“We are grateful to this player for his 90 minutes on the field. Without him, Mikel Arteta would have been humiliated,” Man City equalizer John Stones says of the £38 million exceptional Arsenal star. “Kudos to this guy for giving us a really tough time throughout his 90 mins on the pitch.” Not Raya, not G. Magalhaes, and not Calafiori
John Stones accuses Arsenal of “dirty” tactics following a thrilling draw with Man City.
Following Leandro Trossard’s red card, Arsenal, reduced to ten players, made every effort to pass the time.
In an exciting 2-2 draw at the Etihad, John Stones acknowledged that Manchester City found it difficult to handle Arsenal’s “dirty” tactics.
Just before the half, Leandro Trossard received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away after giving up a free kick, bringing the Gunners down to 10 men.
Erling Haaland’s opening goal had put Mikel Arteta’s team up, and they went on a strong defensive campaign in the second half. Goals from Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel had turned the game around.
With a 5-4-0 configuration, Arsenal was positioned on the edge of their own box and tried their hardest to gobble up as many seconds as possible. David Raya, Gabriel Martinelli, and Jurrien Timber were among those who went down and needed medical attention.
When asked if Arsenal had achieved the dark arts of football, Stones—who came off the bench to score an equalizer in the 98th minute—told Sky Sports, “I don’t know if they’ve mastered it, they’ve done it for a few years.”
We are prepared for that. Call it sly or cunning, depending on your point of view. They interrupt the game, which obviously throws off everyone’s rhythm. They take advantage of it.
“I felt like we handled it quite effectively. When those things occur, it’s difficult to gather momentum and overcome them. We were able to effectively control our emotions thanks to those small pauses.
“They use a side of football that not many teams do,” he continued. Slow it down and make it challenging. We had to restrain our emotions at that moment in order to collect information from the floor keeper.
In the second half, City had 28 shots, most of them coming from outside the area as the home team was unable to get past the crowd of red shirts in front of them.
Mateo Kovacic’s shot found its way to Stones, who skillfully responded to finish the play, bringing the score level in stoppage time.
After replacing Haaland in the 78th minute, the England center back practically functioned as a second striker as Guardiola tried to penetrate the Arsenal defense.
Stones clarified, “He wanted me to play higher up in the pitch, closer to Erling, so we could get more crosses in and hopefully try and win a few aerial duels.”
Everyone plays in pockets, though, so it’s very interchangeable. Move fluidly and acknowledge that you should take a position if someone else isn’t.
“I made an effort to enter and position myself correctly, and fortunately, it fell for me. I’m incredibly happy to have scored that kind of goal.
