Mikel Arteta may have the blueprint for his Arsenal side to beat Manchester City
"I don’t remember in eight, nine years a team that played like Brentford in the first 30 minutes, we were not at our best and they deserved to be winning 2-0."
When Manchester City have such a stranglehold on the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s words on how his team suffered shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Guardiola has a habit of being overzealous in his praise for opponents but on this occasion, that praise was warranted.
It may have been an expected victory in the end for the hosts at the Etihad, yet the Brentford performance certainly caught the eye. You'd imagine it will have been in focus for plenty of Premier League managers too.
And not least, Mikel Arteta. With City facing their main title rivals in Arsenal on Sunday, have the Bees presented the Gunners with a blueprint on how to beat one of Europe's best?
Brentford, in Guardiola's own words, troubled them so much early on in the game as they were unafraid to be braver in their approach. That's a stark contrast to most others who like to sit deep in a mid/low block.
This allows City to eventually pick teams off and find spaces at their own pace, exhausting the opponents by hogging possession.
Brentford pressed high & deep in build-up, pushing their midfield five and pressing with Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, marking off the midfield options of Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne.
Brentford even went as far as pressing a dropping forward in Savinho whenever he received the ball. This disrupted City's ability to play out from the back.
Rather than compacting the centre of the pitch and looking for counter-attacking opportunities, it turned the ball over deep in City's half.
Whenever City did win it back after a Brentford attack broke down, a defender backed up the press pushing up on a forward, once again disrupting the rhythm.
Guardiola's side are experts at taking the sting out of the game, so if you can halt this with a high press it denies them the ability to keep the ball calmly.
Brentford could’ve scored more in the first 30 minutes as they effectively played direct balls over the top of the opposite press.
Using Mark Flekken’s passing ability as a goalkeeper, it eliminated six City players, successfully transporting the ball out wide to a Brentford full-back rather than kicking it long into City's half in hopes of winning an aerial duel.
It led to a one-on-one chance which Mbuemo missed but it occurred in the first place because the Bees played it directly from goalkeeper to wide man before linking up with a striker.
You can see the scant amount of players City have back in defence.
It helped that Brentford played two strikers instead of one so they could drop either Wissa or Mbeumo as passing options to the winger.
As City pressed with six players, they were left high up the pitch, while also pulling Kyle Walker in and then using the spaces vacated before putting in a cross.
City eventually wrestled back control of the game, recycling possession, moving the ball from side-to-side and waiting for the crucial line-breaking pass when a forward made a run in behind.
With Brentford pushed back deep in their half into a 5-3-2 low block they were forced to clear the ball rather than build out from the back to find a wide winger.
It's riskier to adopt an approach where you press City out of possession as they may be able to play through it, but if you're going to play the majority of the game as above defending deeper, City's attacks will relentlessly keep coming.
Fortune may favour the brave and even Inter showed that City can be vulnerable in defence when committing men in attack.
Guardiola's side have so much of the ball that there aren't many situations where they're needing to make defensive actions.
If Arsenal can use direct balls through David Raya, calmly play out from the back to find Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli while pressing them up the pitch, they can win the game.
But how will Arteta approach it?
It isn't a question of whether Arsenal can do the above, it's more a question of whether Arteta (particularly with Odegaard out) wants to go for a more aggressive style.
Out of possession, Arsenal are one of the world's best teams at pressing. Last season, we repeatedly saw how their high press thwarted teams as they attempted to build up from defence.
As Arsenal pushed, a pass from defence to find a spare man became harder, especially with Gabriel or William Saliba moving up on a striker - both have the physicality to do this against Erling Haaland.
The approaches against Atalanta and Tottenham tells us how Arsenal are likely to set up without the ball vs City on Sunday.
In the North London derby, Arteta prioritised compacting the centre of the pitch and doubling up on Tottenham's wingers with Saka and Martinelli dropping back when needed.
It meant Tottenham were forced to try to go around Arsenal rather than through them because the centre of the pitch was clogged.
It's exactly how Arsenal set up against City last season.
A striker marked Bernardo Silva as the deepest midfielder, while four Arsenal players in the middle of the pitch narrowed the passing lanes into Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Rico Lewis.
It stopped City playing through the middle of Arsenal, but they still looked a threat out wide.
Guardiola said after the game his priority was to keep players in the middle and protect the ball rather than play it wide where they looked dangerous.
This is City’s version of being more cautious, but if the same scenario plays out this season, Guardiola could use Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish as a weapon out wide.
Arsenal did beat City, but in a dull affair. They barely created and needed a wicked deflection from a Martinelli shot to win.
I'd understand why this early in the season, Arteta would stick to the pragmatic formula that has worked in stifling teams in the middle, but Brentford and, to some degree, Inter have outlined that attack may be the best form of defence.
Arsenal have better personnel in comparison to Brentford, and if they scored and could’ve had more, why can’t the title challengers try and do the same?
In the last two seasons, City-Arsenal games have been an anti-climactic, boring watch.
A move to a braver style will not only provide us with entertainment, it can also lead to Arsenal sending out an early statement in the title race.
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