Gary Neville praises ‘completely different’ Man Metropolis as Pep Guardiola admits defensive method made him ‘undergo’ at Arsenal

Gary Neville has praised Manchester Metropolis’s method throughout their 1-1 draw towards Arsenal – regardless that Pep Guardiola admitted it made him “suffer”.

Erling Haaland’s slick ninth-minute end at Emirates Stadium appeared sufficient to earn Metropolis an announcement Premier League victory in north London.

Guardiola reverted to a again 5 within the second half in an effort to safe all three factors and in consequence his crew set a document lowest share of possession throughout his tenure with solely 32.8 per cent. However it was not sufficient to seal victory as Gabriel Martinelli struck in stoppage time for the Gunners.

Nonetheless, Neville was impressed by Metropolis’s shift from possession-heavy dominance to a extra direct, bodily fashion towards Arsenal.

Nev: Pep has executed a 180 on techniques

“It was not a game I was expecting,” Neville informed The Gary Neville Podcast. “I used to be anticipating it to be robust within the sense that each groups know one another, and I feel Arsenal, we all know how they play in respect to their defensive power and so they do not give numerous probabilities away.

“I assumed that it is perhaps onerous to create moments however the way it performed out, clearly Metropolis getting the early purpose after which Pep resorting to a means of taking part in that I’ve by no means seen earlier than, however I actually favored it.

“It wasn’t a criticism when I was talking during the game, I really enjoyed the fact that he went to 5-4-1. He decided that he was just going to manage the game without the ball, and play on the counter-attack with only one forward on the pitch in the end. He had four midfield players and five defenders, and they looked so comfortable. There was just nothing happening at all and then obviously that late moment happened and the spoils are shared.”

On Metropolis’s shift in techniques towards Arsenal, Neville added: “I think the reason Pep’s done that is that he is recognising that Arsenal are a one-trick pony.

“Set-pieces are simply such a big share of their probabilities and targets that you find yourself in a scenario the place you’ve got simply acquired to have massive gamers within the field and a goalkeeper who comes and punches, and in case you do not, you are going to get beat up on corners and set-pieces and free-kicks.

“So, I think it was a response to that and knowing what Arteta would do, that they would press hard, they would get more corners, they would get more play and he’s got nine giants on the pitch just to be able to head it, and they did it absolutely perfectly. At one point every time a long throw-in came in and every time a corner came in it was almost as if they were saying ‘more’, we will deal with that, there’s no problems whatsoever.

“However it was uncommon as a result of I at all times bear in mind going again to Pep Guardiola’s first season in England and it wasn’t a profitable season in case you bear in mind. They did not win the league in that first season and he stated that the rationale that they had been conceding, he stated it wasn’t as a result of they did not have the physicality, it was as a result of they did not maintain the ball nicely sufficient.

“Then beyond that for the last six, seven, eight years we’ve just seen them dominate possession, less so maybe in the last two years, but when they were at their absolute best you knew they’d be 1-0 up but they’d have 70, 80 per cent of the ball and the other team would be chasing shadows and you’d be able to get nowhere.

“This is a completely different Manchester City; it’s a complete turnaround. It’s a 180 and to see him do that in the final parts of the game, the idea of adapting, there’s a lot of questions asked of managers about do they adapt and are they agile enough if things change in games.

“Guardiola by no means actually modified his means of taking part in, it was nearly as if to say everybody has to adapt to what I am doing and everyone copied him for years and years, taking part in out from the again, however he is moved on past that now and they’re actually much more bodily, much more direct, much less soccer than they was.

“I know he loves football but maybe he has adapted because of the players he has. He’s recruited those players, and they are more physical. They haven’t got the technical ability of David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne and all those players we’ve seen in the last few years. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some really good players out there for City but it’s a different Manchester City and I enjoy it.”

Guardiola defends Metropolis’s back-five method

Guardiola admitted he didn’t like watching Metropolis defend for lengthy intervals however praised their resilience after they set a shock document within the 1-1 draw at Arsenal.

“I cannot believe in this country with another record, I am so proud of that,” Guardiola stated with a smile after his crew set a brand new mark for his or her lowest share of possession throughout his tenure.

“I give a lot of credit to Arsenal, a lot of credit. Sometimes you want it, sometimes you can’t.

“It’s actually good, particularly defending 5. [We’re] not constructed for that, however we now have to just accept it and if the crew has that share, it’s as a result of they’re higher.

“Arsenal were better in that time so we don’t want it but sometimes it happens. OK one time in 10 years is not bad, right?”

Regardless that Metropolis struggled to maintain the ball on this newest battle with rivals Arsenal, Guardiola has seen sufficient over the previous week to have an air of confidence that his eight-time Premier League champions are near being again to their greatest.

Again-to-back defeats in August threatened to wreck Guardiola’s try and rebuild a brand new title-winning machine, however final Sunday’s 3-0 derby success over Manchester United was adopted by a midweek 2-0 overcome Napoli within the Champions League earlier than this steely show in London.

Requested if he favored watching his crew defend, Guardiola admitted: “No, I undergo, I do not like. I need the ball away, away, away now. I need to be near (David) Raya, however the opponents do good issues, it’s a must to settle for it and from that we enhance.

“We improve about the body language. How we celebrate, how we are communicating and how we make the effort for the other one. We lost it a lot last season.

“And this season I stated I do not give a (makes beep noise) concerning the consequence, I need to see the spirit again, the coaching classes and revel in. Then after techniques.

“We lost it last season and we have to recover. This week we recover and then you have to continue.

“From then we study the method, the techniques and somewhat bit our means that we really feel extra snug to be near win video games and be happy with ourselves and our folks.

“Tough week and especially against a team that is by far one of the best, if not the best in Europe. Our resilience was fantastic otherwise you cannot survive.”