“We Were The Dominant Team” – Albert Stuivenberg Rues Costly Flashpoints

By The Editor
on 1st January 2022

Albert Stuivenberg believes Arsenal were dominant for most of the game against the champions…

Arsenal assistant manager Albert Stuivenberg praised the performance against Manchester City on Saturday but rued the flashpoints that decided the game, the Dutchman told Arsenal Player.

A sensational performance in the first 45 mins saw us go into the break 1-0 up, lamenting the opportunities we missed that would’ve seen us have a more comfortable advantage.

Pep Guardiola’s men were in an unusual position, having to defend their box with little to build from in attack. The champions didn’t register a single shot on target in the opening interval.

However, after failing to grant us a spot-kick for a challenge on Martin Odegaard, VAR intervened in the second half to hand Manchester City a route back into the game.

It all went downhill from there, but Stuivenberg wanted to focus on the positives of the entire performance – including our resilience with 10-men.

“Frustration and being proud of the performance is both there,” the former Genk manager was quoted as saying.

“We are very proud because if you look at our process that we’re in with this young team, we want to see a team that can develop, be able to compete with a top team like Man City and in this case, I think we were the dominant team.

“We deserved the goal, I think we also deserved the penalty and to score at least one more than we did before half-time, that’s the only thing.

“When you create those chances against a team like this, you have to take them.”

There’s plenty to build on when you take into consideration the entire display, though Mikel Arteta will also want the team to improve their in-game management.

Creating a siege mentality can have its benefits, but not if a collection of our players start to display petulant acts that prove costly.

No time to lick our wounds, though. A cup semi-final against Liverpool beckons.