[Before the match, Manager Arteta said something along those lines. That they would not back down. That they would play against Man City exactly as they do against any other team.]
[No matter the team, they usually sit back when they meet Man City, but he said they wouldn't do that.]
[Truthfully, it's widely believed that choosing a defense-first, counter-attacking tactic is the correct answer against Man City. But even that can't be called the correct answer, because deciding to defend first against Man City can itself be a dangerous idea.]
[That means you're letting Man City attack freely. Right. Sitting deep against Man City might ironically not be shutting them down at all.]
The commentators trade remarks rapid-fire, as if spitting bars.
Whether refusing to be outdone by the noise pouring from the stands or because of the importance of today's match.
The commentators seem to have fallen into an excited state as well, explaining the flow of the match in a considerably agitated tone.
[Manager Arteta keeps his word. Arsenal is pressing powerfully. Look at their line. They tighten the gaps between players and apply intense forward pressure.]
[You can see the will to not lose in the battle for initiative. It seems they won't play as if they are the weaker team.]
[It's practically a championship decider. And Arsenal has the credentials. A draw won't do. They want to win. As he said, they don't look like they have any intention of backing down.]
How hard they must have analyzed each other, down to the nano-level.
As if to say there was no need for a feeling-out process, the match was ablaze from the very start.
From the sight of Arsenal players pushing up simultaneously with the whistle, that will could be felt.
They would not lose the fight for initiative.
Rather than reacting to the opponent's plans and coping with them according to their prepared strategy, the intense pressure revealed their will to dominate the match themselves.
[If another team made this choice, honestly I would have called it a reckless challenge. But if it's Arsenal, I can do nothing but watch excitedly.]
[Rather, I'm curious about Man City's response. For now, they're moving the ball quickly...]
[Now is the crucial moment. If they show that they can play out from even this level of pressure, it'll be a headache for Arsenal. But what if it works?]
[Then it's Man City that'll have the headache.]
In fact, not every team that faces Man City unconditionally sits back.
Teams that have forward pressure as their foundation have no choice but to maintain that ethos.
It's not as though Man City players never make mistakes, and if you leave them alone without pressing at all, you never know what will happen.
But the reason many teams give up and sit back before even ten or twenty minutes pass is because the Man City players' skill in dealing with pressure is that adept.
No matter what pressure came, instead of panicking, the calmness and confidence to play out of situations with precise passing work often rendered the opponent's pressure useless.
Man City was the team that made even those sides whose identity was forward pressure abandon it.
But that Arsenal might be different is something shown from the early stages of the match.
[Look at the method. Ødegaard pushes up to the front line to press, Havertz is marking Rodri. And Rice is tightly holding the space behind them.]
[Why do they look like they have so many players? There doesn't look to be a crack for water to leak through.]
[In a typical backline buildup situation, the defending side inevitably has two or more extra players. Because they use the goalkeeper. But Arsenal pushes one extra man forward. They reduce the opponent's numerical advantage by one. On top of that.]
[Yes.]
[The way they press. They don't approach head-on. They go in while cutting off one passing lane. Every player is showing that movement. If it happens like this, it's not easy to pass their way out with just a one-man advantage.]
[It's a simple calculation. Even in a 1v2 situation, if one man stands between two, that path is blocked.]
Arsenal shows the reason why pressure must be applied organizationally, as a team unit, to be effective.
Every player knows their position, exactly where to cut off, and who to mark.
In movements worthy of a tactical textbook's "Forward Pressure" chapter, even though Man City clearly maintains a one-man advantage, the path forward is hard to see.
Swish—!
Swish—!
Thanks to that, you can see Man City's passes starting to become a bit rushed and a bit inaccurate.
Of course, even in that situation, it's Man City.
Because it's Man City, they succeed in not losing the ball and connecting passes, but they can hardly advance forward.
This is not a game of tag.
Moving the ball around isn't simply to avoid being dispossessed, but to break through the opponent and advance forward—ultimately, it's to progress.
But since that is blocked by a wall and unable to advance, it's not something that can be praised just because they haven't been dispossessed.
[Oh, that pass was dangerous too just now.]
[By the way, Man City is quite stubborn as well. At this point, you'd think they'd try to exploit the space in behind using Ederson's left foot. Could it be a matter of pride?]
[That is indeed a very good option, but well. Could it be pride as you said? They don't seem to want to do what the opponent wants. They don't want to put aside the way they play best just because of the opponent. Because they're Man City.]
[The challenger Arsenal showing momentum enough to fluster the champion. It is the champion Man City accepting such a challenger's challenge.]
[In a way, it's a romantic setup, but whether romance can be found in front of results remains to be seen. A single mistake can bring a fatal result.]
It is like a duel between swordsmen who fight with a single blade.
To win, they could don layers of armor or throw dirt in the opponent's face.
As if whose swordsmanship is superior matters more than simply winning, a fight between swordsmen who wield only a single blade with honor.
Tap-tap-tap—!
When the tip of Arsenal's blade aims for Man City's wrist,
Swish—!
Man City pulls its arm free and evades it.
Tap-tap-tap—!
In response, Arsenal tries again to thrust at the torso,
Swish—!
Man City twists its body and deflects the thrust.
Tap-tap-tap—!
Moves that would be fatal with just a graze brush past the skin.
It's true that Man City looks amazing for evading every thrust of tremendous speed, but it's also true that they look precarious enough to make your heart drop at every moment.
Moreover, Arsenal isn't thrusting wildly either.
Striking the wrist, thrusting at the torso, targeting the legs.
If every single move is a stepping stone for a finishing blow.
What if the twisting of Man City's body to deflect the attacks is happening exactly as Arsenal intended.
Swish—!
The moment Man City evades the thrust once more.
Toward the naturally exposed neck, Arsenal's checkmate flies as if it had been waiting.
[Rodri to Li... but there's nowhere to pass!]
[He's surrounded! Can he get out?]
[Havertz rushes in! It's a very dangerous position to lose the ball!]
But it's a stale cliché.
Predicting the opponent's prediction in a fight between peak masters.
But clichés are clichés for a reason.
As if waiting, Man City had instead been waiting for Arsenal, who stabbed as if they had been waiting for the exposed neck.
Man City, who had only been evading until now, swings its blade at Arsenal's thrusting sword blade.
Tap-tap-tap—!
[He t-turns! What a turn!]
[Completely deceived them!]
As if to say, if the numbers are even and there's nowhere to pass, then winning the 1v1 will do.
Li Jian, who took the ball in a dangerous position, escapes the checkmate by using the opponent's speed against them.
But it's not over.
Tap-tap-tap—!
Arsenal's midfielders who had been providing cover rush in like mad dogs.
They know well that they cannot let Li Jian freely look forward.
Declan Rice and Thomas Partey rush at Li Jian simultaneously.
But then—*whoosh*.
Tat—!
As Rice and Partey rush in simultaneously, Li Jian slips through between them.
It wasn't that he had dazzling individual skills enough to deceive two men at once, or a lightning sprint.
He simply exploited the blind spot.
He merely faked going back before suddenly accelerating and surging forward again.
And now it's the counterattack.
Swoooosh—!
Li Jian's pass, played from near the halfway line, splits the earth as it advances.
The space in behind is vast.
Because they had drawn players up for the forward press.
And Haaland charges into that wide space like a wild horse galloping across a field.
Tap-tap-tap—!
Fortunately, Arsenal has fast and excellent defenders in Saliba and Magalhães.
Thanks to that, they didn't completely lose Haaland, but Li Jian's pass precisely settled at Haaland's feet even in that situation.
Boooom—!
Haaland follows with a dynamic shot.
As the opponent cut down the angle for his left foot, he struck with his right foot.
Swish—!
But goalkeeper David Raya makes a brilliant save.
Shooting with his right foot allowed for a quick shot, but the power and accuracy fell a bit short.
[Raya's super save! It leads to a Man City corner kick!]
[Woah, hold on. What just passed by? Clearly, until just now Man City was in a dangerous situation, but in the blink of an eye, Arsenal barely survived.]
[Li. It was Li. The through pass following Li's absurd breakout from pressure sent a chill down Arsenal's spine.]
[No, what in the world was that? He broke through Arsenal's pressure just like that?]
[I definitely thought he was caught, but he played his way out of it like that. Manager Arteta must be dumbfounded too.]
[Anyway, that was really dangerous. Because they pushed forward with intense pressure, the back space was wide. Since he pierced it in one go, they immediately faced a conceding crisis.]
[Li doesn't let those chances slide. He's a player who strikes decisively when he can. Arsenal shouldn't take things lightly.]
In an instant, the air of Etihad Stadium changes.
Just a few tens of seconds ago, anxiety had been lingering, but with a single scene, the atmosphere rises as if they had already won.
And as they go to deal with the corner kick, De Bruyne adds fuel to the fire.
[De Bruyne rouses the crowd. A deafening noise fills the stadium.]
[Hold on, Arsenal. This won't be easy.]
The expressions of the Arsenal players preparing to defend the corner kick begin to grow complicated.
They had prepared for today's match over several days, and it felt like that preparation had been working from the start.
They had believed they succeeded in driving the opponent into a dead end.
But from there, they were stabbed in return.
It was only because it stopped at cutting their clothes.
If it had gone in just a little deeper, they might have drawn blood.
[De Bruyne's corner kick. Magalhães clears it well, but it falls to Rodri's feet. They have to push out, Arsenal. That's right. Rodri plays it back. Stones goes all the way back too, sending it to the goalkeeper.]
Man City's first corner kick is foiled by good defense.
The ball flows back long, and the buildup starts again from scratch.
But what is important is the look of the Arsenal players.
Since the ball was heading toward the opponent's half again, Arsenal too had to push up and apply forward pressure from the start.
Tat—!
But they stop on their way up.
They draw a line as if building their block at a position much lower than before.
The one extra man they had invested in attack also drops to his original position and begins to wait.
[Is Arsenal taking a step back?]
[Arsenal must absolutely avoid conceding. Because a draw won't do. Since it's a situation where they must win unconditionally, every goal is precious. But just now, they almost conceded in an instant. To push forward aggressively again would take tremendous courage.]
They need to muster courage, but that level of courage does not seem to be forthcoming.
It's unavoidable.
Having been thrusting without rest, they nearly had a hole pierced in their chest by a single counterattack.
To preserve their lives, they must first withdraw their swords and protect their bodies.
But neither does that mean they are now safe.
Swish—!
Li Jian drops back to a low position and receives the ball.
Then the other players begin to push high into Arsenal's half, while Li Jian starts tapping the ball along, surveying Arsenal's camp.
"...""..."
At that sight, Arsenal players begin to gulp and break into cold sweat.
In the opponent's gaze that seemed to be searching for a weakness, the illusion that their whole bodies were being cut by that gaze alone was enough to overwhelm them.