
Disapointed i thought we had a slow start but started playing football elano is out next week with his 5th booking of the season and so to corluka
martin petrov hang your head in shame.what a spineless uncommitted performance you gave today.how many passes did you and Ireland give away?
when you are at the top things run your way def offside 2nd goal the lines man was in line with eduardo to many mistakes costing city everytime dunny on weds and that lazy git petrov giveing the ball away today time to drop him to the bench the mans passing is shocking.
At the risk of offending the McCarthyist moanfinder general contingent that seem to infest this board, I have to say that was another hugely disappointing performance. The good news is that Sven will surely be aware of our weak areas and will correct them in the summer. I am confident of that, though he has much to do. For those people on here who've been whinging about buying Benjani, I trust that the umpteenth toothless display on the trot might have just concentrated your minds somewhat?? Is he great value for money? No. Is he ten times better than what we've got? Yes!
The first 20 minutes were frankly embarrassing today, but we fought back well before half time. Sadly though the 2nd half we were woeful again. Did we have a shot after the break? I can't recall one. Elano had a decent first half, but moving him out to the wing looked a mistake, and I'm not sure who out of Petrov and Ireland gave the ball away the most, although as has been acknowledged before, it must be frustrating to look up and see no-one in front of you to give it to. Vassell (sigh) was as tragically unthreatening as usual, and even Dickey Big Shorts and St Micah seemed to have difficulty getting anywhere near Adebayor. Message fellas, if you stand off a player that good on the edge of your own box, then he WILL control the ball on his chest and he WILL turn and cause problems for you. Arsenal are a good side, but with our lack of bite, we always make it so easy for them.
Like I said, Sven will put this right in the summer I'm sure, so it's not all doom and gloom, but I really am struggling to see where the next win's coming from at the moment
Fernandes was my man of the match, and still would have been if he hadn’t scored. He put himself about and was well fired up for the cause, always trying to lift the players around him, tracked back well to help out Ball and gave his all.
Now to put my neck on the line………… Petrov had a bad game, he lost us possession to many times and didn’t defend. The team carried a luxury player today and it cost us. Yes I know he is class and can provide that flash of brilliance that can win games, but today he was well shackled and it was a performance to forget.
A brutally predictable result. I really hate playing Arsenal because, good as they are, they also get lucky: their second was clearly offside. City though were appalling for the first 20 minutes, something which Sven knows he needs to address, as his post match comments showed. I'm a Petrov fan but he had a stinker today and his unforced error and failure to track back was a key factor in Arsenal's first; although the marking and tackling by others was not good enough. Petrov also lost the ball by taking on one too many and seconds later Arsenal were down the other end scoring their second.
What particularly annoyed me today was the number of times that we gave the ball away in our own half: it's something Arsenal look for and exploit. City on the other hand, do not close their opponents down quickly enough or early enough and it drives me crazy as I am a big believer in playing a pressing game. If City are to compete more effectively, they must, IMO, move mre and move more quickly when in or out of possession; this may require new players and fitter players and I truly hope that is something Sven will be able to address in the summer, but also on the training ground over the remainder of the season. I still think that the current squad are capable of more but they need to show more bravery, more confidence but also more composure and intelligence i.e. when to try something clver and when to play the simple ball.
Elano showed some good touches today but his booking was stupid. When he returns from it, I hope Sven uses him on the right wing and goes 442. Sturridge was pretty much lost today but thought Gelson had a decent first half.
very worried about next week.no elano no corluka.and lets face it no chance.but i,ll keep smilling when all the rags start trying to wind me up.european hopes not looking god at the moment.lets hope for 3 points agaist everton next home game. ctid
Stephen Ireland.....Pants, nuff said!!
More than ever, it looks to me as though Petrov is doing anything to avoid tackles, otherwise why does he keep switching wings when he can`t use his right foot, and at other times he is mooning about in midfield at slow pace, anywhere but where the ball is.
Also I thought Elano, who was superb in the first half once again looked very tired in the second half.
Disappointed as I thought City could well have won a point. Mind you, when Vassell came on, my hope slumped. Did he even touch the ball?
Peter Jones
Richards left eduardo because he was in an offside postion. Wasn't he's fault the linesman didn't stick his flag up
Got to agree with dave .We were truly awful and this has been the norm now for ages . Seems like half of our team are thinking about summer hols or something similar .
Lets face we all expected the reult we got so we cant moan too much. Arsenal are better than us full stop and whilst we aided them a bit with our sloppy play, they looked like they could have turned up the pressure at any time.
They were very comfortable against us in the second half and it took a bad decision by the linesman when Petrov was through to fire us up. This still only lasted 10 minutes.
Elano's booking was a blessing because he is a passenger at the moment and we have got too many of them in the team as it is. Petrov and Ireland were again woeful and we cannot afford this type of player in the team next week or we will get mullered. I just hope Johnson is fit.
Playing Sturridge today was also a very big ask for an 18 year old and I think it was a mistake.
If I were Sven now I would give Elano two weeks off as he cant play again for 3 weeks. - Let him fly back to Brazil and get some sun on his back. chill out and see his family. It cant do any harm. In fact after the inevitable defeat next week I would give all the players aweek off to recharge their batteries...
Lets not pull any punches.We are 5 players short of competing with Arsenal on a level playing field.Lets get the bull by the horns,Dunne,not good enough at this level.Ball not good enough at this level.Hamman not good enough at this level.Ireland,not good enough at this level.Vassell not good enough at this level.We need a midfield enforcer,someone who can mix it up a bit ,Arsenal love it when teams stand off them and let them play 6,7,8 passes.But when a few bonecrushing challenges fly in,they dont want to know.
Not a lot to say about the game really.
On a brighter note, spiderman did you go in full gear today, saw someone decked out in your gear walking into the east stand. Certainly no mistaken you if it was.