Passive Pep: How Playing Arteta’s Game Came Back to Bite Him

Passive Pep: How Playing Arteta’s Game Came Back to Bite Him

Arsenal vs Manchester City has quickly become a Premier League fixture that never fails to entertain.

The clash has high-caliber recent history: two managers that used to be bound by the same club, two sides that have gone head-to-head in the table for a handful of seasons, and of course plenty of taunts and late goals.

In fact, there was another last-minute equalizer in Sunday’s face-off, as Gabriel Martinelli dramatically netted for the Gunners late on.

Whilst Arsenal’s persistent attacking pressure warranted at least a point, it came with some trouble, as they were fighting against a very defensive Manchester City outfit. Since the North London affair, Pep Guardiola’s chosen tactics have surfaced all over the media, criticizing the ‘park the bus’ strategy that almost no one is used to seeing him utilize.

Park the Bus

Since arriving in English football in 2016, Pep Guardiola has truly revolutionized the way many teams play football. His exuberant, creative style rapidly caught the eyes and imagination of all English fans, as it made a huge difference to a lot of the bog-standard passing plays or nifty long balls over the top.

Pep Guardiola's record with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City 🏆

Do you think he's the greatest manager of all time? pic.twitter.com/5Z0zIFloG6

— Premier League (@premierleague) September 16, 2025

One trademark of Pep’s game is how his team cruises and controls most matches through an enhanced amount of possession of the ball and successive passes. However, against Arsenal on the weekend, the Spaniard took a completely different approach.

City took an early lead in the game, through none other than Erling Haaland. After just nine minutes, many would expect the Mancunians to try and push for a second and then maybe even a third. But instead they turned very defensive, especially in the second half.

Guardiola essentially used the likes of Haaland, Jérémy Doku, Tijjani Reijnders, Phil Foden, and Bernardo Silva all as extra defensive cavalry. Although it was divergent from Guardiola’s usual mojo, it worked for the majority of the game, as City absorbed a lot of Arsenal’s menace.

However, the North London outfit are no pushovers, and in the 93rd minute, Eberechi Eze finally broke the strengthened backline to feed in Martinelli. The Brazilian scampered after the ball and looped it over Gianluigi Donnarumma to find the net.

Ironically, Manchester City’s overboard attempts to hold onto their lead made Arsenal’s equalizing celebrations that much sweeter. This is because Mikel Arteta’s men have been condemned previously for utilizing similar methods.

A Statistical Breakdown

Despite Arsenal being an equally effective powerhouse in their own right, it is not often a team outmuscles Manchester City’s possession. However, during Sunday’s tussle, the Citizens recorded only 33% possession against Arsenal’s 67%.

(Arsenal vs Man City Top Stats: FotMob)

This has since been confirmed as City’s lowest ever possession during a match in the Pep Guardiola era.

Furthermore, even though the two sides tallied up the same number of shots on target, Arsenal fired seven more attempts than Man City, with 12 efforts on goal to the visitors’ relatively measly five. However, both sides have been given similar xG (expected goals) for the game, with 0.89 for Arsenal and 0.87 for Man City.

The Gunners also orchestrated over double the number of accurate passes Man City did, with 517 to their 229. City’s passing was certainly off the mark too, as they only completed 76% of those attempted.

Finally, Guardiola’s focus on a bolstered defense in an effort to thwart Arsenal’s threat has been emphatically registered, as they made over triple the number of Arsenal’s 18 clearances, with 60.

How Has Guardiola Responded to Questions Over His Decisions?

Pep Guardiola continued to portray his composed persona following the clash, crediting Arsenal in abundance by justifying their quality as the reason for his ‘park the bus’ tactics.

The Spaniard remarked that it was the first time he had used the strategy in 10 years and that it was warranted considering how strong a team Arsenal is and how aggressively proactive they were in the match. Moreover, Pep described Manchester City now as a “transition team” that needs to try out new strategies.

Of course, with two losses from their opening five league games of the season, Manchester City haven’t exactly had the most glamorous start to the campaign - especially during a time where they need to bounce back from last term’s blip.

🗣️ "Nothing is decided after five games"

Hear from Pep Guardiola ahead of Arsenal vs Man City 💭 pic.twitter.com/DJPhBHpvsC

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 21, 2025

However, their iconic manager still declares that he is prioritizing team spirit over results at this point in time, and that is certainly something that was shown against Arsenal through their team togetherness and resilience.