Guardiola suffered over defensive plan as Arsenal hold Man. City

Pep Guardiola said he did not enjoy asking Manchester City to use the defensive tactics that backfired as Gabriel Martinelli’s stoppage-time equaliser salvaged a 1-1 draw for Arsenal on Sunday.

Guardiola opted for an unusually cautious game-plan in the second half at the Emirates Stadium in a bid to cling on after Erling Haaland’s ninth-minute opener.

But the City manager’s decision to substitute Norway striker Haaland and replace England forward Phil Foden in a switch to a back five ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Arsenal were able to monopolise the ball with City sitting so deep, and Martinelli broke the offside trap with a well-timed run onto Eberechi Eze’s pass before lofting a composed finish over Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Tellingly, City had just 32.8 percent of possession, which ranked as the lowest figure any Guardiola team have ever recorded in a Premier League match.

“I can’t believe I have another record in this country,” he joked. “I give a lot of credit to Arsenal, especially when defending with five. We are not built for that but sometimes we have to accept it.

“Arsenal were better so sometimes it can happen. One time in 10 years is not bad right? I have to prove myself again with the strategy. Now I am a transition team!”

Resorting to tactics more familiar to his old rival Jose Mourinho showed Guardiola’s desperation to cling onto what would have been a priceless victory after a rocky start to the season.

Instead, the Spaniard’s willingness to ditch his purist principles was in vain and City are now languishing in ninth place — already eight points behind leaders Liverpool.

Clearly a work in progress after Guardiola’s heavy spending on younger players in the last two transfer windows, City’s inexperience has shown in a run of just two wins in their first five league matches.

‘I don’t like it’

“Tough week, it was so demanding coming here, especially against one of the best teams in Europe. It was difficult to play the way we wanted to,” Guardiola said.

“I would prefer to play another way but when we play so many games, you can defend deep and take a result. 

“Honestly, it is because the opponent was better. We have to survive in that way and we did.”

Adamant that he would accept the criticism of his conservative approach, Guardiola added: “I am open for that. I am sitting here for that. 

“Three days ago against the best team in Italy we played differently against Napoli.

“I suffer. I don’t like it. But if the opponent is doing good things, we have to accept it and improve.”

Despite the disappointment of Martinelli’s equaliser, Guardiola took heart from a spirited City display that was too often missing during their troubled run last season.

“I said this season, I don’t care about the results. I want to see the spirit back. We lost it last season and we have to recover it. We did that this week,” he said.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta refused to be drawn into the debate on Guardiola’s tactics, surely out of respect for the manager he regards as a friend after working under him as a City assistant.

“Everybody tries to do his best to get a result. It’s fine,” he said.

“I’m extremely proud of the players and very disappointed with the result.

“After City scored the goal, after doing absolutely nothing before that, we started to dominate and the second half was a continuation of that.”

Arteta, whose team are five points behind Liverpool in second place, was not immune from criticism, with his decision to again start with Declan Rice, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi in midfield raising eyebrows.

“For me we had a lot of attacking players in that team. Nobody asked me about the midfield three in Bilbao,” Arteta said in reference to the Gunners’ 2-0 Champions League win in the Basque Country in midweek.

“It was the same midfield. I believe it was the best for the team. They were the best ones to start the game.”