Bernardo Silva has revealed that Arsenal’s man-to-man marking system played into Manchester City’s hands during Wednesday’s Premier League title decider. The reigning champions moved into a commanding position with seven games of their campaign remaining by putting the long-time leaders to the sword in ruthless fashion at the Etihad Stadium. A 4-1 scoreline hardly reflected the dominance Pep Guardiola’s relentless winning machine exerted over their nearest rivals in the table and moved into a commanding position, just two points behind with two games in-hand.
Silva thought it was a mistake for Mikel Arteta not to change his gameplan in midweek, as Arsenal employed the same tactics in February’s FA Cup defeat, much to the surprise of Pep Guardiola. He said: “We knew that they could come [playing] man-to-man, and we tried to stretch them as much as possible because if they play man-to-man against us they have to deal with Kevin [De Bruyne] and Erling [Haaland] up front. It’s never going to be easy in that spot. This team was perfect for Kevin because they [defended] man-to-man and gave space to Kevin and Erling to run into. When you give them this kind of space, they are so difficult to defend [against]. Two beasts running – Kevin with the passes, Erling with the scoring.”
Silva added that Manchester City changed the way they play due to the presence of De Bruyne and Haaland up front. He said: “We changed the way we play because we never had this kind of player up front. The manager also changed the build-up a little bit from the past years so maybe it took us a bit of time to get used to it.”
Bernardo Silva believes that Manchester City’s win over Arsenal was due to their ability to take advantage of Arsenal’s man-to-man marking system. The reigning champions moved into a commanding position with seven games of their campaign remaining by putting the long-time leaders to the sword in ruthless fashion at the Etihad Stadium. Silva thought it was a mistake for Mikel Arteta not to change his gameplan in midweek, as Arsenal employed the same tactics in February’s FA Cup defeat, much to the surprise of Pep Guardiola.
Silva said that Manchester City changed the way they play due to the presence of De Bruyne and Haaland up front. He said: “We changed the way we play because we never had this kind of player up front. The manager also changed the build-up a little bit from the past years so maybe it took us a bit of time to get used to it.” He added that Manchester City tried to stretch Arsenal as much as possible in order to take advantage of De Bruyne and Haaland’s ability to run and create chances.
The 4-1 scoreline hardly reflected the dominance Pep Guardiola’s relentless winning machine exerted over their nearest rivals in the table and moved into a commanding position, just two points behind with two games in-hand. Silva believes that Manchester City were able to take advantage of Arsenal’s man-to-man marking system and create lots of chances, which could have resulted in an even bigger win.