Manchester City defeated Arsenal 2-0 to win the Carabao Cup, thanks to a Nico O’Reilly brace and Pep Guardiola’s strategy.
The Citizens have been crowned League Cup champions with a dominant win over the Gunners, overcoming a tough start.
Pep Guardiola’s side went through different phases within the 90 minutes, gradually getting better until opening the scoring and finally sealing the win.
But in order to get there, first we need to mention what their opponents did.
How did Manchester City turn things around to beat Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final?
Arsenal’s strong start
Arsenal placed heavy focus in their attacking actions in the right-hand side. The idea was to get Saka in advantages or Viktor Gyokeres running in behind.
City quickly adjusted as Jeremy Doku tracked back to double Saka. However, that left Ben White with space – he recognised that and advanced farther forward than usual. This was the movement that enabled them to get them their big chance(s) that could have led the final to a different path.
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Just seven minutes in, Mikel Arteta’s men bombarded James Trafford with three shots in quick succession. Opta logged all of them as clear-cut opportunities, but the English goalkeeper denied both Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka (2x) brillitantly to keep his side alive early on.
As for the Citizens, Guardiola – as he has often done this season – reverted back to his traditional and trustworthy positional 3-2-5, with wingers holding the width and full-backs tucking inside.
At first, it had little to no effect as Arsenal denied spaces with their sharp man-oriented press and shifting ‘positional’ defence. But it did allow City to keep possession and strangle the game, seeing as they suffered early on. That was the first step of them getting into the match.
Pep Guardiola’s unorthodox way of nullifying Arsenal’s build-ups
The second was their out-of-possession work. The Citizens also started off with a “-1” man-oriented high press, but Arsenal found success exploring long and through balls.
Usually in modern football, the tweak that gets teams going defensively is going from zone to man. However, Guardiola did the exact opposite to nullify the Gunners’ first phase of build-up.
A zonal 4-2-4 with Doku, Haaland, Cherki and Semenyo blocking Arsenal’s defensive line completely took them out of the game. Suddenly, Mikel Arteta’s men had no way out from the back and had to launch the ball with no purpose. City then recovered and started their own build-up.
This seemingly small adjustment changed the whole landscape of the game. It’s also what enabled City to suffocate Arsenal and push them further back as the match went on. But, until that time, they were still struggling to create.
Right-sided overlaps for the win (literally)
Man City’s initial idea was to favour the left wing in their attacking plays. At one point, 60% of their actions in Arsenal’s half happened down that side, as opposed to just 31% on the right.
But the Gunners were sharp in rotations and left Doku no space to operate and wreak the havoc he often does. Antoine Semenyo then offered them a valuable alternative, running at Piero Hincapie over and over again looking to get to the byline and cross it into the box.
Hincapie’s yellow card made the situation even more difficult for him. And speaking of which, considering how Riccardo Calafiori played after coming off the bench, aware defensively and becoming their best attacking weapon, it’s really hard to understand why this substitution happened in the 65th minute and not during the break – or even sooner.
Arteta made a clear effort to protect his box and started the second half with an even more defensive approach. Gyokeres and Havertz sat even deeper to form their low block inside their own defending third, which wasn’t the case in the first half.
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In the 60th minute, it was Rayan Cherki who overlapped down the right and crossed it into the box. But since the goal was only possible due to Kepa Arrizabalaga’s terrible mistake, it’s hard to point as a pattern of play giving the team success.
On the second goal, however, it’s not. Once again, a right-sided overlap followed by a cross led to O’Reilly completing his brace.
But this time there was a twist: Matheus Nunes’ awareness to charge forward. He spent the whole game as an inverted full-back who became a third centre-back, rarely entering the final third. But City were pushing Arsenal so far back – with the Gunners allowing it – that there was no use for three defenders standing still while the rest of the team attacked.
So the one time Nunes did rush forward, was a genius perception of what the game required and what was working for them all match long. Rodri acknowledged his run, played a smart pass and the cross found O’Reilly’s head. Beautiful stuff.
In the end, Arteta set his team up well to start the game and should have even scored first. But after that, his decisions allowed Man City to take control and eventually find the lead.
While the Gunners were slightly better in the first half, the Citizens dominated the second completely. Fully deserved title – which could potentially have repercussions in the Premier League. It could be a fun end to the English football season.